Before the VA players get out of the locker room, they see the deflated Wildcats pass by them, returning to their bus to Monroe. However, for some reason, it took the team a while to understand what they're up against. Especially when Heather looks up a clip from Pearl River's game against Albany earlier today and trying to get a hold of Libuse.
"That's Libuse" Heather points to a player wearing number 31. "She doesn't look like she has a waifish figure, not what you would expect of a starving artist! In fact, she has more or less the same body type as Audrey"
"By now you must have watched videos about how AAU has ruined American youth basketball, which have been around for years now. While most of these videos criticized its impact on the boys' game, presumably these people in Pearl River, and maybe even Libuse's host family, feel like they can get better-rounded players on the international student exchange markets!" Kent tells his players.
"Huiling forced the Rebels' hands, swearing off Chinese players because they probably found them... unable to put their skills together in games!" Carrie comments.
Usually, people who make themselves available on the international student exchange markets are high achievers, irrespective of any basketball talent they might have. So Libuse will probably end up playing for, like, Tulane, but international players tend to be more "Division I or bust" when it comes to college, Audrey keeps to herself. After all, if you were in continental Europe, were an academic high achiever and made it through the entirety of the youth club system without going pro, you could go to college at home, at a fraction of the cost of going to a Division II/III college.
Audrey then texts Pablo about that game. "It sucks that you couldn't be there; you should have seen the whole play leading up to me scoring the final two points!"
Back in Jennings, it seems like Pablo's guests have left his home, and being productive in their study of AP US Government. He could then focus on coursework in other subjects.
And then LHSAA uploads highlights of all 5 semifinal games that were played today to YouTube. Once these videos are live, he starts watching the VA vs. Wossman one. He then texts her back while the VAs are on the bus back to Jennings. "Now that's my Ballista!"
When Audrey returns home that night, she's, simply put, exhausted. Exhausted from playing a high-intensity basketball game. She puts her sports bag away in her bedroom and then... she collapses on her bed.
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Well into the night, she was visited by seven ghosts of basketball players in the dream version of UC's locker room. They were all wearing jerseys of different shades of red, most of whom wore wine red, with one wearing a brighter shade of red. And, of course, the one who spoke first had Jennings in white lettering.
"We Bulldogs faithful..." the first ghost got interrupted by Audrey's oneiric self.
"Venomous Agendas!" Audrey's oneiric self shouted back at the first ghost.
"Is that how Jennings calls its teams nowadays?" a second ghost wearing the pre-pandemic Jennings away jersey asked Audrey.
"We waited twenty years for a shot at hoops glory, you'd better not mess this up... Ballista!" the ghost of the starting power forward of the 2011 Jennings team yelled at Audrey. "If you lose on Saturday against Pearl River, you might live out a year with regrets over that game!"
"And Heather, Carrie, too! Especially Carrie!" the starting PG of the 2011 team added.
Audrey's oneiric face started showing signs of instability. "How do you know all the names of my teammates?"
The final ghost wearing a pre-pandemic Jennings away jersey answered her. "I didn't leave town after graduation! You're far smarter than every one of us, maybe even everyone on the 2011 team put together! So please, use college to get out of town!"
Eek! If this means playing on the Big Green or Green Wave, so be it. However, play well on Saturday and I might end up attending a different college. That, even though it's a foregone conclusion by now that Heather will play for Berkeley. She had a monster season... and the only way to even repeat this nest year w/o Heather and Carrie would require Cora and I both having the kind of monster season Heather had, or close to it... Audrey's oneiric self started reflecting on what the graduation of Heather and Carrie would mean for the basketball team going forward.
"Right now, I have to choose between Dartmouth and Tulane!" Audrey informed the ghosts of past Bulldogs hoopers.
"I'm sure a number of colleges must have sent out offers to you by now..." the Bulldog PF's ghost sighed.
"And I lost track of how many offers you two must have turned down for academic reasons!" the final Bulldogs ghost told her. "Most other hoopers at your level or higher prioritize hoops over school! Even Heather seemed to have her priorities straight! Maybe for some of those hoopers, just playing in college at all means they can get an education they wouldn't otherwise"
The sixth ghost wearing a wine-red jersey differed from the first five by the words written on it. Latvija. She began speaking after the five Jennings ghosts spoke.
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"Latvija! Latvija!" Aija's ghost shouted in Audrey's ears.
"Aija? What are you doing here?" Audrey asked Aija, while Latvija rang in her ears.
"Livonia had no depth at all. It was a miracle that we could have gotten within six points of you guys back then! And I even made the national U-sixteen team upon returning home!" Aija turned to the seventh ghost. "We beat you guys in the opening round of the U-sixteen EuroBasket!"
"What is the meaning of this? Who is she?" a confused Audrey asks the seventh ghost, wearing a brighter red of red than the other six, and whose jersey read Cesko. "You played each other internationally?"
Libuse reluctantly answered Audrey's question. "Unlike Latvia, Czechia just isn't much of a girls' basketball country. In that age bracket, we constantly had to battle against promotion and relegation!"
"On Saturday, you're not going to play the VA squad Pearl River beat last year! This is a far stronger squad!" Audrey warned a ghostly Libuse about the game.
