On Thursday, the returner, rather than to go to football practice, instead goes to see Flo after school, mere days before his section's AP French end-of-quarter final.
"Je suis sur le bord d'échouer le cours!" (I'm about to fail the course!) Seth whines, while being unsure of whether he, as the football team's returner, really is about to be out of compliance with no-pass, no-play because of AP French.
"La partie orale, pas de problème, mais si tu veux du crédit supplémentaire d'urgence, je dois le donner à tous" (The oral part, no problem, but if you want emergency extra credit, I must give it to everyone) Flo responds to him, before looking at his line in the AP French gradebook.
Upon seeing his line on the gradebook, Seth starts recalculating his grade to check if there are any discrepancies with his records, but even when he fails to find any, he can't seem to shake off the feeling that he's about to fail AP French. Maybe he feels like he's failing not because he's afraid of no-pass, no-fail, but because of TOPS! There are four common GPA targets people often aim for, even AP takers: 2.0, 2.5, 3.25 and 3.5, the first being about graduation, the remainder being TOPS thresholds. People tend to feel like they are on the verge of failing a course if that course jeopardizes a given GPA target, Flo starts ruminating about what Seth could be aiming for.
"On va regarder ton relevé de notes, veux-tu? Aussi, es-tu recruté pour le football?" (Let's look at your transcript, will you? Also, are you recruited for football?) she asks Seth; however, she is not the best person to ask about NCAA GPA requirements, if Seth was actually recruited to play college football.
Seth then shows the teacher his transcript as at the end of sophomore year. Which they go over together before he answers the question about recruiting. "Pas vraiment" (Not really).
Then Seth calculates the grade he needs on the AP French end-of-quarter final to ensure that he will remain on target, whatever that target is.
"Ça va me prendre..." (It will take me...) Seth then states what he feels he needs to make sure he isn't failing AP French in his mind.
"Mais non, tu n'es pas en train d'échouer. Seulement, la lecture est ton point faible dans ce cours, alors voici quelques ressources que je te recommande" (No, you're not failing. That said, reading is your weakness in this course, so here are some resources I recommend you)
Flo then writes an email to Seth with a list of reading material in French, on topics such as STI prevention, financial literacy, and the Journal de Montréal for other texts in French similar to what he could expect out of the end of quarter final exam.
While his grades aren't perfect, I wonder how neurotic he is about playing football, Flo's mind starts drifting; however, she feels she has one last piece of advice to give Seth before he sets off reading what she gave him:
"N'oublie pas l'ACT! Mais ne commence pas à étudier pour ça avant la fin du trimestre!" (Don't forget about the ACT! But don't start studying for it until the quarter ends!) She then attaches a French-language guide to the TOPS requirements by scholarship level to her email before she sends the email with the list of reading material in French to both of her AP French sections, as opposed to just Seth.
Flo is right. All the work I put in class in the past two years might come to a screeching halt five months from now if I do poorly on the ACT! But for now, I must focus on the end-of-quarter finals, Seth then leaves the office to go to the football practice. He's happy this meeting with Flo didn't actually take him that long.
But then, after getting dressed for practice, Seth approaches the head football coach upon returning to the practice field, letting something off his chest about the Westlake game.
"Seth, where have you been?" the head coach asks him.
"I went to a teacher's office to ask for help in a course; finals are around the corner for this quarter" Seth explains himself. However, before I can practice, I have a question: where do you believe I could be of better use between cornerback or free safety?"
"I'd say cornerback is easier to transition into as a returner, you might want to ask the defensive coordinator if he will let you play CB for a drill or two" the head coach then directs Seth to Frank, the defensive coordinator.
At his urging, Seth is then made to take the place of a cornerback whose poor performance cost the VAs a touchdown in the game against Westlake. Frank, the defensive coordinator then realizes that, while he can anticipate where to catch the ball just fine, and run with it, Seth can't seem to tackle worth two beans.
"If you want to make it as a cornerback, being able to anticipate where the ball will fall and intercept it is not enough. You need to be able to tackle wide receivers because there will be times where you might not be able to intercept a pass made to a WR" the defensive coordinator, who is also the new biology teacher, then starts drilling Seth on the basics of safe tackling technique.
