On February 11, the Monday after the basketball season ends for both genders, the basketball teams are assembled in the band room. Which is full because several players of either gender invited some of their friends to attend the playoff bracket release session. Including Audrey and Heather.
The boys had little hope of playing in the playoffs, thanks to their 8-18 record for the season, and 2-4 in district play. On the other hand, the girls wind up posting a much better record of 16-10, and 4-2 in district play.
"For those in their first season of playing basketball for VA, for playoff purposes, we are in division II non-select" Kent explains to both teams, and their guests.
Some of the guests don't understand what select and non-select mean, or even how teams are seeded, but they all understand that the higher seed will have home advantage. But once the boys' playoff brackets are released, and the Division II non-select one appear on the band room's screen...
"We didn't make it, boys" Kent breaks the unpleasant news to the boys' team upon release of the bracket relevant to VA.
The boys' basketball players then leave the band room, along with their guests. As in band practices, Tyler takes up position where a drum set is, ready to roll drums when the girls' bracket is about to be released. And the seeding, too.
"And the Venomous Agendas will begin the girls' basketball Division II non-select state tournament..." Kent begins announcing with Tyler rolling the drum. "At home, with the eleventh seed, we will be playing Franklin Parish!"
With that, Kent starts writing an email to the principal with all the details of the bracket, as well as start selling tickets for the first-round game against a new opponent from the other side of the state, held on Valentine's Day, immediately.
This is the coda of our basketball season. Games are held on Thursdays and Mondays, so Leesville, next Saturday, won't interfere with the state tournament. But since the first round is held on Valentine's Day, I'd better have a gift at the ready for him, should he choose to attend the game, Audrey starts thinking of what she could give him on Valentine's Day.
Pablo, who sat next to Tyler during that meeting over playoff brackets, wastes no time making plans to buy his beloved Audrey something he knows would supplement her intake of analgesics, a.k.a. coffee. So as soon as he could finish the assignments for the day, he could then go buy that item in question and not worry about it.
I guess, I didn't give much to him other than coffee when he came over to my home prior to quiz bowl tournaments, or for group projects. After all, for Christmas, he gave me and my family a full set of brakes for the car; however, I don't think he has needs that expensive. I didn't give him anything for Christmas, and I must give him something for Valentine's Day as well, Audrey, too, starts thinking of what to give him for Valentine's Day on her way out of the meeting, where they were told about what to watch out for against Franklin Parish.
She then comes across Ethan talking to Nadine, who, in the past few weeks, suddenly became much higher profile among the student body because she's playing at the HSNCT. And Lilina, too, but people assume she's dating George for some reason.
"Oh Nadine, do you want to be my valentine?" the starting SS asks Nadine.
"I'll think about it"
He's not alone in asking me for being my valentine, but people know I'm not in a relationship, Nadine has some surface thoughts related to Ethan asking her to be his valentine.
But Audrey, too, needs to get to shopping for her own Valentine gift to him. And a belated Christmas one on top of that. Before she leaves the premises to do so, she then texts her parents. "I'm going to shop for Valentine's Day"
And, while her parents give her a list with a few items she should buy for groceries, she goes for these items first, and then look for the gifts to buy her boyfriend.
As it turns out, the first item is fairly straightforward: powdered protein shakes. But the second item gives her some headaches. A basketball? A football? He might play sports for VA, but as a quiz bowler, he knows there's more to school than just sports! But then he never seems to read anything not required for either school or quiz bowl, so maybe some book could do the trick, she sighs, while she's suddenly reminded of the busy lives of her opponents.
About how they never seemed to read anything outside of school or quiz bowl (if a quiz bowler). And yet, she struggles to choose a book she feels would be of interest to him and that fits within her budget. And the clearance shelves would be full of older titles of any genre, even non-fiction, so she stops considering whether it would be of any quiz bowl use to him. I guess, he won't complain, she sighs while she picks a book from the clearance shelf.
By Thursday morning, however, the game against Franklin Parish has sold out and, at $5 each, it's a significant contribution to the team's finances. Pablo meets with his football teammates planning on attending the game.
"Quiz bowl might have had its time under the spotlight, but I bought Nadine a ticket to tonight's game" Ethan gossips with players such as George and Dayton.
"And I did the same for Lilina!" George exclaims, while Dayton adds yet another declaration of buying tickets for his sweetheart, Natalie.
"Why date quiz bowlers?" Finn asks George and Ethan. "Ask Pablo how he feels about dating a quiz bowler!"
