Complications
Chapter Eleven – Round One
It's night one of the first round of the Simverse Winter Physics Bowl, and Pascal is standing backstage giving his four chosen students a pep talk. He clasps his hands together and turns to the team, "Now, I know we didn't perform our best last week during the preliminary round…"
The La Fiesta Tech and Sim State physics teams are in the middle of a rather intense preliminary round against one another. Both teams are sitting at their respective team tables onstage while an elder professor asks them questions from the center podium. La Fiesta Tech's team is surprisingly calm and collective while Sim State's team appears to be experiencing some trouble.
"AHHHHH!" Craig screams as he runs around in circles behind Sim State's table, a wasp caught in his hair while Loki, Vidcund, and Circe are all situated at the table in front of him. Vidcund is staring longingly at Circe in the hopes of catching her attention, while the young woman blatantly ignores him. Loki reaches his arm forward and hits the red buzzer on their table.
"Fifteen!" he beamingly answers.
"…but I think we'll do much better today during the real deal," Pascal states optimistically, shooting the team members a smile.
Loki crosses his arms and rolls his eyes. "I don't know what you're talking about, I was fantastic!" he says definitively.
"True," Pascal agrees, "But if we want to get far in this tournament, everyone has to do their part. After all, you guys don't want to make yourselves look bad in front of the cameras."
"Cameras?" Loki repeats scrunching his nose, "What kind of person would spend their Friday night watching this crap?"
"Hey son, check it out!" Loki's father, Bjorn, exclaims from behind him. He wraps an arm around his son and points out into the audience at Loki's mother. Gundrun waves to them, "You can see our seats from here!"
"Dad! What are you doing here?" Loki chimes, a slight irritation in his voice, "Does Mom have nothing better to do than follow me around all the time?"
Bjorn taps his finger against his chin, seriously pondering this one over. "Well, she started that erotic book club last month, but I don't think it's going well," Bjorn replies, letting go of him, "This month's book is entitled, Love in the Time of Sandwiches, which profiles a guy who has some pretty unique fetishes-"
"You know, this is the kind of stuff I really don't need to know," Loki remarks, signaling his father to stop as he takes a step away from him.
"Alright, everyone," Professor Irma states, approaching from the other side of the stage and clasping his hands together. He stops in front the Sim State Physics Team, "I wish you all luck and-" Professor Irma turns to the right and freezes, only to find Bjorn standing behind Loki. Bjorn smiles and waves at the professor. "Bjorn," Professor Irma growls, accusingly narrowing his eyes at him, "How did you even get back here?"
Bjorn shrugs, "I hit on the stage manager," he states, "Speaking of which, who wants a program?" he chimes, enthusiastically taking out a handful of programs from behind his back and spreading them out like a fan in front of his torso.
"Get out of here," Professor Irma glares, "The last thing I want is for you to ruin our one chance at the finals this year by getting us disqualified from the tournament!" he hisses, his students – minus Loki – quite puzzled by his hostile demeanor.
Bjorn grins once more, clearly oblivious to the heated surroundings. "Okay," he nods, "What a nice guy," he genuinely comments before turning to Loki and giving a joyful farewell, "Good luck, son! Your mother and I will be cheering for you!"
Loki groans as his father jumps off the stage and rejoins his mother. They both gleefully wave to Loki from their seats as the coordinator gestures the two physics teams to their respective tables. The head chairman of the Simverse Physics Bowl approaches the wooden podium. The bespectacled chairman first smiles to the two groups of students, then out to the quieting crowd. He adjusts his sparkling red glasses. "Hello everyone, I'm Chairman Ryan Brown, and let me be the first to present to you, the first tournament in round one of the Fifty-third Annual Simverse Winter Physics Bowl!" he animatedly announces, throwing his hands up towards the ceiling. "Today, Sim State University and La Fiesta Technical University will be facing off against one another for a chance to win the coveted Simverse Physics Trophy. The winner will advance to the semifinals to take on the winner of the matchup that will take place this afternoon," he explains, turning towards the Sim State team, "Sim State University's team is led by Loki Beaker-"
Gundrun and Bjorn spring up from their seats and start clapping loudly. "Woo! Yeah! That's my son!" Bjorn cheers.
"I gave birth to him!" Gundrun's voice echoes through the auditorium.
Onstage, Loki shakes his head and groans into his palm.
"And La Fiesta Technical University's team is led by Aaron Shortly," Chairman Ryan adds, wiping a line of sweat from his brow, "I've been announcing this tournament for thirty-seven years and one thing's for sure, it's always an exciting matchup!"
One and a half hours later
"And in a surprising turn of events Sim State University has defeated La Fiesta Technical University by a score of 307-3," student reporter Sharon Applegate announces as she stands in front of the victorious group, most of whom are cheering at the top of their lungs. Across the stage, La Fiesta Tech's physics team is staring at them in shock. "The winning team missed the first three questions, but quickly rallied back thanks to their leader, Loki Beaker, who answered three hundred of the remaining questions on his own. Loki-" the reporter begins, approaching the silent leader, "How do you explain your team's remarkable success?" she asks, pointing a microphone in Loki's face as her cameramen start to surround him.
