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Chapter 84: Race to the Playoffs

  The following morning, Olivia and her gang look at the HSNCT Companion App for their next room and opponent. Flo, as the coach and chaperone of the VAs, approaches her:

  “Olivia, today is going to be nerve-wracking. You promised me that you’ll see the HSNCT through, so can you stay strong for one last day, please?” Flo asks the blonde cheerleader.

  “I’m… I’m not sure I can…” Olivia starts trembling even though VA’s playoff spot is assured. “Right now, I feel like I’m playing not for myself, but for the people around me: the quiz bowl team, my friends at home, the town!”

  Olivia starts crying in the elevator taking the team to the upper floors. I really hope that I won’t vomit in games, as Monika did...

  As per usual, the game is held in a hotel room that feels a little cramped because it’s single occupancy.

  “This is round fifteen of the Sunday prelims of the 2041 NAQT High School National Championship Tournament. From California, we have Amador Valley, from Louisiana, we have Venomous Agendas. Best of luck to both teams, and here’s tossup one:” the moderator starts the game.

  Both teams are utterly confused about the first two clues. The tossup’s third clue might be more approachable than the pre-power ones have been:

  “Aphrodite of Knidos is the best-known work...”

  A three-way buzzer race gets underway between Joaquin, Olivia and the Matadors’ arts player. Come on, let it be me! Olivia presses the buzzer like a syringe. However, this time, her teammate gets to it.

  “Praxiteles!” Joaquin exclaims before the For 10 points cue.

  “Ten” the moderator rules. “For ten points each, answer these questions about creative writing”

  Shoot! I lost this buzzer race! Better pull my weight on this bonus! Olivia starts sweating in her cheer uniform as she hears the first bonus part being disgorged.

  “Literary devices” Joaquin answers.

  “These literary devices have increased markedly in specificity with the rise of generative AI”

  If one reads anything written in the past 15 years or so, for a specific type of plot, people have come to expect a certain formula for it. So strict these formulas have become that you can essentially predict a book page by page, Olivia spends almost the whole 5 seconds before buzzing in, when no one else did so. But when she buzzes in:

  “Tropes!” Olivia answers.

  “Tropes applied to characters are known by this name”

  “Stock characters!” Olivia answers again.

  “Thirty on the bonus”

  The rest of the game proceeds in a very back-and-forth way, with the lead being exchanged often, and everyone’s nerves being put to the test. But unlike the game against Moscow #263 A, this time around, VA is in a 20-point lead with one tossup to go, and must fight tooth and nail to defend it.

  “Tossup number twenty: The Chinese novel The Scholars depicts this phenomenon in the Ming Dynasty”

  As is often the case by now, the first clue is a clue players pass up on, even at the top levels. However, the second clue pushes a few players into a frenzy to answer:

  “In the Gilded Age, this phenomenon occurred along with an increase in education...”

  This proves to be a three-way buzzer race between Jim, Olivia and the Matadors’ history player. It appears that Jim wins the race.

  Shoot! Why am I so... sluggish on the buzzer today? Olivia keeps to herself while Jim buzzes in, interrupting the moderator. Has my mind become slower?

  “Degree inflation!” Jim exclaims.

  “Fifteen. For ten points each, answer these questions about steppes”

  The first bonus part is read, to which they are unable to answer in the allotted five seconds. Once the first part ends:

  “Shortgrass steppe is the dominant biome in the westernmost areas of this American region”

  “Great Plains!” Olivia answers.

  “The Great Plains shortgrass steppes’ climate belongs to this climate subtype”

  Here the VAs must think of an answer, and fast. Olivia seems to draw a blank, knowing almost nothing about the Great Plains’ climate other than it’s relatively dry, but not enough to amount to a desert.

  “Answer?” the mod asks five seconds later.

  “Semi-arid!” Cindy answers.

  “Twenty for the bonus, and that’s the game. Venomous Agendas three hundred seventy-five, Amador Valley three hundred twenty!”

  When the team exits the game room, because they don’t play their next game immediately, they stay close to the elevator.

  “I don’t know… I seem to be slower on the buzzer than I used to! What did I do to slow down between State and now?” Olivia seems to lament.

