1 Fall of a Genius (I)

The long hallway was rumbling with the sounds of numerous footsteps rushing towards a certain direction. The eager murmurs and excited chatter followed, reverberating all around and pulling everyone's attention from the surroundings.

"What's happening? Where are you all going?" A guy's voice rang out loudly, trying to be heard over the commotion.

"To the science wing." Came an answer, equally loud.

"Science wing? Why?"

"It seems some kid from first year challenged Mrs. Abernathy in front of everyone."

"What?! Are you serious?"

"That's not all. I heard they both made a huge bet too."

"Damn! Someone is brave enough to stand against that tyrant? Let's go, I wanna see who this crazy dude is. Or I may not get a chance later."

- -

Science Wing, Classroom No. 07.

Subject: Bio-Chemistry.

Professor: Mrs. Brenda Abernathy.

A large number of students were gathered at the two doorways of the classroom as more and more continued to assemble there. The air was filled with gossip and speculations as each tried to figure out what was actually happening inside.

Even though they couldn't get a good view inside, nobody tried to take a single step into the classroom, as if an invisible barrier was preventing them from doing so. It was because this was Science wing, classroom No.7, the domain of the Tyrant Professor – Mrs. Brenda Abernathy.

She was known to be extremely strict and arrogant with a overbearing attitude. She was one of the highly experienced and senior faculty of the university. Even her fellow professors find her hard to approach and keep their distance with her. And the additional title of being the wife of Mr. Benjamin Abernathy – The Vice Dean and the Administrator for the Department of Law, granted her a superior status and an unquestionable authority throughout the university.

As such, although the outside was noisy and crowded, the inside was calm and orderly. The students in the classroom were all out of their desks and grouped together at the front, surrounding everything from outside view.

- - -

Two guys squeezed themselves into the crowd and shoved their way to the forefront, as they began to scan the classroom to get a glimpse of the situation. But their vision was severely obstructed by the students gathered inside the classroom.

Then, one guy immediately pulled out his phone and tapped the screen multiple times. A few seconds later, inside the classroom, a guy with Buzz cut broke apart from the group and turned to the crowd at the doorway. He waved his hand and slowly sneaked his way out of the room.

"Hey, Cousin." The guy with Buzz cut smiled at one of the guy, who gave him a curt nod.

"Hey, this is my friend-" The 'Cousin' prepared to introduce but was cut off by his eager and excited friend.

"Who cares? Tell me, what's going on here?" He asked, trying to look past the wall of students standing in the classroom. "Where is the guy who challenged Mrs. Abernathy?"

"That would be a girl." The 'Buzz cut' answered, surprising both his Cousin and the Friend.

"A girl?" The 'Friend' shouted, eyes wide in surprise. The 'Cousin' who stood beside him was equally surprised. They subconsciously assumed the person to be a guy and were shocked to find the 'crazy dude' to be a crazy chick instead. "Is she crazy? Why is she doing this?"

"I don't know." The 'Buzz cut' answered with a shake of his head. "But she seems to be really smart – like a science genius. She directly criticized Abernathy's teaching methods, and said they were all conventional and outdated techniques. And with the advanced methods – as long as we have a good foundation and understand the core principles, any level of molecular equation can be solved easily. But I don't know how much of what she said is true."

"She's right." A new voice spoke up from beside them. The three guys turned to the voice, before the 'Cousin' and the 'Friend' suddenly straightened up, muttering a low 'Hello Senior'.

The 'Senior' didn't even give them a glance. He crossed his arms, looking ahead as he continued speaking. "Mrs. Abernathy's teaching methods are indeed rigid and rather roundabout. But unfortunately, most of the students don't care and the few who do, are smart enough or rather – too afraid to say it out loud."

"Yeah, but that girl though – she argued with Abernathy twice last week itself." The 'Buzz cut' sighed, remembering the events of last week and feeling sorry for the girl. "She said there were much better methods with simple steps to get the results quickly. But Mrs. Abernathy shut her up ruthlessly and told her not to act smart in her class."

He then took a deep breath and continued. "And today was the same, except that girl didn't give in this time and stood her ground. Mrs. Abernathy obviously became furious and they both argued back and forth for a long time. Then that girl directly challenged that she could prove it right here, and right now."

"Oh… So, what about the bet?" The 'Friend' asked, cutting right to the chase, unable to contain his curiosity. He really wanted to tear through the students in the classroom to see how that crazy girl looked like. If anything, he respected her for standing up against Mrs. Abernathy.

"Ah, yes! Mrs. Abernathy said that she had to deduce three molecular equations of her choosing, and that too under ten minutes. If not there is no need to show her face in the Bio-chem class anymore."

"That's pretty harsh." The 'Cousin' commented. "But that is to be expected from Mrs. Abernathy."

"Yeah, but that's not the end." The 'Buzz cut' spoke again. "That girl simply smiled and asked – 'what if I win?' I guess her confidence rubbed Mrs. Abernathy in the wrong way because she then angrily announced that if that girl could deduce the three equations within ten minutes, that would mean her teaching methods were truly outdated. And so, she would immediately resign and leave the university."

"What?!" The 'Cousin' and the 'Friend' shouted in sync. Even the calm 'Senior' was wide eyed in shock. They couldn't believe what they just heard.

The stakes are truly too high. Too high for common average students like them to even think about.

"Yeah, that's what happened." The Buzz cut' revealed a small smile, satisfied with their reactions. Then the smile slowly faded away as his brows knit into a frown. "But Mrs. Abernathy is really ruthless and despicable."

"What do you mean? We know that already." The 'Cousin' said, raising a brow.

"I mean, the equations she gave that girl are not simple at all. They looked way more advanced for our level. Most of us couldn't make heads or tails of them." The 'Buzz cut' answered as he raised his phone to show a picture.

The 'Cousin' and his 'Friend' hastily grabbed the phone into their hands and looked at it, wondering what the three equations with such high stakes would be like.

"They are from third and fourth year Bio-chem." The 'Senior' declared with a frown on his face, looking at the phone from the side. "And they are some of the most complex ones."