Chapter 25 A QUEEN'S CONQUER.
SLOANE'S POINT OF VIEW.
Before I knew it, it was round three: Literature.
"You are to analyze these lines from age-old classics under thirty seconds or less, but no more." The principal's voice boomed from the speakers. I smirked because this was my alley.
And no one knew it.
Not even Matt.
The entire literature club stared back at me with a mix of trepidation and pride; after all, I am their president.
All of a sudden, Roxanne's voice boomed in the speakers. "Wait!" She yelled, diverting everyone's attention to her. "Sloane is the president of the literature club. How sure are we that these contestants wouldn't go easy on her because she's their queen?" She says, her eyes flashing with malice.
Everyone hums as their murmurs bounce off the walls in agreement. At the sight of everyone agreeing with her, Roxanne's smirk grows even wider, as she begins to charge the crowd.
"I think we should make this even harder for Sloane. After all, since she's the president, this would make us respect her even more, especially if she wins this round. She would be honoured in her club, and she gets to advance to the next round."
Everyone nodded, but all I could focus on was Lucien.
In a moment, he stood and walked over to a microphone across the hall; the very one his father reserved for him alone.
"I agree with you, Roxanne." He says, stunning all of us, including me.
Roxanne turns to him with a look of shock. She never expected him to agree with her, and honestly, neither did I.
"I think, to make this easier, the literature teachers for both the elite class and the scholarship class should be added to the contestants. That way, the playing field is leveled, and Sloane gets to rub your face in the mud when she wins."
Lucien says, and my heart begins to beat faster at these words.
He wants me to do what????
I don't think I can face them all by myself.
My facial expression must have betrayed me and revealed my fear, because in that moment, Roxanne attacked like a viper.
"Oh, look, is little Miss Bishops scared? Should we call for her mommy?" She mocks, speaking in a squeaky manner like she was talking to a fucking animal.
It wasn't her voice that went cold, pulsing blazing through my veins; it was the one name or title she referred to.
Mommy.
The bitter memory of the truth of my mother, and who she really is, comes to mind, and instead of the effect being tears, the very ones I'd shed at the thought of the woman who loved cocaine so much more than me, that she abandoned me at a train station at night for some blow a stranger offered her.
I could remember the haunting silence, the cold, and the way my heart thudded in my ears for what felt like hours on the silent, desolate road, before my dad came to get me after what felt like hours.
I didn't remember what actually happened, at least not personally. But my father gave the damn story when I asked him too many questions related to my birth.
I turned to the crowd and yelled. I'll do it, and I'll fucking win."
Lucien smirked at that before he clapped and walked to his seat without a rush.
At the blast of a whistle, it was on again. Answers flew left and right between the teachers, students, and me. I focused solely on them, making sure I didn't turn to look elsewhere once.
In less than no time, it was a tie, as we both stood at equal scores. They had played their final round, and now, it was my turn again.
If I failed to answer the question, I would lose, and Roxanne would win over me. I could picture her smirk as she stood over me in victory, and all of a sudden, I could feel the fire pulsing in my veins again.
A student lifted the card before me, flashing me the question I needed to answer. It was a quote from Dante’s Inferno....something I'd read recently at home as I'd glanced through one of my novels.
My brain suddenly went blank, as I stared at the timer.....twenty seconds had gone by, and a sweat broke on my brow as I tried to remember the message in the acknowledgements. All of a sudden, it came to my mind in a flash.
With a small smile on my face, as I stared at the five seconds left on the timer, I stood, my voice steady. “This isn’t about damnation. It’s about choice. About the way we willingly walk into fire, knowing it’ll burn, because sometimes the burn is the only proof we’re alive.”
The auditorium went silent at my answer as we waited for the principal to decide my fate.
Lucien leaned forward like a cobra, his gaze on the principal who stood between us with a look of shock, his hands steepled under his chin, as his icy eyes turned molten. I felt the weight of his approval sink into my skin like ink, as it flowed freely through me, staining my veins.
Roxanne scoffed in her seat as she crossed her legs from the corner of my eye. But I couldn't care less what she did; my attention was on the principal, as doubt crept into the crevices of my mind.
What if I was wrong? What if I got something wrong for the first time in this competition?
Would Roxanne win this round over me?
"Bishop....." The principal drawled, adding to the tension in the air. "Advances!" He yelled, and the crowd erupted again with joy, as a sigh of relief escaped my lips.
I turned to look at Lucien, but he was already staring at me. His lips stretched in a smile. It was the kind of smile that knocked the breath out of you; it wasn't a smirk...it was a smile.
And all of a sudden, he looked much younger than the nineteen-year-old he was.
And that made me return his smile with a sincere one of my own.
\---------------------------------
Round four: Logic puzzles.
