The following week, one of the most surprising announcements takes place, after the physics lesson, where they learn dynamics and circular motion. I solved PDEs in open air; it's not a problem about Kepler's third law that will stop me! And especially since I feel like nothing can stop me in class here. I am pretty sure that Krista, and Marcia to a lesser extent, are more or less in the same state of mind, especially with the mathletic performances we deliver week after week! That said, the administration never wanted to put all three of us in the same section. For the only time I can have Krista with me in class... it's a pure treat even though, for laboratory experiments, the teacher never puts us together. He believes everyone benefits if they can take turns getting access to the two of us. Or, in the other section, Marcia and Shane, Geneviève thinks at the classroom's exit, while someone was waiting for Krista. A face that's familiar to her for some reason.
"Krista, do you want to go out on a date with me?" asks Ted, believing that he can leverage his position as starting fullback to be able to ask a date from any girl of his choice.
"There's something wrong, Ted. All that we did together was that I helped you in pre-calculus, and now you want to go on a date with me? I have been nice to you, but what makes me so special that would make you think that I can interest you?" Krista asks Ted.
Oh... at my old school no one wanted to date me; possessing a certain intellectual level or higher could be very expensive from a social standpoint, so expensive that it can be anti-intellectual. And I have the same label here, but Gen was right: being in the mathletics team represents a social safe conduct. I don't know what to think but this place starts to look more like Whitman, or any other school capable of winning it all at the VMC than to my old school; if what Overachievers says is true, intellect is not a romantic brake, she thinks while awaiting Ted's answer, which is a little clumsy at times.
"You never appeared shallow to me. In addition, you're relatively new here, but I can't point at what makes you different, only that you're different"
"There's a first time for everything... I'm happy that you asked me out" Krista smiles, happy with Ted asking her out.
On the other hand, people do as if I was dating Cory, who, as a daddy's boy booster, gained in social stature at the same time as the mathletics team for which he plays. Better date him for real, now that he proved that he could play at least on the level of the AMC12. I am happy for Krista, who visibly never lived what she currently lives, much less a footballer like Ted, who played his best game ever against Church Point; at Church Point and in the neighboring parish, a footballer would be unlikely to date a girl capable of solving differential equations in power series unless they're in academic trouble, Gen thinks before seeing Cory.
"Cory, I think the time has come to do for real what people think we are doing. I wanted you to prove yourself mathletically before we get to where we are now" Gen confides to Cory.
"But why?" Cory asks her.
"I didn't want to give the impression to the townsfolk that you are on the team just because you date me"
"But the questions that were asked on the first two games are questions that could have appeared in class exams!"
"The town might tolerate that people cheat on the team members on regular tests, but..."
"What now? Our off competition lives are irrelevant to them so long as we can keep winning on the mathletic stage! It's like football before the pandemic..."
"You're not afraid to tell what you think, but the townsfolk see in us a symbol of excellence and would not like to see this team mired by favoritism!"
"You're beating around the bush, so do you want to date me?"
"Of course!"
"Do you want to see the next football game this Friday?"
"Randy gave me the calendar; this week they're playing the neighboring parish on the road. So I must come to your place?"
He might accept me as I am, I feel his father has a lot of questions for me, she thinks while he doesn't have the opportunity to see her before Friday night. But before that, to the eyes of the town, all mathletic hopes are now permitted after a Pyrrhic victory against the Village School of Houston on Thursday. And yet the Village School was the first seed of the Southern bracket last year in the playoffs!
Friday afternoon, Geneviève shows up at Cory not with the green and purple garb of the Venomous Agendas, but with the maroon T-shirt of Chicago, that she obtained at YSP.
"Hi; my son reported to me that you neglected your safeties!" Cory's dad yells at Gen.
"Everyone in this town knows that I applied to Chicago in early decision" Gen responds back to him.
"Let's talk about Chicago. It's not because you applied there in early decision that you will attend! Other than Tulane that you can consider as a safety..."
