“I’m sure we’re fine,” Raine said, smiled wryly.

June collected the papers. “I’m sure you guys did well,” she said with a smile. “My team was nowhere near as calm as yours when I took this test a few months ago.”

The team took their phones and left the room. While the papers were graded, the new employees had a thirty minute break, which Raine’s team used to grab a quick snack at the cafeteria. A few other teams did the same. Raine saw the frustration and nervousness on their faces.

“I think we’re the odd ones,” he said.

“What do you mean?” Reo asked.

“Dude, we’re not the odd ones,” Vick said. “We’re the normal ones. Everyone else is nuts.”

“I don’t mean it like that,” Raine said. “I mean that I think the test was pretty stressful for the other teams.”

“Oh, yeah. I guess so.” Vick shrugged.

“Anyway, what’s our lead if we’re first on math?” Arnett asked. “Overall, I mean.”

“Depends on how Cecily’s and Julia’s teams do,” Raine said. “Our score should be 180. If Julia’s team is second or third in math, it’ll have about 130 to 150.”

“Shit, that’s not a big difference.”

“If you graph the points each team gets for one contest, you get a piecewise function’s graph,” Vick said. “There’s a decreasing curve from first to fourth place. Then we get two horizontal line segments. The points cut in half at fifth place and half again at eighth.”

“Too much math. We’re done with the test, man. Switch out of math mode.”

“Beep, math mode deactivated,” Vick joked, jerking his head to one side. “Fourth place points are meh. From the fifth place to the last place, the points are shit. We’re way ahead of most of the teams.”

“There we go.”

Then they returned to the Costas Hall.

Raine spotted Cecily’s team in the crowd. They looked confident. Julia’s team was nearby, and their expressions were more of a mix of anxiety and anticipation.

“First place team for the math competition: 5-1,” Steele said.

“Told you guys,” Vick said. He grinned. Raine’s team celebrated with high-fives.

“Second place, 5-5. Third place, 4-3.”

Julia’s team broke out in cheers.

“Fuck,” Cecily said with a frown.

“Not even in the top three,” Marco sighed.

. . . .

The teams competed in swimming next. Raine briefly wondered why they didn’t just take all four collaborative tests consecutively at the Costas Hall.

Kayden had made stunning progress in just a week, but it wasn’t enough for him to do well in the swimming contest. Lukas and Max were better swimmers, and they helped take their team to fifth place.

Team 4-5, the team of four people, took first place in swimming. Raine only knew their leader’s name: Stanbury. He was a British man who, like the rest of his team, was extremely fit, with excellent stamina and incredible strength. Raine hadn’t spoken much with him during the team leaders’ language lessons, but the guy seemed nice enough. His Ephrian was terrible, though.

After swimming, the teams returned to the Costas Hall and took the physiology test. They were nowhere near as confident as they had been for the math test. Grant and Reo were the most knowledgeable ones and did most of the questions. They had one sheet of unanswered questions when the test was over.

They failed to place. The team of Ivy League students was first, while Cecily’s team was second. Julia’s team was third, and Raine’s was fourth.

Then there was the shooting contest.

The competitors had two minutes to fire 21 rounds. The target was composed of five evenly spaced concentric rings, numbered one through five from smallest to largest.

Kayden fired over and over again with a calm expression. His breath was steady.

It wasn’t like the archery contest. He was hitting the bullseye on almost every shot this time.

But Livia kept up, although she spent more time on each shot.

No one else could hit the bullseye, let alone keep up with those two.

Kayden and Livia finished with equal scores.

Vick went after Kayden and had an uneventful performance, scoring slightly above average. Then it was Grant’s turn. He took a deep breath and raised the gun at the target. He squeezed the trigger.

He missed the target. Grant sighed in frustration. He tried again.

He just needs to get an average score, Raine thought. Then we’ll be first or second without a problem.

Grant fired. The target showed a red dot on its outermost ring. He frowned and took another deep breath. He fired again and hit the fifth ring again.

“We should be fine, right?” Max asked.

“He’s performing a little below average,” Reo said. “We should get second or third place if he continues like this.”

Grant took longer to fire his next shots. He aimed carefully and fired twice. The first hit the fourth ring, and the second missed.

