Chapter 6: Trivia Night
"Just think of this," Vikram said. "Seven free servings of nachos at any time from the 50's diner. And not just seven servings for us to share. Seven servings each. Tell me that does not interest any of you."
"And to get the nachos, we have to enter the trivia night?" Grant asked. "Not only enter, but win? Yeah, being a nerd after school hours isn't worth free nachos."
"Not just free nachos," Vikram said. "Seven servings each. How could anyone pass up free nachos? Free anything? The trivia night is only allowing teams of four so we really should enter. Just think, with my and Hennessy's intelligence and your and Ollie's ability to make the team four members, there's no way we could lose."
"Oh, well, when you put it that way..." Grant said. "No."
"Yeah, I don't even know if my dad will let me leave the house," I said. After both returning home yesterday, Dad didn't say a single word to me about skipping school. I thought he would have but he never did so I was a bit confused.
No doubt he would still refuse to let me leave the house.
"Really?" Hennessy asked with a slight tone of disappointment and I just shrugged in reply. "Well, it's fine. I'm sure Vikram and I can find two people to fill out team. People that will definitely be a bigger asset than Grant."
"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Grant asked.
"I said Vikram and I will find people that will actually help our team," Hennessy said. "We'll have an even bigger chance of winning if we find other people."
"Okay, do you want me to join the team or make my own team?" Grant asked. "Because if you keep trashing me, I really will make my own team with the best of the best."
"So are you going to join the team?" Hennessy asked.
Grant huffed. "Fine, I will. But if we do win, you owe me one of you nacho servings."
"Fine," Hennessy said before looking at me. "Are you sure you can't come? Our team wouldn't be complete without you."
"I can try asking my dad but I wouldn't be surprised if he says no," I said.
"Well, try finding out as soon as you can so if it is a no, we'll be able to find someone," Vikram said. "Worse case scenario, we get my sister. But that's literally worse case scenario since she's stupid and will probably get everything wrong."
School had already ended and we were all standing outside because Vikram texted all of us to meet up so after telling them I'd find out as soon as I could, I left the school grounds to head home. I still had time before Dad showed up so I just laid down on the couch, watching TV as I waited for him.
I didn't even get my hopes up of going, even though I actually wanted to. I hadn't really spent time out of my house and now, I had the opportunity to. For once. I didn't want to lose it.
Coming to Spruceworth, I had been so wary about making new friends because I didn't think I could ever trust someone again. I didn't think I could ever be around a group of people and actually feel comfortable.
I guess I had Dad to thank for putting the four of us in a group in the first place.
As soon as Dad walked in the door, he said, "You look a bit grumpy."
"Not really grumpy," I said. "Just... Am I allowed to go out tonight? There's a trivia night at the 50's diner and anyone who enters need to be in a group of four so Vikram wants to do it with me, Hennessy, and Grant. Can I go?"
"I don't see why not," Dad said.
I furrowed my eyebrows as I sat up and looked at Dad. "Wait, seriously?"
"Yes, of course," Dad said. "I don't know why you expected me to say no."
"Well... Because of yesterday," I said.
"And what happened yesterday that would make me prevent you from not going out anywhere?"
"Uh, me skipping school?"
Dad snorted as he walked over to the living room. "Ollie, I'm not mad that you skipped. I kind of figured you didn't want to go to the orchestra show. I was just hoping you would show up to class anyway so I could mark you presence and then let you go to the library or something. Look, I know how much you regret what you did. I know if you could go back in time to change the past so you could still go to the conservatory, you would. I'm not going to just sit here and let you remember the mistake even more."
I looked down. "You and I both more it was more than a mistake."
Dad sighed and sat down beside me on the couch. "You're right. It was more than a mistake. But you feeling guilty and knowing what you did was wrong doesn't diminish the fact that you should be allowed to move on from it. I'm not going to hold you up against what you did in the past."
