“It’s time to announce the results everyone. I’d like to congratulate you all on the splendid work you did during this competition,” the organizer Mr. Tim Harris told everyone gathered in the big conference hall. “After this competition is over, you’ll have a few more days in LA to relax and enjoy yourselves before you go back to your respected countries.”

Jessica was shaking in anticipation due to the announcement of the results. She wanted to win this so badly and make everyone proud of her. This competition will open up so many doors for her to study at a prestigious university. She will finally be able to meet the expectations that people have of her. She hates this, but maybe, just maybe, if everyone is pleased with her, she’ll feel better, less stressed.

“The other judges and I have went through everything. We took into consideration the initial scores with which you entered this competition and also how you did in all of the rounds. The presentation has the biggest impact, of course,” Mr. Tim Harris explained to everyone. “The results are very close and it was such a hard decision.”

The suspense was building up so much as people waited for the results to be revealed. At first the organizer gave some participation certificates to the teams that didn’t do all that well and didn’t make the top 10. The captains of each team went up on the stage, shook Mr. Tim Harris’s hand and took the certificate from him. There were people taking pictures of him with the candidates as well, so that they would later be uploaded on the official Facebook page and website.

When they began announcing the top 10 teams, Jessica felt her heart rate increase and she became even more nervous. Taeyeon noticed this and quickly took Jessica’s hand in hers in order to calm her down. She then whispered in her ear with a soothing voice, “Don’t worry, babe. Just relax”

Jessica immediately closed her eyes and smiled. She was so happy about the fact that she has the most amazing and caring girlfriend in the world. She was so lucky to have Taeyeon, so she gave her hand a light squeeze. At that moment she wanted to kiss the girl for being so perfect. She didn’t care that there were so many people around them. Nobody would pay attention that two girls were holding hands, especially at a moment like this one. It felt normal.

Mr. Tim Harris announced teams which finished in places from 10 till 5 and luckily Jessica’s team wasn’t one of them, which meant that they definitely made it to the top 5.

Jessica then heard their team being announced in 3rd place and she immediately felt like she wanted to die. 3rd place was not the one she was aiming for, she really wanted and needed to take home the gold not the bronze. Jessica looked mortified and couldn’t move from her seat at all. She felt like she was going to faint as all her worries came crashing down on her. 3rd place meant that her mother would be extremely disappointed and that the most prestigious universities wouldn’t even consider taking her. Nobody remembers 3rd place. Everyone only cares about 1st and Jessica knew that. When she hadn’t moved, Taeyeon decided to just go up there and take the prize.

The girl needed to do this for Jessica because she saw how badly she had reacted to the announcement. She knew how important this was to her and even though Taeyeon thought that 3rd place was still amazing and that they should be proud, she knew that Jessica badly wanted to win and for their team to be 1st. This is probably my fault. I screwed up and they lowered our points. Taeyeon thought as she remembered how she didn’t know most of the answers on the test and how nervous she was when they were presenting their company.

Jessica was still not moving a muscle. It was like her mind just switched off and she didn’t register anything going on around her. Suddenly she felt someone put their hand on her shoulder. It was Hara who told her not to worry and that they should be very proud of this accomplishment. She told her that 3rd place was still really amazing and not many teams manage to get there.

“This is all that Amanda girl’s fault. I was disqualified because of her. That’s where we lost so many points,” Jessica just said quietly to everyone as Taeyeon came back and sat next to her. “This is so unfair...”

“If they win, it’s because they had connections and they got away with cheating,” Gyuri said and sighed. “That’s how it is with competitions like this one...”

“It’s the same with Basketball too by the way,” Taeyeon explained to everyone. “A lot of teams win by cheating one way or another and since they have connections, they can get away with it.”

“That’s so stupid. Goddamn it...” Jessica said as tears began welling up in her eyes. “You guys are right, though. I’m so extremely proud of all the effort you guys put into this project.” She up all the disappointment and anger at that moment. The reassurance that she needed to give her team and telling them that she was a proud leader was more important. Everyone then smiled at her and told her how much they enjoyed working on the project with her and that she was an amazing leader.

“Now it’s time to announce the 1st place winner!” Mr. Tim Harris said after the 2nd place team’s leader went back to his seat. “It’s none other than the New York team! Everyone please applaud them for their amazing work!”

Everyone but Jessica’s team gave them applause. They were pissed off at how unfair this situation was.

When Amanda got up on stage, she asked for a microphone so she could say a few words to everyone.

“I’d like to thank all the judges, teachers and participants in this event. You were amazing and I’m so glad that we all got to compete with honor and dignity,” the girl was saying with a smile on her face and so many people believed her words.

“God, she’s so two-faced. She’s horrible. How can she go up and say these things after she cheated,” Jessica sighed and felt a bit sad that there was nothing they could do. Even if they tell the jury that Amanda cheated, nobody would believe t