Late September, the night before Tal Atkins. After several months of seeing Ben crawl across the house, the family seems to be anxious to see him walk his first steps. At the same time, Flo has French tests to grade on Friday night, and her parents tune in on the football game on the radio, played on the road against Westlake. They even have little Ben listening to the game on the radio station's podcast.
"Touchdown for the Venomous Agendas!" the podcaster shouts, while the VAs score their first 6 points for the game, late in the first quarter.
"Come here, Flo; Ben is about to make his first steps any moment" Flo's mother asks Flo to come to the living room while Ben seems to edge closer to his first steps.
After she finishes grading the test item she deems "current", Flo leaves her bedroom to see him attempting to walk. She watches him stumble over and over, but at each attempt, gets closer to an upright position. Good... keep going, she starts thinking as Ben is about to make his first step on some faux-Persian 5x7 carpet in the living room.
But when he finally makes it, Ben takes his sweet time to take the next step, under the watchful eyes of his grandparents. And...
"Woohoo! Ben made his first step!" Flo shouts for joy, but Ben opens his arms to her. She then picks him up...
"Mama?" Ben utters what probably is his first word, before Flo brings him between his grandparents.
As she returns to the grading of these French tests, Flo programs her alarm so that she could pick up the players for Tal Atkins early in the morning, so that they can be there in time for check-in at Caddo Magnet in Shreveport. At the other end of the state. They need to leave Jennings by 4 AM for that and have enough time to eat breakfast with the players on the road. Because she knows that hungry players at the beginning of the tournament would be a recipe for disaster.
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In the dead of night, one parent also picks up a handful of quiz bowl players for the long drive to Shreveport. And Flo hastily brews a cup of instant coffee so she can remain awake until such time comes for the people to eat breakfast.
So, after picking up the agreed-upon players, Cindy is in the front right seat of Flo's white electric car, and Sonny, in the rear middle seat, with two more male players, all of them having brought their backpacks to get any schoolwork done on the road. Yet the four players are a little sleepy and wish to just get a little more sleep in the car on the way to Shreveport.
Having awakened and eaten breakfast in Natchitoches, the VA quiz bowlers in Flo's car only had about an hour and some change to get any kind of homework done before check-in time at Caddo Magnet.
Upon arriving at Caddo Magnet, she realizes that several teams also came there from outside northern Louisiana, but the majority of the teams at Tal Atkins come from schools in northern Louisiana. However, southwest Louisiana has a total of 4 teams: Kinder, VA x2 and... Hathaway? With VA's former principal as Hathaway's quiz bowl coach...
"Hi Florence; how is coaching quiz bowl treating you?" Marianne asks Flo.
"I'm happy that neither my players nor I are missing classes for tournaments" Flo beamed, but at the same time, tries hard to hide her nervousness since it's her first quiz bowl tournament as a coach.
"As for me, I'm happy that my school finally has an academic team!"
"Ciboire! How hard has it been for Hathaway to even get four players to play quiz bowl? You probably must have scoured school-wide to get players willing to play!"
"I asked all teachers teaching high school courses to contact students whom they knew were intellectually curious and fast-witted, or students frustrated with the lack of attention given to academic extracurricular activities by my predecessor, and they often overlap"
"Good luck, Hathaway; if you perform well enough here, you can earn a berth for State"
And then the preliminary schedules are given for each team at check-in. What interests Flo most is the development of new players, so she's interested in chaperoning the B team, and not the A team, for the prelims. While I'm confident our A team can secure a berth for State, what's in it for them is the HSNCT, but to get the most out of the team in the long run, I need to ensure the development of the B team players, she starts thinking about the game room assignments, while she is staying close to the B team.
"Our first game of the day is against the Hathaway Hornets. They are probably going to think that because you guys are the B team, they will win over you! But we shall show them we are the premier quiz bowl program in southwest Louisiana for a reason!" Flo tries to motivate her Venomous Agendas B-team prior to the beginning of the prelims.
Seven preliminary games, lunch and then the playoffs, with seeds determined by their preliminary rankings. Venomous Agendas A and B are in different pools, so they aren't playing each other unless they both find themselves in the same playoff pool.
Then, the moderator orders the buzzer assigned to that game room tested. After the buzzer test, the first game begins for Venomous Agendas B:
"This is round one of the Tal Atkins Memorial Tournament, pitting, both from Jefferson Davis Parish, Hathaway against Venomous Agendas B. Best of luck to both teams, and here's tossup one" the moderator assigned to that game room starts the game.
For a time, it seems like both teams are extensions of past bad blood between their respective coaches, and both teams buzz in aggressively, making each other pay for the opposing side's negs when they appear.
At VA, I had the most high achievers I ever saw in my life as an administrator, despite Wattpad High being far larger. At Hathaway, parents don't seem to be too demanding, maybe a bit more than at Wattpad High, but there is no teacher like Ena or Florence who isn't afraid to confront administrators for flaws, at least not yet. However, there might be one per class who could perhaps match a Tania or equivalent, Marianne starts ruminating about how her life as Hathaway's principal differed from being principal at her past two institutions.
