Self Improvement, chapter 7

Previous chapter: https://www.patreon.com/posts/self-improvement-85755520?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

"What's the capital of Spain?"

Despite their looks, the jocks were by no means stupid. All being college students, having been admitted on merit rather than a scholarship like one might have expected.

"Easy. Madrid"

"Alright. One point for team "Frark" .. You really running with that name..?"*

Both Fred and Mark answered "yes" giddily in unison, knowing full and well just how stupid their team-name sounded.

"Lol, alright then. I'd love for me and Hugh to go next, but that wouldn't be chivalrous, now would it? Girls, you wanna go next?"

Still fiddling awkwardly at the edge of the group, Rachael let her friend answer for the both of them. Not that she wouldn't have done so anyway.

"Sure. Get ready to be amazed!"

Rachael didn't like to be hyped up. She'd much rather stay on the down low and surprise people positively than perform according to expectations because they're so high. Not Rebecca though, she loved to hype things up. Everyone has that one friend that hypes things up, often to convince you to try them out in the first place.

"Alright Rachael. I've got no clue about this one myself, but I'm sure you do! During World War Two, what famous engine powered the early version of the British fighter, the notorious Spitfire?"

"I... Uhh. ..What?"

"Its.. Like the engine. What engine was in the Spitfire, whatever that is.."

"How would I know that? I have no clue. Pass!"

"Though luck, girls! If you'd ever cared about history, you would've known that it was the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine"

Sam leaned forward to grab the card out of the hands of a confused Rebecca.

"Oh.. Didn't we say? If the player being asked doesn't know, it's free game for everyone to answer and get the point for their team. Sorry."

"Would've been nice with a heads up at least!"

Rebecca pretended that it was a big deal that they'd left out that "crucial" detail. As if it'd somehow help or motivate Rachael to summon knowledge about old World War Two planes she'd never even heard of. And history wasn't really her subject anyway. Sure, it's important to understand the past to put the present into perspective, but it's just so boooring to read up on history. In that regard Sam was absolutely right, Rachael never cared about history, at least as far as she could remember..

"Ait, us next then. I'll get you started Hugh. Which popular K-pop group is behind the songs "Hip, Décalcomanie, and Wind Flower?"

"You had me at hip, but the other two are bangers as well. That's Mamamoo"

Hugh offered Sam a low-five before passing the die over to "Team Frark".

Next up to answer for the team was Fred, so Mark picked up a card from the pile and rolled the die.

"What is the name of the football team "Bayern München"'s home arena?"

"A-a Allianz Arena, right?"

Mark answered the question by putting the card neatly on top of their previous scored one, indicating that the answer was correct. Meanwhile, Rachael and Rebecca were both starting to realize that they were in over their heads. Sure, Rachael was knowledgeable about a lot of things, but these types of questions were exactly what one would call trivia. Trivial knowledge that'll only ever serve you well in a quiz like this one. She mostly read study material and other fact based books that didn't give her any edge in trivia.

"If you're still intending to win this, I hope you're a tad more knowledgeable than your friend over there"

The comment was intended in a playful, mocking manner. The type of comment one might dish up when testing the waters for flirting. But Rachael wasn't used to these types of interactions, she was this close to interpreting it as an insult before Rebecca saved the day by laughing. She knew her friend all too well, and understood that without making it overly obvious, the joke would fly right over Rachael's head and cause her to get offended.
In an attempt to match the atmosphere, the clueless girl began chuckling to follow the stream of laughter that had erupted at her own expense.

"You've gotta pick up a card"

"Oh. And roll the die, right?"

"You've got it!"

Rachael rolled the die while picking up a card from the pile. The die landed on a 1 which meant that the topmost question on the list was to be answered.

"Ok, so.. Uh -Who was the first president of the United States of America?"

Really. I get some weird niche question about World War Two airplane engines while Rebecca get's a kindergarten level one? Ugh..

"Give me a G, Give me an E! Give me George Washington!"

"Correct"

"Yaaaay! Perhaps I'm the smarter one after all!" Rebecca said teasingly. At least this time around Rachael caught the joke.

"Congrats girls, you're on the board! But don't get too comfortable. We might be blonde, but none of us are as dull as the stereotype would suggest!"

It annoyed Rachael how they'd all conveniently forgotten how easy the question was. For real, first president of the USA? How fucking stupid of a question. Frankly, it doesn't even belong in the same pile of questions as historic WW2 engines or random football arenas in countries they've never even been to. 

"Yea, those oners' wont suffice in the long-run. It's the higher ones that matter when the points are tallied" 

Too bad Rachael was too busy in her own mind to catch that last bit. Would've certainly made it easier for her to digest getting a few of them wrong. Especially considering that the question she'd gotten wrong a moment earlier counted as a six. 

Next up were Hugh and Sam, this time around it being the latter one's turn to answer a question. 

"Alright Sam, another music related one for us. Who composed the original soundtrack to popular anime series like Fairy Tail and Naruto?" 

"Shit. I've only watched one punch man, you know that! Is it Hans Zimmer?" 

"Bzzz. Wroooong" Hugh answered disappointed.

Of all the guys present, only Sam had yet to watch Naruto. That being said, he was the last to watch a lot of various anime in general. He'd only ever watched one punch man during a night at Mark's place while tripping on edibles. It was the only way they could convince him to "waste his time watching kiddie cartoons from Japan".

"Takanashi Yasuharu!!!!" Mark blurted out, having mustered the willpower to not shout it out the second the question was asked. 

Sigh "Yea. Ding ding ding. You're right, here's the damn point" Hugh muttered. 

Of all the questions in the pile, one of the few anime related ones just haaaad to go to Sam. Hugh was perhaps the most knowledgeable of them all on the topic of anime OST's. Especially familiar with the work of Takanashi Yasuharu, watching that point go to the opposing team stung deeply. 

"Are you all a bunch of nerds or what? Fucking anime music composers? Just wow" 

Rebecca didn't really mind their geeky tendencies. In fact, she found it kind of cute. All just a bit of flirty banter.