By mid-March, the parish is heartbroken when they realize Faith, in whom they held their hopes for the IMO this season, was falling behind so that, going into the USAMO, she was already eliminated, and the EGMO, although less of a pipe dream, was still a long shot at best, especially since there are 6 girls in the race to the IMO.
That Saturday, VA holds quiz bowl-State for the first time. The VAs won the right to host it based on their strong record in the past 3 seasons, which saw the strongest Louisiana teams at the HSNCT in history.
However, because, this year, the LQBA divided quiz bowl-State into a high school division, with 20 teams, and a middle school division, with 12 teams, the consequence is that nearly every classroom at VA is used to host the tournament, which starts with teams coming in from all over the state.
Glen awakens early in the morning, having volunteered to ref games at quiz bowl-State because some teams are unable to provide a moderator. Parents of current VA players are also contributing by installing buzzers as provided by the teams in attendance, while he attends a mandatory moderator meeting before the tournament starts, with the rest of the family. That, even though Valerie is there because of her new boyfriend, a VA quiz bowler.
Florence is perhaps the quintessential overshadowed high achiever, for whom "less is more". She might have broken the hearts of the school staff at the time, but maybe, in the end, she's the best-adjusted of the high achiever kids I knew. When I look at kids like Chantal, Valerie, or even Faith, who somehow fit in cross-country in the middle of the mathletics season, and being its treasurer, they might bring in joy to the school, but man do they have anxiety issues, Glen can't help but think of the kids in the game room he's going to man. However, Faith is the worst girl on the VAs' XC team this season.
After all, if the VAs are any indication, Glen expects quiz bowlers at State to be more or less the same as students as their own. Top-10% kids for the most part (in the large schools division anyway; smaller schools often need to dip below in their classes to get to the count of 4 players) and often pretty ambitious as far as college is concerned.
Meanwhile, when Kinder's team arrives, the local VA fans boo one specific player, whom they readily recognize wearing a yellow racerback and a black skirt. Anna. With Kinder's principal as chaperone of the team.
Anna is probably the out-of-parish transfer student of the decade. Never did we get out-of-parish transfer kids that contribute to the school's extracurricular glory the way Anna does. Maybe we can obtain willing people to play either quiz bowl or debates from people in the northern part of Jefferson Davis Parish, or from elsewhere in Allen Parish, to the extent the law allows us to court such kids, Kinder's principal only seems to think about how to sustain their newfound successes in quiz bowl and in debates.
"What is the meaning of this? Why are we being booed?" a confused Major asks out loud, apparently never told about Anna's past as a Venomous Agenda, and never was he booed at quiz bowl tournaments.
"I get that the VAs are a rival of ours in sports, but I never believed it would extend to academics!" another Major comments upon seeing Anna getting booed.
When the moderator meeting is over, all 3 family members still in town quickly glance over the various teams competing at State, as well as the game room assignments. Valerie is assigned to man a game room in the middle school division, while both adults are assigned game rooms in the high school division. As the games at that tournament begin...
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The first game Glen refs is the game between Kinder and... Lacassine? A Lacassine on whose buzzer he's working the game. What the hell, Lacassine? Either Camden won it big at the races and subsequently used the money to buy a high-visibility buzzer for the school, or he used little of the extracurricular budget, a stream of thought crosses his mind when he reads the label "Property of Lacassine High" underneath the 3-second light. He struggles to keep his emotions in check since both schools gave him a chip on his shoulder.
"This is game one of the 2028 LQBA State Championship, small schools division. From Jefferson Davis Parish, we have Lacassine and from Allen Parish, we have Kinder. Tossup one: In Hamiltonian mechanics, this principle holds in a coordinate if that coordinate does not appear in the Hamiltonian of a system. Tsiolkovsky's equation is derived from that principle" Glen starts reading the first tossup.
Derrick then buzzes in. "Conservation of momentum"
"Fifteen. For ten points each..."
Focus, Anna. Science is not my strong suit in quiz bowl, our opponents got here as a wildcard, we'll show them who's boss here! Anna seems to need to refocus herself in the face of the opponent powering that tossup.
"Tossup number two: A character in this series of books defaulted on a mortgage in Wisconsin, leading to the Ingalls returning to that state"
"Little House on the Prairie" Anna buzzes in, realizing that she is pretty much the Majors' go-to player for everything unrelated to science.
"Fifteen. For ten points each..."
Yet, for what was to follow, Lacassine gets routed, and their primary real hope of even scoring any points whatsoever comes on science questions, whom they realize quickly it is Anna's weakness and, along with it, the Majors'.
Given their lack of experience, Lacassine gets routed and lose their first preliminary game 460-55.
