Talented Teens - 2. Round Two

The mood shifted slightly once Genevieve left. It was still a game and the seven contestants all still had a chance to win slightly less than two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, but Sona coldly sending Genevieve away was sobering. There were real stakes at play. Sona didn’t seem upset at all that she voted off a fellow contestant.

“Thanks for that,” Elijah muttered quietly to the girl on his right.

“You owe me now,” Sona smiled at him.

Veikko, also spared the walk of shame by Sona’s decision, eyed their exchange from the corner, now isolated from the other six contestants by the vacant podium where Genevieve had stood only minutes ago. He didn't thank Sona, as his fellow competitor did. Why should he? He didn't expect she'd think twice about cutting him loose the moment she saw him as weak, and Veikko was not weak.

"We made it past the first round, guys!" Candice diffused the tension with that fun fact, and relief did wash over the contestants.

"I was so worried I'd be kicked out first," Topher agreed, remembering that he was the weakest player in the previous round.

"Don't make mistakes and we won't have a problem," Tyson shrugged.

"It's not as easy as it sounds," Elijah offered a nervous laugh, and the adjacent Vanessa looked to him and smiled.

"This is way scarier than I expected," she admitted.

The Hostess spoke loudly, commanding everyone’s attention.

"Welcome back to The Weakest Link - Talented Teens! This is round two! You've got $3850 in the bank after a D+ start. This round, I will increase your top prize to fifteen thousand dollars, but I will also take ten seconds off the clock. Since you voted off your weakest player, there shouldn't be any issues reaching your target... in theory! We'll start with the strongest link from the last round, Sona. Let's play the weakest link! Start the clock."

The tones echoed through the studio, and the lights entered game mode. Sona met the Hostess head-on and raised her eyebrows, almost challenging the older woman.

"Sona, in nature, the heaviest of all marine mammals is the blue what?"

"Whale."

"Correct. Elijah, in fairy tales, what is the name of the girl who encountered three bears?"

Elijah smiled. "Goldilocks."

"Correct. Vanessa--"

"Bank!" Vanessa smashed her button to secure $500 for the team.

"What four-letter word means both a piece of something and an actor's role in a play?"

"A... a part."

"Correct. Topher, in spelling, what two vowels come in pairs in the word 'queue' as in a line of waiting people?"

"Erm--" Topher stumbled, eyes pinballing left and right as he tried to find the answer. "P-pass."

Tyson rolled his eyes, and Vanessa shook her head. Seriously?

The Hostess corrected him. "U and E. Veikko, a spoodle is a dog that is part cocker spaniel and part what other breed?"

"Poodle."

"Correct. Candice, which of Nintendo's Super Mario Brothers wears a green shirt?"

"M-- Luigi?" Candice didn't look confident this time.

"Correct. Tyson, which infamous gangster couple robbed banks, petrol stations and restaurants across the southwest USA in the early 1930s?"

Tyson's eyes narrowed, and he braced himself on the podium, brow furrowed. "Bonnie and... Clyde?"

"Correct. Sona, the incus, malleus, and stapes are bones found in which part of the human body?"

"The ear."

"Correct! Elijah, in geography, Victoria Falls borders Zimbabwe and what other country that starts with 'Z'?"

"Zzzzambia,” Elijah apparently answered before he was fully sure of his answer.

"Correc--"

"BANK!" Vanessa shouted and banged her button again, securing $3000 for the team.

"Vanessa, in maths, if a boy is three feet tall and his sister is one and a half metres tall, which of the two is taller - the boy or the girl?"

"The girl!" She grinned. She was playing very well.

"Correct. Topher, in a standard 52-card deck of playing cards, the only king missing a moustache is the king of which suit?"

"Hearts," Topher appeared relieved to be confident of his answer.

"Correct. Veikko, in pop music, which Rolling Stones song features on Britney Spears' second album - Satisfaction, Mi--"

"Satisfaction," Veikko cut her off quickly.

"... Correct! Candice, in language, what letter is not pronounced in the word "pterodactyl?"