This was one of the main reasons why I liked living with Dad a lot more than living with Mom. Back with Mom, she would always try to find an excuse to bring up my past; bring up the fact that I lost the greatest thing to ever happened to me. No matter how many times I told her I already felt the guilt, she wouldn't care.
She told once told me I deserved to feel the guilt.
"Thanks, Dad," I said. "That's actually a relief to hear."
"Well, it's true," Dad said as he stood up to head to the kitchen. "I don't see why I shouldn't let you actually leave the house for once when all you did was miss the orchestra. Oh, but there is one condition for you going out. You said Grant is going to be on your team for the trivia night?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Try not to kill him."
"You know, you really shouldn't believe him every time he says I threatened to murder him. But now that you brought it up... No promises."
Unfortunately, my desire to punch Grant in the arm every time he so much as breathed in my direction was slowly dwindling ever since he was there for me yesterday. He was the last person I expected to ever comfort me.
Because I was allowed to go out, I sent our group conversation a text that I was allowed to come. Both Hennessy and Vikram were excited that I was able to make it.
Grant, on the other hand, sent a text saying, don't ruin it for us.
What great words of encouragement.
The time finally came for us to go meet up at the diner. The trivia contest was going to start soon and we had to be there at, the latest, five-twenty for the host of the contest to get everyone's team names and such.
Unfortunately, I almost didn't make it because I was too busy napping so I ended up leaving at a late time. I had to hurry to get to the diner, which also took me a while to find since I rarely walked around the village.
All three of them were already waiting outside of the diner for me so I quickened my pace to catch up to them which caused me to stumble and almost lose my balance but I was quick to regain my balance again.
"Sorry I'm late," I said when I walked over to them. "I was taking a nap."
"Well, we still got two minutes left so you made it just in time," Vikram said.
He and Hennessy went into the diner but before I could, Grant grabbed my arm. "You're not drunk, are you?"
I furrowed my eyebrows, wondering why he would ask because remembering I just stumbled a few seconds earlier. "Oh, no, I'm not," I said. "That stumble was literally me being a klutz. I'm fine."
"Well, you're lucky I can actually tell when someone is, so good for you for not being stupid enough to drink before the trivia contest," Grant said.
"Yeah, can you do me a favour and not call me stupid for being an alcoholic?" I asked. "Because you do know I try to stop, right?"
Grant sighed. "Sorry, that was a wrong choice of words."
"Yeah, whatever." I walked into the diner so Hennessy and Vikram wouldn't be wondering why Grant and I didn't immediately follow them inside.
A young man who I guessed was the host walked over to us. "Hi, I'm Calvin," he said. "Are you here for the trivia night or just to eat?"
"Both," Grant spoke up. "I'm also hungry."
"Then follow me," Calvin said, leading us to a booth. I sat down first and Grant decided to sit beside me so my urge to punch him started growing once again. Once Hennessy and Vikram took the seats across from us, Calvin handed each of us each a menu as well as one whiteboard and marker for all of us to share. "So can I get a team name?"
"Team Grant," Grant said.
"No," Vikram said. "No way are we going to be called Team Grant."
"Hater."
"Okay, I can see this might take some time," Calvin said. "So..." He pointed to Hennessy. "You can pick the team name and I'll write down whatever it is, even if they object to it."
"Awe, come on, why not me?" Grant asked.
"Show some respect for the only girl on your team," Calvin said. "Be a gentleman."
"We'll be Team Insert Name Here," Hennessy said.
"I like it," Calvin said as he wrote the name down on a clipboard. "I'll get a waiter to come here to take your order. Good luck with the competition."
I had to say, the service here was extremely good. After we arrived, there were ten minutes left before the competition and in that ten minute period, we had already received our food and drinks. I definitely had to come here often.
