Chapter 9
The Favorites
The next morning, Olivia was already in class at their table by the time Elliot and Amanda rolled in. Sitting in his usual seat next to her, Elliot said, "Why are you here so early?"
"Yeah, how long have you been here?" Amanda asked, taking her own seat as she checked her watch. "We still have 20 minutes before class starts."
Giving a yawn, Olivia shrugged. "I went out for a breakfast sandwich and just came right here afterwards."
"Wow, no sandwich for me?" Elliot asked, pretending to be offended.
"Sorry!" Olivia laughed, yawning yet again as she leaned back to stretch. "I just needed a pick me up. I'm so tired today."
"Late night studying?" Amanda asked, opening her notes and laptop on the table in front of her.
"Not exactly," Olivia said, unable to stop the smile that was slowly growing wide across her face.
Narrowing his eyes in suspicion, Elliot turned his body so that he was now facing Olivia's direction. "You hook up with a girl?"
"No," Olivia quickly defended, her smile fading. "Definitely not that. I just didn't get in until late."
"Well, what were you doing?" Amanda questioned, now also curious about Olivia's evening.
Before she could answer, her eyes darted to the front of the room where Alex was walking in. Once she got to her podium, she too yawned as she took a sip of her coffee, readying her plans for the day.
And Olivia just couldn't take her eyes off of Alex.
Looking back and forth between them both, Elliot lightly started tapping Olivia's arm as he leaned in closer to her, Amanda following suit.
"Why is she yawning?"
"What?" Olivia whispered back annoyed. "Because she's tired, maybe? Everyone is tired, Elliot."
"Yeah, but… she's never yawned. And neither have you."
"You are really looking into this too much, you know," Olivia said, immediately opening her book to take her attention away from her friends.
But if she had been looking, she would've seen the looks Amanda and Elliot were exchanging, before both dropping their mouths wide open and silently gasping.
"You're avoiding us," Amanda whispered.
"Yeah! You only do that when you're nervous," Elliot added.
"So something must've happened, right?" Amanda asked.
"You went to her office hours again, didn't you?"
"Shut up," Olivia whispered through gritted teeth.
"Oh my God, you did!" Elliot said, again tapping Olivia's arm repeatedly. "But that doesn't explain why you're tired. Did you take her on her desk?"
Next thing they knew, everyone was looking at them as Elliot yelped out from Olivia stomping on his foot. Amanda had her head on the desk, shaking from laughter much like Olivia was. Looking up, Olivia caught eyes with Alex, who had an eyebrow raised at them. Flashing her a smile through her embarrassment, Alex flashed one back as she chuckled and shook her head, looking back down to continue her prep for the day.
"Okay," Elliot choked out. "I deserved that."
"You're lucky we're sitting, or I would've kicked you somewhere else," Olivia threatened.
Instinctively covering himself, Elliot said frantically, "Okay, okay, got it. No need for that!"
The 3 of them spent the next several minutes chatting before Alex spoke up, making her way to the front of the class, coffee in hand.
"Alright, everyone. Welcome to another Friday! As you know, we've got our first big test coming up, which covers the entire first unit. So, what I want to do, is spend the next 2 weeks prepping you for this test. It's not going to be easy. There will be 100 questions, worth 3 points each. And just as a gentle reminder, you do need an 80 or above to pass the class, so please try to aim for an 80 on the test. This gives you a window of 20 questions missed, so there's some leniency, but please, please, please study. I cannot stress this enough. Now, are there any questions regarding the test?"
Raising his hand, Elliot was called on first by Alex.
"Will the grading be on a curve?" Elliot asked, causing Olivia to immediately shake her head and snicker at him.
Alex tapped her fingers against her coffee cup, her lips pursed in thought. "I wasn't planning on it, no. But, we will see. Depends on how the class does."
Alex then called on another student, who inquired about the types of questions that would be on the test.
"All multiple choice for the first test. Not every test will be like this, though."
She then spent the next 10 minutes answering more questions from her students until no one had anything else to say. Making her way back to the podium, Alex spoke once more.
"Okay! With that out of the way, let's do something fun today to help prep. Just let me get everything set up, here."
Alex opened up her laptop and began searching her files for the Jeopardy game Casey helped her build for the class, since she was finally convinced maybe she was making things a little too rough on her students. She had decided maybe making a game out of things could be fun.
While Alex was searching, Olivia rested her head in her hand, her elbow propped against the table. She fixated her eyes on Alex, watching the glow of her laptop screen reflecting against her glasses and face; noticing how a small smile was on her lips as she reviewed the file in front of her. She immediately felt her stomach swirl, the feeling of butterflies flying endlessly around inside of her.
