Life goes on and Audrey's family car brakes have gotten fixed shortly after the holidays ended. So two weeks later, Pablo goes to Audrey's home on Friday night, so he can go to the ESA Cade Cane Classic on Saturday morning. Before they go to bed, they are about to kiss each other again.

"It's not often that we kiss each other, after all, I am the one with the busy schedule, for the second third of the year, but I think we're due to do so again" Audrey then prepares herself mentally for a kiss.

"It has been weeks, but I feel like basketball has a good chance of making the playoffs, so all this hard work does bear some fruits after all" Pablo has a quick glance at VA's girls' basketball schedule for the season.

"Let's not forget about quiz bowl and how I feel we may have been putting the cart before the horse... Holy Beggar!"

"What do you mean, my love?"

"For the past month or so, we kept begging money in preparation for getting a second squad at the HSNCT"

It's just that the math team is not as good as it used to be. And certainly not with two quiz bowlers in tow. When we were in middle school, I kept hearing about how the math team bankrolled all academic teams here at VA. Now quiz bowl must shoulder more of the financial burden than it used to, Audrey muses, while she receives an email from the coach. Detroit Catholic Central wants to host a double-header of a show, the first part being a Lincoln-Douglas debate round, with their coaches judging, the second being three quiz bowl games: A vs A, B vs B and middle school vs C. Next week, on Thursday.

"Remember when I said our best bet to accomplish this is the ESA Cade Cane Classic?" Pablo asks Audrey, while she is still deep in thought.

"The field is large. Its final size is twenty-four teams, so we both need to finish in the top four for this to happen" Pablo checks against the tentative field.

"I'm confident Lilina and I have improved enough to make it to the top-four here. Time to kiss, I guess..."

As the two kiss each other, their quiz bowling worries melt away, and they feel this kiss is more pleasurable here than their previous one at center court, since here, they have actual intimacy. But once the kiss ends:

"Last time, we kissed at center court, and we had dozens, if not hundreds of people seeing us kiss each other as they left the fieldhouse. It made me feel a little uncomfortable then" Pablo recounts his experiences of kissing her. "This kiss feels so much better"

"Thank you. It seems like you finally opened up to the world of intimacy, and that I'm more than just a brain or a basketball player" Audrey points out before going to bed.

The following morning, the pair awakens early, and Audrey seems to feel more pain than Pablo did upon getting out of bed.

"I'll go brew some coffee, how much milk and sugar do you want?" Pablo asks his girlfriend about the coffee before he brews it.

"The painkiller takes time to brew, when you will be done brewing it, I will be back to put the milk and sugar myself!" Audrey then tells him where the ground coffee is.

Audrey being in the bathroom, Pablo, on the other hand, prepares four cups of what Audrey calls a painkiller. He also grills some whole-wheat bread so that they can use whatever spread they want on it. Peanut butter for both quiz bowlers.

And, of course, the teenagers are ready to go earlier than the parents, they eat cereal together to supplement this hasty breakfast. Fortunately, they are done with their homework for the week, and can't help but think of the opponents they will face.

Once they get ready to leave for the Episcopal School of Acadiana, southeast of Lafayette, the couple is seated at the back of the car, and Audrey's mom picks up Myriam, who's seated at the back left, next to Audrey, and Gerard, who's seated at the front.

"Hey, Audrey, how do you feel about this tournament?" Myriam asks her, after placing a bet on yet another horse race held at the other end of the world.

"I'm more worried about the B-team than the A-team, especially since the field is now statewide. You have Caddo Magnet, Neville, Anacoco, LSMSA, and Leesville to watch out for, too, all of whom earned berths for State at LQBA Fall or Winter Invitationals North" Audrey tells her teammate.

"Just earning berths for State is one thing, but the real threats among the names you mentioned will be Caddo Magnet and LSMSA" Myriam makes herself clear to the other pax.

"I wonder how these two schools stack up to those we played thus far" Pablo asks from across the car. "Like Benjamin-Franklin, against whom we lost a HSNCT berth at Winter"

The foursome keeps discussing the various strengths and weaknesses of the teams he didn't face yet, but the other three quiz bowlers did since they competed at Tal Atkins, and he didn't.

And, of course, Pablo is the first to notice the difference between riding this car to LQBA Winter Invitational South and now in braking. Much better.

Upon arriving at the Episcopal-Acadiana campus an hour later, they face their coach, with both teams around him.

"Today, you understand what it means for the B-team: finishing in the top-four. All this begging of the past month will be used for something if we get there. Next week, don't worry if the questions asked during the fundraiser games are harder than usual, it's because of our designated moderator" Warren harangues his team.

"Who's our designated moderator for next week?" Lilina asks her coach.

"Marcia" Warren answers his player. "No time to tell you about who she is now, though"

This is my chance to prove, once and for all, that I belong here, on the quiz bowl team. During the past three months, I was made to feel like I was inferior in some way to my teammates. Despite a quarter of straight As. I begged money at church and launched a GoFundMe campaign for the quiz bowl team, Pablo reflects on what he feels he still needs to do to earn his teammates' respect.

