February 15, 2030, Venomous Agendas High. With the girls' basketball team advancing to the second round of the state tournament, the town feels like their hopes are still alive. That VA can hope to go deep in the state tournament, which no team has done post-pandemic.

The following day, Audrey delivers the afternoon announcement, regarding both the quiz bowl team and the basketball playoffs.

"Tomorrow, the quiz bowl team will attend the Leesville High School Spring Tournament. And let's not forget about the game against Livonia on Monday, whose tickets are now up for sale!" Audrey announces before returning to her classroom.

Oh boy, Audrey will have a busy life in the coming few days. I ought to ask her about her exam schedule when I'll meet with her next, and maybe, you know, study if possible. However, I think that, going into the playoffs, she will be subjected to more training sessions, even on the weekends, Pablo muses upon hearing about the implications of VA's girls' basketball team going deeper into the playoffs.

But since Pablo isn't in the same Algebra II section as Audrey, he starts taking the test for that course. The teacher passes around test copies to everyone, face down.

"Begin!" the Algebra II teacher orders.

What awaits students is multiple-choice questions formatted and structured much like ACT test items about probability and statistics. And he is reminded of how fortunate he is compared to some of his football teammates almost with every item on the test. While, of course, he is no mathlete, and neither are his football teammates, he doesn't find the material hard. However, since there are no questions of that style in quiz bowl, he feels differently about this material vs other subjects coming up more often in quiz bowl.

He then takes mental notes of what items his teammates could be struggling with, believing their struggles not to be uniform.

However, as he progresses through the test, he loses track of who could struggle where. If I want to help my football teammates taking Algebra II, I may as well go over the whole chapter with them, and not try to help them piecemeal! Pablo tries to discard his mental notes of who could struggle where on the test.

When he finishes the test early, the teacher lets him go to the library until the bell rings, as with just about anyone else who finish early. However, he can only meet with Audrey during recess.

"Since you're not in the same section as I for everything, I might be wondering what tests you have left. We might study together on the way from and to Leesville if neither took it"

"Algebra II, World History, AP Bio, English" Audrey answers him.

"I have the other three still left to go, but I'm done with Algebra II for a while"

Pablo then attempts to remember who, among his teammates, is in Audrey's Algebra II section. Which amounts to juniors since no other sophomore football player is accelerated in math.

"One more thing: I might be wondering who else is on the football team with you in your Algebra II section..."

Somehow, Audrey seems to remember the positions footballers in her Algebra II section play more readily than their names. Presumably because they tended to keep quiet in that course, and/or they didn't interact with Audrey much in an academic context.

The starting left wide receiver, Valter, the starting fullback, Orson, and the starting strong safety, Pablo then sets out to message them on their phones to schedule a meeting after class with these players regarding, well, Algebra II. And then notify his parents about both the after-school meeting with his football teammates and the sleepover at Audrey's place later.

After the school day ends, Audrey gets to the basketball practice, while Pablo meets with not only the starting WR, RLB (VA ran a 4-3 defense this season) and FB, but also everyone else on the football team who didn't take the Algebra II test on probability and statistics yet.

"I called this meeting for a reason: I want everyone here to play next season. However, please keep in mind no-pass, no-play, and we cannot afford to lose anyone here because of Algebra II" Pablo opens the meeting.

"I have an idea: someone supplies the answers to the test and hides the answers in the bathroom on Monday morning" Finn explains to them.

"Finn, who do you have in mind for an answer supplier? Pablo?" Valter asks, his tone of voice becoming aggressive.

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Various names are thrown around for supplying the answers, and several players rant about how useless the material will be to them later in life. The one thing they agree upon is the need for the supplier to have done well in that class, but no more than that.

"Do you remember what the long questions are? For the multiple-choice questions, the correct choices are enough for our purposes" the starting left wide receiver asks Pablo.

"Before I can tell you anything about the long questions..." Pablo is interrupted by Ethan.

"I ask you to have whoever is in a relationship to plant a copy of the answers in the girls' bathroom as well. I don't want to be sexist or anything, it's just that you need to consider who will go to the bathroom during a test" Ethan, the starting strong safety, places his request to his teammates.

"Is your girlfriend ready to do this, Ethan?" Finn asks him sarcastically, about to laugh.

"Nadine might be able to, but it's not a given. What about you?" Ethan asks Finn back.

