Back in primary school, I used to bake a different flavored scone everyday just because my crush Jake Jordan was sick of the blueberry flavor at lunch. I didn't get the hint when he told me that he didn't like scones, so I began baking cupcakes instead.

In middle school, I fell head over heels for Ross Chang like all the other girls. But unlike them, I had the guts to declare my feelings. So I walked up to him after history class and asked him out on a date. Again, unlike the other girls, I didn't have a curvy body or kissable full lips or glowing smooth locks. He rejected me right on the spot, and I became the class' joke for three days straight.

Tristan Wheeler. Ian fox. Anson Wong. I had too many crushes, and frankly too many disappointing rejections in return. It would have been an understatement to say that I loved love. I was hopelessly drunk with the wonderful fantasy everyday, constantly dreaming of when my knight in shining armor would arrive at my doorstep.

Natia. I snapped out of my daydream and brought my attention back to the present. I was walking into a debate room. The mock debate was going to start anytime soon. Stay focused.

The seat was cold as the back of my hand came in contact with the hard plastic, my bright pleated skirt falling neatly across the chair. I lined the perfectly sharpened pencils on the small wooden desk, and my mind relaxed as the familiar pre-debate routine played out naturally.

"You ready?" I asked both Ting and Ruth, a smile tugging on my lips. I could already feel the adrenaline seeping into my veins as I envisioned the thrill of taking the stage, raising my voice and seeing the other team's confident, collected masks strip down to absolute terror.

I always loved debating. It was the only place in the world when you'd get applauded for talking back, being hostile and stupidly blunt. That's why my debating teacher signed me up for the gifted-minds competition, where students from all across the world came together in NYU to compete. I somehow managed to convince my two best friends to come along with me.

Ting was pale, as if she was about to puke. "Natia, I-I'm scared. What if we don't win this practice round? Debating is supposed to be our best category, but I have a bad feeling about this."

Debating was indeed our best category. None of us excelled at writing. Nor were we brilliant at the written test. It was basically the golden trophy from debate in the Hong Kong regional round that got us here at New York University, attending the international round of the competition.

Ruth chewed on her bottom lip nervously. "If we do fail this practice round, it'll basically mean we won't have a shot at the real deal next week-"

I sighed. " -guys- "

The door creaked open. The sound of heels clashed harshly with the marble floor, silencing Ruth and Ting immediately as they swallowed down their remaining words. I sucked in a nervous breath.

If there was one thing that I feared most in a debate, it's the ones who look like they just stepped foot out of a victory secret model runway. There's just something so intimidating by those who bore such ravishing beauty in a debate that usually makes my mouth grow dry and my hands clammy with sweat.

The first girl was impossibly beautiful. Her glowing blonde locks framed her heart-shaped face, falling down onto her shoulders like liquid gold. Even from a distance, I could make out the stormy gray color of her eyes, and I could already picture the thunder in them as she would perform her flawless speech. Framing her body was a black, modest dress. It was almost as if she knew that she would look pretty regardless of what she wore. I bit down on my lip hard until I tasted the sickening sourness of my thoughts.

I noticed instantly the loose blouse and ridiculous bright red skirt that I was in. I tugged the skirt a little higher up my waist. I'd never been comfortable in these formal attires, especially when I had to fish them out twenty minutes before the flight to New York from my mom's wardrobe, accidentally picking out a skirt that was apparently twice the size of my hips.

Following the blonde came a dark haired boy and girl, the smile on their faces subtle and identical, as if they were just telling some stupid joke before entering the room. They both have fair skin and large, amused eyes. The only major difference between them is the boy's warm brown eyes in stark contrast to the girl's bright blue eyes.

I turned to Ting's and Ruth's direction as the opponents took their seats. "Hey," I whispered in Chinese. "we're Asians, there's no way they can beat us."

They both laughed, but I could still feel a blanket of nervousness hovering between them. I shifted my attention to the opponents, and I could've sworn I saw a trace of smile across the boy's face. But before I got to take a second look, he'd already turned his head to the pretty blonde, his eyes lighting up as if telling another joke.

