Chapter 227: Ever proved herself 1

A young boy dashed into the hall drenched in his own perspiration. He stopped at the door and called out to Ever excitedly.

''Ever, I'm here. I hope it hasn't started?'' he only asked before coming back to his senses and realised the kind of situation he was in. There were many people in the hall, including his parents, Ever's parents, the entire school, the teachers, Principal and the two judges.

''Sorry, I was late'' he said in a soft voice and walked away as if he wasn't the one that caused the hall to quieten down because of his craze entrance.

Ever chuckled and shook her head looking at Jayden. She suddenly felt energised seeing him. She was confident she was going to be able to prove herself now that the person she liked seeing the most was by her side.

Jayden joined his family and sat beside his mother. August Maijune squirted her eyes and looked at her son suspiciously. It couldn't be, right? she thought and shook her head.

''Jay, what was that about? If it wasn't because we were family, I would have thought you were Ever's boyfriend with the kind of reaction you had'' Jade murmured to him.

''Mind your own business, Jade''

''Son, is there something I don't know?'' August Maijune whispered into Jayden's ears.

''No, mom. Ever and I are good friends but I like her'' Jayden said and turned to look at Ever. ''Mom, just look at her, isn't she simply amazing?''

''Oh, off course, she is'' August Maijune said flustered and made a mental note to dig into it later on.

Miss Sharon cleared her throat and started speaking, ''ladies and gentlemen. Our competition is about to start. I ask that you all remain quiet and give your support to whoever you are here for. We will now have our two judges and our Principal to inspect the ingredients to be used before our competitors start.

Miss Sharon stepped aside for the two judges, one male and one female from the school's academic board and the Principal to go through and inspect the ingredients of the students.

It was done quickly and approval was given for the students to start their cooking contest.

Ever smiled and looked at Jayden before focusing on what she was going to do.

Each competitor like herself were concentrating on their work since they didn't want to be beaten by time or lose to the other.

Ever looked at the ingredients she had already measured and prepared during the mis-en-place; cup [120g] of all-purpose flour; ½ teaspoon of baking; ½ teaspoon of baking soda, 2 tablespoon of granulated sugar; ½ lemon, zest only; ¾ cup [210g] Greek yoghurt; ¼ cup [60g] milk' 1 large egg; 1 cup [150g] fresh blueberries; vegetable oil, for cooking and strawberry maple syrup to serve.

In a small bowl, she combined the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and lemon set and set it aside. She then picked another large bowl, she poured the yoghurt and milk into it and whisked for a while before adding the egg and whisked again until it was totally smoothened out.

Her actions were swift and yet no mistake was detected from it by the judges. In fact, they were impressed that she was doing it all alone while the others had helps.

After combining the wet and dry ingredients, Ever gently folded in the blueberries with a rubber spatula. She set it aside and turned on the gas cylinder beside her working table and greased a frying pan with oil. Heating the pan over medium heat, she started portioning the paste to cook.

The mixed aroma of the different dishes took over the hall as the students and people present all felt like having a taste of the dishes.

Not taking his eyes off her for even a second, Jayden's gaze was set on Ever from start to finish of the entire cooking time.

The timer went off and everyone stopped and moved away from their tables. Their dishes were ready for service.

Ever looked up and saw the support her family were giving her and smiled. Her smile became even brighter when she locked gaze with Jayden.

''Our competitors shall now take their seats while the judges taste the dishes and come out with their scores'' Miss Sharon announced as her gaze landed on Ever's dish. Her eyes widened a little with what appeared to be a look of surprise but nonetheless, she smiled at Ever and nodded her head knowingly before going away.

Ever joined the rest of the competitors in their designated seats. She purposefully left one chair apart from the others and sat on the last chair at the corner. She was in a good mood and didn't want to be tainted by them.

Seeing that she was sitting alone, the girls snickered and made soft chuckles among themselves. Only one girl among them didn't speak about Ever from start to finished. Rather than been against her, the girl looked intrigued by her. Ever had caught her eyes since the beginning of the contest when she saw that she was the only one without a helper among them. This girl was Ann Sanchez who will later on become Ever's friend.

She looked towards Ever and when their eyes coincidentally met, the former smiled at the latter. Ever smiled back and looked away after been caught. She had also taken noticed of the girl because she was the only one among them who didn't speak ill about her.

The judges stood up and went to the service table to taste the food. They held their marking pads with them as they stood by the tables. Everyone turned silent and prayed that the winner would be from their class.

The first judge, tasted the first group's dish which was strawberry zucchini muffins. He smiled and nodded his head before putting a mark against the group's name. He went forward and the second judge came forth and did same with the tasting. This went on for a while until all the dishes were tasted and awarded marks by the judges.

Now, it was time for the winner to be announced. The competitors tensed up and held each other's hands supportively. Ever, having no one to hold her hand, clutched her hands together as she looked at Jayden and who maintained a smile all the time with a nod that made her heart to calm down.

''Our Judges have finished tasting the dishes and the marks awarded are now in my hands. Each group was allowed a total of ten marks each at the start but those ten marks were to be determined by the Judges after tasting the food. If the group deserved the marks, they would not be deducted but if the Judges weren't satisfied with the dish, they had the right to remove marks from the ten original marks given"

"So, after collating the results, the following groups had below five which means that they cannot be made the winners; group two of first year class B, group 1 of the second year class A and group five of third year class A'' Miss Sharon announced and the students in those classes frowned unhappily.

''Moving on to the winning groups, we have our third runner up to be group 3 of the second year class B. Clap hands for them''

The representatives from Ever's class stood up and went to stand by Miss Sharon. It was now left with Ever, groups 4, and 2.

''We have our second runner to be group 2 of the second year class A''

Group 2 representative went towards Miss Sharon and their class students clapped hands for them.

''As you can see, it is now left with group 4 and our independent competitor. I must say, Ever did quite well tonight. You have made me your homeroom teacher very proud of you'' Miss Sharon said sincerely and smiled as she looked at Ever. Ever bit her lips as she tried to contain her excitement. She had finally proven herself to Miss Sharon and everyone else.

''Our winner for today's cooking contest goes to our independent candidate, Everest France!!!'' Miss Sharon shouted at the top of her voice and she went forth to hug Ever. The hall turned into shouts as the students started hailing Ever. Her family all laughed as they hugged each other.

''My daughter, my girl won'' Julieta said as she turned to Kash who was quiet the whole time due to anxiousness.

''Yes, our daughter won'' he said and kissed Julieta.

''I knew it!!'' Jayden murmured to himself.

Ever stood up and shook hands with Ann Sanchez and her partner.

''Congratulations, I knew you were going to be the winner the moment you mentioned the dish you were going to make'' Ann said to her.

''Really?''

''Yes. Fluffy Greek yoghurt blueberry pancakes with strawberry maple syrup isn't an average dish, so when you mentioned it, I knew you were confident with your choice''

''Ann, why are you congratulating her. we came second place because of her'' Ann's partner said and walked away.

''I'm sorry about that'' Ann apologised and walked away.

Ever went to stand next to the rest of the students. Her classmates who looked down upon her all surrounded her and started congratulating her.