There was a small stage set up with nothing but a microphone stand and two speakers sitting on it. When the time came, Calvin stood up on the stage and got everyone's attention before saying, "Hello, everyone, and welcome to trivia night. We have ten teams participating and all the members on the winning team get seven free serving of nachos whenever the choose. Here's how the contest will work. There are twenty questions lined up, each having to do with a different category such as music, sports, and so on. Once I asked the question, you'll have thirty seconds to write down an answer on the whiteboard provided. All correct answers get a point and the team with the most point wins. So without further further ado, let's get started. The first question has to do with music. What is the classical composer Mozart's first name?"
"First name?" Hennessy asked us. "I thought Mozart was his first name."
"Awe, you poor uncultured swine," Grant said as he picked up the marker to write the answer down.
Hennessy narrowed her eyes at her brother. "I don't trust you to get this write."
"Okay."
Once he finished, I looked at the whiteboard. "No, he's right." Which didn't surprise me. Grant may not want to admit it but he was definitely a classical music lover.
"What? How?" Hennessy asked.
"Looks like I'm not the one who's only here to fill up the spots on the team," Grant said before winking at his twin sister. Hennessy only threw a fry at him in reply.
The thirty seconds were up so Calvin asked all teams to hold up the whiteboards. After saying the correct answer, Calvin took note of all teams that were right before moving onto the next question.
He wasn't telling us exactly who was in the lead but it was a good chance that we were. We only got two questions wrong so far.
When all twenty questions were asked, Calvin said, "Alright, this is a good thing. There aren't any ties so no need for a tiebreaker but this was a very tight race. The winner of the trivia night, and of the seven free nachos, are... Team Insert Name Here!"
The four of us broke into a celebration but it was short-lived when Calvin walked over, talking into his microphone and saying, "Unless... You would like to raise the stakes and double or nothing."
"And win fourteen free nachos each?" Vikram said. "I think we should do it."
"Oh, no," Calvin said. "Not each. I like creating drama between friends, as horrible as I am. There will literally be a double or nothing. Two of you will receive double and two of you will receive nothing."
"You want us to split into teams of two?" Grant asked.
"If you want," Calvin said. "You don't have to."
"Well, even though you're all my friends, I'm selfish and want the nachos," Vikram said.
"Yeah, me too, to be honest," Hennessy said.
"I'd love fourteen free nachos," Grant said.
I just shrugged. "I don't care. I'll be on whoever wants me on their team."
"Well, considering Vikram and I can't be on the same team if it's going to be a fair chance, you can be on my team, Ollie," Hennessy said.
"Whoa, wait," Grant said. "No way, Ollie is on my team.
"What? No. Why?" Hennessy asked.
"Yeah, why?" I asked. "I thought you're not fond of me."
"I'm not but she just insulted the both of us, implying we're too stupid to win against her and Vikram," Grant said.
"No, I'm saying just you are way too stupid to win against me and Vikram," Hennessy said.
"I don't care how you meant it. Ollie is on my team now."
Hennessy huffed and crossed her arms across her chance. "Fine, Vikram and I are on a team."
"Don't sound so excited," Vikram said.
Calvin brought another whiteboard and marker to our table now that we were on two separate teams. Once again, he asked for team names. Hennessy and Vikram change Team Insert Name Here to just Team No Name while Grant wanted to be Team Grant.
I didn't even care right now.
Calvin had to just made sure he had enough questions to ask and while he was preparing, I noticed Dad walk into the diner. When he spotted me, he walked over to us. "What are you doing here?" I asked.
"I was craving some buffalo wings and these are the best place to get some," Dad said. "Are you going to be home for dinner?"
"No, I'm eating here too," I said.
"Okay," Dad said. "So how's your team doing?"
"Amazing," Vikram said. "We won but now, we're on separate teams. We're doing double or nothing."
"So half of you will win double and half of you will get nothing?" Dad asked. "I can't wait to see how that will tear your friendship apart. Good luck, Ollie. Normally, I'd wish all of you good luck but we're off of school grounds so I'm biased towards my son."