Of course, some tossups go dead, when neither team managed to score anything, but even so, somehow, VA B is in the lead by a measly five points by the time the last tossup begins.
"Final tossup: This state was observed for the first time using femtosecond-long laser flashes..." the moderator starts reading the question, while Cindy buzzes in.
"Photoelectric effect?" Cindy answers, a little unsure of her answer.
"Neg five" the moderator rules, and then keeps reading the question.
Ouch. Fingers crossed that Hathaway won't score the tossup, Cindy thinks, while trembling in her seat and listening to the clues being read right until the for ten points signal.
"For ten points, name this state occurring when chemical reactions take place" the moderator then waits for the customary three seconds for Hathaway to answer. "Time, the correct answer was activated complex, end of regulation time"
Focus, Cindy, remember what the coach said during the first practice. Don't dwell on a wrong answer. Hathaway forced an overtime, Cindy tries to clear her mind during the time between the end of regulation time and the start of overtime. When overtime starts, the score is tied 210 to 210.
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Two tossups later, they're back at square one, only with ten extra points on each side. 220-220, and the game is on the line. Flo took note of what areas the B team seemed to be missing most about.
"Third overtime tossup..." the moderator starts reading the question about various events happening in eighteenth-century Near East, such as Ottoman campaigns against the Druze in Mount Lebanon. "For ten points, name this Ottoman governor who defeated Napoleon at Acre in 1799"
When is this game going to end? Marianne muses while this tossup, the hardest they faced thus far, is left unanswered. Meanwhile, the pressure is on the moderator since two teams were waiting on them to finish the game.
"Time, the correct answer was al-Jazzar. Fourth overtime tossup" the moderator keeps reading tossups with all eight players trembling in their seats. And Florence, too.
Viarge! This game is worse on my nerves than my own game against TJHSST in overtime as a senior at the HSNCT! Flo struggles to resist the temptation to openly curse her players, or the third overtime tossup, while the fourth overtime tossup is underway, and a Venomous Agenda has buzzed in near the final clue.
"Isaac Asimov!" Monika, VA B's literature player, shouts, in hopes of breaking the stalemate.
"Ten, and that's the game. Venomous Agendas B win, two hundred thirty to two hundred twenty!" the moderator announces the final result, and they both rush to their respective game rooms for the second game.
Remember that they represent the best Hathaway has to offer. They might be new to quiz bowl, but we might play them again later this season, Cindy makes mental notes of how she feels about Hathaway.
Three hours later, when lunchtime arrives, the scoreboard of the tournament shows the standings of both prelim pools, as well as what playoff pools they will be in one hour from now. Flo reviews the kinds of questions the B team failed most to buzz in on with the B team:
"So you finished the prelims with a four-three record and are placed in the second pool. It appears that you guys often seem to fail when it comes to classical music as well as in world history and, for some reason, chemistry" Flo explains to her B-team players before they grab lunch.
"I will take care of the chemistry part" a tenth grader pledges, because that tenth grader is taking chemistry right now.
"We finished first in our pool" Sonny, the quiz bowl captain, announces to Flo, who then turns to him.
"Now that we clinched our berth at State, all you have to do is win at least two playoff games, and then we qualify for the HSNCT" Flo gives her instructions to the A team.
Marianne, on the other hand, does not wait to lash out at Flo; upon seeing her again, Marianne doesn't hesitate to start screaming at her about how Flo is seemingly responsible for the transfer to Hathaway. This verbal joust begins when the B team starts grabbing lunch:
"After these antics, such as fighting over Last Chance, foreign exchange students, and, to a lesser extent, fights I had with parents over assignment content, including but not limited to French courses, I have no choice but to hold you responsible for my transfer to Hathaway!" Marianne screams at Flo, her face turning red, as red as can be for a Black person. "After that Last Chance, it was then I realized I had to quit VA whenever I had a chance!"
"I guess you regret losing access to high achievers, or a school with actual academic standards; you were implying on several occasions your first principalship was at a low-performing, underfunded, Title I school!" Flo shouts back. "Which you codenamed Wattpad High for some crisse de raison!"
"LHSAA forced my hand into keeping my kids at VA! Sonny is on the swimming team, and I couldn't make him play quiz bowl at Hathaway without violating the Residence and Transfer Rule! No more than Carmen could have because she, too, is swimming! And does mathletics, too" Marianne retorts, while also reminded of the realities of principals in rural areas.
In a region like this, principals are hard to get, and also hard to fire, too. For this reason, even though Last Chance was the straw that broke my back at VA, I endured two more years there because no other school within a twenty-five mile driving distance of VA had a principal opening. Not that I actually did a bad job per se at VA, but I was powerless at Wattpad High since nearly all of its problems were outside of school control; all I could do there was exercise stewardship, Marianne starts thinking of the harsh reality of her work.