He frowned and nodded to himself. He adjusted his aim and soon fired again. He hit the third ring.

“Oo, nice,” Vick said.

Grant fired again. He squeezed the trigger slowly. It hit the third ring again. He smiled.

Nice, he’s getting the hang of it, Raine thought.

Grant fired one shot after another with a look of intense focus. He didn’t miss again. Meanwhile, Livia’s teammate was doing slightly worse. She had yet to miss, but she was only hitting the fifth and fourth rings.

“I think we’re getting first place, people,” Vick said.

As he spoke, Grant fired again. The shot hit the second ring. Grant’s eyes widened in surprise. Then he grinned.

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“Fuck yeah,” Arnett said. “That 120 grand pay is ours.”

“And the three grand reward,” Max said eagerly.

After a few more shots, Grant was out of bullets. He stared at his target and breathed a sigh of relief.

“Now stop,” Steele said several minutes later. “First place is Team 5-1.”

120,000 dollars. We’re so goddamn close. Raine applauded Grant, Vick, and Kayden for their performance. Grant was elated about how he’d done.

“At some point, I realized that I was more accurate when I just relaxed and squeezed the trigger slowly,” Grant said with a grin.

Livia’s team placed second. Cecily’s was third.

“Fuck!” Cecily shouted, gritting her teeth. Her gaze shot to her blonde teammate. “If you’d done just a bit better, we could have won.”

“I’m not a shooting prodigy,” her teammate grumbled. “You can’t expect me to be like the Sharpshooter with a few days of practice.”

“That’s not what I’m saying, you moron. The top two had one standout competitor each. The gap between our average scores couldn’t have been significant. A slightly better performance would have put us at second, at least.”

“Sheesh,” Vick said, watching them. “So angry.”

“No surprise that the Harvard girl can’t bear to lose,” Arnett said.

“Ignore them,” Reo said. “Let’s focus on the competition itself. Physics is next.”

“Oh god, physics,” Kayden said.

Hoping for the best, they headed back to the Costas Hall. They suffered through a stressful hour-long exam. Vick cursed Newton by the end of it.

They were fifth place in physics.

Cycling was next.

. . . .

“Unlike the other physical competitions, all competitors will start at the same time.”

Max got on a bike and took a deep breath. He barely heard what Steele was saying despite his best efforts. All he saw in his mind was the 3,000 dollar prize. But he didn’t actually think of it as money. To him, it was three months of rent. It was better food. It was better books. It was a replacement for Marisa’s six-year-old flip phone. It was peace of mind for both him and Marisa.

“You will follow the signs that have been set up around Mount Rialis,” Steele said. “You’ll cycle around it once and return here.”

Kayden came up next to Max and tapped him on his shoulder.

“Hey, don’t forget Max,” Kayden said in a low voice. He shot a glance at Stanbury’s team. “Be seventh at best for most of it, alright? 60 to 70 percent effort until I tell you to speed up.”

“Yeah,” Max said with a nod.

Kayden gave him a thumbs up. “Let’s do this. Good luck.”

Steele started counting down soon.

“Three.”

Max took a deep breath. Seventh at best. 60 percent effort.

“Two.”

He shot a fleeting glance at Kayden, who was looking straight ahead with a serious expression. Okay, maybe 65 percent.

“One.”

Fuck it, 70 percent.

“Go.”

Max took off. He shot past a dozen others in the first minute alone. In the next minute, he passed another five people.

The three competitors from Stanbury’s team were in the lead, with Kayden and Grant right behind them. Those five quickly broke away from the rest.

Edgar and Marco weren’t far ahead of Max; they were around the tenth place.

Max was slowly catching up to them. Like Kayden had told him to, he wasn’t going at full speed.

Max passed Erwin, then Julia, then Livia. Then he was right behind Marco.

“Go, man!” Marco shouted to Edgar. “You can take sixth at least!”

“Fuck that,” Edgar said. “Wait for the first six to tire out.”

“Have you been paying any fucking attention over the last two goddamn weeks? They don’t tire out on the bike!”

“Fuck off.” Then Edgar ignored him and continued at the same speed.

Although Max was curious, he tried his best to ignore their conversation and maintain his current pace. He knew from training that Marco couldn’t keep cycling so fast for long.

