And then, just like that, out of the waterfall of questions, Marianne heard Mr. Garcia ask:

What is the proper term for a group of the mammal felis silvestris, commonly referred to as wildcats?

Oh my God. She knew it! She actually knew it! Zoology! The flash cards!

Marianne smacked the buzzer.

Nina, Dan, and Vi snapped their heads her way.

“It’s—” she said.

And she saw Jalilah watching her. Kylie, watching her. Ava, watching her, ready to laugh, her mouth already breaking out into a grin. Lucas, snickering silently.

The comments. The comments.

omg omg she is so stuuupiiiiid this is amazing

lol this is so embarrassing i cant even handle it

And then her mouth wouldn’t move.

“You have to answer now,” Nina told her, gesturing to go faster.

“I know it, I know it…” She’d just read this. It was on the card, but it wasn’t the parade of elephants. What was it?

“Time is up. You have to answer,” Vi said.

She could feel all their eyes on her.

“No, I know it. It’s … It’s right there—” She pointed to her forehead.

“Time—”

“Come on, Marianne,” Vi said. “You know this one.”

Vi had seen her text. She knew she knew it.

And she did. She remembered it. She knew the right answer. A destruction.

Lucas let out a snort, but at Mr. Garcia’s immediate glare, he coughed, covering it up.

“Uuuum…” Marianne said, spacey, bubbly, cute, stupid. “Aw, a bunch of wildcats sounds so cute. Maybe … a cuddle?” And she giggled.

“Baaahaha,” Lucas laughed.

Mr. Garcia stood up, opened the door, and said “Out. Mr. Hayes?” He pointed to the hallway. “Out.”

Lucas and Ava left, laughing.

Kylie and Jalilah got up, but Mr. Garcia told them they could stay and do another few minutes of practice.

He sighed. “What a day today, hmm?” he said to the facts on his page. He rubbed his temples. After a beat, he added, “My apologies to everyone for the commotion.” Another beat. And then, “The correct answer is ‘a destruction.’”

“Ooh cool!” Kylie exclaimed. “That was a hard one,” she said to Marianne, her lipstick shimmery, her eyes kind.

Marianne looked up at the ceiling. It had so many brown lines, like cracks, in it. Would the whole building come tumbling down one day?

“Excellent effort, Ms. Blume,” Mr. Garcia said. “Keep going for that buzzer.”

When the scrimmage of horrors finally ended, and Kylie and Jalilah skipped off to their next activities or to home, and Mr. Garcia went to refill his water glass, Vi turned to the team.

What would she put them down about?

First she laid into Dan. “You knew Plymouth Rock. Why didn’t you answer?”

He shrugged.

“You just gave up again!” And to Nina, Vi said, “What is even going on with you? Do we have to worry about you getting to ten percent answered, too? I don’t get it, you have some of the best grades in the school!”