Believe - Episode 16

 

Ayo listened as the quiz master told Damilola that she had qualified and Francis, disqualified. She and Lateefah were the only ones left and she isn’t so sure if she was faster than the other girl. She was anxiously waiting for the quiz master next statement so she could let out the tears that were welled up in her eyes, either for joy or sorrow. Then, she had the quiz master say something she wasn’t expecting to hear . She looked down at her feet and let out a soft smile. As she did this, a tear dropped from her eyes.

“You ought to be happy,” the quiz master said. “Given that you were able to remove two of the boys.” He smiled.

She smiled back as the audience applauded.

Ayomide looked in Lateefah’s direction and the latter also looked at her.

The quiz master saw the look on their faces which meant they were confused which was what he wanted. He thought it would reduce the pain of disqualification. By the time they looked back at him, he added, “Which was a centi-seconds faster than Lateefah’s 0.84 seconds.”

The quiz master assumption was wrong. As soon as he said this, Lateefah ran off backstage with tears in her eyes. She didn’t even wait for the quiz master to say some words of encouragement as he usually did before she ran off.

Ayo leaped up

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. She seemed very happy. The tears rolled down freely on her cheeks. It was tears of Joy. ‘One round gone, one round left,’ she murmured. She turned around and saw Bukky waving at her. She was glad to also see Funmi waving at her but turned the other way as Damilola and Oreoluwa walked back to the stage. Just as she turned, her eyes caught someone that she couldn’t just ignore. The person was blowing kisses at her. ‘Only one person has ever done that to me. My only best friend, Anuoluwa.’

***

“Wow! She made it,” Bukky exclaimed. “She made it to round 2.”

Bidemi and Funmi looked straight at Bukky and frowned their faces. Funmi smiled at Bukky and said, “I knew she would.”

Bidemi slightly hit Funmi by the shoulder. “Why don’t you want her to qualify?”

“It’s not like I really want her not to qualify but...” Funmi looked pale.

“But what?”

“If she qualifies, it would be a problem for me in the finals.” She placed her elbows on her laps and rested her chin on her palms. “I’m not as brilliant as her and I envy her.”

“Oh! I see. If she qualifies for the finals and you encounter her, she would surely do better than you.”

“Thereby limiting my chances to be in the first three.”

“Your reason is quite different from mine.” Bidemi now looked sad. “If not for my Dad’s constant nagging, I would love to see Ayo qualify and even win the Olympiad just like her step-brother did.”

Funmi sighed.

“By the way why are you trying to be friends with her?”

“That… I can’t tell you.” Funmi shook her head. “Oh! Ore’s 60 seconds is about to begin.”

A minute later

The quiz master wore a wide smile as the audience applauded Oreoluwa during his 60 seconds of fame.

“Well, Well, Well,” he said. “Oreoluwa, you were brave. Better than your last 60 seconds of fame. Keep it up as I might be seeing you in the finals.”

The audience applauded again.

“Ayo,” The quiz master called.

“Yes, quiz master.”

“Are you ready for your 60 seconds of fame?”

“Yes, quiz master.”

“Your 60 seconds of fame” – he intentionally prolonged the next word – “starrrts now.”

Ayo stared into her screen as the quiz master read out the first question. On her screen, she noticed the 60 seconds countdown, the question and the 4 options. She struggled hard to understand the question as her mind wasn’t in it. She looked back at the audience and saw Bukky urging her to answer the question. She ignored her and looked higher, there she saw Anu again. She couldn’t hold back the tears. ‘So she remembers me. I could bet she came second on purpose to apologize for leaving me. I don’t deserve this spot. I shouldn’t be here. I can’t even score higher than Ore nor could I be faster than Dammy.’ She stared back at her screen and saw the countdown was now at 58.’

“If you don’t know the answer.” The quiz master interrupted her thoughts.

Read " Hope " by the same author ( HABEEBLLAH DAMILOLA )

. “Remember, you could just say skip and the next question would…”

“Skip,” she said without thinking. The next question was displayed and she pressed option A without even reading the question.

“Wrong.” – She heard the quiz master say and thereafter the next question was displayed. By now the countdown was on 52 but she couldn’t care less. She looked back again and she saw Funmi moving her lips but she couldn’t hear what she was saying. She tried effortlessly to read her lips. Then, she remembered their conversation from yesterday. ‘Believe! Is she trying to tell me to believe in myself?’ She looked at Oreoluwa and Damilola and noticed how pleased they were. She took her pen which she hasn’t touched since the round began and hurriedly solved the question on the screen.

“Wrong,” the quiz master said again.

She remembered a sentence from Funmi’s handbook – ‘The secret is you have to be calm when solving. Don’t rush yourself, else you get a wrong answer.’

She tried to be calm as much as she could with 45 seconds left on the screen. She looked at Funmi again and the latter gave her a thumbs up. ‘I need to be focused, just as Funmi had told me.’ At that instant, she looked back at the screen and didn’t look away until after 45 seconds when her round was over.