The door slammed open, and in came our adjudicator. I tried not to gape. He definitely resembled Eminem more than an actual debating adjudicator. On his shaved head was an oversized cap, with YOLO written across in bold, capitalized letter. Around his neck hung a heavy chain of silver, flashing strongly below the harsh lights of the classroom. For a moment I really couldn't tell if this guy was being legitimate or not.

It took all my efforts not to burst out laughing, but the moment that he starting walking towards his adjudicator chair, I couldn't help but slip the tiniest bit in my masked demeanor. His hands swayed dramatically from side to side, his shoulders tipping from one side to another as he walked like one of those rappers in music videos.

I was halfway through a laugh before I stopped myself just in time, covering my mouth with a hand and forcing a few coughs out.

"You okay?" Ruth asked. I nodded my head and said thanks before regaining my emotionless expression. I looked ahead, and this time I was a hundred percent positive that the boy's glint of amusement in his eyes were directed towards me. He must've seen my cover up.

Rolling my eyes, I shot him a grin. He grinned back.

The adjudicator cleared his throat. "So this is officially the first competition of the 2017 gifted-minds competition, and today's area is on debate."

The boy imitated me, pulling a funny face as he choked on air. I bit down a laugh and strained to focus on the adjudicator's monotonous voice.

"-after I show the motion, you will have 10 minutes to prepare your 4 minutes speeches-"

He had now transitioned from choking to having a seizure. I let a small smile slip again, and I wondered how the two girls on his team weren't distracted at all by his little scene.

"-when I ring the bell once, it means that you have 1 minute left-"

The boy was now in the middle of dying, cross-eyed and bloated. I gave up on trying to ignore him. Nodding my head towards the adjudicator, I made a shaka sign with my hands to the boy and mouthed 'YOLO'.

A laugh escaped the boy's mouth, and it sounded melodic - like a brush of the piano. The adjudicator stopped midsentence to gaze at him hard. I closed my eyes in desperate attempt to contain my bubbling laughter.

"Sorry sir." He said, his voice smooth and boyish.

The adjudicator huffed out a sigh before continuing on with his tedious speech. I tore my eyes away from the boy's sheepish smile and looked attentively back at the annoyed man.

"Today, the motion is that the death penalty should not be allowed. Easthill American school of Malaysia, you'll be the negative team. Goodwill school of Hong Kong will be affirmative. So I guess your preparation time begins now."

My brain started whirred instantaneously as I started putting the pieces of our speeches together. "Okay, I got these three points," I said in Chinese, rapid firing like my life depended on it. "Firstly, you talk about how the death penalty cannot successfully deter the criminal because it eradicates any learning opportunity..."

Ting and Ruth both scribbled furiously across their line paper as I continued to speak. I sneaked a peak at the boy. To my surprise, he was smiling, and he was looking right at me.

I turned my head sharply back towards Ruth. My cheeks grew warm.

By the end of the 10 minutes, both my teammates have 2 full pages of notes. "May the uh-" The adjudicator grunted, "affirmative team approach the front."

"You go girl." I whispered and gave her a thumbs up. Ting released a shaky breath.

Ting stuttered through her first minute. But she got all the signposting and definition explaining across clear enough in the next 3 minutes. I smiled in relief.

She soon wrapped up her speech smoothly. The pretty blonde from the negative team stood up as she was called. My toes curled nervously.

"Honourable adjudicator, teammates and opponents," She began, her voice silky. "Before I begin my speech, I'd like to do some rebuttals."

We locked eyes, and suddenly it was as if I was unable to escape her tight grasp. "The affirmative team firstly talked about the lack of deterrence in the idea of death penalty, yet we absolutely disagree with that. Other criminals may see the serious consequences to their actions and be persuaded to do the right thing."

My brows furrowed as I racked my brain for a rebuttal. I could feel my heart pounding as I noticed how she was able to come up with a counter argument in a matter of seconds.

My widened slowly, and it was an understatement to say that I was shocked. I was in awe. The the girl continue to knock down all our arguments effortlessly, as if she was simply kicking over little pieces of dominos. Both Ruth and Ting were staring at her incredulously, and I myself tried not to appear too taken back by her brilliance.

