Honey, why?

10. Toga! Toga! Toga!

I take a sip at my cranberry juice and pop another fry in my mouth.

"Woah, there, babe. Take it easy on the fries. You're too young to have hypertension." Charles nudges my side, taking a couple of my fries.

I swallow before speaking to him. "Yours is all gone? Already? But you bought the extra large!"

This boy's appetite is unbelievable.

He snorts. "This is taking too long. When is the game going to start?"

We sit side by side, on one of the front steps of the grandstand, waiting for the Chariot Race, I mean, the Chariot Descart-Race, to begin. There has been a delay and a lot of students are now complaining. This is the most anticipated of the Math Games and what everyone enjoys the most. I see some speculators beginning to surround the area. Even the teachers are pumped up.

From their seat at the most bottom part of the grandstand steps, I see Dean Jean-Claude Ferre having a good laugh with none other than Mr. Alvins, who is seem to be explaining the route of the race to the dean with wide gestures. Our principal Ms. Yershey Larkin has sparks in her eyes and a slight curve of a smile on her lips as she moves her head from side to side, silently watching everything and everyone like a mother hawk.

It's a perfectly safe race, actually. The chariots were ordered from a trusted maker. The horses, on the other hand, were provided by the Le Fray Equestrian Farm. Everything has been thoroughly inspected and examined for the safety of the students and everyone else involved. And the students aren't even allowed to go too fast. They'd be disqualified if they do so.

This is not like the chariot races that the college students participate in. No props of bows and arrows or javelins or flails or any of those shenanigans. In our race, the charioteers are not allowed to do anything that would incapacitate other charioteers, and no tricks up the sleeves. A perfectly safe rendition of its college counterpart.

The race will begin here at the open field and will move around to the Centennial Park, then to the Sports Complex, to the Food Park, to the Concert Hall, an unknown last place, then back here again.

"Ladies and gentlemen, may we please ask you to settle down. We are about to start in two minutes." A student announced. I wonder how much pressure the Math Club has now. I'd ask my classmate Tati, who is the president of the said organization, if I could offer them help or something but she'd been MIA since the week began. And Ruslan isn't exactly the one I want to be talking to.

Our class occupies the central bottom part of the grandstand, near the teachers and faculty members. There are only seventeen of us present, since Teddy and Luke are participating, and Tati, Em, and Ruslan are officers of the Math Club thus overseeing the event. On our left is a freshman class, and on our right is a junior class. Above us sits the other senior class, Class-B.

Everywhere I look, I see white and off-white bed sheets tied in different manners to resemble a toga. I laugh inwardly. I am so glad that Viv and Rose thought of purchasing plain t-shirts and just having them embossed instead of letting us wear costumes. We could wear the shirts again and again, we could incorporate them into our personal wardrobe, and they're comfortable unlike those pieces of cloth that the other students are wearing (though we're also guilty of doing the same thing for three years. Heh.)

Some of my classmates paired their white shirts with white pants, some of the girls even paired it with white skirts, but I threw mine over my white sleeveless dress that reaches just below my knees to still kinda give off a Roman vibe.

Our class uniform is kinda modernized and obviously less silly than the others. And I'm quite proud of myself for thinking of wearing gold olive wreaths instead of those plastic green ones. We look like the Roman senate in the sitting in the middle of the people, waiting for a gladiator match.

The Math Week theme is kinda a mix of the two since despite being different, Greek and Roman are still very similar in some ways but the columns and white drapes decorating the grandstand make the setting more Romantic than Grecian.

"I have been meaning to ask you," Charles is eyeing my chest. "Where did you buy that necklace?"

My hand goes to the pendant that Rus had just given me. He said that he'll get it back by the end of this day. I do believe him. It has been so long since he'd given me a present and there is nothing anything special today so I don't worry about this being a gift. I really don't mind acting like a safety deposit box for his precious necklace.

"I don't think I've ever seen you wearing this before..." Charles's fingers touch mine as he takes hold of the pendant. "...Or else I would have noticed." His face is so close to the necklace now. He is inspecting the rock as if some geologist.