"But your son evoked McGill as a safety and at the same time as a backup plan for Chicago. Past backup plans for Ivies included Baylor, Florida, Wisconsin in alphabetical order of those who were on the math team last year"
"If you're asking me what McGill excels in, I would say it's in the biomedical arena; it's even in the biomedical arena that you can actually consider this place a peer of Chicago or the Ivies. If it's instead the academic life that you want to know more about, you might have the same kind of academic life as in Chicago but there's a lot of weeding out in the first two years. I would instead advise you to choose your safeties according to financial aid; McGill is as horrible as Berkeley about this" Cory's mom comments.
"Is Tulane actually that favorable to Louisiana students? Not that I doubt for a moment of my success or whether I can attend. But we talked enough about this" Gen asks Cory's mom.
"On top of that, you will benefit from the Louisiana Promise at Tulane, and, further, the Louisianan portion of the class is dominated by the two big cities of the state. They want a few more people from rural parishes every year..." Cory's mom follows up on Gen's question.
At the reach and match levels no problem: I can choose whatever I want, and financial aid follows so long as I don't want to attend a public university, she thinks, while for a non-Louisianan Tulane would be a reach for everyone. Once in the car with Cory...
"I have a question regarding the team of the neighboring parish. What kind of team are we dealing with tonight?" Gen asks Cory.
"The Majors will be more likely, on the offense, to play the passing game, but in defense, they will prefer to sack the QB" Cory answers her.
"Is the sack just about stealing the ball to the opposing quarterback?" Gen asks, clueless about what a sack is.
"To steal the ball from the opposing quarterback, he must be tackled first, and behind the scrimmage line. If the QB is victim from a sack, the team loses a down. They play a four-three defense"
But, upon arriving at the neighboring parish's school, never will she suspect that Krista's ex-teammates are also present to the game. And Krista herself is there as well, wearing her purple and green T-shirt of the Venomous Agendas.
"I might have football players with me in my classes, they never talked about their sport to me. I barely know which position goes where on a formation, and a touchdown or a field goal, but no more" Gen is overheard by rival mathletes.
"But what is Gen doing here?" Annette asks, while looking down on the couple.
"Merde! I could be asking you the same question. My boyfriend bought me a ticket as a Venomous Agendas fan..."
"Me too, he made me come here. He insisted that I come so that he could meet the teammates from the neighboring parish for the VMC, but I thought we trained too much for this competition" Annette retorts.
"Wait a minute... the neighboring parish wanted to do this for the VMC?" Trevor asks.
A common tactic that allowed weaker states, such as Arkansas, or New Mexico, to assemble enough talent to even think about competing. Or for the ARML. But it goes without saying that building a team for the VMC is a lot easier than for the ARML; Trent and Brian must say that it's no use even after combining both parishes.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Even on a date in another parish, mathletics stick to my skin! She thinks, while the first down is about to start, and that she tries to obtain a pair of seats far away from Annette and Trevor, who have now confirmed they play for the neighboring parish (relative to their school of origin) as it relates to the VMC.
"Let's say that it's a nice change from our homework schedule" Gen points out to Cory.
"Oh yes; it's the only moment we have for ourselves this week. Better enjoy it!" Cory whispers to her.
"But at the same time, football is a brutal sport; granted, intermittently, just that maybe brutality is in cause. Maybe it's the sport's brutality and the physical demands that they carry that makes people appreciate watching football. Blood, sweat, tears and bursts of speed for a rushing team"
"You might not understand a whole lot about the sport itself, but you seem to understand what people like seeing about football"
"In any case it's much easier to follow than the mathletic contests we take part in. A ball, passes, people that tackle each other to prevent the opponent from executing certain things"
"The Math Madness, however, gave the desire to people from our town to watch mathletics, even if they're completely unable to answer the questions. Watching someone else do what they cannot do personally might be appealing if that something is competitive in nature"
"You see, Cory, the difference between high school sports and sports in college is that, in high school, the fans are much closer to their local favorites, these are people with local roots and, especially in a rural area, here as in our home, people that we are susceptible to know personally. In college, when you look at the various recruitment websites, especially in football and in basket, you know the players come from everywhere in the world. The relationships that their local communities maintain with their college teams are not the same. It's more like semi-professional teams"
"Why semi-professional?" asks a Majors fan next to them. "The way I see it, we have the impression of watching professional teams and we often forget that it's about college teams"
"Because, even though they benefit from academic privileges, they must still study. They don't always work in class as they should, but it depends a lot on the school" Gen answers the opposing fan.