How did she manage to deliver the rebuttals so eloquently at the spot? Looking at the boy across from me, I mouthed: What the fuck.

He grinned and shrugged, mouthing back: Good luck.

I bit down hard on my lip. No way was I going to walk up on to the front without showing them what I've got.

Ruth walked up next. Then the boy. I narrowed my eyes at his smug expression as he grinned through the whole speech, as if already expecting a win.

"Whip speaker of the affirmative team please approach the front." I plastered on a confident smile on my face, giving the adjudicator a respectful nod. Squaring my shoulders, I clipped the cue cards between my fingers and walked up to face everyone.

Taking a deep breath, I looked down at my cards. A jumble of words were drawn messily across the tiny card, with intertwined arrows pointing from middle to top to bottom. My fingers tremble ever so slightly as I panicked, the words making no sense to me all of a sudden. Recollecting myself, I weighed my risks for one last moment before slamming the cards down on the desk.

I set my bold gaze on the adjudicator. "Honourable adjudicator, before I begin my speech, I'd like to remind the negative team to check themselves before they wreck themselves."

"HA!" The boy laughed. The adjudicator grunted with disapproval.

I looked straight into the boy's amused eyes. "The second speaker of the negative team mentioned the case study of Thomas Wilson. Yet let me remind everyone that this does not apply to our motion here today, as we are discussing the authorization of the death penalty instead of the impacts of the death penalty. Hence I do not see any trace of relevance throughout the second speaker's speech, and demand to see an explanation to his totally irrelevant argument."

His smile vanished. I shot him a victory smile.

"And the first speaker." I was barely able to contain my excitement when I saw the fear in the pretty blonde's eyes.

"The first speaker again and again rebutted our several arguments with one single counterargument. And sadly, their only point is completely invalid."

I shifted my attention to the adjudicator. The tip of his pen was frozen above the paper.

"The negative team talked about how 'death penalty is the only way to warn people', yet the negative team failed to acknowledge other more humane ways to correct people, such as incapacitation and rehabilitation. So the negative team, do you still really believe that death penalty is the only solution to all our problems?"

I continued my speech, and suddenly I felt like there was not enough time for all the things I had to say. I felt all the eyes, glued on to me and no one else. Not the beautiful girl, not the ridiculous judge, but just me, and it was the most amazing feeling in the world.

I eyed the ticking timer and reluctantly wrapped up my speech. Everyone clapped, as if applauding the end of the beautiful dance recital instead of an overtly hostile girl debating. I finally returned back to planet Earth. I tucked a loose lock of hair back behind my ears before scurrying back to my seat.

The third speaker of the negative side did her speech, and the adjudicator wrapped up the scores on his sheet of paper. He cleared his voice. "So...it was a tough debate, and both teams did really well."

I gave the two girls beside me a light squeeze on the arm. I looked hopefully at the judge and prayed to every god above for a win.

"But...there must be a winner, and I feel like the affirmative team was more convincing."

My stomach did a summersault. I failed to retain my happiness as I let my grin show, my veins suddenly rushing with adrenaline.

"Both teams may now cross the floor to shake hands."

I hopped off my seat giddily and practically bounced to the middle to meet the opposing team. I shook the blonde girl's hand first, then the dark haired girl. I reflected the boy's contagious smile when I approached him, my hand outstretched.

It wasn't until I was right in front of him did I notice he was practically a foot taller than me. "I-it was nice debating with you." I said, grasping his rough, callused hands.

He bent his neck to look at me. He winked. "Well, I guess Asians are better at everything."

I scrambled to come up with a witty response. My mind was completely blank.

He laughed, his warm voice raising the temperature of the room by a few degrees. My cheeks were flaming.

"I'll see you around." He said, walking off.

I finally remembered to breath.

~*~

Author's notes: Thankyouuu for clicking on my story, it really means a lot to me! Remember to give it a vote if you liked it, or comment some suggestions for improvements! love y'all! xx

-Jaeanne