“I gotta get to history,” Marianne told Vi, stepping away. “See ya in math.”

“Wait, one more thing.” Vi jumped forward. She glanced around like she was about to say something secret or embarrassing. “My parents want to have some kind of celebration for the championship…” Vi shuffled her feet. “They want to get pizza or something, and have you guys over in our game room and stuff—”

“Game room?!” Marianne blinked. “You’re so loaded.”

Vi’s family probably went on winter and spring break vacations every year and had one of those fridges with a water dispenser in the front, too.

“It’ll probably be pretty boring,” Vi went on, “but I’m inviting all the Ermines, so…”

“I’d love to! Shoot me a text to tell me when,” Marianne said, heading off.

“Oh.” Vi’s eyes widened in surprise. “Okay. I mean, if you want to.”

“Of course! We’re friends, aren’t we?” she yelled to Vi as she walked backward and hollered, “See you in math!”

And she hurried to history before the bell rang.

Behind her, she heard Jalilah Jacobs approach Vi.

“Hey, is there a Quiz Quest team at Brookdale High? Do you know how to get in?” Jalilah asked her.

Vi launched into a detailed rundown, and their voices faded behind Marianne as she arrived at class.

Before math, Marianne tried some visualizations. Nina had taught it to her. She told her she was practicing some meditation on a new app she got, and one of the techniques was to picture what was about to happen as if it were going the way you wanted it to go.

So Marianne imagined two impossible things. First, she pictured an A plus plus written on her test paper, surrounded by smiley faces. She visualized Mr. Garcia shaking her hand and saying, “You’ve done so well on the final, you didn’t even need Quiz Quest in the first place. You are a hero.”

Then she stifled a chuckle, took a breath, and pictured the possible: a C plus. She wanted to pass. She imagined him saying, “We’ll get it right next year, won’t we, Ms. Blume?” She would finish the year unable to pass the entire class but finally earning a better test score.

Nina said to use her senses in her visualizations, but all she could think about was the slight sneaker smell in the math classroom, so she gave up and watched the second hand on the clock until Mr. Garcia announced he would pass out the final exams.

He walked past her, his stride slow and steady, and started in the back.

“Yes!” she heard Lucas Hayes bellow. “Aced it! Take that!”

“Bumping chests over grades…” Vi pondered a few seats behind her. “Such fascinating creatures.”

Marianne twisted her torso around to face Vi. “Wait, we’re not going to bump chests?”

Vi threw Marianne her signature glare, and Marianne laughed.

It was a good distraction. But she could still feel the nerves all throughout her limbs.

Mr. Garcia arrived at the corner of Kylie’s desk. “Here you are,” he said, placing her test down before her.