"What kind of dumb question is that?" Loki growls, "I just got the correct answer and buzzed in faster than anyone on the other team. Isn't it obvious?"
Sharon steps back slightly, her joyful demeanor quickly fading, "Oh, right," she replies before turning her attentions to the leader of the opposing team. "Aaron, wait! I need you for an exit interview!"
Loki groans once more as his parents race onstage, Erin following reluctantly after them. Gundrun throws her arms around her son. "Oh Loki! You were fantastic! You looked so cute up there answering all those questions!" Gundrun beams, squeezing him in her arms.
"Mom, let go," Loki mutters, a testy glare on his face as Erin stares impatiently at her wristwatch next to him.
"Sorry," Gundrun squeaks, letting go of him and patting Loki gently on the back. "We're just so proud of you. You too, Vidcund," Gundrun nods, acknowledging the student standing nearby. Vidcund smiles.
"Why?" Circe speaks up next to him, awkwardly standing by waiting for Loki's parents to leave the auditorium, "He didn't answer a single question!"
Gundrun narrows her eyes at the young woman, "You know, Circe, it takes a lot of effort to be on a team, no matter how many questions you answer during a tournament."
"Well, that's a refreshing outlook," Glarn mutters, walking up behind Vidcund with his other two sons at his side. Lazlo is tapping vigorously on his Game Boy while Pascal is staring off into space. Pascal lowers his eyes and stares briefly out at the auditorium. He shrieks when he locks eyes with Jim and ducks behind the velvet curtain. Glarn shakes his head and facepalms as Vidcund slowly walks over to his older brother.
"Hey, are you okay?" Vidcund wonders, "What's wrong?" Pascal sinks his head slightly and points out at the nearly-empty auditorium. Vidcund narrows in on Jim and nods in realization before turning back to Pascal, "You know you can't avoid him forever," he states.
"I can try!" Pascal declares, stepping further behind the curtain.
"Yeah, well, at least you're actually on good terms with the guy," Vidcund tells him, "Thanks to you guys' little stunt last week, I'm still on the outs with Drew," he hisses, before crossing his arms and giving a sigh, "I don't get it," he laments, Pascal surprisingly paying attention to what he has to say for once, "I always thought being blonde would help me in the dating pool, but Drew told me to lose it on our date."
"What?" Pascal tilts his forehead.
"Last week, Drew told me that if I ever wanted to date anyone, I would have to 'lose the blonde'," Vidcund repeats, staring into his eyes.
Pascal pulls his head back suddenly, his forehead scrunching at this puzzling remark. "Uh, are you sure he was referring to your hair?" he asks.
It is Vidcund's turn to be puzzled, "What else would he be referring to?"
"Well, uh…" Pascal begins, nervously rubbing the back of his neck, "It's just…maybe he was referring to a person."
"Who?" Vidcund squeaks, Pascal points to the blonde aggressive student standing across the room, "Loki?" Pascal nods as Vidcund's mouth opens a tad in astonishment, "No."
"He did throw a rock at your date's head," Pascal reminds him as Vidcund continues to stare across the room at his once-rival. Pascal steps forward and gives his middle brother a consolatory pat, "Well, good luck with all that," he wishes before taking off backstage and rejoining the rest of his family.
Vidcund stands by the curtain in shock, his mind going a mile a minute as he stares out at Loki. "I guess there's only one way I'll know for sure…" Vidcund mutters, planning his next course of action.
Vidcund takes a deep breath as he approaches his team leader, who is still surrounded by his family members. "Hey, can I talk to you?" Vidcund says, barely able to keep his arms from shaking.
Loki stares at his family for a moment, before looking at Vidcund, clearly taken off-guard. "Uh, yeah," Loki says suddenly, his heart racing as Vidcund leads him to an isolated part of the stage across the room. "Look, I didn't transform your snack cakes, okay?" Loki immediately spews, feeling like a nervous wreck as Vidcund stares into his eyes. "They were evil when you bought them!"
Vidcund tilts his forehead in confusion, "What?" he chimes. He shakes his head, "Never mind, that's not important," he declares suddenly, "I just wanted to ask you if…uh," Vidcund begins, finding it hard to look Loki in the face. Vidcund sighs as he anxiously rubs the back of his neck and stares across the room, "Do you like me?" he blurts out.
"What? Whoa," Loki replies, his face instantly reddening at this outburst, "You better be careful throwing out accusations like that, Viddy," he states sarcastically, regaining his composure.
"You're right. It's stupid," Vidcund says, a wave of relief washing over him after confronting his worries head on, "Like something like that would ever happen!"
"Heh, heh, yeah," Loki nervously laughs, his heart sinking into his stomach at this heavy statement, "that's never going to happen," he repeats, staring into his crush's eyes.
"Yeah. Well, I'll see you later, Beaker," Vidcund greets, his happy demeanor quickly returning as he waves goodbye.
Loki sighs as he watches Vidcund slowly retreat, meekly holding his hand up in a delayed response as he racks his brain at his crush's final comment, "Bye," he mumbles.