I shrug. "A friend asked me to look after it. Just for today."

"Well, you should keep it." Charles let go of the pendant, letting it fall back on my chest. "You look really beautiful wearing it," he says with a wink.

I stare at him. Those are almost the same words that Rus had told me. Huh.

From "Hey, Ya," the music playing changes to "I Gotta Feeling". At least the playlist is good. If not, I bet most students would have left early on.

I flinch as I hear a familiar voice behind me. "I should have ditched this. I could be at the masseur's right now. We aren't even required to watch this."

My head turns and I see Chadi sitting two steps above me. She still wears her oversized shirt, tied at the waist and folded at the cuffs, with a black mini skirt. I know she knows I'm looking at her but she just deliberately avoids my eyes.

She didn't mean what she said, did she? I mean, Ted and Luke are our friends and we'll support them through this. A small little fight shouldn't be reason not to be there for them when they need us the most.

Apparently, Charles notices my distraction. "Don't mind her, babe. Hey, look! There they are!"

The crowd begins to cheer as the tributes, I mean, the contestants, show up. This is not the Hunger Games. This is not the Hunger Games. This is not the Hunger Games. I should have postponed reading that novel until our exams finish next week. Now there's no turning back.

"I love you, Luke!" A blonde girl beside me waves her arms, her breasts almost spilling from her white bed sheet slung across one shoulder. I avert my eyes. These fangirls of Luke are always this... energetic.

"You w***e!" Someone beside her says. "Don't root for the enemy!"

This girl is lucky the teachers are sitting far below us, and everyone is too loud to hear them swearing. I cannot believe what the world has come to.

"But he's so dreamy, Estelle! I can't help it! Woooooh!"

My gaze lands on my best friends. Both Luke and Teddy are wearing our Alpha shirts and white shorts. They match those with plain white Adidas. They appear to be so bright and clean. The chariot assigned to them is also white, with gold accents in them. And the horse. Wow. I thought Petunia, my Friesian back in Normandy, is the most beautiful unicorn, I mean horse, I'd ever seen. But this horse comes really close. I have to talk to Marica later to inquire about her. And she's so adorable with her matching white wings! She looks like Pegasus.

Luke is mounting her, holding the gold reigns of the horse with such ease while Teddy is the passenger on the chariot carrying a walkie talkie.

I catch his eyes, and he gives me a dimple bearing smile. The girl beside me starts to scream. I look at her dubiously before looking back at Luke and Teddy. Luke is now laughing and Teddy is waving at her fans. I giggle.

"Those are my friends!" I shouted, cupping my mouth with both hands after I put my drink down. I feel a hand in my knee and feel it being squeezed. Then it stays there. I peer at Charles out of the corner of my eye, trying not to freak out, although I already am.

I should have worn my jeans instead or leggings. The fabric of my dress is too thin for Charles's burning touch.

A tall guy stands on a podium as the chariots line up to the starting line where there's a huge arc that has an SPQR sign written on top. I am starting to feel that the Math club prefer Rome more than Greece.

"On your marks, charioteers."

I reach for my french fries on my lap but all my hand gets on is a crumpled wrapper. I glare at Charles dubiously.

He gives me a crooked smile, eyebrows moving up and down. "Charles!"

"What?" Oh, those innocent green eyes won't affect me.

"You ate it all up!"

"I'll buy you another one. This Saturday. At The Groove."

His looks really excited, so much for being caught eating my food. How did he even do that? He moved and ate fast. I just hear him hollering beside me, so how was he able to eat my fries?

"Get set..."

"This Saturday? Why does it have to take that long? Can't you buy me one after the race? And why at The Groove? It's a long drive just to buy fries. We could just go to Roadhouse." I take a sip my juice.

Charles peers upwards, contemplating. "No, babe. It has to be this Saturday at the mall. How do you think can we have a proper date here in school?"

I choke on my drink the same time the starting pistol sounded. "What?" Did he just ask me on a date?