I wonder what the hell went wrong with that cornerback I have Seth replace. What I don't want is have that CB play through an injury, the defensive coordinator muses on what could have happened to a cornerback during the game against Westlake. After the basic tackling drill is done for Seth, the defensive coordinator then starts talking to the underperforming cornerback:
"I believe you should go see the doctor as soon as possible. I want you to perform at your best; if it turns out you're injured, we will follow medical recommendations" the assistant coach advises the underperforming cornerback about what he should do next.
"Just let me check in with my clinic" that cornerback then returns to the dressing room to call his doctor's clinic asking for either an appointment or the walk-in hours.
But while the underperforming CB is busy calling his doctor, Seth, on the other hand, is undergoing another drill, but this time, it's a drill where he must make decisions that bear more resemblance to what he could actually face in a game. Like the next game against South Beauregard tomorrow.
Later in the practice, the whole team is assembled in the locker room, with a screen on the left and a board full of Xs and Os on the right. They are reviewing game videos from the latest South Beauregard games to see how they are going to counter their offense, or get past their defense, depending on who one is talking about. At the end of this segment of the practice:
"I know end-of-quarter finals season is underway for us, but the same goes for our opponents, too! Don't be tempted to neglect your studies to win a football game!" the head coach warns his players before they make for the showers.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
"And, of course, for juniors, we mustn't neglect our studying for the ACT either!" Seth then warns his teammates regarding the test.
"Even though I don't think it's wise to study for it now, Seth is right. The ACT is not a test to be taken lightly, and I invite you to find whoever you can get to help you study for it, starting next week and especially after the end of the season" the defensive coordinator urges the whole team to find study partners from outside the team. "For juniors, the state-sponsored date might be five months away, but better spread out studying for it over that long than to wait a week or two before the test!" He then turns to Seth. "Oh and you will be starting the game as CB tomorrow"
Speaking of the ACT, my target score is going to be twenty-seven. Of course, I must keep my grades up as well, Seth starts thinking of who he knows in his courses and their ability to help him and his teammates to study for the ACT. And maybe even teammates' girlfriends.
"For next week, I want some names of people outside the team we can contact to get help for ACT studying" Seth asks his teammates on the defense, including other cornerbacks and safeties, both free and strong.
"Seth, isn't that a bit early?" a strong safety asks him before he gets to shower.
But Seth is waiting for his turn to shower, and only answers his teammate after he is done showering. And then he starts reading the material Flo gave all her students.
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On Friday night, as Florence's parents go watch the game against South Beauregard, they ask Flo if she will be at the game:
"Will you be at the game?" her dad asks.
"No, I don't think it's a good idea for Ben since it might wreck his ears, and I can't leave him unattended. On top of that I have finals to grade" Flo retorts to them, while they leave for the stadium, and she starts grading end-of-quarter French finals.
After I was told by another student in my other AP French section earlier today that Seth is going to start the game as cornerback, I may as well tune in to the podcast of the game, Flo then starts the podcast, as she starts spending all night grading the French II finals she didn't grade earlier in the week. I really hope that sending out the list of reading material in French has helped the AP sections.
Meanwhile, at the stadium, the opponent of the day, South Beauregard, believes they can make short work of the Venomous Agendas by playing the passing game, based on videos from last week's game against Westlake. They believe Seth is no better than the cornerback he replaces for tonight.
On the fourth down, the Golden Knights' (i.e., South Beauregard's) quarterback passes to the wide receiver on the side Seth is playing on. He then rushes towards the position he believes the opposing WR would need to reach the ball, then leaps in an attempt to intercept the pass. When Seth manages to catch it, he tries to dodge the opposing WR... and the opposing WR falls flat on his face after failing to catch the ball.
"Good, you forced a turnover on downs. But don't go around thinking that every down you play will play out like this, understood?" the defensive coordinator warns Seth, now that the VAs are on the offensive.
"Yes" Seth nods.
Maybe... maybe I'm not totally bad at catching the ball after all! Last week I believed I was good only at kicking the ball and dodging opposing players! Maybe I can play cornerback on a regular basis! Seth starts thinking but he also realizes he is brand new as a CB.