I wonder if she even knows how beautiful she really is.
As if Alex had somehow heard her thoughts, she looked up from her laptop and right at Olivia, their eyes locking again in an intense stare. Smiling at her, Olivia lifted her free hand that was resting on the table just slightly – a move which Alex reciprocated, lifting her hand to Olivia and grinning widely before focusing back on her laptop screen.
Fuck me, did that just happen?
"Man, you are a lost cause," Elliot laughed, causing Olivia to break her stare away from Alex.
"Huh?" Olivia asked, oblivious to whatever Elliot had said.
"You are nearly drooling, right now. She's gonna catch onto you."
Good, I hope she does.
"Alright, here we go!" Alex said, clapping her hands together as the makeshift Jeopardy board flashed to the front of the room on the projector. "I thought we could play a game. I'm assuming you all have heard of Jeopardy, right?"
Surrounded by some nodding and soft agreements, Alex made her next point.
"Well, we are going to be split into 3 teams. The left column of tables, the middle, and the right. Now whatever team wins, gets 10 bonus points on the test."
That perked everybody up.
"Hot dog!" Elliot exclaimed, causing Olivia and Amanda to snort in laughter. "We are so gonna win this. We've got the smartest one in the class right here!"
"Okay, no, let's not say that," Olivia said blushing.
"It's true," Amanda agreed. "And the second smartest right here!" She pointed to herself proudly.
"Alright, alright, class. Team names! I'll give everyone several minutes to discuss."
All three columns got together to converse, coming up with their team names. The left side decided to be called "The Lefty's," the right side decided to be called "Team Smitty WerbenJagerManJensen," and the middle decided to call themselves "The Favorites."
"How do I even spell… what was your team name? The Werber-Mansons?"
This caused most of the class to laugh. A boy from their side said, "Smitty WerbenJagerManJensen." This was then followed by the rest of his team chanting together, "He was number 1!" The rest of the class then erupted with laughter, catching onto the reference.
Alex, completely clueless, just chuckled as she surveyed her students with an eyebrow raised before shaking her head. "That still doesn't help me in the spelling. Do you want to come type it in?"
The boy came down and typed it in before returning to his table. Turning and crossing her arms, Alex surveyed the name on the screen.
"Do I even want to know what this is from?"
"Spongebob!" Some students shouted.
"Oh. Well, can't say I've watched much of that," Alex laughed, which caused some students to gasp in surprise.
Alex put her hands on her hips. "Why is that always everyone's response when I say I haven't watched something?" She then flicked her eyes to Olivia and gave her a quick wink before focusing back on typing the rest of the team names in.
God, did Olivia just feel like melting. She quickly dipped her head to her chest and bit her lip, both Elliot and Amanda noticing.
"Someone's blushing," Amanda teased.
"I can't help it. She's driving me crazy," Olivia whispered before biting her lip once more, looking back up to meet Alex's gaze once again.
"Alright, now we need Captains for the teams. Who will they be?"
With just a quick discussion, each team soon picked out their captains.
For The Lefty's, it was a girl named Beth. For Team Smitty, it was Jeremy, the boy who typed the name. And for The Favorites, it was none other than Olivia.
"Alright, each of the captains, please come sit at the front table of your section. We will be following the same rules as regular Jeopardy – whatever team answers correctly gets to pick the next category, and so on and so forth. Now, we don't have buzzers, but the captains will raise their hand once they want to give the answer, and I'll call on whoever raised their hand first. Are we ready?"
Surveying the class for nods and agreement, Alex was pleased to see the engagement and enthusiasm of her students.
"Okay. I'll read an opening question to see who goes first. This has nothing to do with class, just a fun question. Can anyone tell me who the first signatory was on the Declaration of Independence?"
Olivia immediately raised her hand, Alex calling on her.
"John Hancock."
Impressed, Alex gave Olivia a smile and a nod of her head.
"Correct. The Favorites will go first."
"Yes!" Elliot said, giving the table a light slap. "You got this Benson!"
"Alright, what category are you taking?" Alex asked.
Turning around, Olivia briefly discussed with her team what category they should pick. As she focused back on the board, she said, "Let's go with Cases for $1,000."
"I like the confidence!" Alex said as she clicked on the answer, reading it to the class. "In this case, the court held that there is no criminal liability when one commits an offense or act due to ignorance of facts provided that it was not due to negligence or bad faith."