"Is that so? The other Rebels improved some, too! At best this game will be wide open!"
Damn it! Libuse played on the Czech national U16 team! She's going to be a tough nut to crack on Saturday! And let's not forget the depth players! Even if their second-best was anywhere near as good as I am, we're in deep trouble! Audrey's real self then awoke.
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The awakening from this nightmare was brutal. Is that so? Did Libuse actually play internationally for Czechia? If so, I feel not even Heather could be good enough for her on her own! We're going to need everyone to be alert on defense to win! Audrey is wondering if any of the facts are even real about Libuse, and also the offers she turned down, nearly all of them being from mid-majors and Division II schools she could attend without basketball, but kept quiet about.
She texts Pablo about what happened at night, knowing he won't respond until the morning. "I had basketball-related nightmares tonight!"
The following morning, when they meet each other again before class, Audrey is very earnest with him:
"Pablo, I had nightmares of ghosts from VA's pre-pandemic basketball past last night! They told me that, since it has been twenty years since VA last won a title..."
"You gave your all last night! It's probably the fatigue of playing at such high intensity that made these nightmares happen!"
"Yes, I played well, yes, I scored the winning field goal. However, because of Saturday's game, neither Cora nor I will be at today's quiz bowl practice!"
"I'm proud of you, and I love you... Ballista!"
The couple proceeds to hug each other, while people taking AP US Government are passing through where they are kissing each other.
"Good luck on Saturday, Audrey!" Savannah is the first to make wishes for her.
"Don't forget to buy your ticket for Saturday!" Malcolm asks Pablo.
"And good luck on your AP US Government test we studied together last night!"
"Now I understand why you couldn't be there for me last night! You helped football players study for AP US Government!"
Audrey realizes that life goes on, even when there's one big game left to win to finish their season strong.
But then, during quiz bowl practice, after school, the remaining players realize that practices feel a little empty without Audrey and Cora. They ask the following questions to him:
"Today, Audrey and Cora won't be here"
"Are you sure they won't be missing more practices?" Lilina asks him.
"Depends on whether they get injured during that big game on Saturday" Pablo answers his teammates. "But if they are healthy, they shouldn't be missing any further practices!"
"From here to the HSNCT, we will all practice using collegiate questions. Before you complain about using practice questions that are significantly harder than the HSNCT, especially those in middle school, I'd say, it should ease the transition into higher levels of play!" Warren stresses the importance of ratcheting up the difficulty of the practice material.
Even so, I feel like it won't be seamless. Practicing on collegiate questions weeks before quiz bowl-State? Last year we started practicing on college questions after State, Josiane, an eighth grader, ruminates. We saw it early this season: practicing on collegiate questions is no guarantee the transition into the high school game will be smooth, or even of MSNCT success.
Warren then has the team practice on sets like the latest ACF Regionals packets Cristiano and Sadie both played on, for Carnegie Mellon and Vanderbilt respectively.
"I wonder if our opponents at the MSNCT actually proceed that way..." Marissa asks the coach, her head heating up because of practicing on the packet.
"Yeah, practicing on high school packets might still work for the MSNCT, but are collegiate questions overkill for the MSNCT?" Josiane asks.
Meanwhile, Pablo, while still able to somewhat handle the rigors of collegiate quiz bowl packets, has concerns about his teammates.
"Is it normal that the coach pushes the middle schoolers to practice on collegiate questions this early? This is jumping way ahead of the curve! I get that the high school teams are in a win-now mode, but is the middle school team also in win-now mode, too?"
"Yes, we're going all-in this year. We shall show that we don't need Myriam to win, or at least improve on our finish!" Nadine answers.
"Also, how do you feel about Cora? She improved some, but will that be enough in Atlanta?"
"Honestly, Gerard is my main concern on the B-team. He hasn't improved much"
And then, after the practice ends, he asks Audrey if he could go to her home to do homework, especially since he knows he's physically more rested than she is. He could then brew her coffee, if Audrey would let him go to her house.
Once the permission is granted to do so, he arrives at her place to do the assignments that are due for Friday, and only that because he knows that Audrey doesn't have the energy to do more than that. He starts by the assignments in courses they both take, and then to catch up on Audrey's backlog.
And it's then that Pablo starts preparing what she kept calling painkillers, in hopes that she will have enough mental energy to get more assignments done.
"I'll have a little surprise for you soon" Pablo then whips up a recipe of orange kissel, where he needs to boil some orange juice and then put in the potato starch.
In the meantime, Audrey prepares her own cup of coffee with cream and sugar to her tastes, knowing that she needs more energy than normal given the intensity of the last practice.
Once Pablo deems like the orange juice has somewhat thickened, he can then put a few tablespoons of potato starch into the pot so that he can reach the consistency he deems appropriate for kissel.
When the kissel is put into ramekins, he then presents the resulting orange kissel to her.
"What's that, Pablo?"
"Orange kissel. It's a little thick, but that's what makes it different from ordinary orange juice"
"How romantic! You remembered how I liked Latvian cuisine" Audrey then starts eating the kissel, before Pablo does the same.