I gape at him, who starts to cheer as the chariots lurch forward to the first stop, the Centennial Park. There should be a puzzle there which they have to solve, and a task that requires physical strength.

That's why there are two contestants. One for solving the riddles, and one to do the task. They can also help each other if the assignment is too much for one person.

"Shhhh! Everyone shut up!"

Eyes including mine stare at Ali, who's sitting behind Charles. He's holding a gray walkie talkie and is obviously straining to hear the other end of the line.

Our class stop cheering and soon, everyone follows suit. Everyone is quiet and not one sound can be heard but the static from eight different walkie talkies. This is the fun part of this game. Audience participation.

"Ducks, you there? Over."

Let me just tell you how my classmates and I refer to each other as ducks. It started freshman year and it's kind of a long story, but we'll get to that later. So yeah, we refer to each other as ducks.

Ali presses the button of our class's walkie talkie. "Ducks present. Over."

Teddy talks again, "We're in the second stop. From the first stop, we got a clue to go this room. We also got prizes which are two pairs of shoes. We're the first ones here but I'm having a bit of a difficulty in this riddle and Luke needs the answer to for the boxes. My Theology and Greek are a bit rusty. Over."

Wow, they're fast. It hasn't been a full ten minutes and they're already at the Sports Complex.

All of us are now huddled in a circle, so we can hear everything. Ali is clasping Ash's hand. He closes his eyes and breathes in deeply before replying to Teddy. "Tell us what you got. Over."

There is just silence, or static, more correctly, on the other line. We exchange looks with each other, wondering what's happening to them. Ali presses the button and speaks again. "Teddy? You there? Over."

Sounds of shuffling paper can be heard before Teddy explains to us the riddles.

"Start with a goddess with no head -

Libertas, Iusticia and who?

Take the first letter, or else dread

Get it right, then peace be with you."

What the actual duck?

"The all-seeing God of Providence

is surrounded by the strongest polygon.

Also, if you have a conscience,

pray to Santa Lucia, your patron.

Now put them together

See what have you got

Is this a prime number?

X marks the spot."

That's it. Over."

"Eye," I say softly, looking at the walkie talkie as if Teddy could hear me.

"What the hell, Ace?" Chadi crosses her arms, one eyebrow lifted up in scrutiny. I look around my classmates, who are all staring at me as if I'd said something out of this world.

Teddy speaks again on the walkie. "Guys? Tick tock. Tick tick... Over."

Ali presses the button to talk but stops short. He just looks at me, waiting for an explanation.

"The second part is 'eye'. You know. The all-seeing eye of God. The eye in the triangle, the strongest polygon? Not to mention St. Lucy is the patron saint of sight. Right?" My voice hitches at the end. Now I feel stupid. I don't know why I just blurted out what I think the answer is. I'm not even sure if I'm correct or not. My cheeks start to burn.

We all jump at the sound of Luke's voice. "You got it right, sweetheart! It's eye as in letter I!"

"Quick," we hear Teddy say. "Swim to that box over there."

"Did she just say, swim?" Sienna's eyes bulge at the radio on Ali's hand.

No worries about that. Luke is a good swimmer. He loves frying himself in beaches around the world, far away from the always gloomy weather of London. He just goes home during summer when the sun is high and the rain says bye. Okay, that just sounds like a nursery rhyme.

"We got it. Thanks, Ace. Now about the first part. I don't know s**t about Greek mythology. BTW, Class-B is onto us. Over."

Ali bumps fists with Ash. "Alright. You've got the lead, take it easy. Can you repeat the riddle again? Over."

Teddy says it one more time, and when she finishes, my classmates look at me expectantly. "What?"

"You're the only Greek nerd here, Ace. So who's the headless goddess?" Ash asks me.

I shrug my shoulders. "No idea." There could be a lot of Greek statues that could be headless by now. You can't shield them from time. "And what about Patty?" I turn to him to see that he is just ducking away from our little group.

"Where do you think you're going?" Chadi grabs him by the collar. He almost falls down backward but is stopped by Chadi's outstretched palms.