And then he starts praying for his teammate's health, who got an appointment during the game because it was the absolute earliest the cornerback he replaces could book a medical appointment.
But as the game goes on, Seth appears to play well when he has a chance to intercept the ball. However, as much as he could anticipate the wide receivers' routes, he couldn't always tackle them as he would have liked, leaving the free safety to attempt doing so whenever Seth fails to tackle the opposing WR carrying the ball.
And yet, for some reason, as the game goes on, the opponent, when trying the passing play, doesn't try to pass the ball on Seth's side as much as in the early stages of the game. However, the Golden Knights' offense still attempts to play the passing game more than the rushing game.
Near the end of the last quarter, the VAs are leading by less than six points, and they are on the defense, with the Golden Knights less than ten yards away from the VAs' endzone. The defensive coordinator decides, in a last-ditch defense, to have the strong safety blitz, having the strong safety join in on the defensive line. He leaves only 3 players to cover the defend against the pass, so the VAs can attempt to sack the opposing quarterback.
"Sack that quarterback!" the spectators in the stadium howl in near-unison.
Speaking of strong safety, he dashes at the Golden Knights' quarterback and tackles him. Ouch. As he falls on the ground, the opposing QB drops the ball, under the cheers of the crowd. And the referee's whistle, signaling the end of the game.
"And the Venomous Agendas win, thirty to twenty-eight!" Norman announces over the PA system.
It's only at the end of the game that the defensive coordinator actually paid attention to his voicemail, and one of the messages in his voicemail is about the cornerback Seth replaced for that game. Concussion? And he's only able to undergo no-contact practice now? Damn it! He'll be able to return to play only in a month and, by then, unless we make the playoffs, his season is over? The defensive coordinator is about to fume at his cellphone, and he struggles to keep his emotions in check. But then he turns to Seth...
"It appears that you will start the rest of the regular season. For the playoffs, if we make it, and it will require us to have a winning season, we will decide then whether you should start or play from the second string. As of right now, though, we're going to need everyone to give their all just to make it to the playoffs, and you'll need to get some tackling practice in"
Seth then storms off to the shower, and then returns home reading what Flo gave him, as well as study for his other remaining test on Monday. With the CB he replaced giving the other defensive players a few names of students they could call upon to get help for the ACT.
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On Monday, right as Flo distributes the face-down AP French finals to the students in Seth's section, the morning announcement begins:
"Last weekend, our debate team made it to the final in Congressional debate at the Duke Invitational!" Norman then lists the final ranking of the VAs' best Congress player, as well as other events at Duke Norman feels are worth announcing, before moving on to the football news. "Because our team won our second game of the season, thirty to twenty-eight, against South Beauregard, our football playoff dreams are still alive, and we may yet be able to get our first post-pandemic football playoff berth!"
And the starting free safety, along with a few of our best players, will graduate this year. But I need to give it my all here, so I won't fail my way out of AP French and hence of TOPS money, Seth ruminates while the signal is given by Flo to start the end-of-quarter final.
"Commencez!" (Begin!)
Once the test begins, she starts playing an archived news report about the troisième lien. Outdated, sure, since that news report about the troisième lien was made during Flo's freshman year at Laval, but she deemed it appropriate for testing purposes. Which is a transportation project between Québec City and Lévis.
When that short answer part is over, she then posts the grades of the French II finals while the students are busy answering the reading and writing questions, for which she spent much of the weekend grading.
At the conclusion of the test, she announces a new extra credit assignment, due for the next lecture on Thursday:
"Pour le prochain cours, pour du crédit supplémentaire, veuillez répondre aux questions que je vous envoie par courriel au texte en pièce jointe" (For next class, for extra credit, please answer the questions I send you by email to the attached text) Flo announces as she composes the email and the questions to be sent, this time around, to all sections of both of her courses.
The attachment they receive is actually a French-language study guide for the ACT. About what to watch out for each of the four sections. About test-taking technique, its format and its question types, as well as the most common traps students fall into when taking the test. Accordingly, the questions on it are about what she feels matters most for ACT studying, with a post-scriptum about where to find sample ACT questions.
And yet, somehow, Seth feels confident about the test, as well as relief.