"That's rude," Grant said.
"Grant, you're on my team," I pointed out.
"Still rude."
Dad just chuckled before heading to the counter to get his serving of buffalo wings.
Calvin was soon ready to restart the contest. "Alright, ladies and gentlemen, the winning team decided to raise their stakes and be separated into two teams. Two of them will win fourteen servings, and the other two will never receive the pleasure of free food here. Unless they win another contest in the future. So for this bonus round, there will be five questions. However, instead of it just being random, each team will choose a category and will receive questions in that category only but you can't choose the same category."
After listing off the categories, both teams picked the one they wanted and I was happy Hennessy and Vikram didn't want the music category. That was perfect for me and Grant.
"Alright, we'll start with Team Grant," Calvin said. "Which is a self-centred team name, by the way. Tone down your ego a bit, Grant. First question for you two is to name at least three members, first name only is fine, in the Canadian band Major Vocal. And if you don't know who Major Vocal is, it sucks to suck and you're a disgrace to Canadians."
"I'm a disgrace to Canadians," Hennessy said.
"Well, it's a good thing you're not on our team," Grant said as I wrote down all of the names. "How can you not know their names? I thought you liked their music?"
"I do, but I can never remember their names," Hennessy said.
"But... The first letter of each of their names all spells out Major," Grant said. "And the last names spell Vocal. It's how they chose their name, you disgrace."
When the time was up, we held up the whiteboard for Calvin to see. He gave us a point before moving on to Vikram and Hennessy.
After four questions, Grant and I were in the lead by one point. We never missed a question but the others missed one.
"Well, if Team Grant gets this question right, then there's no need for a last question for Team No Name since they'll still have three questions while Team Grant has five," Calvin said. "So this last question is a challenge and it requires some listening so if those in the diner are talking, please do so in a quiet voice. I'm going to play a song for thirty seconds and you'll have to identify the composer."
He played a classical song that I immediately recognized but I didn't know who composed it. Well, I did but there were two different answers and judging by the question, Calvin was only looking for one.
"It's almost like he's trying to get us to lose," Grant said. "Who even knows this song?"
"I do," I said. "And I know the answer. Kind of. There was the original composer but then there was a composer who expanded it into a piano piece."
"What was the original written for?" Grant asked.
"A violin."
"Well, he's playing a piano version so maybe he's looking for the one who expanded it."
The song stopped playing and Calvin asked, "Do you have an answer?"
"That depends," Grant said. "Are you looking for the original or the one who expanded it?"
Calvin's reply? A shrug.
I sighed and picked up the whiteboard marker. "I don't know which one to do."
"Just write both names," Grant said.
I did just that and showed Calvin, who then said, "I'm looking for one name only."
"You want us to lose, do you?" Grant asked.
Calvin again shrugged but this time, he also smiled innocently.
"Do the piano one," Grant said.
"Alright, I'm trusting you on this," I said, erasing the name of the original composer before showing it to Calvin once again.
"I was indeed looking for the composer for expanded it for a piano piece," Calvin said. "I'm surprised someone knew it. So congratulations, Team Grant, for winning the trivia night. And I'm sorry, Team No Name. You might want to pick better friends for turning their back on you like that."
"Don't worry, I'll make sure to give you two some of my free servings," I said to Vikram and Hennessy.
"That's all I want," Vikram said. "You two made a good team so I can't really be mad about losing."
"I can," Hennessy said with a scowl.
"Hey, you brought this on yourself," Grant said.
Hennessy glared at her brother before standing up. "I just remember I have to go home. I got homework to do."
"What's up with her?" I asked after she walked off.
"Nothing, she can just be very competitive at times," Grant said.
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i love calvin so much "i like creating drama between friends" same fam same
i mean what?
lol jk jk
and now i need to go to bed because i have to wake up early. i didn't think this chapter would be as long as it is lol