He looks at us sheepishly. "I'm actually lost. Who is Santa Lucia again?"

Chadi put her forehead on her palm. "So much for the mighty Greek hero Achilles."

I am jolted by a hand squeezing my waist. "You know this, babe. So Libertas is a goddess, right?"

Has Charles's arm been around my waist this whole time?

"Right," I answer without missing a beat. All that is in my head is those fingers digging gently at my waist. I want to squirm away because I start to feel ticklish, but I realize that it also feels kinda... nice.

"And so is Iusticia?"

My eyebrows furrow. Something doesn't quite add up.

"Babe?"

Ash snorts. I give him a sharp look, and Ali elbows him hard on his ribs. "f**k, dude," Ash says under his breath.

I shake my head and focus back on the riddle. "Libertas and Iusticia. They're Roman."

Everyone start to form their own theories, speaking in hushed tones so as to not reveal anything to the other class who might be listening.

I focus on the three names and how the answer is related to them. They're all females, of course. Libertas or Freedom. Ijusticia is Justice. Freedom and Justice. Pretty much just like the next riddle, it all seems to tie up with government and politics. From the three goddesses to the all-seeing eye of God. The triangle.

I hold out my hand for the radio. "Ali, please."

He gives it to me, no questions ask, and I start talking. "Luke, are the letters on the boxes C, D, I, L, M, V, and X? Over."

"I honestly haven't noticed them, sweetheart. I could swim back again, if you want. Over."

When Teddy said that Luke has to swim and get the box with the letter I, I figured he has to go a lap and retrieve the box from the other side of the pool. She also said something about the previous stop directing them to the room they are in now. And then there are the prizes that they received. If my calculations are right, Watson, this must be it.

It's quite easy if you think about it. Whenever I don't know the answer to a question immediately and I was provided with answers to choose from, I sometimes do trial and error. If I were with Teddy and Luke, I would've made the connection easier, seeing the letters.

"Take the letter V, Luke. Over."

"Wait a second." Patty makes his way down to me. He stands close to me, I can smell his musky perfume. "Are you sure, Ace? Shouldn't it be letter N?"

"I thought so, too. But it's like what I've said, everything's in Roman. N is not a Roman number. And the riddle didn't say Eleutheria which is not particularly a goddess but just a personification of justice. Then it said Ijusticia instead of Dike. So, instead of Nike, the other goddess is -"

"Victoria," he finishes for me. Victoria or Nike. The goddess of victory. Come to think of it, there is a statue of her without a head. It's quite famous. "Also, the riddle says peace be with you. Peace." He holds out two fingers in a peace sign. I smile at him. That I didn't notice.

Patty beams at me. "Nice. So letters V and I."

"Five and one."

He c***s his head to the side and I explain, "Roman numerals. Five and one. Fifty-one. And it's not a prime number."

"Oh," he just says back, rubbing the back of his head. Then, his eyes widen as he grabs my shoulders. "And X marks the spot! Ace, the next stop is the Food Park, right?"

I look at him dubiously. Then it dawns on me. My hands go to grab his upper arms and we start to jump up and down like total idiots. "Yes! Yes! Yes!"

"What the f**k? Can someone please explain it to the lay people?" I hear Ash say and I am about to answer him but our attention is snatched away by the radio as it produces static, and then, "Luke's got it. Over."

I do a Bender eureka move in my head. I feel so glad how my best friends just trust me. Luke swam to get the letter i told him to get, no questions asked. "Alright. So, it's fifty-one," I say back to Teddy. "V and I. It wouldn't be six because obviously, it's not a prime number. But fifty-one, it can be confused as a prime but it actually isn't. Over."

"Yeah, we think so, too. At the first stop, we got L and I. Over."

Another fifty-one. Or...

"Seems like the others are catching up with us. We gotta to go to the next stop now. Still on the lead.

(Static)

Thanks, ducks. Over."

We all let out a collective sigh. Some even give each other high fives. It's too early to celebrate, guyth. Too early.