Chapter 51 - 51: Complementary Advantages

Albert looked up at him, "Is it?"

Ryan nodded again, "Yes! It's almost the price of playing with a top player."

Ryan hadn't watched the tournament. After all, it was just a small project sponsored by the company. As Pearson's assistant, he was still swamped and didn't have time for such small fry. The champion of such a small game wasn't going to be a chess master. How dare she ask for the price of a professional chess player?

Pearson thought and said, "So you think one hundred dollars is a lot. Well, I give you 200,000 dollars a year, is that also too much?"

Ryan immediately shook his head," Mr. Pearson, I'm wrong. One hundred dollars is not much! It's a small price to pay, a very small price!"

Pearson was still thinking about something. Ryan was worried, afraid that his boss would think that he gave him too much money and would want to cut his salary. He hurriedly changed the subject, "Mr. Pearson. If you like, I can try to invite that chess player to play chess at your home..."

Before he could finish his words, Albert interrupted him, "No! Never let me see her face! And don't tell me her name!"

He didn't play chess with the player named "Knowing A Person" because of his love for chess. He was looking for that familiar feeling. As long as he didn't see this person, he could just sit in front of the computer and imagine that the one who played chess with him was the person in his heart

But if he were to see the face of "Knowing A Person," he was sure that he would be instantly disillusioned.

After all, that person couldn't be her. She could never come back.

"Oh, by the way, there is one other strange thing," Ryan said, "About those M accounts. When the organizer contacted them to give them the bonus, no one responded! They don't want the money! It's weird."

Monday came round again, and Sophia went to school early.

In the first math class, Ms. Acheson announced that there would be a change of seats in the last class of the afternoon.

The seats had been freely chosen at the beginning of the school year when everyone had just got back to school. Ms. Acheson had not known the class then, so she had let them sit where they liked.

After two weeks' observation, Acheson had been able to figure out each student's grades and general character and wanted to give them a more suitable seat to help them improve their grades.

The intention, Ms. Acheson said, was to give students "complementary advantages", that was, if one student was good at math and the other was also good at math, the two students could share the table so that they could help each other. For students with poor grades, Acheson was trying to arrange them to sit next to those with excellent grades for a similar reason.

Sophia Green was not fussy about her seat. It didn't matter where she sat.

But she soon found that many girls' eyes were on Louie beside her.

Sophia couldn't help but shrug and laugh to herself. Her desk mate was really popular!

In the third class of the afternoon, Ms. Acheson put the seating chart on the screen for everyone to see. She had spent two nights designing it. It was intricately and carefully put together. Nearly everyone was switching.

But Sophia's seat hadn't changed, and neither had Louie's.

Some of the students had been worried that they would be sharing a table with Sophia. There was a lot of relief when they saw the chart except, of course, for those who had hoped to sit next to Louie.

Mariah and Melissa had both been moved to the front. Carol had already been moved to the front, and that was where she remained. The three were not happy with the new seat allocation. They wanted to sit closer to Sophia, but there was nothing they could do about it.

Dave was sad. He had been sat next to Carol Carter. Ms. Acheson had done this deliberately. Carol's math was poor, but her English was very good, whereas Dave was bad at English and good at math, and she wanted them to help each other.

Dave almost wanted to cry.

Melissa was sat with Kevin. Kevin was good at every subject, and Melissa was the opposite. Kevin would now be able to help her a lot.

It was the same with Mariah and Molly. But Sophia thought it might be a mistake: both of them had quick tempers. Sophia was worried that they might get into a fight. But this was just her fear, and she would have to wait and see what it would really be like.

To Sophia's surprise, Molly and Mariah did not quarrel at all after they spent a day together. The next day after school, Sophia asked Mariah how she felt about her new neighbor.

"She was kind." Mariah said, "I ask her questions I don't know, and she is always willing to help me. However, if there's a question I can do that she can't, she's not happy…but that's pretty rare."

It seemed that Molly was a very proud person and unwilling to concede defeat. Ms. Acheson had a really good eye. The two sat together would satisfy Molly's vanity and also help Mariah.

Sophia went to the shed to get her bike to go home for dinner. Just as she was out of the school door, her phone suddenly rang.

The phone Albert had given her. She kept it in her bag. It was much more convenient to have one, and he had been right.

"Mom, what's wrong?"

"Have you finished school? Could you buy some soy sauce when you walk by the supermarket."

"Sure."

There was a store on the way home. Sophia cycled to the supermarket, went in for the bottle of soy sauce, and headed to the register.

A bearded foreigner in front of her was talking with the cashier in a very British accent. But the cashier couldn't speak French and was quite worried. Sophia wanted to check out as soon as possible. She had just heard the foreigner's words and lent forward to tell him in French, "Sir, this is just a small store. They don't take the euro. You have to exchange money at the bank."

When she saw the foreigner's face, she was surprised.

Was this Mitch Watson?