He wiped the beads of sweat from his brow. His shirt smelled like manure, and he assumed the rest of him did too. He threw down his gloves, and they raced through the empty hallway back to Professor Kain's class. He was beat after eight hours of excruciating work, so it greatly reduced his top speed. Yet the cool air inside and the recent adulations from Professor Petrov lifted his spirits.

They ran into his classroom and caught the professor in his doorway.

Professor Kain said, "Excuse me, I need to upload the official grades tonight, but I've already given you your final score."

"Yes. That's why we're here."

"We do not believe Ansh's team had enough time to complete another design. It takes weeks to prepare it and test it and the last time we saw his, he was still stuck in the same spot," said Cole. He said that quickly and tried to restrain his anger.

"We want to see his final design," Hope said, finishing his point.

Professor Kain guffawed. "I will not hand over the other students' work. Your grade is final, and I will not change it."

He pushed us backwards through his door.

"We did groundbreaking work on our design and there is no way they did better than us," Cole yelled. He switched from calm to arguing.

"Their work will be published regardless."

He closed his door, turned to us, and said, "I already told you," Professor Kain pressed them further back and poked his finger into Cole's chest repeatedly, "your grades are final." He had never been manhandled by a teacher before.

A viewer announced, "Incoming call from Dr. Bettencourt."

"Was that mine?" Hope asked.

Professor Kain grabbed his viewer from his pocked, it vibrated, and announced, "Incoming call from Dr. Bettencourt."

He smiled and announced, "Answer Call."

A hologram of Dr. Bettencourt appeared. He wore his regular business attire with a crimson tie for Skye.

"Good Afternoon, students and Professor Kain."

"Hello, sir," Professor Kain said.

"Cole and Hope," he shifted to face them, "I received a call from Professor Petrov telling me how well you did in our final exams. You shattered the record on a recently broken leg. That is an incredible fete. Keep up your amazing a work."

"Thank you, sir," she said.

"Professor Petrov also stated that you have a problem with Professor Kain's trials."

"Yes, sir. We are having a problem believing Ansh and Sai did this well."

Professor Kain cut them off, "As I explained to these students, the grades are final."

Dr. Bettencourt cut him off, but kept a calm tone, "Professor Kain, if everything is as legitimate as you say, what harm would it do to show them their design? Do not forget whose name is on the wall." He pointed to the Bettencourt Enterprises sign.

He raised his arm to reject them again, then looked at Dr. Bettencourt.

"Fine. Go ahead," he said, despondently.

He unlocked his door and let them in. He walked to his desk and grabbed the transparency film. "Here it is." He handed it to her.

"... and his files?" Dr. Bettencourt asked.

"Here."

He switched on his station and typed in his password. He brought it up on the screen.

"Here you go."

Hope used the school's light transparency tester and shined a bright light through one side of the film and checked the result.

"This is only 65%"

They did not beat us.

"Check it again," said Professor Kain. "I checked it myself and it was 66%"

She pressed the light switch and check it again.

"65%"

She showed it to Dr. Kain, Cole, and Dr. Bettencourt.

"We're tied."

Cole flipped through pages on the hologram above him with haste.

"This is our design," he shouted, cheerfully,

"Are you sure?" Professor Bettencourt asked.

'Absolutely! This is identical to the paper we turned in one month ago."

Dr. Bettencourt, interrupted, "I read your work because you introduced many new innovations, so I am familiar with your paper. Also, I read through Ansh and Sai's paper and knew they would never catch up. Professor Kain, it is obvious what happened here. Please explain yourself."

He said nothing.

"Don't worry, Professor Petrov told me everything."

"What?!" he shouted, angrily, "She did it, too."

"Yes. She informed me, and you confirmed her story by admitting it."

"Professor Kain, you are fired. Leave my school immediately."

"But, sir! I am ..."

Three security guards had arrived when they were not looking and escorted him away. "No. You can't."

"Unhand me!" He yelled at the first guard that grabbed him. "I'm sorry. I needed the money for my wife."

Dr. Bettencourt shifted and addressed Hope and Cole. "My apologies for having to endure these circumstances at my school."

"I will adjust your final grades to leave you at 1st and 2nd place. Congratulations!" He smiled and bowed his head to them. "I have always had the highest hopes for you two."

"Name Jinx!" Cole shouted.

She never paid attention when Dr. Bettencourt was around.

Cole reached over and pinched her.

"Congratulations again. I must leave. We will talk soon." He waved goodbye.

She wrapped her arms around him and kissed his cheek. "We did it."

"Yes. We did."

"Does that mean they won?" That sounded like his mom behind him.

He spun around to see her. Her face filled with joy. He said, "Yes. We did. I had no idea that you were here."

"We came to watch the final and meet you after, but you ran back into the school." His mom hugged him and said, "We knew you would do it."

"Thanks, mom."

Then she hugged Hope too. "Nice work, Hope."

His mom said, "You two broke the record."

Hope's parents were there too. They embraced Hope together.

"Now, we can celebrate," Angie said, happily.

"Only seven days until Mars. Yay!" Hope announced.

Hope and Cole strolled back to the classroom. They gathered their equipment and left this school for the last time.

Hope's viewer beeped. She read it then showed it to him.

Maria: Congratulations! We saw everything on the school cameras.

She typed in her response then waved at the camera on the ceiling.

Hope: Thank you.

Maria: I knew you two would break the record.

Hope's dad took his mom to the side and asked, "Any word from the judge yet?" He tried to be discrete, but Cole could still hear them.

"Nope. Nothing."