Everyone knows the basic facts about their closest companion.  I thought I knew my best friend Hannah Croasdale inside and out.  Her favorite singer? Obviously Eminem. Her dream vacation? Duh, Amsterdam.  I knew she despised when people talked during movies, and she hated peanut butter more than anything.  So when we were asked to compete in Besties, Baes, and Bros, the annual game show and fundraiser held by the Oyster River High School junior class,  Hannah and I jumped at the opportunity. It was time to prove ourselves as the most dynamic duo at ORHS.

  Besties, Baes, and Bros is a game show in which best friends, couples, and siblings at Oyster River are tested on their knowledge of each other.  There are three rounds in the game, one for best friends (besties), another for couples (baes), and the last for siblings (bros). In each round, there are three pairs of contestants.  The pair that gets the most questions right each round moves to the final round. The winning pair of the final round receives a prize, as well as bragging rights.

  Besties, Baes, and Bros is one of the most anticipated events of the year, and therefore is typically the biggest fundraiser the junior class puts on.  “We made almost $500 which I think is super successful,” said class officer Laurel Gordon (‘19). “People have fun which is super important, and keeps the tradition alive.”

  The besties round was first, and Hannah and I were ready to start the night off strong.  The other pairs competing in this round were sophomores Lily Doody and Grace Castonguay, and juniors Matt Williams and Nicholas Cornejo.  As seniors, we were the oldest and wisest competitors in the round, giving us a clear advantage from the start. When the first question was read, I knew we had this in the bag.  I answered all three questions about Hannah correctly, and Hannah answered two of the three questions about me correctly. This meant we had won the besties round, and were headed to the finals!  Our hard work had paid off. We were fired up and ready to win this thing.

  We sat through the baes round, watching Max Carpenter and Alie Santin (‘19) defeat Zach Leichtman and Lauren Macmanes (‘18), As well as Max Wagner (‘19) and Kaila Lambiasi (‘20).  The bros round was a hard fight to the finish, with sisters Felicia Drysdale (‘19) and Cecelia Drysdale (‘20) defeating Max Litchfield (‘18) and Sydney Litchfield (‘19) in a tiebreaker question.  

  With our competition for the final round established, Hannah and I were as confident as ever, but unfortunately, we let it get to our heads.  When the host, Trevor Garman, read out the question “what would your partner most likely go to jail for?” I immediately fell into a state of panic.  For this question, Hannah was answering about me. We had never practiced this question before, and even I didn’t know how to answer this question for myself.  I decided that stealing candy was a safe bet, but Hannah didn’t have the same thought. She revealed her answer as “stalking celebrities”. While this may be accurate, it didn’t match up to what I wrote down.  This misstep put us in last place, and threw us off for the rest of the competition.

  With anger and disappointment flowing through my bloodstream, I watched as Santin and Carpenter took the title of Oyster River’s dynamic duo.  “We talked on FaceTime the night before the event, and then quickly before the show started, but overall we probably discussed it for an hour and a half,”  they said. I guess the true test of compatibility is being able to answer questions on the spot without much prep. Maybe Hannah and I just haven’t gotten to that level in our friendship yet.   

   While I still have a bit of excess rage left in me as I write this, I also look back fondly on this experience, as I know this is a memory that my best friend and I will cherish forever.  While we may not have won the title, we still consider ourselves the most dynamic duo of all.