"T. No-- P!!" Candice held her face.

Veikko screwed up his nose as he glared at the girl directly opposite him. Vanessa also looked very unamused with this mistake.

"I have to accept your first answer - the correct answer is P. Tyson, shiitake is a Japanese variety of what fungus?"

Tyson answered immediately. "Mushroom."

"Correct. Sona, in the animal kingdom, which of the following is not an arthropod - insect, fish or crab?"

"Crab," Sona responded quickly, but not confidently.

"No, fish," the Hostess turned. "Elijah, in chess, what "R" is the piece in the shape of a castle?"

"Rook."

"Correct. Vanessa--"

"Bank!" She smashed her button again, securing $200 for the team.

"By what acronym were the combined Australian and New Zealand forces known in World War One?"

"ANZAC!" Vanessa blurted out quickly, conscious of the time running out.

"Correct--"

"Bank!" Topher yelled out, hitting his button and securing the last-minute $200 won by Vanessa.

The Hostess folded her arms. “Time’s up! So, talented teens, I gave you a bigger potential prize, but you still only managed to bank three thousand, nine hundred dollars. I did observe that once again you correctly answered eight consecutive questions in a row, which would have won you fifteen thousand dollars. Seven thousand, seven hundred and fifty dollars will roll over to the next round, but the same can't be said for one of you. So I ask each and every one of you - who is going in the burn book? Who is getting left off the slumber party list? It's time to vote off the weakest link!"

Tyson made up his mind very quickly and pushed his button. Sona and Candice followed suit. Elijah took the longest to decide.

"The voting is over," the Hostess announced once Elijah finally pushed his button. She turned to the girl in the first position. "Candice, what happened earlier?"

Candice struggled to maintain eye contact. "I knew it was P that was silent, but I tripped myself up. I don't know why I said T."

“Will you be s’udying as’ronomy when you gradua'e?” the Hostess teased her.

The fiery redhead laughed and let her face fall to the podium. “Yes, I will. Why can’t you ask me questions about the Oort Cloud or quasars or Jupiter’s magnetosphere? I’m so smart with astronomy.”

"It wouldn’t be half as interesting that way. What do you study at school to get into the astronomy field?"

"Science. Humanities. I also play badminton."

"Okay. Just not English?" She tutted and moved on. “Who did you vote for, Candice?"

Candice looked slightly surprised to be asked about her vote before everyone revealed them. "I actually voted for Sona."

"You what?" Sona leaned over to look at Candice, and the people around them chuckled. "Me? Why? I was the strongest link last time."

"You were the last person I remembered getting one wrong. I'm sorry!" Candice spluttered. "I'm too busy trying to answer my own questions to remember how everyone else is doing."

"Did you think she was the weakest link?" The Hostess asked her.

"Oh... if you're asking, then I think you're going to say I was the weakest link," the red-haired girl winced.

"Statistically, you were," The Hostess rotated to gaze at the young boy next to her. "Tyson, what do you study?"

Tyson drummed his brown fingers on the side of the podium. "I study everything."

"Everything?"

He nodded. "Everything, yeah. I take extra classes at school and have a private tutor at home."

"Just not specifically stories about magical wooden puppets?"

"I'm a bit old for kids' stories," Tyson answered defensively. "So yeah, maybe I'll miss one of those, but I'm good at everything else."

"Will you be a good politician?"

“I don’t see why not.”

“Politics is an interesting choice for someone only thirteen years old,” the Hostess observed. “Do you want to be the Prime Minister one day?”

“Of course,” Tyson smiled suddenly, as though he realised he'd been forgetting to do so. “That’s what everything I’m studying is getting me ready for.”

“Who did you vote for?”

"I voted for Vanessa," Tyson revealed almost dramatically, and Vanessa's eyes widened, and she leaned forward to engage with her rival as Sona had before her.

"Vanessa was statistically the strongest link," the Hostess pointed out. "Why would you vote for her? Are you eliminating a threat early on?”