"Carrie sure as hell would be a poor supplier for answers on a math test" Finn answers him. "On top of that, she's preparing to play Livonia on Monday"

"You want to make this work, please position yourselves at the back, and we shall peek the answers whenever possible, once whoever goes to the bathroom comes back" Heath, the starting right linebacker, adds information.

"You know what? We attempt to solve the long questions on our own, then we will run our answers by Nadine and her quiz bowler friends on Sunday..." Ethan asks, before grabbing his phone to ask his friends in Pablo's section about the test items.

Pablo then reviews the subject content of the long questions with the footballers, while he waits for Ethan's friends in Pablo's section to supply them with the long questions. Finn remains passive, while everyone else works hard, including Pablo, upon receipt of the long question statements.

Meanwhile, at basketball practice, the team is briefed on their next opponent.

"As we all know, we will be playing Livonia, and it turns out that, last night, Aija had the best game of the season. Sure, because of the Wildcats' lack of depth, the focus will be on neutralizing Aija while we are on the defense, by either making pass options not viable or screening her. However, do not foul her: Aija is dangerous on the free throw" Kent harangues the team in the locker room.

Joy... I will need to screen Aija if Heather can't do so, Audrey sighs, realizing that, on the defense, Heather and herself had the biggest assignments in past games.

"Yeah, Aija scored a buzzer-beater against Minden, and Minden fell prey to their overconfidence!" Heather's mouth opens wide.

"I guess, I should slip past Aija on the offense..." Carrie, her face a little down, is a little worried about how Kent seems to overestimate Aija just because Aija had her best game as a Wildcat last night.

"That's a little weird to me, but is she an exchange student? If so, was she recruited by Livonia specifically for basketball?" Cora, the second-string point guard asks Kent, sensing an opportunity to neutralize Aija.

The statement from Cora makes Kent roll his eyes, not believing his players would even resort to that sort of tricks to gain a competitive advantage. Or, to the eyes of Cora, level the playing field.

"The problem with that option is that LHSAA is too slow to act, and there's no guarantee that evidence can be found for Livonia's staff even having contacted Aija about basketball while she was still in Latvia" Kent explains to the players, while the practice schedule for the weekend is released.

"I'm afraid I can't make it to the morning practice tomorrow because I have a quiz bowl tournament that will last until late afternoon!" Audrey's face shows signs of apprehension.

"That's OK, there are four more practices until the game, it's not the end of the world" Kent responds to her before the drills begin.

One on Saturday night, two more on Sunday and one on Monday morning. They know that Aija isn't going to be easy to deal with, and nothing is to be taken for granted, so they intensify the drills with a mix of starters and reserve players on each practice squad.

Once the basketball practice ends, Carrie's joy of playing with the ball visibly ends along with it and is consumed by her upcoming Algebra II test. Audrey notices something being amiss with Carrie:

"As it stands now, I need help in Algebra II!" Carrie laments, feeling the weight of having to learn probability and statistics so she can stay afloat to play basketball.

"Carrie, I get that it's a magical moment for you because you feel like the state tournament is going to be the highlight of your life as a VA, but I wonder sometimes if you put too much weight on the state tournament in your life. Don't let the state tournament forget that you're still a student first and foremost!" Audrey harangues a Carrie about to cry. "However, as I told the team earlier, I won't be able to help you on Saturday. If you want my help to study for Algebra II, it would be either tonight or on Sunday after basketball practice!"

Pablo is probably busy helping his football teammates with Algebra II right now. Maybe Natalie could help her if her only available timeslots happen to be during the quiz bowl tournament, Audrey weighs her options to help Carrie study for Algebra II, considering her call for help. Unfortunately, Carrie asking for help is rather telling. She never asked for help much for coursework unless her back is against the wall.

"I'll ask other people I know for help. If, by Sunday, I still don't feel confident enough, with the people I ask, then I'll go back to you" Carrie sighs, while combing her friend list for possible helpers at this point.

But it occurs to Carrie that some of her friends might be struggling in other subjects and need help of their own, and her array of options appears to decrease. However, she doesn't feel like it's appropriate for her to provide academic aid to them for now.

"I guess, I have no choice, I'll go with you for tonight!" Carrie brings her head down, oblivious to what Finn and his teammates are doing for all other Algebra II sections that have yet to take the test.