Balls

4

Mr Evans did not like giving pop quizzes, but he loved sticking two students together to see how far they could carry each other's marks. In his so-called the Calculus Twins Challenge, two students would receive a list of 10 questions. Each can only answer one half of the list within 30 minutes. The total marks received would be the grade each one would carry to the next challenge. Mr Evans had announced that there will be two of those challenges across the last half of the semester, apart from final exam and one group work.

Thinking about how her performance would be tied to Iqball's, Ballqis felt sick. Reminded of Agamemnon's worry about how he might drag down Molly, that queasy churn in her stomach she had since last Calculus class intensified.

Last night, she studied Calculus like she had never heard of it before. It only reminded her of last Tuesday, when Iqball had persuaded her to tackle some questions as they wait for Tilapia 7 to eat.

She could not even drink half a cup of coffee this morning. Yet Iqball's welcoming smile thrown her way as she entered the lecture hall made her day.

Somehow she felt at ease. She even forgot that she was supposed to be embarrassed in front of him.

Mr Evans walked in as the clock turned 9 am, then announced with a tone of unbearable giddiness that CTC was about to be held as scheduled.

As he told the students to put away their books, Mr Evans really did look like someone who deserved to be called Mr Evil. The grin on his face was absolutely unnerving.

Iqball could not help but noticed Ballqis' face, which had turned pale.

"Hey, we're going to be fine," whispered Iqball to Ballqis as the lecturer move across the hall to pass the question papers.

Again, the smile on Iqball's face calmed her nerves.

The first half of the hour passed quickly, but Ballqis managed to go through her answers twice before submitting.

The next half an hour was longer as they all had to endure going through the answers together with the lecturer. Mr Evans spared no one as he spot mistakes after mistakes on their answer sheet.

Iqball remained calm, gifting her a smile as Ballqis prayed hard for a good score.

"Don't worry, we got this," he said.

And true enough, by the end of the day, the two of them were the only ones to have scored a full 10 out of 10 marks.

He was about to offer her his fist, hoping for a fist-bump to celebrate. But Ballqis fussed over her book and pencils and bag instead.

Once again, he got her message loud and clear: don't talk to me.

***

Agamemnon was quite happy that Ballqis managed to secure a seat to Sydney with Mrs Jogh's Tilapia Study entourage.

"I'm not going for fun. I need the money, Aga," whispered Ballqis as they berth under a tree in front of the faculty building.

"You know I'm not exactly loaded either. But I've never been to Sydney. You're going to tell me all about it and spot those cheap B&Bs so that we can spend our holiday there come semester end's break," he made her promised.

"Anyway, how was the CTC just now? You and Molly did ok?" Ballqis asked as she fished out two items from her large bag.

They had bought a pack of veggied cheese and bread for lunch. The CTC that just ended had made them hungry.

"Hey, can I join you guys?" a small voice entered their conversation bubble.

"Oh, hi, Molly, come on we got food," Ballqis offered and waved her pack of cheese.

Molly's face went a little pink, happy to be accepted so easily.

"She was just asking me about CTC," complained Agamemnon, and Molly grimaced.

"I'm pretty sure that last question was a trick. Aga and I got that one wrong," Molly said graciously eventhough the last question fell on Agamemnon's sheet. Molly was sure she would have gotten it wrong too had they switched sets.

"No, it was just some sort of real-life application question, right Ballqis?" Iqball suddenly chimed in.

"You're stealth, bro, where did you come from? Want some bread? Was it you or Ballqis who got the last question?" Agamemnon asked knowing his Tilapia lab mate and Ballqis had been paired by Mr Evans.

Upon Agamemnon's cue, Iqball sat down on the grass between Molly and Ballqis.

"I answered that last question, I thought it was pretty easy. To be honest I fumbled with Question 7 longer than the rest on my sheet," Iqball told his classmates.

"But Question 7 was straight-forward," argued Molly.

"I kept thinking it can't be that easy. Mr Evil just won't have it, you know?" Iqball defended his suspicious mind.

"You're worse than me!" accused Agamemnon.

The boy roared while the girls laughed, more because Aga's mirth was contagious. Even Iqball was chuckling after a few seconds.

It was as if the day was made for the quartet. The weather was gorgeous and someone even stopped by to offer them free fruit juice.

As Iqball laze by her side Ballqis prayed he would not be able to hear how hard her heart was thudding. She peeled off the plastic wrapper of a slice of cheese and jammed it between two slices of bread. 

She passed the cheese pack to Molly, who fished out a slice. Molly then passed the pack to Iqball. Ballqis held her breath as Iqball leaned across to grab the pack from Molly.

The four of them ate their lunch in silence.

"It's definitely not real-life application. Who cares if an alien wants to know if its space craft's engine would trigger ocean warming?" Molly mumbled woefully.

"You know, Molly. I blame these two for that stupid  question," Agamemnon said suddenly.

He was facing Iqball and Ballqis without remorse.

"Me?" asked Iqball and Ballqis at the same time.

"Mr Evans likes you two. That's why that question came out. I bet the two of you were the only ones in the class who could answer it. Did you and Iqball got full marks? Ballqis?" Agamemnon pressed.

Reluctantly, Ballqis nodded. Iqball simply raised his brows a little.

"I knew it! That last question was your fault!" accused Agamemnon in angst but without malice.

"Oh, I remember. He asked Ballqis about chain rule that one time, right?" Molly seemed to have recalled.

Without warning, Iqball laughed.

"Ah ... I remember now!" he exclaimed. "You remember that day too, right, Ballqis?" 

How could Ballqis not? It was the first time she and Iqball had exchanged smiles in class. It was the first time he acknowledged her after months being in the same university. It was the first time she felt her hands needed anti-perspirants at the sight of a guy.

Just thinking about that moment made her nervous. She quickly nodded and finished the bread in her hands before it turned icky.

"See, Mr Evans likes you, and you. So please, Ballqis, Iqball, be careful with what you say in class. Say something straightforward from now on, would you? We could all use easy questions," Agamemnon reprimanded, his finger swishing between the former schoolmates.

He looked so serious even with bread and cheese filling his mouth.

"Aye, aye, Aga," said Ballqis. 

Her friends smiled, but then Molly burst into a guffaw.

"Forget it! Mr Evans is evil! We are all at his mercy! Pray to your Gods!" the girl shouted uncharacteristically.

Instead of prayers, all Molly got was laughter.