Chapter 74: A Definitive Victory

~ The surreality of Jaden's calm little world crumbled around him. As the make-up people swarmed onto the stage one last time to check the faces of their charges, Jaden looked around the room. His eyes trailed over the studio audience and he imagined that each and every one of them were staring back at him. An irrational fear began rising in his stomach, slipping up his throat, choking him. He quickly diverted his gaze to across the stage, and he once again felt the nervousness being infused with anger.

Cal was giving him such a look of belligerence that Jaden very nearly came out from behind their console to go give the man a piece of his mind. He thought better of it just in time though. Slitting a man's throat in front of a studio audience probably wouldn't be the smartest thing he could do, so he stayed where he was and settled for just glaring back.

The lady with the clipboard gave Elwin a countdown and they were suddenly back on the air.

"Hello again America!" gushed Elwin. "What a fantastic show we've had here today, with our two teams running neck and neck all this time, fighting til the very end! Now here we have scores that are exactly even and the ball is in Team 5's court for the tie breaker! It's still anyone's game. If Cal of Team 5 can't give a satisfactory answer for this last question, the points could easily be stolen by Jaden over there in Team 6. Are we ready to finish this, teams? Alright, let's play!

"Cal, for the win, what use does a monomer have in my day to day life?"

From the way that Cal smiled, Jaden instantly knew that he had the answer. If he was correct then there was nothing at all Jaden could do to save this.

"Well Elwin, monomers are the molecules that can bond together to form polymers. Of course you use polymers every single day in plastics, and even certain proteins in your body." Cal grinned at the host and the audience, knowing full well that he had just won the day for his team. Elwin tried for suspense.

"Well Team 5...Does our great audience here think that that sounds about right?" he asked the crowd. They cheered in response. Jaden felt sick.

"As the saying goes...the audience is always right! Congratulations Team 5, that is correct and that makes you the winners today!" The crowd roared. "Now let's take a look at what your special prize is going to be!" Elwin waved his hand one more time at the screen behind him.

"Your team has won a mini-vacation from this very taxing race! For 18 hours you'll be put up in the best accommodations right here in our facilities, with the finest foods and spa treatments provided by our sponsor, Maelow Spas and Resorts! Obviously, so as not to disadvantage you to the rest of the teams, when you re-enter the race you will get to skip the level above this one. Well done!" Elwin turned to the audience.

"Let's also give a big hand to our other contestants, Team 6. They played a great game. Thank you all for joining us here tonight for That Sounds About Right, and please continue to tune into the RBC network for more special EPIC Race updates and gameshow editions! I'm Elwin Longtwig, have a great night!"

Elwin bowed to the audience and then shook the hands of Team 5 as the theme music played and the cameras took their long roll-away shots for the credits. Jaden turned away in disgust and he caught sight of Takyle. She was keeping her face straight, but he could definitely see her eyes sparkling happily.

Joel came and escorted them off the stage and back to their dressing room.

"When you're packed up and ready to move on, just stick your head out into the hall and there will be someone to take you to the exit," he told them, before pulling the door shut behind himself and leaving them alone. Jaden immediately turned to Takyle and she broke into a grin.

"Why the hell are you so happy? We lost! To those douche bags!" He would have been yelling, had his teeth not been clenched.

"I'm happy because I would bet money that they're going to take that little break that they've won. And that means we have a very good chance of getting ahead of one more team that's in our way of winning." She smiled happily and began to peel a banana from the bunch on the coffee table.

"Yeah, and if you'd been listening you'd have heard that when they get done with their cute little break they get a free level and they'll be rested!"

"I did hear that. I don't really think that the next level will take us any 18 hours so we'll still be ahead, and rest is overrated anyway. Now let's move out." Takyle threw the banana peel away, and opening her pack, placed several apples and cookies in it.

Jaden shoved his spare uniform, freshly laundered thanks to Karen, into his pack. He silently went into the bathroom and after he'd rinsed his make-up away in the sink, inspected his eye once more in the mirror. It was still inflamed, but the swelling seemed to have gone down a tiny bit.

Andrew took his turn at the sink and then stood by the door until Takyle and Jaden was ready to go. As they pulled their packs on he cleared his throat quietly. Jaden and Takyle both looked up at him. It occurred to Jaden that he'd been completely silent since they'd exited the stage.

"We lost because of me. I'm... I'm sorry," Andrew told them quietly. For a moment they both just looked back at him.

"Meh, it was a gamble." Takyle gave a shrug. "That's what the game is about. We all bluffed at some point. Could have been any one of us. Don't give it a second thought." She headed for the door. "Now let's make good on this possible head start that we've been thrown while we still can."

Jaden went to follow Takyle out into the hall, but paused in front of Andrew. He didn't look like he 'wasn't giving it a second thought.' He looked more like he was kicking the crap out of himself for it.

"She's got a point, you know," Jaden said to him. "Somebody once told me that you can't ride a bicycle looking backwards. He was right." Andrew stared back at him.

"That was me. And at the time I was talking about an actual bicycle."

"Yes, but it applies here too. Of all the times I made mistakes that would have cost us the race when we were practicing, you always told me to just keep going and make the best of what I had."

A long moment passed as Andrew just gazed silently at Jaden. Or at least in his direction. Jaden could see Andrew's thoughts behind his eyes. Takyle stuck her head back in the room.

"Are you losers coming or not? We've got a race to finish here." Andrew finally broke from his reverie.

"Yeah, we're right behind you, Boss." As they followed her out into the hall Andrew patted Jaden's shoulder.

"Quite the pep talk there. Have you thought about going into motivational speaking career-wise?"

"Uh no, not until this moment. Think that's a possibility for me?"

"Yeah, I can kinda see you rocking that. And you wouldn't be working for The Man; that's always a plus."

"Oh yeah, totally. That's not really an option my high school counselor ever brought up to me, but I can see it. Jaden McAllister: Motivational Speaker and Etiquette Coach. It does have a ring to it, I have to admit," mused Jaden, his faced impressively contemplative.

"Is the etiquette thing just for kicks there?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Okay, yeah that's cool. Etiquette is hot. You could get a lot of chicks with that one. Lot of young men looking up to you as a hero-type," mused Andrew.

"Oh, sure! Definitely."

Up ahead Jaden saw Takyle shaking her head.

"You guys are insane," she said over her shoulder, but Jaden could hear her smile in her voice.

He hoped she was right about the head start thing. ~