"Dating Audrey, because of her busy schedule, means I must cherish every moment I do spend with her, be it at quiz bowl practices, tournaments or even for coursework" Pablo answers his football teammates. "If you end up actually dating Lilina or Nadine, you will realize that soon enough"
"They're far too smart for you two" Finn directs his words at George and Ethan. "Why did you suddenly start courting them?"
"I can date whoever I want, understood?" George retorts to Finn. "Lilina is, yes, a very smart girl, she seems nice to me"
Since Pablo can feel like this conversation about his football teammates' choices of girlfriends is about to degenerate, he steps away from them. Especially Finn, who also thinks he can't handle the cold, hard truth, and leaves also.
But, during quiz bowl practice, to which he goes without Audrey since the basketball team holds one final practice before the big game, Pablo realizes that Gerard has brought a box of chocolates, and with a valentine in tow.
"Happy Valentine's Day everyone!" Gerard wishes, while opening the box of chocolates, before turning to his valentine.
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And several quiz bowlers brought their valentines to the practice as well; some of those who didn't, well, had their love interests at other practices.
"Now, several of us have valentines who aren't students people would usually associate with quiz bowl, so I ask that you please treat your teammates' valentines with respect" Warren warns his players. "For today, Pablo, you will practice with the A-team"
And, of course, some of these valentines are made to either keep scores or to moderate quiz bowl drills. Obviously, since most of them seem a little bewildered by the verbiage of some of the tossups in practice packets, they are a little slow in reading the questions.
As such, it seems like the B-team has the whole practice spent in pairs, with George keeping scores and Ethan reading the questions. And Josiane moves up to the high school B-team for today's practice, with the middle school valentine being assigned to practice with the other middle schoolers.
At the end of the practice, Pablo doesn't hesitate to ask a question to the two girls on the B-team because their sudden rise in popularity might induce some changes in them. Here it seems like there are few things that can get girls under the student body's spotlight here like qualifying for the HSNCT. Such as competing at the AIME or Vans Math Contest for mathletes, Pablo is reminded of just how different it is for VA girls compared to how it is for a lot of VA's opponents on the buzzer.
"Lilina, Nadine, how does it feel to you, now that your popularity has skyrocketed as a result of the B-team qualifying for the HSNCT?" Pablo asks the two girls.
"Before the ESA Cade Cane Classic, we were known for being smart girls, but we were, you know, playing second fiddle to the eyes of the student body" Lilina explains herself. "But really, we're back at square one because we competed at the MSNCT, and, in middle school, I was a star among middle schoolers"
"I was overshadowed for a year and a half. I played with Myriam in seventh grade, in eighth grade, Audrey and Caleb were forced to share playing time because of Audrey playing basketball. By ninth grade, however, I was no longer the literature star I used to be" Nadine explains herself. "So it's just, as with Lilina, a return to what we enjoyed in middle school"
"I guess there's the brains component and the performance component to your popularity. You make me feel the performance component is bigger than the brains component; however, I am in no position to question your intellect" Pablo sighs, while facing the two.
Which makes Pablo check against VA's past middle school quiz bowl records and the role his current teammates played back then. And man did VA take the middle school quiz bowl world by storm, by having the middle school quiz bowlers practice mostly as they do today. Twenty-first at their first MSNCT three years ago, eighth in 2028, thirteenth last year.
After these two girls get out of the room, Pablo meets up with Audrey near the locker room prior to the game.
"Happy Valentine's Day" Pablo then starts hugging and kissing her before he could even get his gift out of the backpack.
Hmm... this is a much better kiss from him than when we had this kiss at center court! Audrey starts thinking, while kissing him, and waiting until the end of the kiss to unpack her gifts to him prior to the game.
When she finally does, the protein shakes come to no surprise to him, but the second one makes him yelp.
"The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants? Did you pick books based on answer lines in quiz bowl tournaments?" Pablo asks his girlfriend about the gift.
"I'm surprised you even remember that book coming up in a quiz bowl tournament! The scope of quiz bowl is so vast it can make other people shy away from playing, even if they were able to handle the intellectual intensity of the game!" Audrey retorts to him.
"But thank you nonetheless" Pablo answers while taking out his own pack of protein shakes from his backpack.
They hug each other again before Audrey steps back into the dressing room prior to the game. Also, the fieldhouse is packed, especially since it's one of the few good things out of VA athletics these days. The band comes out in full for this reason.