Especially since he can still subconsciously feel like, even though he did everything in his power to earn their respect, he isn't fully accepted by his teammates yet.

As with previous tournaments, VA A and VA B are placed in separate pools and seeded accordingly. But then they realize just how grueling this tournament is going to be: a whopping 12 games, 7 morning preliminary games and 5 playoff ones.

Three hours later, going into game 7, VA A is first in pool 1, while VA B is second in pool 3. We won't let one game get in the way of a HSNCT berth, especially since the team currently in third place is virtually assured to win their matchup against Anacoco. We lose this game, no HSNCT for us, Pablo appears to be shaking going into their final preliminary game. Well, the whole team does.

Also, VA B's opponent for this game, LSMSA, is at the top of the pool going into the seventh game, so they know it will be rough.

"This is round seven of the ESA Cade Cane Classic. From Jefferson Davis Parish, we have Venomous Agendas B, from Natchitoches Parish, we have the Louisiana School of Math, Science and the Arts. Best of luck to both teams, here's tossup one..."

Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

Focus, Pablo. We won't let this stupid game stand between us and quiz bowl glory! Or going to college even! Pablo is consumed by parasitic thoughts as soon as the first tossup starts.

"General Bagration died of wounds as a result of defending redoubts bearing his name in this battle" the moderator keeps reading the question as the power mark approaches.

Bagration? What even made Bagration so important to this battle anyway? a confused Pablo signals that he's not ready to buzz in. However, Lilina does so immediately.

"Borodino!" Lilina answers after buzzing in.

"Fifteen" the moderator rules before reading the preamble to this bonus.

This game remains somewhat close, but Pablo managed to buzz in only once in that game until, by tossup 19, an opportunity to put the game out of reach of LSMSA presents itself. With the VAs in the lead by a measly 10 points, to win the game here and now, they need to score at least 40 points on this tossup cycle.

"Tossup nineteen..." the moderator gives both teams the first clue, to which no one buzzes in. And, much to everyone's chagrin, they miss the power mark. However, the first clue past the power mark makes several players' minds lurch into action: "The main classes of reaction mechanisms for this process are step-chain and chain-growth"

I wonder where I could have read such things, but these sound like a chemistry kind of thing, and pretty advanced at that, Pablo reflects on what he could possibly know that could help him answer the tossup, but he feels an irresistible need to buzz in, just after the For ten points cue.

"Poly..." a nervous Pablo hesitates a little bit. "Poly...merization?"

"Ten. For ten points each, please answer these questions about the symphonies of Beethoven"

Nadine, on her lonesome, answers the first two bonus parts correctly, but the third part seemed a little more cryptic to her. As the moderator starts disgorging the clues given in the final bonus part:

"An instrumental arrangement of the Ninth Symphony's fourth movement chorus was adopted as an anthem by what entities?"

They feel like the tensions between the players are rising, with Gerard giving up on the bonus first. Which leaves the other 3 to think of an answer. However, their failure to conjure an answer within five seconds forces them to endure one last tossup of stress:

"Time, Council of Europe and European Union, twenty for the bonus. Final tossup"

Once again, the VAs plan on taking advantage of the fatigue and tensions that arise from cornered Eagles (i.e. LSMSA players) on this final regulation tossup by pretending to press the buzzer, hopefully causing another one to buzz in early and answer incorrectly. Pablo is the player designated to do so.

"Cat's Cradle" the Eagle player answers after buzzing too early to his taste.

"Neg five" the moderator rules, while the VAs wait for the FTP cue. After said clue is read:

"Slaughterhouse-Five" Nadine answers after the tossup is read in full.

"Ten"

"We skip the entire bonus" Lilina announces to the moderator.

"And that's the game. LSMSA two hundred ninety-five, Venomous Agendas B three hundred fifty"

When VA B leaves the game room, the preliminary standings for pool 3 are released on a scoreboard in the tournament's control room as well as in the school's cafeteria. At this point, LSMSA and VA B are tied for first place in pool 3 and therefore both advance to the top playoff pool. They also keep an eye on pool 1 before they dine.

And... as they expected going into the playoff round, VA A is also in the lead. Yet, for some reason, pool 4 has one game taking longer.

Warren approaches the B-team at the conclusion of pool 4's final game:

"Guys, you made it to the top pool. However, finishing in the top-five of that top playoff pool is not going to be easy" Warren warns the B-team. "This is going to amount to playing five games against teams like Benjamin-Franklin, LSMSA, Jesuit A, and so on"

The other two teams are Caddo Magnet A and, of course, VA A.

"Of which, ideally, we need to win four of them, but we can pretty much forget about winning against VA A" Pablo sighs.

"The one I believe we can win against out of the following is LSMSA. The others are a tossup. Don't be nervous and we might just be able to score the required number of wins" Nadine points out to them.

Audrey, returning from the game room, comes over to Pablo. "Good luck to you all"

"Thank you then"

And, of course, they mingle with players from the northern part of the state, and the amount of attention given to the VA girls is just crazy. Especially considering that Lilina and Nadine are both much better than a lot of other non-VA girls in this tournament, and collect a lot of contact information.

