"Katherine, I'm confused. There's no explanation for it. It's just like what happened with Jordan, only worse. At least I haven't doodled absent-mindedly this time. Imagine if I had, and Hank had seen? Or Dad?

What's that, Katherine? You want to know how it started? Of course you would, you clever iguana.

We were in assembly, and Mr Joy was talking about his latest scheme to emphasise achievement at Westbrook – to take the highest achiever from each year and make them compete against each other in a 'Battle of the Brains' competition. Mr Joy said that he'd chosen the contenders for each year. People groaned when all of the names were announced, but the groan was loudest for me and him. Hank actually rolled his eyes! Mr Joy said that at each 'round', one person would be eliminated, and the last two would go head to head in a general knowledge quiz.

I got through all of the rounds comfortably – why, thank you, Katherine, it's good to know you're proud of me! – but, a little annoyingly, he did too.

But that's not all. There was also the incident at Mr Rock's Outside-In Camp, where he caught me out of the hall – yes, looking for you! But I outsmarted him, Katherine. I could have as easily reported him!

It's the 'Battle of the Brains' final tomorrow – Mr Excels-in-all-areas-of-the-curriculum versus Miss Excels-in-all-areas-of-the-curriculum-but-is-overlooked-because-she's-a-Zipzer. I don't want to see his smug face when he wins, though. Nor do I want to see his shocked face when I win. I don't really want to see his face at all.

Katherine, why did I have to fall for Nick McKelty?"

"Dad? You told me to phone you whatever the result of the competition. I tried, Dad, I really did. But she was just too good. Dad, I know you keep saying that McKeltys don't lose to Zipzers, but I can't cheat at something like this – and especially not against her. She understands, Dad. She understands the labels that get given because of a name, and I know I haven't helped. She understands about being ridiculed and degraded for being clever.

Dad, you're going to hate me saying this, but her and I have more in common than you might think. And I'm not making excuses – I'm being truthful. She's quite funny too, in a geeky, sarcastic way. Like me, almost.

I hate losing, Dad. You know I do. But for once, this doesn't hurt. Maybe it's because I deserved to lose, maybe I lost to the right person. I know you'll hate to hear this, but I'm old enough to think things through now. Don't try and change my mind.

Dad, I like Emily Zipzer."

A/N: Hey! So basically I know I haven't posted for ages. And I know that this may not be a popular pairing. And yes, I do ship McKelty with lots of people. Hope you enjoyed this, and I want to confirm officially that the Hank x McKelty ship name is 'HanKelty'! Go forth and ship! G x