Hangman | A FOUR

I was still alarmed at what occurred at the Coeus library as I attended my remaining classes for the day. The fear on Ben and Will's faces were practically tattooed to my brain. The same pair that walked around so high and mighty looked no different than little kids scared their mother would find out they stained her pure white carpet.

Garren wasn't even present and it was very unlikely he would sniff out someone was on his 'seat'. Yet he held that kind of power over them to entice such intimidation. Strangely, I found it sort of fascinating.

As the bell rang to signal to end of school, I was swift to gather up my things and head to the clubhouse for 'Brain Tickling' as Michael had titled it in the text.

The book I'd checked out was the final thing I had to store in my bag and as someone dashing past accidentally bumped my shoulder, it slipped from my grip onto the floor.

I hurried to retrieve it, hoping it wasn't damaged because it would definitely cost a fortune to replace. A large hand grasped the book before mine and I was met with pretty pale green eyes along with golden curled locks.

"Uh, thanks," I mumbled.

Mr. Pretty green eyes peered at the book title as he extended it to me. "Hey, this is the first edition of the Poirot set! Where did you get this?" His face was brimming with amazement.

"Um, at the, the library," I stammered. I couldn't help it. His cuteness caught me off guard and I'd never known anyone to recognise an Agatha Christie classic by one glance.

His brows scrunched. "What? There's no way our dingy school library would have a gem like this. I would've seen it."

"No, not the school it's... a very special out of branch one," I simplified.

"Oh." He nodded. "Cool."

I just dumbly nodded back, staring at him for too long than normal and I'd learned from enough miserable past attempts at talking to people that if the silence proceeded longer than eight seconds, they'd walk away. It would be over. I needed to say something. Fast!

"S-So you like Agatha Christie books?"

Which was by far the most idiotic sentence to leave my lips.

He chuckled and that was cute, too. "Yeah, I do. I love her twists."

"Me too." I gave a wide smile that showed he had my full attention and not too wide to say that I was going to stalk him.

Well, not to illegal boundaries.

"Shaun!" called a boy by the classroom entrance carrying a large duffel bag that appeared to be for a certain type of sport.

Pretty green eyes nodded to the boy and switched back to me. "I've gotta go. Practice."

"Yeah, okay. Alright. Cool." I bit down on my lip before I could blabber out every synonym for indicating approval in the dictionary. God, I was a mess.

Despite this, he offered me a warm smile. "See you around."

I nodded and I gazed at his retreating figure disappear down the corridor, my insides flutter. "See you, Shaun," I whispered to myself to taste his name on my lips. It sounded perfect.

"Who are you talking to?"

I yelped, whipping my head to the voice that came from a classmate nearby who happened to overhear me.

"U-Uh, no one..."

The girl eyed me with a confused look, then shook her head and proceeded out of the class after muttering, "Weirdo."

I couldn't say she was wrong.

**

I arrived at the clubhouse for the brain tickling and this time I was guided to the recreation room. It was a spacious and colourful room filled with all sorts of things like whiteboards, an interactive table, elaborate puzzles and iconic landmarks constructed by Lego. The Sphinx model in particular caught my eye.

Amina hadn't shown up as the captain informed me she had a brief student council errand to run. I mentally added a multi-tasker to the list of things awesome about her.

So when the door opened, I was anticipating a goddess but instead it was just the Aces. Ben and Will signalled me with a head nod and smile which drew a quizzical look on their leader's face.

I didn't want to be impolite since they actually weren't terrible company at the library so I smiled back. I came to instantly regret it because they somehow interpreted that as an invite to pick the seats beside me. Will stationed the chair at my right behind, Ben on the one just in front, leaving a vacancy that I dreadfully hoped wasn't going to be filled by the last Ace.

Andrew reached the chair first and I felt pleased. Only, that wasn't where it ended.

"Move it, muffin top,” Garren ordered. "Can that moderate chair even withstand the hills you call a torso?"

"Garren." scowled Michael.

"It's a probable deduction," Garren argued. "All I'm trying to avoid is the school having to pay for new furniture monthly."

Andrew stood up with a deep frown and relocated elsewhere. So contrary to my wishes, Garren occupied the chair right next to mine and I involuntarily stiffened. Whether I wanted to admit it or not, he made me self-conscious. I told myself that it was nothing to be fazed by and I warily glanced to see the bloke was completely engrossed on scrolling through his newsfeed.

I aimed to look at it positively. We were club associates and it was best I got used to his presence growing around me as soon as possible. When Amina finally arrived, her eyes quickly took notice of the individual sitting by me and her lips tugged down to a deep set frown.

"Amina, please take a seat so we can start,” the captain instructed.