But while the B-team feels like they have the momentum going into the playoffs, after winning against Jesuit A in the first game, they know better than to bank on their opponents' misogyny. Especially when the dreaded game against VA A was played.

Yet, somehow, VA B maintains a 2-2 record going into game 5 of the playoffs.

"We can do it, keep it up!" Warren tells them before the game begins.

"Hopefully it won't be a repeat of LQBA Winter Invitational South..." Pablo sighs, a little tired of playing quiz bowl, while his teammates get seated.

"This is round five of the ESA Cade Cane Classic playoffs, pitting, from Caddo Parish, Caddo Magnet A, and, from Jefferson Davis Parish, Venomous Agendas B. Good luck to both teams..."

Now we know how it will really feel to be competing at State, or the HSNCT. For months, the coach kept talking about it, and had us train with the same materials as the A-team, Nadine starts reflecting on her experience of playing quiz bowl at this tournament.

However, unlike Jesuit A, where VA B won by exploiting Jesuit's misogyny-induced arrogance and overconfidence, here they could feel like the opponent seems to underestimate VA B by virtue of the team being, well, a B-team. And Caddo Magnet already secured their HSNCT berth at Tal Atkins, same as with VA's first berth.

Yet, here, with one tossup to go in regulation time, the VAs are trailing by 35 points, and it's a time when everyone is on the edge of their seats. VA B's HSNCT hopes lie on this cycle:

"Tossup twenty: Helen Lewis identifies a long tradition of defining women in opposition to one another as the architecture of this tendency" the moderator reads the final tossup.

I shall show these... Mustangs that it's not because I am a ninth-grader girl that I can't play quiz bowl! An energetic Lilina stands ready to answer the tossup as soon as she buzzes in.

"Misogyny!" Lilina shouts.

"Fifteen" the moderator rules, before the last bonus arrives.

The VAs start answering questions about computer memory. Gerard answers the first part correctly, but after the team gets the second bonus part wrong, everyone starts feeling like they must answer this bonus part correctly to just stay afloat, much less win.

"CPU stalls increase in frequency when the following happens in either the cache memory or the main memory" the moderator reads the final bonus part to VA players who are clearly on the verge of suffering a panic attack.

"It must slow down a CPU" Nadine starts speaking.

"Memory filling up takes longer to fetch from" Gerard adds to this.

As the clock ticks on them, Lilina and Pablo both seem to struggle to think of anything corresponding to this description. Yet, Pablo is suddenly reminded of yet another quiz bowl question he read weeks ago on that topic.

"Memory leak!" Pablo announces the VAs' answer to this final bonus part.

"Twenty on the bonus, and we have a tie, three hundred ten in all" the moderator rules while preparing the supernumerary questions.

The A-team, having won their final game, makes haste towards the room where the B-team is playing theirs. Everything boils down to the next 3 tossups now, a nervous Audrey ruminates while getting seated. A HSNCT participation will definitely help him get into college.

And it appears easy for the audience to forget they are dealing with VA B, and not VA A. And certainly when the first tossup is about film.

"This film introduced filmmaking techniques that are used in sports journalism to this day" the moderator reads just before the FTP clue. Which locks Nadine into a buzzer race that she loses.

"Olympia!" a Caddo Magnet player answers after buzzing in.

"Ten. Second overtime tossup..." the moderator then proceeds to disgorge clues.

Everyone in the room seems to be shaking, especially when the VAs are, once again, trailing. They feel like the next 2 tossups are equally many "do-or-die" moments for them, and they must answer both correctly to win. Nadine, however, wins the buzzer race.

"Nineveh" Nadine answers, her buzzer hand shaking under the stress.

"Ten. Third overtime tossup..."

Thus far, these sound like the roles of hormones in medical conditions. However, I'm not sure of what, Pablo keeps thinking about what the answer could be.

"Diagnosis tools for these medical conditions include the SCOFF questionnaire" this game's moderator reads the second clue, oblivious to the buzzer race looming in the horizon.

By then Nadine signals she doesn't know the answer, but Pablo is reminded of the content of Audrey's part in the second quarter's AP Bio group project.

On the other side of the moderator, the Mustangs' science player wonders what the SCOFF questionnaire could possibly be used for. Both science players, as well as Pablo, appear ready to buzz in at any moment.

Yet, with the clock ticking on them, Pablo is about to lose control over his buzzer hand. He slams the buzzer...

"Eating disorders!" Pablo yells across the game room.

"Fifteen, and that's the game. Venomous Agendas B win, three hundred thirty-five to three hundred twenty!"

"Congrats, Pablo! I knew you would be able to lead VA B to a HSNCT berth!" an overjoyed Audrey comes right off her seat to hug him.

"This is unreal! Who could have thought, other than you, that some group project could prove key to winning a HSNCT berth... Ballista?" Pablo asks her before the awards ceremony begins.

"Holyyyyy Beggar! Holy Beggar, Holy Beggar, Holy Beggar!" Lilina starts chanting in a loud voice.

Begging for money, online, at church or otherwise, has finally proven us right, Warren starts thinking of what Operation Holy Begging is supposed to accomplish, upon hearing about Lilina chanting "Holy Beggar" all over the place.