I became even more confused after listening to Atticus. I had no idea how confident he was.

Clutching the phone with a sense of helplessness, I pondered over Atticus' intentions. His call suggested that our design proposal was the key to giving Melvern a winning chance. Why would Atticus still want us to submit a proposal if that was the case?

At this point, even Lauren was baffled. She looked at me and couldn't help prodding. "What the heck is going on?" she asked.

Shaking my head, I said in