"Welcome to the first round of the 2030 Division II Non-select LHSAA girls' basketball state tournament, pitting the twenty-two seed Franklin Parish Patriots against the eleven seed Venomous Agendas!" the principal announces the contestants. "Now, for the national anthem, sung by Heather Campbell!"
Heather takes position at center court to sing the national anthem, as usual for VA girls' basketball home games. And then the first face-off begins, with the VAs gaining first possession. The center then dribbles the ball while being forced to evade opposing players before she can attempt a field goal. Which narrowly misses, but Audrey picks it back on the other side of the board, and then shoots, resulting in the VAs scoring the first two points.
Then Franklin Parish dribbles the ball across the court, then, pressured by Carrie and Taylor, makes a three-pointer attempt that missed not only the hoop, but also the board, causing the ball to go out of bounds.
At half-time, VA is in the lead by six points. With George on Pablo's left and Ethan on his right, they start discussing potential opponents of VA going into the second round.
"Let's see: as of right now, the game between Livonia and Minden is wide open and we'll play its winner" Ethan comments with his phone set to watch for that other game.
"Who would you rather have VA play?" George asks the other four.
"In what sense?" Nadine asks him. "Athletic or financial?"
"If it was about the money, Livonia, but as for strengths and weaknesses on the court, I would rather play Minden" Pablo answers his friends.
"Either way, while this game might be winnable, we will need to fight tooth and nail from this point onwards" Lilina adds.
And then the five realize that Audrey and Heather have been VA's best players for the first half, but they're winded. These two are benched for part of the third quarter, and, since their bodies are sweating, they chug some energy drinks while they catch their breaths.
Then comes the turn of Charlotte a few minutes later, about halfway through the third quarter. The Patriots then feel like they can get back into the game as they keep playing their best players, but even the opponents fall prey to fatigue as they feel like the second-string VA players might not be able to resist defensively.
By the end of the third quarter, the Patriots close the gap to a single, measly point, but in the fourth quarter, the now-rested Audrey and Heather are put back into play.
Early into the fourth quarter, the opponents' fatigue catches up to them, as they start committing more fouls than they used to, as a result of their diminishing mental energy. However, it happens that, on this particular foul, the Patriots inadvertently attempted to cause Audrey to trip and fall over, as the Patriots are trailing by two points and Audrey missed the resulting field goal attempt, giving her two free throws.
"Ballista! Ballista!" Nadine starts chanting as Audrey takes the first free throw.
And... the first free throw goes in. The second free throw is met with boos from the Patriots' second stringers. Yet, on the second FT, the crowd also starts chanting Ballista, ballista while Audrey focuses on making the second FT. Which narrowly hits the hoop and then goes into it.
"What's a ballista?" George asks Nadine about ballistae, even though it's the first time Audrey was awarded a free throw all game.
"A ballista is a giant crossbow" Nadine answers George as Audrey answered her teammates earlier in the season.
The VAs go in the final 2 minutes of the game with a 4-point lead. Seeing the game slip away, the Patriots make a last-ditch attempt to either bait the VAs into fouling or, barring that, attempt as many three-pointers as possible. However, scoring two 3-pointers prove to be insufficient since the VAs end up scoring four more points of their own by this point. As the horn signals the end of the game:
"And the Venomous Agendas win, fifty-eight to fifty-six!" the principal shouts into PA.
The crowd bursts out of the grandstands, especially Pablo and Tyler, the boyfriends of two of the VAs' starters. Both of whom played a pivotal role in VA's win. But this time around, both couples kiss and hug each other at center court, and not just Audrey and Pablo.
Meanwhile, other couples in attendance fan out to find other places to kiss each other, while being mindful of not being too close to another couple when doing so. And there just are a lot of couples attending that game tonight, like his football teammates who have other quiz bowlers for valentines. Or Dayton and Natalie.
"We have received confirmation of VA's next opponent on Monday: we'll be playing against the Livonia Wildcats!" Kent takes the mic from the principal after the results are in for the Livonia-Minden game. The coach then turns to the players once they are done kissing their love interests. "For the game against Livonia, the main player to watch out for is "The Latvian", or simply Aija; the Wildcats otherwise lack depth"
"Coach, why is Aija called "The Latvian"? What, or where, is Latvia anyway?" Heather asks Kent, not suspecting that Latvia is a southeast Baltic country, and therefore Latvian is a nationality.
Kent draws a blank, and Audrey is somehow the only one on the team capable of answering Heather's questions.