"Whoever gets the answer to these riddles, wins this round. Now, Bishop already had many points ahead because she has won all the previous rounds, but if she loses this one, she loses them all." The principal says, and everyone's breath seized as I saw some of them hold onto each other for dear life.
This was where they wanted me to bleed.. The memory of Roxanne giving the damn rule came to mind, and once again, the desire to win rushed through my veins.
The questions would be designed to break brains in half, to crush me, and ensure I lose, after all,; Roxanne picked them out herself.
Riddles unraveled like threads in my mind, as I answered the questions as best I could.
"One point goes to the opposing team. Sorry Bishop, you were out of time." He says, and I wince from the loss internally as I stare at the huge timer.
A few minutes later, it was my turn again,
"Bishop, your riddle is;
’m a common five-letter word. Remove my first letter, I sound the same.
Remove my last letter, I still sound the same.
Remove my middle letter, I still sound the same.
What am I?
Instantly, the answer to the riddle came to mine, as I pushed the buzzer. "QUEUE"
"Correct!"
From then, it was a breeze of riddles, and me answering them. My fingers slammed the buzzer again and again, as each “Correct” from the principal serves as another nail in Roxanne’s coffin.
By the time the dust settled, it had come to a close, and the scores had to be counted.
"From what I and my senior colleagues have seen, this round goes to...Sloane Bishops. You advance to the next and final round!!" He says, and jubilation fills the air, as the horsemen begin to clap, and cheer my name.
"Sloane!!! Go, princess!!" Theo yelled, as the rest of the guys clapped and cheered, while Lucien leaned back with a proud smirk on his face as he regarded me.
With this final round, if I won, I would mop the floors with Roxanne, and Matt. It would be heaven to eat my dinner, on their shattered ego.
The final round: came about, and it was the one field I was lacking in; Mental combat. A debate.
Roxanne would be participating in this round, a feat she pushed for with a smug smirk on her face. Probably because she though t she would win over me; after all, the entire school knew how bad I was at the damn thing.
She turned to the crowd, with her voice filled with even venom, it almost made the air taste bitter,...as she spoke at full volume.
“Ladies, and gentlemen,. this school was built on legacy, and three other things.
Money, power, heritage.
Without those, you don’t belong here.” She tilted her chin toward me with a condescending glare, as the crowd practically ate out of her hand, reminding me that even if they had cheered me on earlier, they didn't have my interests at heart. When push comes to shove, they would always choose their own, over a charity case. “Scholarships are charity. A way to feel generous while the real players run the world. Noblese Oblige, you might call it. But let's call a spade, a fucking spade. This is an attempt to let the children of janitors, employees, know that we're their future bosses. They respect us here, and we decide whether or not to let them clean our shoes. That will never change, not even if Sloane paraded herself as the new arm candy of Lucien Ravenscroft.”
The audience murmured agreement, as some of then nodded, while a majority filmed this moment. She went back to her seat, and it was my turn to speak. To deliver somethin that would get me a win over her, and every one of them.
I rose slowly, trying to ignore the heat crawling through me. My voice sliced through the air, in a steady and cutting crescendo.
“You think legacy makes you powerful? It doesn’t. It makes you dependent. You inherit empires built by people stronger than you. You sit on thrones you didn’t even earn. I figh, fought, and am still fighting for every inch of ground I stand on. And when someone like me wins, especiallly against people like you, it means your legacy was never enough to stop me.”
At that, I am met with complete silence.
Then, in an instant, it was an eruption, as everyone's cheers, gasps, applause thundered in the hall, threatening to being the building down as the floors shook.
Everyone hooted, and I turned to him, hoping and waiting for his approval. Lucien stood, clapping in a , slow, deliberate way as he stood beside the horsemen, the latter who cheered like rambunctious teenagers they were.. His smirk was lethal, as his eyes locked in on me with eyes shining with pure pride.
The bell rang. “And the winner is; Bishop!!!" The principal's voice boomed, and all I felt was a flush of emotions.
Pride.'Honour.'Joy
But above all, I'd felt fulfilled; because I finally proved them all wrong, and I did it without having to kiss or hold Lucien's hand while they all watched.
Roxanne sat frozen, with her smile cracking, as she gripped onto her seat in so much anger, her french tipped nail broke. Matt looked gutted, as he sat beside her. His eyes ran over mine as he stared at me with a mix of shock, and anger.
And me? I stood in the center of that arena, with my heart hammering, and fire eating me alive.
The sound of Lucien's footsteps over that of their cheers echoed in my ears, as I stared at him as he walked towards me.
He stopped when he stood in front of me, deleting any form of space between us as he whispered so low I almost didn't catch it;
"Queens truly conquer, Mrs Ravenscroft."