"No, I'm not threatened by her at all; I just need her to stop with the incessant banking," Tyson explained coldly. "You said it yourself, we keep getting big chains of correct answers, and we can't reach the big numbers because she's always pressing her button."

"Are you serious?" Vanessa took umbrage with Tyson's revelation. "I'm the reason we even have anything banked in the first place!"

"No, you're the reason we don't have anything good banked in the first place," Tyson corrected her.

The tension was thick before Veikko's laugh broke the ice, and the Hostess moved to a scorned Vanessa.

"Vanessa, what classes do you take at school?"

"All the sciences. I also love drama class," Vanessa explained, working past the awkwardness.

"And this is the Oakfield Private Girls School, not the Boys' school Elijah attends?"

Vanessa and Elijah both nodded to confirm as Vanessa spoke. "The Boys' campus is a few blocks over. We don't have much to do with each other."

"So, Oakfield has sent us two students today? Is there something going on I don’t know about? Is your school trying to hedge their bets? Don't they think either one of you is clever enough to win?"

"I'm the only person who hasn't got any questions wrong so far," Vanessa reminded the Hostess, shooting a quick glare at Tyson, who did not flinch.

"Yes, that’s actually true. I’d expect nothing less from a prospective biochemist. What interests you about biochemistry?”

Vanessa seemed too burned by Tyson to let her guard down and talk too much about herself. “I love looking at the nuts and bolts of what makes organisms function. It's a broad and complex field of study, and I love a challenge.”

"Do you think winning today is going to be a challenge?"

The girl played with one of her silver gold hoop earrings. "Absolutely. That's why I'm here, after all. Of course, winning the prize money won't hurt!"

“Who did you vote for in this round?"

Vanessa pulled no punches. "I voted for Topher because he keeps getting questions wrong. Do you know why I have to keep banking? So he doesn't lose our money when he gets his easy questions wrong."

Topher looked genuinely hurt by that comment, but he didn't fire up about it the same way Vanessa and Sona had when their names got thrown about. In fact, this round had brought up a lot of emotions in the faces of the contestants. It was indeed a game and everyone was trying to have fun, but there was a lot on the line. University wasn’t cheap, and doing well in this game and winning the prize would set any one of them up for success as they moved into their tertiary education.

"Well, as you all know, it's the votes that count, so let's find out who the team believes is the weakest link!"

Candice pressed her button. "Sona."

Tyson was quick to reveal his vote. "Vanessa."

Sona was quick as well. "Vanessa."

Elijah grimaced. "Candice. Sorry."

Vanessa was clearly rattled and smashed her button again as she had all night. "Topher!"

Fearful, Topher pushed his button sixth. "Candice."

From the corner, Veikko ate up the camera's attention. "Vanessa!"

Vanessa was livid. "Seriously? Seriously guys?"

"Well, Vanessa, you were the strongest player in that round, and indeed the strongest statistical player overall, but the team has decided you lack the courage to hit the big bucks. With three votes, you are the weakest link. Goodbye!"

Vanessa didn't do the walk of shame as much as she did the storm-off of shame, marching quickly past the Hostess.

"Sorry, Vanessa!" Sona called after her.

"Whatever!" Vanessa waved her off and rushed through the illuminated tunnel.

“This is completely ridiculous. As the strongest link, I should have immunity from votes, because I actually played well and I protected them from Topher's weakness. It's simple. They didn't have the guts to go up against me, I mean it's proven fact that I'm the smartest one there, so they used my banking as an excuse to get rid of me because I'd beat them in the final round. Whatever, it's over for me, but Elijah's going to beat the pants off them and bring the money home to Oakfield anyway. Elijah and I would have been in the finals together, no question. He’s freaky smart and he’ll run circles around anyone as short-sighted as Tyson. 'Oh, don't make any mistakes and we won't have a problem' - what a joke! Unlike everyone else - including him - I made NO mistakes, and he still voted for me. I can't wait to see that little hypocrite get what he deserves.