She heeded his words, situating herself on the remaining seat located far away from me. I was upset that I didn't get to have her wonderful presence close by thanks to the Aces. I questioned what that frown was all about. Could it be because she wanted to sit by me too?

The speculation had me growing all giddy inside and as I caught her staring, I did my best to convey an apologetic expression. She stared for a while longer then faced the front.

I had often pondered how Coeus conducted their after school activities for events and I was amazed to discover it was just like spare time at primary school. For exercising our intuitive and analysing skills, Michael announced we'd play Hangman. Only it was Coeus' alternate version which he recapped on how to play for me.

Instead of plain and simple guessing a letter to decipher the word, Coeus Hangman required the player to use any academic coding to solve it from trigonometry to logarithms to even musical notes. Then optionally, you could offer a hint if requested but it costed the requestor a Hangman only excluding his head.

I felt enthralled and nervous all at once by it. The game commenced by order of Coeus' youngest member, Tate Jones, who stepped up to the board while we all sat with booklets to note down on.

For the first and second rounds, I stuck to mainly observing the choices of ciphers picked. I didn't want to figure it out then have to be next and stand there, uncertain of the countless roads to take. I wanted ideas.

Halfway through third, I felt confident to start solving. Admittedly, I seemed to be lacking a mental stamina as everybody else had concluded answers by mere minutes at looking at the code. Well, except Garren who was occupied on his phone since the beginning. I assumed maybe he was using it to assist in cracking the code but each time I peeked, it was still Mahjong.

I couldn't for the life of me understand him. If he didn't want to even participate, why join the club?

I told myself not to get distracted and focus like my other fellow members. Although, I'd failed to even make a single guess before someone got the answer right. It got me more and more worried if I could truly keep up.

At the twelfth turn, Andrew was up and drew out eight blanks. The cipher was apparently the Greek and English alphabet. He only wrote out a letter spacing them out so to make no mistake that it was singular spelling out an obscure statement;

L  O   M

I squinted my eyes, desperate to make sense of it and I felt relieved that I wasn't the only one having a hard time grasping it. When several minutes past, a bloke called Ian gave in and asked for a hint.

"The word means beyond," Andrew riddled.

I found myself even more at loss than I was ten seconds earlier. I heard Ian curse, clearly regretting using up five chances as he didn't have any better understanding.

"Garren,” Michael called. "Mind telling me when you plan on actually participating?"

Garren didn't stray his attention from his app game. "When it gets interesting."

Michael cocked a brow. "Oh really? Are you sure that isn't an excuse because you can't actually figure out Andrew's word?"

There came a chorus of taunting "Ooh"s from all around and Garren finally glanced up from his screen to meet the captain's challenging stare.

"Alright." Garren stored his phone inside his pocket and leaned back, dark eyes nonchalantly gazed on the board. "... The answer is etcetera. Correct?"

Andrew seemed just as thrown off by the quick response as everyone and delayed in nodding.

Garren smirked at the captain. "There, happy?"

"Whoa, whoa hang on,” Ian intervened. "You can't just jump to the finish. How the heck did you get that?"

I was glad to see I wasn't alone in the curiosity and also was keen to hear the steps that led to the conclusion.

Garren folded his arms. "Why do I need to explain? I solved it, didn't I?"

"Yes but walking through it helps us all out in this exercise," Michael stated. "Now please, enlighten us."

That seemed to be the perfect buttering up to have the prick to comply. "Since I seem to be the only one with working brain cells here— fine. The code as given, are each from the modern Greek alphabet for the fifth, twentieth and twenty-second singling out one letter from each character. The L from Epsilon, the O from Upsilon and the M from Gamma."

"How do you know it's those exact letters and not any others?" questioned Amina.

"Really? I have to dumb it down even more for you?"

"Garren.”

Garren sighed but conceded to the captain’s tone. "It's picked out from what number the letter holds in the English alphabet."

"But Upsilon doesn't have up to twenty letters," Ben pointed out.

Garren regarded the boy with a bored look. "Benny, the number line can exceed to a billion when applying mathematics but does it have a billion different numbers?"

"You keep counting on a loop until you reach the amount,” Will deduced with a look of revelation.

"Precisely." Garren nodded. "Then you convert it to the English alphabet and what three letters hold those positions in that same order?"

"ETC," uttered Philip and it was all becoming crystal clear to everybody by that point. "Which is the abbreviation for etcetera."

I was stunned.

I believed I wasn't alone on that feeling since each face around had a look of marvel at the boy who sat smugly in his chair. It had only taken him less than thirty seconds to figure out that brain teaser as if it were child's play.

I questioned God why he gifted such a twat with intellect of a whole different league. It didn't seem right.

"Well done, Garren.” smiled Michael. "Do us the honours of playing the final round before we wrap up for the day?"

