𝐆𝐈𝐑𝐋 𝐎𝐍 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐄 | 𝐛. 𝐛𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐩

04. The Search for Intelligent Life

Of course, we were at Pat's and Ashley was telling me and Brooke about how awful Bella is to Tad.

"I'm just saying, Bella and Tad are not the perfect couple," Ashley told us, "She yelled at him for getting her coffee wrong. she treats him like a dummy."

We then all looked over at Tad who was looking into a salt shaker and then dumped some into his eye. I winced and cringed at the sight.

"That," Ashley started, "could happen to anyone."

"Ash, we know you like him. Is that really what this is about?" I asked her, "I mean all you really know about Tad is that he's eye candy."

"Tad is sweet," she said.

"Mm-hmm. Like candy," Brooke pointed out.

"There's more to Tad than meets the eye. He has depth," my sister defended.

"Oh, girl, you are so crushing on him," I told her.

Ashley scoffed, "No, I'm over that."

I sighed, "I don't have time to listen to your lies, I have cheer practice. Bye."

Ashley and Brooke said goodbye and I walked out to go to practice.

--------------------------

While I was gone, Tad decided that he was going to help Stick win the Quiz Bowl, and Stick, not wanting Tad to be his partner, asked us to help him. We decided that we were going to challenge them to a "practice" Quiz Bowl against Ashley. We were really trying to scare Tad into dropping out.

Right now, we were setting up and Ashley was explaining to Tad what was happening.

"You and Stick will be teammates, and I'll be the other team."

"And Brooke will be what?" Stick asked, "Quizmaster?"

"That is correct," Brooke said in a dramatic voice, "And whoever wins gets a performance from the one, the only, Athena Garcia!"

"Your emcee voice is dumb," Stick told her, and I had a sudden urge to punch him in the face.

"Ooh, that is incorrect," Brooke replied, still using the voice.

Stick walked up to the iPad and glanced at the questions we were using. "This website has a lot of great sample questions."

"Ah! Ah! Ah!" I yelled.

"I'm not peeking."

"Not that, you're just too close to us," I remarked and he walked back to sit on the couch.

"Welcome," Brooke said, acting like she was looking at a camera, "I am Brooke Bishop, and this is Quiz Bowl practice."

"Who is she talking to?" Stick asked, confused, and everyone looked around.

"In one corner, we have the youngest graduate from MIT,  Dr. Ashley 'the Doctor' Garcia!" Ashley stood up and bowed as Brooke announced her. "And in the other corner..." Brooke cleared her throat, "Tad and Stick. Players, test your buzzers."

Ashley hit her bell and it rang. Tad hit the stapler in front of him, and it made a stapler noise. "Our stapler's not ringing," he told me and Brooke.

"Don't worry," Ashley said as Tad turned to look at her, "You won't be using it much."

"Looks like someone came to play," I commented.

Brooke then said, "And we're off."

Brooke asked some questions and Ashley got them all, with Tad answering a few incorrectly. When he noticed how good Ashley was, he got a little scared.

----------------------

"Whoo!" Ashley cheered after answering a whole lot of questions correctly and Tad and Stick were staring at her in amazement.

"That makes 48 straight correct answers for Ashley," Brooke told us.

"That's 'the Doctor' to you, suckas," my sister said to the boys.

"Continuing with the category 'inventions,'" Brooke announced, "name the historical figure that invented dynamite." Tad hit the stapler really hard and turned to look at Brooke and me. "All right, sure, Tad."

"Napoleon Dynamite," he said confidently.

"Incorrect," Brooke told him, and Ashley hit her bell.

"Alfred Nobel. Kaboom!"

Tad shook his head and made a face, "I was so sure on that one."

"Forty-nine in a row for Ashley," I said

"I'm trying," Tad told Stick sincerely, "I'm not too good at this stuff, am I?"

"Sure, you're failing, now," Stick told him, "but maybe you'll do better at the real quiz bowl in front of that giant crowd with all the kids from our school... and other schools... and the Livestream."

Stick was obviously saying these things to get Tad nervous, and it worked. Tad sat back and looked extremely anxious.

"Tad, need a break?" my sister asked, concerned, "Maybe some water."

Stick stood up, "No break yet, Ashley. Don't you wanna go for an even 50? Make it a shutout."

"Yeah, sure, one more," Tad agreed, "And then, Stick, don't be mad... but I think you need to find another partner."

"Don't worry about it. Farid from math club saw the quiz bowl vest. He wants in."

"All right," Brooke continued, "let's try... Mexican history. Cinco de Mayo is a celebration of what?" Tad hit the stapler. "Tad."

"The Mexican army's victory over the French at the Battle of Puebla," Tad answers, and if we're being honest, it sounded pretty smart.

Stick patted Tad on the back, "Nice try, bud."

"Tad is correct," Brooke said.

"Say what?"

Everyone looked at Brooke surprised that Tad had actually answered one correctly. "Continuing with the category,..."

Brooke asked them a few more questions on Mexican History and Tad got them all correct. Then, he invited Ashley to go to Olvera Street with him. He decided he was going to do the quiz bowl and Stick almost told him that he didn't want Tad to be his partner, but decided against it.

Anyway, I never really caught who won, so I decided to do the concert for everyone. ANd while singing, I couldn't help but glance over to the blonde in the room.

A/N

I know this chapter is short and didn't go into a lot of detail, but I just wanted to get it out. I can't wait until they start dating!