For each UNC-Chapel Hill, which openly acknowledges admitting academically underqualified students for athletic purposes, we have Northwestern, Tulane for whom the academic aspect is much more important for sports teams. If one wants to follow college sports where we know they're taking their studies seriously, unfortunately, it's not in Division I that we'll find it. It would be more in Division III, or even II, or simply Canadian university sports in general.
Having known it would happen like this, while Ted brought me here to see him play as a fullback... Krista thinks, while she has the nose deep in her readings for her classes, missing several downs where she can see Ted play.
"Touchdown! The Majors lead six to zero!" the house announcer screams on the stadium's speakers, and the crowd applauds consequently.
"Better luck next time, Gen, the Venomous Agendas missed their sack attempt, and this is where it led them" Cory comments to his would-be girlfriend.
"You said they were playing a passing game; this looked more like a rushing game! Have you seen the burst of speed that led to the TD?" Gen asks Cory.
"Yes. We haven't won once against the neighboring parish of our entire time in high school"
"AHA! Back to reality for the Venomous Agendas!" a Majors fan taunts next to Cory.
"Players change, and strategies change as well! The only constant is the community attachment to their high school!"
"What I like about you is that you try under any circumstances. Therefore... I love you. But last year's Majors were more passing-oriented" Cory whispers to Gen again.
"Thank you"
"Look at that description made of the life of a young football player for whom playing in high school represents a lifetime aspiration!" The Majors fan next to Gen points out.
Friday Night Lights... this movie to which Vontae alluded to before our opening game against Permian! From the way Vontae talked about it, this Majors fan sounds like one of the characters of the movie! I have an impression of déjà vu: a guy keeps lasting memories from his time on the football team but can barely read and write. For whom high school represents the peak of his life, she thinks while she examines the description made by the fan next to her, and that the academic memories of past and present footballers resurface in her mind.
"I can count myself lucky that none of the footballers I have known corresponds to this description. Our cornerback takes AP calculus BC, our fullback takes pre-calculus..." Gen tells the Majors fan next to her.
"You guys get by in class at least. You have your priorities straight, we don't. At least you care about academic extracurricular activities, and we don't! We always get beaten against you regardless of whether we are talking about debate, math or quiz bowl!"
"I must admit that you're one of the rare Majors fans that complain about academic neglect in the extracurricular sphere! Do you have a kid on any of those teams?" Gen asks the opposing fan again.
"My oldest is on the mathletics team, my youngest is on the debate team. I must admit that I am pleasantly surprised of our mathletics team this year: we had a good season, with ninety points after three games. You are at one hundred seventeen points..."
"For you guys, being on the top bracket for the Math Madness playoffs is already a great victory"
"Yes! Last year the mathletics team was an instrument used by extracurricular hunters to furnish their CVs for college admissions. Now these mathletes have either graduated or play at a lower level compared to those that have the right motivations"
"At this rate, we will be among the top three seeds of the South, and we faced the other two schools that can lay claim to the top seed. But I suppose that you have more trust in a mathlete who's part of the team to furnish a CV for college admissions than a footballer from whom playing in high school represents a lifetime aspiration to succeed in their post-secondary life!"
Village and Whitman are trailing by one and three points respectively and both had their best games against the Venomous Agendas. There's a real danger that I peak in high school, especially if I don't can't get into one of these major universities. High school glory is fleeting, regardless of where it comes from! And yet I brought several players, first of all Krista, in MY insane quest to relive the mathletic glory of the SRA! I brought the town to live from a mathletic contest to another!
