"Welcome to the first official day of competition. This is the 57th year that this camp has been running for, and we expect the competition to be fierce this year. Our first event will be a knockout round of trivia. Only the top four schools will proceed to the next round. This competition will start after breakfast at 9am in Cabin 5," said a pompous looking man carrying a clipboard. "I encourage you to show some school spirit and cheer on your fellow schoolmates."

"Okay, here are our main threats," Paris whispered to the Chilton trivia team. "Redfield Prep, of course. Berchmoore Prep and Riddly High. Now everyone that gets through to the next round gets the same amount of points. I just need you to be sure that you'll get in the top four. Okay?"

"What about Merlet Academy?" Rory asked.

"Tristan's school? Please! They don't stand a chance." Paris laughed them off.

"But Tristan said they were really smart," Rory continued.

"He was having you on Rory," Paris enforced. "Trust me."

"Okay guys, top four. Can you do it?" Tristan said to his four trivia contestants.

"Piece of cake," said Marcus.

"How's this trivia round work anyhow?" John asked.

"Twenty questions. Ten seconds between questions. They'll give you an answer sheet to write down your answers. Bruce, you scribe, you've got the neatest writing. Now you can talk to each other, but don't talk to loudly or the other teams will hear you. If you can throw in some false answers to make the other teams second question their choice, do it. Now if you come fifth you don't make it through and you don't get any points. We need points. Clear?"

"Yeah, man. Leave it to us," said Marcus, clapping his arm around his stressed friend. "This Rory must be a real hum dinger! Which one is she?"

"See the one frowning?" Tristan asked, nodding his head in the direction of the Chilton table.

"Yeah."

"The one next to her."

"Babe!"

"Yeah," said Tristan, his eyes lingering on her as the Chiltonites left the mess hall.

At the trivia competition:

"What is the official language of Austria?"

"Looks like that A volume came in handy after all, right?" said John.

"Um, well…" Marcus trailed off.

"What!" Bruce whispered.

"I kinda fell asleep after Argentina," Marcus confessed.

"No!" John exclaimed.

"Well quick, think of an answer!" Bruce urged. "French? Italian? German? It's one of those."

"It's German," Marcus said confidently.

"Are you sure?" John questioned.

"Didn't the Germans invade Austria or something? I saw it on the Sound of Music," Marcus assured them.

"Write it down," John ordered Bruce.

Tristan looked on as the Merlet table argued. The other schools had their answers written already and were poised for the next question.

"What is the thirteenth element of the periodic table?"

"I know this one," Bruce exclaimed. "Just give me a second to think."

Bruce chewed on his pencil as his brain assailed the list of elements in his head.

"It's aluminium," he said, writing it down.

…

"And the final question is, What country is the largest consumer of coffee?"

"What? Who knows the answer to that!" Marcus shouted.

The other schools laughed at him.

"Quiet please."

Rory smiled for she knew the answer.

"It's Sweden," Rory told Grace, who was scribing for Chilton.

"It figures you would know," Victor smiled at her.

"The following schools will proceed to round two and are awarded twenty points. Chilton Prep, mark- 20. Redfield Prep, also 20. Berchmoore Prep-18. And lastly Merlet Academy –15. Round two will be at the same time tomorrow."

"Dude, we made it!" Marcus high fived Tristan.

"Well done, guys," Tristan congratulated them.

"What did I tell you? Piece of cake. No sweat," said Marcus.

"Congratulations guys," said Rory coming up behind them.

"Didn't I say not to underestimate these men?" Tristan pointed out.

"That you did. I have to go report to Paris now. I'll see you at the next round," said Rory.

"Did you see that?" Marcus said after Rory left. "She smiled at me!"

"She did not, Marc."

"She did. Didn't she John?"

"What?" Paris yelled.

"I told you Merlet Academy was smart," Rory insisted.

"Hmmm, how smart?"

"They beat Riddly," Rory offered. "They must be fairly smart."

"Find out!"

"How?"

"There's a nature walk tonight, I'm signing you up."

"What?"

"Tristan will be there, more than likely. You can squeeze some info out of him and get some exercise at the same time."

"Exercise?" Rory scrunched up her nose.

"Listen, I don't have time to argue. I've got my debate in half an hour. Just see what you can find out," said Paris, walking away.