Beverly Hills High is all aflutter! Today and tomorrow are the days the school will pick it's 2-student representative team, plus 1 alternate, for the TV show Academians. All schools win something from the show, but the first place team wins a state-of-the-art Computer and Science lab!
Of course, one of the finalists is Sam.
"Gee, Sammy! Good luck at the tryouts today and tomorrow!" says Alex.
"We'll be rooting for you!" adds Clover.
"Thanks, gals, it's nice to have someone pulling for you!" says an obviously excited Sam. "I'm really excited about the competition!"
"You'll need all the help you can get!" says Mandy as she breaks in. "I'm going to finish first and claim the Captain's Armband! Then I get to decide who will represent Beverly Hills High out of the finalists!!"
"PPLLLEASE Mandy," exclaims Clover, "like YOU have any chance of beating Sam!"
"Yeah," adds Alex, "you may be smart, but no one is smarter than our Sammy!!"
Sam blushes, "I am not really THAT smart, girls!"
"I'll say your not! I'll beat the designer pants off of you and everyone else," squeals Mandy, as she departs.
Sam is a bit perturbed, as she looks annoyingly at the retreating Mandy.
"The only thing bigger than Mandy's opinion of herself is the National Debt!" Clover says to Sam.
Alex adds, "I think it's a tie!"
Sam says, with determination, "OK, Miss Mandy! You're on! We'll see who's smarter!"
"That's the spirit, Sammy! You can beat her!" says Alex.
But, of course, Mandy isn't going to play fair. "I have to play on that girl-nerd's sympathies! I have to INSURE I win!" she thinks to herself.
While Mandy is lost in her plan to derail Sam, Cliff approaches her and says, "Hi, Mandy! Want to go to the movies tomorrow?" Cliff is a pretty good-looking guy, and he's smart too. Just the bait to trip up that Sam!
"Well, Cliff, I first need you to do me a favor!"
Cliff is beside himself with joy! He has been trying to get Mandy to go out with him for almost a month! "Sure, Mandy! What is it?"
"As you know, we have the Academian competition today and tomorrow. I'm going to win, of course, but you can make it easier for me if you can get that Samantha Simpson to feel sorry for you, and blow the competition, so she doesn't make the team!" Mandy says sweetly.
"Well, I don't know....," says Cliff. What's in this for him, he wonders.
"If you succeed, I'll go with you to the movies, and be your girlfriend for the rest of this month!"
Cliff's jaw drops! What a reward! "Ok, I'll do it!"
"Fine!" says Mandy, as Cliff goes off on his cloud. She laughs softly to herself. "That should take care of Sam!"
The first contest is chess. The top 16 ranked students in chess will compete. Sam breezes through the first two rounds, as does Cliff, Mandy, and Matt. Mandy is able to work the draw.
"Darryl!" Mandy calls to the President of the Chess Club. The two go off into a quiet corner of the room. "If you can work the semi-finals so that Sam faces Cliff, and I face Matt, I'll let you treat me to lunch on Saturday at the Mall!"
Darryl figures he'll take advantage of this situation. That was going to be the draw anyways, and now Mandy will owe him a lunch date! "Ok, Mandy! I'll do it! Now don't forget! We have a lunch date at the Mall Saturday!"
"Certainly!" coos Mandy. Her plan is taking form!
Darryl announces the pairings for the semi-finals. "In the first semi-final match on chessboard number 1, Mandy will face Matt! The second semi-final match will be held on chessboard 2, and pit Sam against Cliff!"
Cliff immediately goes to work on Sam. He says loud enough for Sam to hear, "I sure hope I win this match! If I don't make the first team, I'll be grounded for the rest of the year by my parents!" Clover and Alex also hear Cliff, but blow him off.
Sam feels a twinge of sympathy for Cliff. He's a nice enough guy. She can let him beat her at chess. And she does. Sam makes an uncharacteristic blunder that is so obvious, the observers in the crowd let out a collective gasp! Even Clover and Alex can see it!
"What is Sam doing?" asks Alex unbelievingly, from among the observers.
"I don't know! Even I know that's a major blunder!" says an aghast Clover, also from the crowd.
And due to her 'blunder', Sam loses to Cliff, who makes it to the finals. But there is a fly in the ointment, and a snag in Mandy's plan! Matt beats Mandy in their match, and Mandy knows Sam and Matt are good friends, so there is no way she can persuade Matt to set Sam up, or take a fall for her. Matt goes on to beat Cliff as well. Score after first event: Matt 1, Cliff 2, Mandy 3, and Sam 4.
The gals talk to Sam after her match.
"Sammy, what happened? Are you feeling ok?" asks a concerned Alex.
"I'm fine, Alex," says Sam.
"Then why did you make that move in your last game, Sam? Even I know that was a major error!" says Clover.
"I guess I wasn't paying enough attention," says Sam.
Alex and Clover can see that they are starting to upset Sam, so they drop the subject and accompany her to the next competition: the Spelling Bee.
"That's ok, Sammy! You'll knock 'em dead in this competition!" says Alex.
"Right, Sam! You're the reigning school Champ! We'll be pulling for you in the crowd!" says Clover.
"Thanks, guys! I'll do my best!" says Sam, as she goes to the contestant's area.
"Sam should rock in this competition!" says Alex confidently.
"Right! She's the reigning Spelling Bee School Champion! She'll erase that chess loss here!" remarks Clover.
The contest is soon reduced to four contestants: Sam, Mandy, Matt and Cliff. Cliff once again plays his sympathy card and Sam falls for it again. Clover and Alex also hear Cliff and wonder what he's complaining about. But, again the fly in the ointment is Mandy herself. She is the first of the final four to misspell a word. But Sam is the next to misspell a word, to the astonishment of the crowd!
"Clover, I can't believe that just happened! Sam misspelled 'pteridophyte', the very word she spelled correctly to win the School Championship!"
"I know Alex, what's wrong with her?" asks a concerned Clover.
Again, Matt wins the competition, with Cliff coming in second. The scores at the end of the first day of competition: Matt 2, Cliff 4, Mandy 7, and Sam 7. But after the competition, Matt approaches Clover and Alex. There's something wrong with Sam!
"Sam isn't herself. She should have easily won both of those competitions, yet she's tied for third. I think someone is playing Sam for a chump!" Matt says.
"I agree! Sammy should have cruised in both of those competitions!" says Alex.
"We'd better check it out," says Clover.
Soon Sam joins the threesome. Matt says, "Better luck tomorrow, Sam! I'm sure you'll do better! Something was bothering you today!" With that, Matt goes on his way.
"Is there something wrong, Sammy? Don't you want to talk about it?" asks a concerned Alex.
"No, I'm fine!" Sam insists. The gals can see that trying to press Sam will only get her angry. They'll have to figure this one out on their own.