Leaning forward, to the point where she almost jumped the table, Amanda began smacking the side of Olivia's arm.
"I know it, Olivia! This was my case I picked for the paper!"
Shooting her hand up, Alex called on Olivia as the other teams groaned. Before answering, Amanda leaned in to whisper the answer in her ear.
"What is US vs. Ah Chong, 1910?"
Alex paused, just momentarily for dramatic effect. She then flashed a smile at Olivia and her group. "Correct!"
Elliot leaned to the side to give Amanda a fist bump as some of the other students on their team gave her some thumbs up and congratulations.
"Next category?"
Olivia again turned around to gauge her team's opinion. They decided to go for another big prized category.
"Let's go with Definitions for $1,000."
Repeating her previous actions, Alex clicked on the answer and read it to the class. "Consummated, frustrated, and attempted make up what?"
Olivia and the other captains turned to their groups to discuss. Within 5 seconds, Beth raised her hand for The Lefty's.
Alex pointed to Beth and prompted the team for their response.
"What are the stages of execution?" Beth said.
Alex paused yet again, keeping anticipations high before revealing the answer. "Looks like we've got a tie game! The Lefty's take this one!"
"Dang it!" Elliot said, turning around to hype up their group. "Come on guys, we need these points!"
Alex threw her empty coffee cup away in the trashcan by the door before making it back to her podium to display the scores for each team.
"Before we get into our final Jeopardy question, let's recap. We've got The Lefty's in third place with $8,400, Smitty WerbenJagerManJensen with $12,200, and The Favorites with $14,000. I'll give everyone 30 seconds to come up with their wager, and then I'll read the final answer."
Olivia quickly turned around to talk amongst her team.
"I say we go all in."
"I agree, go big or go home," Elliot said.
"Yeah, it's our only shot," Amanda agreed.
The rest of the team nodding and agreeing, Olivia turned back around and placed her hands on the table, interlocking her fingers as she waited.
"Alright, let's hear those wagers!"
Just as suspected, all of the teams went all in.
Taking a deep breath, Alex read the final answer to the class. "Under the frustrated stage of execution, the elements are as follows: the offender performs all acts of execution, and all these acts would produce the felony as a consequence, but, the felony is not produced due to intervening causes that are independent of the will of the perpetrator. Keeping this in mind, list 5 crimes that do not admit of frustrated stage."
Looking around, nearly everyone in the class looked like they had seen a ghost.
"I'll give everyone 3 minutes to discuss."
Turning around, Olivia immediately began chewing on her lip as she drummed her fingers against the table with one hand, tapping her pencil against the paper with the other.
"Well, I have no fucking clue," Elliot admitted, slapping his hands to his thighs. "I don't even know what that means."
Amanda was tapping her foot on the ground, eyes pinched shut as she rubbed her forehead. "I'm pretty sure I remember reading these. Something about… arson? And corruption of public officers?"
Olivia quickly scribbled those two things down.
"Wait," a boy on their team said, leaning down closer. "Physical injury is another one."
Jotting it down, Olivia immediately perked up.
"I think I've got another one. Rape."
"What's the last one?" Amanda asked.
Looking around at each other, everyone got quiet as they tried their best to think of the answer.
"45 seconds," Alex warned in a sing-song tone.
Snapping his fingers, Elliot nearly jumped out of his chair.
"Holy shit. It's adultery."
"Are you sure?" Amanda questioned, lifting her eyebrow up to him in suspicion.
"Well… about 75% sure."
"I'll take it," Olivia said, quickly writing it down as she turned back around, heart thumping.
"Alright, time is up! Lefty's, since you're in third, let's hear your answer first."
Beth read off their list, which was the same as Olivia's team, only replacing "adultery" with "theft."
Listening intently and nodding, Alex soon gave a smile as she said, "Correct! This brings you up to first place with a total of $16,800!"
"Oh, fuck," Elliot groaned, laying his head down against the table.
"Don't freak out yet," Amanda whispered. "There's more than 5 possible answers, Elliot. We could've still got it."
Elliot lifted his head up and nodded before looking over to their last competitor, who was reading off their answer.
Listening intently again, Alex pursed her lips before speaking. "Unfortunately, that is incorrect."
Audible groans from Team Smitty WerbenJagerManJensen could be heard ringing throughout the room, Jeremy tossing the paper up.
"I guess he's not number 1 after all," Alex laughed, helping to lighten the mood of the losing team. "That brings you down to $0, and last place. Now. Over to The Favorites. What do you have?"