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However, because the entire family are either parents or current students of VA, they cannot work VAs' games, middle or high school. This season, however, the middle school division performs much better than the high school division, since the middle school team is on track to qualify for the MSNCT by finishing atop its pool after 5 preliminary games, whereas the high school team is probably not going to finish in the top 15% at State.
And Myriam failed to get the Venomous Agendas a HSNCT berth in all previous tournaments they attended: Tal Atkins, LQBA Fall and Winter Invitationals South, and Brother Bill Parsons, much like Anna failed to get the Majors theirs. Five games into the tournament, both the VAs and the Majors are 3-2, and they are in separate pools, however.
The middle school teams take a 30-minute break while the middle school's playoff schedule is being finalized, with 4 teams still playing. It turns out that VA is advancing in the middle school division and the tournament director makes a decision that sends a shiver down Valerie's spine before the playoffs start.
"Valerie, you're no longer reffing middle school games at this tournament. It's a longstanding LQBA policy not to allow tournament staffers to work games with institutions they are affiliated with. Please review the affiliation policy for tournament staff" the LQBA president, the tournament director of quiz bowl-State, explains to her.
A tournament staffer is then considered affiliated to an institution if they attend, or graduated from, an institution in the past 2 years, or currently work for it, or worked for that institution in the past 2 years. Or any immediate family member in categories above. This means Glen cannot work VA games if they make it to the playoff stage (top-3 in the pool) since he was VA's principal 2 full years ago.
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
Once the implications of this policy become clear to her, she decides to go watch the remaining high school VA games, knowing, however, that this date won't last forever. Especially since he's still a junior, and she saw several past VA seniors break up in the leadup to the finals. Especially those who were attending out-of-state colleges.
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Meanwhile, the VAs' middle school division fight tooth-and-nail so that they can get to the MSNCT and then make their institution proud.
But going into game #6, Lacassine's coach realizes something is amiss and the moderator of the game is someone its coach encountered in a different context. Ouch. The forensic auditor the parish sent after our principal. Now that guy is reffing the game? I must keep quiet even though he can't use the game to get information that could lead to the truth about our principal! A visibly uncomfortable coach then muses upon seeing the moderator manning that game room.
The Cardinals are hungry since they didn't win one game all day, and their opportunity comes right against Iowa. An Iowa stacked with mathletes and that Lacassine manages to force a final-tossup showdown against after both sides keep letting tossups go unanswered. The game is tied 130-130.
"Final tossup: In reforms instituted under Peter the Great, this city became the seat of the Azov Guberniya. During WWII, this city was the namesake of a Soviet defensive front during Operation Blau" the forensic auditor reads to both teams.
Oh my god... these things escape me, and I'm playing at State for God's sake! Derrick ruminates, on the verge of panicking. The power mark is missed, and the third clue is missed by both teams.
"For ten points, name this Southwestern Russia city held by Wagner Group on June twenty-fourth, 2023"
With each passing second, both teams are sweating, and Derrick feels the urge to buzz in. "Voronezh!" he shouts upon buzzing.
"Ten. For ten points each..."
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During the break, the forensic auditor hired by the parish school board to investigate embezzlement suspicions meets with Glen, whom he didn't expect to be reffing a quiz bowl tournament.
"I apologize, sir, for being late in submitting the report, there was a last-minute lead that we needed to investigate" the forensic auditor sternly tells Glen.
"Just send the bill and report to the central parish office" Glen requests the forensic auditor before the auditor emails the report and its accompanying invoice to both him and the comptroller from his phone.
Ouch! Not only he went ahead and bought the horse in the school's name, he had the school claim it at a race below the minimum required for competitive bidding. Basically, Lacassine's racehorse is a low-level horse. And Camden even had the audacity to set up a phantom supplier in their system through which to pay the trainer, under maintenance expenses! Glen reflects upon skimming the first part of the report, as it relates to Lacassine's involvement in horse racing. He then recommends to the head of HR to fire Camden from his position as principal of Lacassine, as well as look for another principal.
And he also uses the opportunity to report Camden, along with Lacassine, to the Louisiana Racing Commission so that, hopefully, the LRC revokes both Camden's and Lacassine's horse ownership licenses.
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Meanwhile, Kinder's principal realizes, upon hearing from the TD that Kinder qualifies for the SSNCT, or Small School National Championship Tournament, that it has difficult choices to make for the postseason. Kinder qualifies for the SSNCT by virtue of being at the top of small schools at State (as defined by NAQT, Kinder is a traditional small school enrolling fewer than 500 students in grades 9 through 12) and the only small school in the playoffs. In addition, VA is deemed to be too large for the SSNCT. However, this leads the Majors' quiz bowl team to hear some bittersweet news:
"It appears our budget will force the school's board to decide whether to have the debate team attend the Tournament of Champions or the quiz bowl team attend the SSNCT" Kinder's principal announces to their team.
