Hey Romeo, Don't You Think You're Just a Tad Overrated?

"Alright! Everyone's here! Grab a seat; we're going to win this meet today!" Mr. Harbing shouted enthusiastically the length of the rickety, yellow, school bus.

The entire math team was going to Stepford Prep. I was actually going to be competing today. I had watched the last meet at Deerfield, so I knew how everything worked. You were paired up with one of your teammates, and the both of you together would answer questions as a pair.

I felt the seat sink down a few inches next to me.

"Hey," Cam said quietly.

I smiled fleetingly at him, turning back around to face the window, plugging my iPod earphones in and turning the music on low.

He sighed next to me. "Do you have a partner today for the meet?" he finally asked.

"No," I responded, "I think I'll ask Lillian."

Cam glanced at the senior prefect, who was sitting two rows to the right in front of them. She was flirting noticeably with another third-year varsity teammate named Michael Goldberg. "Right," Cam said rather dryly. "Good luck with that."

I turned and glared at him. "What?" I asked, yanking my earphones out. "Is there something wrong?"

Cam shrugged nonchalantly. "You could team up with me if you'd like…it is your first meet after all."

I looked at Lillian, and then Michael. Bobby Willis, our team captain, was going over problems with his teammate, a long-faced sophomore boy. Unless I wanted to team up with a freshman… "Fine," I agreed grudgingly, plugging my earphones back in and turning up the volume.

I felt Cam tap me on the shoulder a few seconds later. "What?" I asked again, irritated, pulling my earphones out.

"What's wrong with you today? You're so moody. Is it that time of month again?" Cam raised his eyebrows.

I flushed at his last comment. "No," I muttered, sparing him the long and complicated answer. "I'm just tired," I lied.

The truth was, I didn't want to deal with Cam right now. He was such an…enigma. I honestly didn't know what he was going to do next. He was confusing me. And to top it all off, there was Max, who refused to talk to me now, Megan, and Winter Formal ideal.

Next to me, Cam frowned, seeing through my lie, but having the mercy not to question me further and leaving me in peace for the rest of the ride.

"Hey everyone, I need you to tell me who your partners are today so I can register your team," Mr. Harbing stated as soon as we all got off the bus.

"I'm going with Michael," Lillian announced, flashing her partner a smile which he returned.

Mr. Harbing nodded as he took down the six different teams. "And Cam?" he looked up. "Who's your partner today?"

"Aurelie," he answered calmly, gesturing in my direction.

One of the sophomore girls, whom I discretely recognized as a member of Megan's Posse, shot me a venomous look. Okay…what was her problem?

"Come on then, let's get started then!" Mr. Harbing announced as we all trooped inside Stepford Prep.

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~Stepford Prep, Auditorium~

"And, begin," the judge called, clicking his stopwatch, as the projector suddenly flashed the last question onto the white screen.

If we get this one, we win. We were tied right now with St. Lawrence Academy. We have to get this one…I hope it's not to hard…oh what the hell, of course it's going to be hard, it's the last question in the tiebreak round! I thought frantically as I wasted the first ten seconds staring blanking at the screen before I snapped back to attention. Cam was already scribbling something down furiously on his piece of paper.

Joanna invested one-hundred thousand US dollars in a bank account at a 2.7 percent interest rate. If the interest is compounded bi-annually, how long will it take for that amount to triple?

My first thought was What the hell is this? But after a closer look, I realized that the problem was easier than it looked. In fact, I had done this type of problem before. I remembered Cam teaching me about logarithms and natural logs awhile ago in the library. I picked up my pencil and started to write down the equation.

300,000 = 100,000 (1 0.027/2)²*

"Crap," I suddenly heard Cam say next to me.

"What?" I asked absently, absorbed in solving for the missing variable.

"I read the problem wrong, it says bi-annually, I thought it read annually," he explained quickly. "I don't have enough time to start over."

"Wait," I muttered, "I'm almost done." I quickly wrote out the last equation with the natural logs in it, and Cam glanced over my shoulder, his eyebrows raised in surprise as he checked my work.

"Here," he plucked the pencil from my hands, his fingers accidentally brushing mine as he scribbled down the final answer, for he was more capable with mental math than I was. "Push the button! We're done!" He urged.

Quickly, I reached out and slammed the small buzzer on our table, and the shrill bell rang.

"All right! McAllister Academy has claimed it first! Let's see if their answer is correct," the judge walked over to our table, picking up our sheet of paper. He perused it quickly, and then handed it back to us, expressionless. "And it's correct! McAllister Academy takes the first place, with twenty-seven points! Congratulations!"

"We won!" Cam yelled.

"We did it!" I shouted, as the audience burst into a polite applause.

And then Cam did the strangest and most un-Cam thing he had ever done before in his life—he hugged me. I felt all the muscles in my body suddenly freeze up as his strong arms wrapped around my side, sending electrical impulses down my spine.

"We got the gold! Yes! Aurelie…are you okay?" Cam finally let go, looking at me, concerned.

"I'm just shocked…that we won," I managed to answer. Well, I was shocked that we had managed to win, along with some…other things.

I cheered along with my teammates as Bobby ran forward to accept the golden trophy for our school. Mr. Harbing shook hands with the judge, a huge smile on my face.

"Good job, guys," Michael Goldberg stepped up. "Thanks for winning that last point for the team! But then, Cam Gallagher, it's expected."

"Actually, Aurelie solved the equation," Cam interrupted. "I had it completely wrong."

Michael looked surprised. "Well, did you now?" he directed at me. "Good job!" he praised.

I felt my cheeks go red. "Cam got the final answer," I muttered, but Michael ignored me completely.

"That was a tough question to solve, with all the confusing words and variables. Great job!" he continued.

I blushed darker, glancing at Cam who was standing next to me. He flashed me his startling white grin, and I felt my heart skip a beat. Thankfully, Mr. Harbing had called our attention, and I was grateful for the distraction.

"Excellently done, team! Lillian, Michael, good job for putting us in the lead at the beginning, Cam and Aurelie, great job in pulling through the tie-break at the end!" Mr. Harbing was ecstatic. "Let's head back to the bus, we've got a shiny new trophy to show off back at school!"