Shaking a bit, Olivia cleared her throat before reading off the list to Alex. Everyone behind her was paying close attention, leaning in and watching as they awaited Alex to give her response.
"Well," Alex started, pacing away from the podium. "I see your answers were nearly the same as The Lefty's. Just the difference of one – adultery. Can anyone tell me why you chose this?"
Nervously, Elliot raised his hand.
"Elliot?" Alex asked, genuinely surprised he offered.
Everyone turned to look at him, awaiting his answer.
"Well, Prof. It's because adultery can only be the attempted or consummated stage. Because much like rape, the essence of adultery is sexual intercourse."
Alex could hardly contain the smile on her face. Crossing her arms, she began nodding her head. "You're exactly right, Elliot. You guys are correct!"
Amanda, Olivia, and the rest of their team nearly lost it. Throwing her arms around him, Amanda squeezed Elliot as hard as she could while their other teammates gave him high-fives, pats on the back, and fist bumps. Once Amanda let go, Olivia nearly jumped over the table, holding Elliot in a bear hug and she messed up his hair.
"You freaking studied!" Olivia said. "And look how it paid off!"
Alex had to speak up, her voice booming over the class in order to regain their attention.
"That brings The Favorites' total to $28,000, pushing you well past The Lefty's, and winning the 10 bonus points for the test!"
The team once again erupted in cheering, with even the other teams giving them a round of applause.
"And," Alex spoke up again. "Since everyone really impressed me, I'm going to give the other two teams 5 bonus points. I believe you all deserve to be rewarded after that."
The other two teams started cheering too, excited that they too will be benefiting from bonuses.
"Well, that wraps up class! Please, enjoy your weekend, everyone. Be safe, and see you on Monday!"
As everyone got up to gather their things and leave, Olivia turned to Elliot, who had the biggest grin on his face.
"Dude. You really saved the day."
"I guess I did, didn't I?" He agreed, rubbing the back of his head as his cheeks began to turn a bright shade of red.
"Aww, he's blushing!" Amanda said, lightly pushing his arm. "We're so proud of you, you know."
"Yeah, we really are," Olivia said, throwing her arm around his shoulder as they made their way down the aisle and towards the door. Looking back, she paused. "Uhh, hold on, guys. Be right back."
Olivia made her way back to the front of the class, walking up to Alex's podium.
"Great job today, Olivia. You guys did really well! Congratulations on the bonus points."
"Thanks, Ale – I mean, Professor Cabot. It was actually a lot of fun."
A smile grew wider on Alex's face as she looked up from her laptop screen.
"I'm really glad to hear that. I was nervous about it, you know. But everyone seemed to enjoy it."
"Yeah, it really made everything easier to grasp and understand! I mean, look at Elliot." Olivia turned to survey him as he stood in the doorway, talking to Amanda and a few of their teammates, the biggest smile on his face.
Leaning in, Alex said her next words quietly so no one else could hear. "I'm hoping this will serve as some motivation. He's a smart guy, just needs to put it to use."
"Yeah, I agree," Olivia laughed.
"So, do I even want to know about your team's name choice?" Alex accused, an eyebrow raised.
Sticking her hands in her pockets, Olivia bit her lip as she rocked back and forth on her feet. "Come on," she whispered, looking around to make sure no one was listening. "You know we're the best students in the class. And, well… I am your favorite." Olivia locked eyes with Alex after the sentence, a smirk plastered across her face.
Smirking in response, Alex broke eye contact and looked down to her laptop before taking a few breaths and responding; hiding her face so Olivia couldn't see.
Did… did I just make her blush?
"Well, Miss Benson, that may be true, but I'll never admit it. Not even if you put me on the stand." Alex then gave a wink to Olivia, causing her to laugh again and bite just a small portion of her lip.
They continued their conversation for about five more minutes before Elliot and Amanda were growing impatient.
"Oh my God, she can flirt with her on Monday! I want to go eat," Elliot said, rubbing his stomach.
"Stop it," Amanda chuckled, lightly smacking his arm before focusing on Alex and Olivia, who were both still smiling at each other and laughing.
"Hmm. You know, you may have a point."
Turning his head, Elliot brought his attention to Olivia and Alex as well, really focusing on them.
"Huh. You think she's actually flirting with her?"
Amanda shrugged. "I mean, I would if given the chance."
"And do you think Professor Hottie is doing it back?"
Amanda shrugged again as she continued to watch their interactions. "Beats me. She really does seem to like Olivia though."
"Yeah. She does."