Sure enough, just as they were about to reach Mount Rialis, Marco slowed down just a tiny bit. He was breathing hard, and sweat was pouring down his face.

Max pedaled harder. In a minute, he came up to Marco’s side. He saw Marco grit his teeth and put his all into his pedaling. Marco sped up for a while, but he barely kept it up for a few seconds before he slowed down again.

It was demoralizing to get passed at all, but it was especially bad to get passed while tiring out. It tempted anyone to ease up just a little, to accept the loss. Max knew that. He felt uncomfortable taking advantage of it, but he wanted the $3,000 prize.

Marco slowed down further as he saw Max pass him.

“Shit,” Marco said.

Edgar wasn’t far ahead, and Max could pass him too if he wanted to.

He was tempted. But he shook his head and remembered to stay disciplined. It wasn’t the right time to pass Edgar.

The road started to incline. Max was used to it, but when he shot a fleeting glance behind him a few minutes later, he saw people falling behind. Livia and Julia had overtaken Marco, who was losing speed.

Ahead, Edgar grunted in frustration. He was breathing fast and hard and was soon letting out a wordless shout on every exhale.

Weird. His stamina should be better than this. But it was a good thing for Max. He accelerated.

His legs started to burn. It wasn’t intense, but it reminded him not to overdo it. He couldn’t tire out before the run.

After he passed Edgar, the path leveled out, and he eased up on his pedaling a little. He was in eighth place now.

Right ahead of him were Cecily and one of her teammates. They looked like they were pacing themselves as well. Past them, the three from Stanbury’s team were still in the lead, taking turns at the head of the wind.

The first eight maintained their positions for the next ten or so minutes. Then the decline began. They were in the last third of the race.

A minute later, Kayden picked up his speed. Grant followed right behind him.

The real race was on.

The Stanbury team competitors noticed Kayden approaching. They accelerated as well.

Max knew it would be his turn soon. He gulped. I can do this.

Cecily’s teammate glanced at her.

“Should we speed up?” Cecily’s teammate asked.

“No, save your energy for the run,” Cecily said.

Ahead, five people shot down the road.

Kayden looked like he was going to pass the one ahead of him. Then the Stanbury team member pedaled harder and inched away.

Then Kayden and Grant switched places. Grant sped up. He threatened to pass the slowest Stanbury competitor, who desperately tried to stay ahead. Grant passed him soon. Then the next person. Then he was head to head with the front runner, Stanbury himself. Kayden couldn’t keep up. He stayed at sixth.

Stanbury let out a shout and pedaled hard, trying to regain his lead. Grant stayed right beside him.

Kayden and the last member of Stanbury’s team were falling behind now.

Max knew it would be his turn soon. He sped up. He gradually passed Cecily and her teammate.

The end of the race was coming. Mount Rialis was well behind them now.

“Go, Max!” Kayden shouted. “Third!”

With that, Max cycled like he was being chased by a demon. His heart pounded as his legs went up and down, up and down.

Max passed Kayden. Then the slowest Stanbury member.

He was gasping for air, but he kept going. He kept pedaling until he felt an intense burn in his legs like hot metal was being pressed against his muscles.

He was right behind the third-place competitor now.

Come on. Come on. 3,000. Come on! Max howled and pedaled like he never had before.

He inched closer to the man in front of him. They were both covered in sweat and breathing like they were hyperventilating.

The end was in sight now. They were about to reach the town.

Faster. Faster. Faster. Max’s muscles begged him to slow down. He ignored them and pedaled and pedaled.

Then he passed the man in third place.

Holy shit. Holy fucking shit. He kept going. He kept pushing.

They were just a few minutes from the Gilman Tower now.

Go. Go. Go! He didn’t know where he found the strength to keep pedaling. Like a man possessed, he somehow sped up yet again.

He saw a crowd of onlookers ahead. His teammates were there somewhere, but he didn’t see them. He couldn’t. He was looking right at the man in front of him. Max grew closer.

Then he moved to his left and, one inch at a time, caught up to Stanbury. They raced head to head in the final minute of the race.

Money. Rent. Marisa. Money. Rent. Marisa. He repeated those words over and over in his head and pushed on.

And then in the last moments, just before he reached the finish line, he passed Stanbury.

Then the race was over.