"You don't seem to be well. You might have an enriching conversation with a parent of our opponents, but you are missing something!" Cory scolds Geneviève while he is pointing at the Majors' quarterback who fell victim of a sack by the Venomous Agendas.
"You didn't think that, for some players next week's game could represent their swan song? For our own and for the Majors" Gen asks Cory.
"And the player responsible for this sack, and who forces a long forty-yard run with the ball stolen from the opposing quarterback's hands!"
"Touchdown! The Venomous Agendas tie!" the announcer screams through his mic, under the boos of the local crowd.
"Venomous! Agendas! Venomous! Agendas!" howl in turn the three members of the mathletics team, along with a few purple and green fans spread across the stadium in a sea of Majors fans.
"Did we always play the rushing game? We seemed to have better results with the rush..." Gen asks her teammate.
"No, Gen, it's the big change related to the change in coach. Before we played a passing game. I see that you understand the sport better now. I promise you the following: the Monday after the end of the regular season, we will organize a photo-shoot to sell promotional merchandise for the rest of the season, at the condition that we finish the season atop the Southern division"
"You must ask this at the next team meeting. I love you"
"Speaking of meeting, you will receive a small surprise..."
"Don't forget: integration by parts will be on the agenda for this week's meeting, but we won't spend too long on it. For now, our priorities are the Math Madness and the AMC-twelve"
"Are you hungry?"
"No..."
But the first quarter ends 6-6, both teams having scored only one touchdown apiece. Not the most exciting game in the world, and the couple realized it. Nevertheless, they can read the disappointment on Krista's face as if it was a book. Disappointed to be unable to do anything with Ted at a football game and, consequently she falls back on her studies of all kinds, interrupted by a few announcements from the home announcer, with points on each side.
As for the game itself, the winning sequence of the Venomous Agendas on the football field ends at two, with a heartbreaking loss that leaves a bitter taste to the Venomous Agendas fans attending, especially when the last Majors touchdown began with a Venomous Agendas fumble that does not come from a sack. At the stadium's exit...
"The only reason why I brought you here is because too many people in our parish know us; a little anonymity would be good to start a relationship that could prove romantic. So a little bit of patience" Cory confides in Gen.
"That's ok, so long as it's discreet"
The couple then goes a little further away from the stadium and the crowd that went to support the Majors while they are in the playoff race in football. They meet each other behind the wall of the main entrance.
"Before we begin, I must tell you this: you won't have the chance to experience this twice. Whether we win or lose in the Math Madness playoffs, whether we win or lose at the Vans Math Contest, I'm ready for what's to follow" Cory harangues Geneviève before proceeding with the kiss.
The kiss itself was nothing out of the ordinary, but the two will probably remember it for a while, maybe even the rest of their lives. But once the kiss ends...
"It was good..." an elated Cory then tells her.
"It was my first kiss"
"Gen, we may not form the best couple in the world, but..."
"I'm very disappointed of my date with Ted... you seemed to have had a kiss" Krista declares while her face left no doubt about her state of mind.
"Krista? What made you disappointed about your date?" Gen asks Krista.
"It's not that he played poorly, it's that he believed that I would accept to stay on the side during the game"
After a weekend filled with homework and readings of all kinds, they meet each other on Monday afternoon for a new training session of the mathletics team, where Ted and Cory arrive with surprises for their respective girlfriends.
"To make up for this more than disappointing date, Krista..." Ted announces, while he is ready to participate in the training session by her side, with an energy drink.
"And tongs for you, shoe size ten" Cory declares to Geneviève, handing her sandals over in liquidation at his father's shoe storebefore addressing the rest of the team. "As the Math Madness playoffs draw near, I propose to make a photo-shoot the Monday of the first round week. We willtake a picture with everyone on the team wearing the Venomous Agendas' purpleand green, as well as individual pictures and another picture with our threestars on it. All pictures taken during this photo-shoot will be used for promotional merchandise to the benefit of the team! Do you have objections?"