"Sure." Garren valiantly walked up to the board. "Alright, playtime is over, morons. Try and put your heads together because I don't do infantile. I will be generous though and give you a hint with no charge."

"Garren that's not how we play—"

"It's my turn Michael and I'll set the rules how I like."

The captain rolled his eyes yet nevertheless resigned. "Suit yourself."

I caught Garren crack a triumphant grin before facing us with a heavy handed stare down. "The word is related to carbohydrates. You have a maximum of fifteen minutes and actually put some effort into your guesses so I don't feel like hanging you on a stand." His tone blunt, devoid of any humour.

Garren drew out fifteen blanks for the word and an algebraic problem. I was steadfast on solving the first equation swiftly and when I noticed the others still scribbling, I felt a sense of pride in seeing I worked it out the quickest.

My mental stamina is building up. I thought to myself.

The glee didn't last longer than a minute when it dawned on me I still hadn't a faintest clue what the word could be. The equation seemed to have clarified nothing and I then understood why everyone was still frantically scribbling in their jotters, looking puzzled.

Three incorrect guesses were made in the first six minutes. After that, each one passed by in silence. Long, gruelling silence with our gears whirring like mad that we might as well have had steam coming out of our ears.

When it reached the final sixty seconds, I could tell most had already called it quits by their body language while their expressions held frustration. Blatantly unsatisfied with the thought of Garren Adler taking them for fools. So was I.

So I stubbornly persisted, looking at the equation from every angle I could scavenge. That was what I intended, until my gaze abruptly strayed to the 'author'. Garren held that bored expression, eyes staring at nothing in particular and it was the one I'd grown to know on him back when first enrolling. I'd see it often in the classes back then, except for one incident in science where I had sat beside him. He strangely seemed more attentive on the class— what was the lecture on?

No wait, that wasn't what I needed to be using my brain for. How had I let my mind wander to something so irrelevant? In such a critical time, too. I forced my eyes away from the nonchalant dark haired boy and back to the cipher. Just when it seemed like it was all for naught, I saw it.

It was right there staring me right in the face and it was like the ceiling split open to cast down light onto everything written on the board at that moment.

This seemed to be it but I had to read over everything first to be confident I wasn't seeing things due to looking at numbers and letters for fourteen minutes straight, barely blinking.

"Time's up, losers," Garren announced.

I mentally cursed. Dammit, I really thought I would’ve had it there.

Michael was the only one willing to swallow his pride and request for the dark haired boy for the answer.

“Frankly, I don’t see why I should when you lot couldn’t even put two things together. Are you sure you’re not suffering from a tumor or something? And that’s a legitimate question. I'm genuinely concerned.” The row of glaring eyes were regarded with an infuriating look of supposed pity. “Alright, then. Know that I'm here when you’re ready.”

He turned back to the board, slashing the marker along an empty space to shape out the letters in big, bold writing as he spoke. “The answer is oligosaccharide.”

I was one of the few who merely just stared at the words in silence. By few, I meant just Ewen, as everybody else took to verbally expressing their disgruntle and frustration.

“Is that even a word?” started Philip.

“How the heck were we supposed to arrive at that?!” bawled Ian.

The place started to get a little rowdy and quick to intervene, Michael rose his voice above the others, clapping his hands too in order to seize their attention. “Settle down, everyone. We can’t just be making hasty claims like that. So it was tricky, but you think the IAO and other competitions aren’t going to require you to think out of the box?”

That easily had the majority turning quiet, shifting their glares and frowns to the floor or looking a little ashamed. Michael certainly wasn’t the captain for nothing and he took it upon himself to crack Garren’s insane cipher for all to see.

I think I'd stopped blinking by that point, not wanting to miss a thing as I hooked onto every word and jotting out my own copy of the problem to revise over later.

Witnessing Michael Howard in action was every bit as amazing as I imagined. His hand holding the marker moved in a flurry to dissect the daunting values and progression systems simultaneously. Just like that, the picture was beginning to become clearer and clearer in my eyes.

Until Michael’s hand suddenly stopped.

I frowned, looking to the strange expression on Michael's face. “… Hang on, this bit isn’t adding up.”

What?

Garren, who'd been bored of waiting and turned back to his game of Mahjong merely glimpsed up. “That’s because you divide there.”

“No, I mean, the answer isn’t conclusive to the one you provided, Garren. I think you made a mistake somewhere.”

Instantly, Garren’s fingers paused from the tapping. He slowly rose his eyes from the screen to meet the captain’s. “What did you just say?” From the low fury in his tone, you would’ve thought Michael had spat on the boy’s face.

“Over here.” Michael pointed to the remaining linear equations. “The numbers don’t evaluate to anything that could be interpreted as a clue to your answer. You made a mistake.”

