Chapter 184
Chapter 184
The teacher held up five fingers and turned to Daph.
“One alpaca, five extra points!”
Clarissa muttered under her breath, her face twisted as if she’d just swallowed a fly. “You mean catching an alpaca gets you bonus points? If I’d known that, I would’ve gone after one too…”
Her complaint trailed off. The truth was, if her family ever spotted an alpaca, they’d run a mile in the other direction. Even if they’d known about the points, none of them would have dared try to catch it.
All Clarissa could do was watch as the teacher took the name tag labeled Penelope and slid it into second place on the board. Then, right beside Daph’s name, the teacher updated the score.
Dafina: 40 points.
Penelope: 30 points.
Another teacher stepped forward to announce Dames’s score.
“Damien gets… zero points.”
The glow Dames had worn when he climbed out of the Maybach was now a distant memory. He looked downright pitiful.
His designer cap had long since been snatched away by the alpaca, and his shirt collar was stretched out and soaked with foul-smelling alpaca drool. He tried not to breathe too deeply, grimacing at the stench.
Felicity didn’t look much better. Her hair was a mess, her windbreaker half unzipped, and she resembled someone who’d just returned from a week living rough.
Suddenly Felicity seemed to realize what the teacher had said. “Zero points? Are you kidding me? Did you count that up right?”
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The teacher fought the urge to roll his eyes. “When your team crossed the finish line, the barrel for the carrots and lettuce was nowhere in sight. You tell me-did I count incorrectly?”
Felicity glanced at Dames, who stood there empty-handed.
“Where’s the barrel?” she demanded. “And the carrots? Don’t tell me you lost every last leaf?”
Dames scowled. “They were terrifying. One of those alpacas ran off with the whole barrel.”
Then he turned on Felicity, indignation rising. “Why didn’t you protect me?” Felicity just shrugged. “I was pedaling the bike! Nobody expected you to do that part. Dames, you’re supposed to be our little man-how could you not even keep hold of a bucket?”
The teacher gave them a sympathetic smile. “Since you lost the bucket, I have to deduct another three points. That puts Damien’s family at negative three. Maybe you’ll make a comeback in the next round.”
He moved Dames’s name tag to the very bottom of the whiteboard.
Clarissa, seeing Dames now dead last, was so shocked by the absurdity of it all that she didn’t even care about Daph getting those extra points for catching an alpaca.
She called out with wicked glee, “Harrison, you’ve never come in last before, have you? Guess this is a new experience for you!”
Harrison’s face turned stormy.
He watched as Selene, Daph, and Luke Holloway celebrated their first-place victory, while Dames’s name at the very bottom-along with his negative score-felt like a slap in the face.
The other parents murmured among themselves.
“Damien’s always taken first place at these family events. How did he end
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up dead last this time?”
“His sister took first, too! And their grades? Worlds apart, from what I hear. That Vaughn kid is always at the bottom of the class rankings.”
Felicity planted her hands on her hips and announced, “Hey, forget about coming last-at least we’re number one at something! It takes skill to end up in last place, you know!”
Dames looked at her like she’d lost her mind.
His lower lip trembled, and his eyes filled with tears.
He turned away, catching sight of Daph and Selene crouched beside the alpaca, offering it water. All the other kids had gathered around Daph, chatting and laughing.
“Hey!” Dames called out to his usual sidekick. But the boy was now standing with Daph, completely ignoring him.
A wave of disappointment, embarrassment, and lonely frustration crashed over Dames all at once.
His big, almond-shaped eyes shimmered with unshed tears.
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