"It's a bit harsh to blame me specifically for leaving VA; Ena was also part of these fights you had with school personnel at VA!" Flo then goes back to the B-team.
Upon looking at the playoff pool assignment, she realizes the B team will play Hathaway again, since Hathaway also finished prelims 4-3, but Kinder, on the other hand, finished 3-4 and thus is in the C pool.
Two hours later, Hathaway and VA B go into their third and final playoff game with one win each, and are therefore assured to finish either sixth or seventh. As in their first game, it still boils down to a last-tossup showdown. This time, it's Hathaway's turn to defend a lead, thirty points in this occurrence.
"Final tossup: Recent attempts to remedy this phenomenon include alum treatment and seaweed farming" the moderator starts reading the first clue, to which neither team buzzes. "The ban on phosphates in detergents was enacted in an attempt to limit..."
"Eutrophication!" Cindy buzzes in.
"Fifteen. For ten points each..."
Everyone shakes in their seats. Marianne and the Hornets hope that VA B would score either zero or one bonus part, while VA B would need to score two bonuses or more. Going into the final bonus part, VA B managed to score only one bonus, and it's the decisive moment for everyone in the room.
After the final bonus part is read, the moderator waves his hand to count the five seconds allotted to them. Four seconds into the final bonus part:
"One Direction!" Monika answers with a split-second to spare.
"Twenty for the bonus, and that's the game. Venomous Agendas B two hundred forty-five, Hathaway two hundred forty!"
"Way to go, Cindy; you now all have a better idea of what to improve upon for the LQBA Fall Invitational South" Flo tells the B players under the jeers and boos of the Hornets.
Then comes the awards ceremony, where a myriad of results are announced, starting by the top three teams, all of which qualify for the HSNCT, as well as Hathaway somehow winning a SSNCT berth by virtue of being the top team from a small school.
After picking up their buzzers, teams return home, and their players will continue doing what homework they can in the cars, regardless of which team and who drives them. The B team tended to have less homework than the A team, and the B team players could have some conversations between each other on their way back home.
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On Monday morning, Norman delivers a new announcement, starting with the debate team, who was competing at their season opener, Holy Cross, during the first period which, for Flo, means an AP French section this semester:
"At Holy Cross, the Venomous Agendas have, once again, delivered strong performances..." Norman then lists the debate team's strongest performers and what they competed in. "As for quiz bowl, once again, we secured a HSNCT berth by virtue of the Venomous Agendas A team winning at Tal Atkins! The B team finished sixth"
I'm happy that the debate team can keep performing in tournaments, even without me coaching it. However, I never told him under what conditions I can judge debate tournaments this season, Flo then proceeds to write an email to Steven telling him under what conditions she can judge debate tournaments this season. Namely, online only until the conclusion of quiz bowl-State, and she must be warned at least a week in advance.
Obviously, the mood just isn't the same for Norman, nor for the student body, since the football team just didn't perform at the same level as either the debate or quiz bowl teams.
"And, of course, our football team incurred a loss on the road against Westlake, by the score of thirty-eight to twenty" Norman finishes his morning announcement.
"On n'est pas capable de se défendre contre le jeu de passe comme du monde!" (We can't defend against the passing play properly!) Seth, the returner, comments on this loss to the Westlake Rams on the road.
I hope that we can get a good cornerback or free safety next year, be it internally or under the form of a transfer student, the returner makes his prayer for the football team, while seated in Flo's AP French class. As tempting as it would be for me to switch to CB or FS, I don't think I could be a very good CB or FS since I can neither tackle nor catch the ball very well.
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Meanwhile, at Hathaway, Marianne delivers her very own morning announcement, where the existence of the quiz bowl team itself, hitherto unknown to most, will be openly revealed to the student body.
"Last Saturday, the Hornets competed in their first ever quiz bowl tournament in Shreveport. We finished seventh and we also clinched a berth at the Small Schools National Championship Tournament, or SSNCT!" she blares over the PA system.
"We have a quiz bowl team?" a student asks, and a lot of students gasp in their respective classrooms, upon hearing the Hornets even field a quiz bowl team.
"What makes small schools so special they need their own national championship in quiz bowl?" a confused secretary asks her, clueless about the size of the disadvantage small schools (for NAQT, since Hathaway enrolls about 175 students from grades 9-12, it's a very small school) face in quiz bowl.
Marianne then turns back to the PA system. "Thus we shall begin raising money immediately for the Hornets to attend the SSNCT in late April. If, in the meantime, we qualify for the HSNCT, the HSNCT will be prioritized over the SSNCT"
Realistically, to qualify for the HSNCT, we will need to finish either first or second, maybe third if it's big enough, at any future tournament the Hornets will enter. Our best bet is then the small schools division at quiz bowl-State, and the decision of SSNCT vs HSNCT will be made then, Marianne peruses the format of quiz bowl-State which, this year, is split into small and large schools at the high school level.