The room quickly filled with hushed murmurs. The member’s faces varied from shock to looking positively intrigued now.

I was mostly concerned with the dark look across Garren’s face as he marched up to Michael. “There is no mistake. Your calculations are what’s inaccurate.”

“Now calm down, Garren. I'm sure it wasn’t deliberate but there’s no need to feel embarrassed, we all mess up sometimes.”

Garren scoffed. “Oh, I'm the one who’s meant to be embarrassed here? Really?”

“Michael’s right.”

All heads turned to the voice and awkwardly rising was a flustered Andrew, clearing his throat. He raised up his notebook, identical to the workings on the whiteboard. “I just cross checked everything. There isn’t anything wrong on the captain’s part, so—”

“And who asked you to butt in? Go munch on a Mars bar.” snarled Garren with a venomous tone. Andrew quickly shrunk back into his seat.

With that, Michael seemed to have lost all patience. “Garren, enough already! I'm trying to level with you here but if you're adamant on acting this way, I will issue a penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct.”

His warning was well taken with several members beginning to holler or murmur in urging the captain to take action right there. How it had turned out this way, I wasn’t so sure.

I figured it would’ve simmered down as I stayed quiet but on the signs of it escalating to a point of no return, I realised then, it was now or never.

“This is your last chance, Garren or—"

“Garren’s cipher isn’t wrong.”

The room fell to a standstill. I could feel the dozens of eyes centered on me. Garren's the most discerning as he cocked his head to the side.

Michael's was a close second with how tense his expression looked and it had me unsure if I really wanted to do this to myself. "… You’re certain there’s no error?"

I nodded.

Michael held a lengthy stare before gradually urging me to go onwards.

I fought through the lump in my throat. "Well, at first glance, it looks like the value of x should play the biggest role in leading to the answer but it's not. There's another key element right there that no one would think much of, which is the variables used."

Garren's visage gave nothing away which had me scared I was saying complete nonsense but I kept going.  "Dismissing the coefficient next to x, the following variables h, o and c aren't random. They fall in line with the abbreviations for three elements in the periodic table. Those three elements make up sugar which is a carbohydrate."

"That’s not the answer and sugar’s too short—"

"I wasn't done," I briskly cut off whoever tried to interject. I couldn't even place the voice as I was too tangled up by Garren's upshifting eyes. "Yes, it can't be sugar. Not just 'cause it's short but because that would mean part of Garren’s equation is invalid as a clue— which it isn’t. The atoms that construct sugar are approximately twelve molecules of carbon, twenty two of hydrogen and eleven of oxygen.

If you substitute that in place of the variables and follow with multiplying, the answers clarify everything.

Now, we start back at the sum captain simplified from the first surds equation; the number 15. Then we link it up with the three values from the latter linear ensemble after converting into decimals which is; 97.15, 19.1338 and 1018.925. Then replace those numbers to the order of the letters in the alphabet, they line up to spell out oligosaccharide. Just as Garren said, is the answer."

The room was silent enough to hear a pin drop with a heavy air hanging over. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it but it was delicate enough for a fallen feather to unravel it.

Garren hadn't stopped staring at me and I was beginning to panic that I might have said something I really shouldn't have.

The rapid noises of digits punched in calculators and pencils on papers were all drowned out by my thundering heartbeat. I swore, I was on the verge of passing out when Michael conferred to his own notes and two other members, then fixed me with this stern look.

“… It’s a match,” declared Michael. All at once, the stern expression lifted and an endearing smile sprung back on his lips. “Good job, Stevie.”

It was like a thousand church bells went off at his words. I almost couldn't believe my ears. I didn't know how to react. Should I smile? Scream? Do a cartwheel? Best not since I hadn't done those in years and would probably snap my neck at a try but maybe the situation would be worth it.

Suddenly, there was the distinct noise of an applause and I pivoted my head to see Ewen. Still bearing that blank expression but unbelievably, he was clapping. Ben and Will joined in next then everyone followed suit.

I stood dumfounded and even more at a loss on how to take it so just awkwardly smile in response. Soon, it died down and Michael took that as his cue to speak. "Well, thank you very much for that interesting finale, Garren. Hope you had your fun."

Garren merely grunted and made a start for the exit.

"Oi, I didn't say you could leave yet—"

The door slammed shut behind him with a thud. The captain sighed and the other two Aces began departing from the room also but only after patting my head and shoulder with a smile. This time around, I didn’t mind it so much.

Michael didn't even bother saying anything to them and resumed to give a short closing statement before dismissing us. Amina left immediately after and I presumed she was in a hurry to attend to other matters.

I received commendations all round from everybody that my jaw was sore from the constant smiling at the shower of compliments. All in all, the day had turned out pretty great and I was starting to feel like a qualified member of Coeus.