"When will the final decision be made?" Anna asks the principal.
"The decision will have to wait until the debate district qualifier ends. It will depend partially on how many berths we have at the debate national championship, if any" Kinder's principal then turns to Anna. "You have a share of responsibility in this decision"
I guess it will probably depend on how much glory attending the SSNCT will bring Kinder and its local community vs NSDA Nats, but the SSNCT overlaps with Last Chance. However, I'd have to make the playoffs, but lose in the playoffs at the district qualifier, up to the semifinal, for the debate coach to even consider making me attend Last Chance, Anna reflects on the implications of her performance at the district qualifiers on the Majors' postseason. And then Anna sees Valerie:
"Thank you, Anna. I'm much better rounded intellectually now, not as much as you but enough for my current needs" Valerie then tells Anna about her role in her intellectual growth.
"I'll let you in on something. I'm going to attend the University of Chicago next fall and to play quiz bowl on the Maroons!" Anna then proceeds to talk about her own college decision.
"Will you forgive me for all the stress I caused you over the past years?" Valerie is about to cry in front of Anna, begging for her forgiveness.
"I forgive you, but you didn't cause me nearly as much stress as you endured yourself. I didn't endure nearly as much stress as you did either since, in quiz bowl, I was always considered secondary to Sadie as a VA. The one moment in my life as a VA that could compare to your stresses as a mathlete is the 2026 HSNCT. And we both know better than to hate each other based on where we go to school"
Oh God, DCC vs us, and it was the most stressful 3 minutes of my life! Anna has flashbacks of this game where Sadie was taken off the stage after calling for a timeout.
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They then both attend the middle school awards ceremony, as do Glen, the forensic auditor, and the other tournament staffers. Because the band's instruments are in a backstage room next to the auditorium, Glen is able to pick up a drum, and roll said drum, when the tournament director announces the top 2 middle school teams in the state.
"And the 2028 Louisiana middle school quiz bowl state champions are..." the TD begins, while Glen rolls the drum. "The Venomous Agendas!"
MSNCT time! But will the town follow the middle school quiz bowl team as it did the high school's? Warren tries to contain his emotions about the middle school division of VA winning at quiz bowl-State.
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But, for the high school playoffs, which are a round-robin between the top 3 teams of each pool, Glen couldn't work games either. The remaining moderators for the playoffs are 3 more coaches from teams no longer in contention.
So while Glen is watching the remaining VA games, along with the rest of the family, as much as he would like to root for them, what the forensic auditor handed to him makes him squirm about Camden. And it wasn't just about how he used school money to claim a racehorse in its name, either. Camden defrauded the state on more than just MSPGO money, but on other occasions, too.
But, after the tournament ends, and the VAs finish fourth, and the Majors, fifth, he receives a call from a distraught Camden.
"What is the meaning of this? I was just trying to make the most out of surplus supplies we didn't actually need!" Camden pleads with Glen regarding the sale of school supplies on the black market as indicated on the forensic auditor's report.
"Your gambling problem on horse racing appears to have gotten you into trouble. Not content with simply wagering on horse racing, you had to steal money and supplies to do so! You have disciplinary action pending because of that!" Glen shouts and warns Camden.
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The following Monday after quiz bowl-State, the parish police receives a copy of the auditor report regarding Camden. Its content is apparently enough to indict him, and the police drives a short distance from the station. They arrive in the principal's office:
"You're under arrest for government fraud! You have the right to remain silent. If you don't have a lawyer, the court will provide you with one. Anything you might say may be held against you" the police officer reads Camden's rights, forensic audit report in hand, and then handcuffs him.
"Attention! Your principal is under arrest!" another officer announces in the school's PA system.
Oh boy... I'm going to be banned from racetracks statewide for this! And I will be forced to sell both the school's racehorse and the one I have part ownership of while I'm in prison! a visibly distraught Camden thinks about how his addiction to gambling on horse races might have landed him in jail. And maybe enter a bargain plea.
And the news of Camden's arrest forced Glen's hand into not only firing him, but also declining to comment to the media even as Camden's arrest led to the entire state knowing about Lacassine. Meanwhile, he goes to Lacassine with all speed to interview both assistant principals to determine which one would be the better fit to replace Camden at the head of Lacassine; whichever one replaces Camden, will determine which assistant principal position to advertise for outside the school's confines.