  “You’re still a relatively new quiz bowler. At the HSNCT, especially against other playoff-caliber teams, you can either shine or choke randomly. A lot of first-timers at the HSNCT go through a similar kind of shock you do!” Cindy tries to console her.

  “Yeah, stress getting to you isn’t helping. But the good news is that we’re in the winners’ bracket for the afternoon, so this means we have at least two playoff games to play!” Joaquin adds to this.

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  “When you first started playing, you were eager to prove yourself on the buzzer. But it seems like the pressures of the town’s star system have gotten to you. Tomorrow, you’ll be free to leave the team if you feel it’s unhealthy” Flo harangues Olivia.

  And it’s much easier to get people to join at the start of the school year than two-thirds into it, Flo muses about the practical implications of Olivia leaving after the HSNCT ends.

  “The town might acknowledge by now that cheerleaders aren’t dumb, but I know I need to pull some weight here! I need to return to my old speed on the buzzer!”

  “I know how important it might be at your age to fit in. It might feel like forever to some freshmen, but, as important as the social aspect of high school might feel to you now, five to ten years down the road, you won’t have the same social circle as you do now!” Flo harangues the blonde cheerleader.

  “Yeah, you seem to be college-bound. So there’s a good chance that you don’t end up peaking in high school, unlike some of our opponents’ cheerleaders or football players. Maybe you should read Friday Night Lights: while it was written in your grandparents’ generation, the psychosocial dangers you face are the same as those faced by high school football players back then. Thrown into a star system that worships quiz bowlers like Odessa worships Permian’s football players, you’re paying the price for it, and prematurely...” Thomas tells her as he leaves for the next game of the parish, Lacassine vs Moscow #263 B.

  Friday Night Lights… that’s a book we ought to read together, Ned and I, or to gift to him, Olivia muses about the possible lessons both could learn from it, despite the book’s age. Or why it could interest Ned.

  “It’s ok if we lose one of the next two games. Just don’t throw either game...” Jim warns her. “We only need to win one game out of the remaining two”

  “I get it, most of our opponents here play for schools in urban areas where high school quiz bowl flies under the radar! But Thomas was insinuating that footballers or cheerleaders often peaked in high school, more so in rural areas like Jennings...” Olivia starts crying.

  “I really wonder why you get so worked up about how you perform at the HSNCT...” Joaquin sighs. “Maybe your quiz bowling future is made up of arts and literature play!”

  But an hour and a half later, after a relatively Pyrrhic loss against Paideia A, the VAs are, once again, eagerly awaiting the arrival of their opponents. Once they get seated into this basement conference room, both teams’ final prelim game begins.

  “This is round nineteen of the Sunday prelims of the 2041 NAQT High School National Championship Tournament. From Louisiana, we have Venomous Agendas, from Russia, we have Moscow number two hundred sixty-three A” the moderator sends waves of dread to both teams, despite wishing luck to them.

  Moscow #263 A. I caused VA to lose our last game against them yesterday morning. I must ensure that it doesn’t happen again! Olivia gets a cold shiver down her spine, loosening her grip on the buzzer. Then again, they, too, are 7-2, and whoever wins the game, wins a first-round bye. To put our best foot forward, we need it.

  But it seems like neither team is taking much of a risk in this game. Especially when they both know, given how their last game went, that one mistake can be fatal.

  “Tossup one: One of these wars initially broke out with the aim of removing England’s royal advisors from office”

  That sounds like a civil war of some kind. And probably a bit drastic. Often palace intrigues wouldn’t escalate to this level of hostility, they might instead have used assassins, or perhaps accuse advisors of crimes disqualifying them from office, Olivia starts thinking about the first clue’s implications.

  “One of their main causes was the English nobility’s excessive birth rates”

  Everyone rolls their eyes when they hear about decades of excessive birth rates among the nobility being a key driver towards war. But when it becomes obvious that they’re not powering the question, the third clue is heard:

  “These wars ended by the creation of a new dynasty...” the moderator is about to be interrupted midway through the third clue.

  At this point, both Russians and VAs are locked into a buzzer race, with the Russians’ history player making it look like he’s about to buzz in, goading their opponents into buzzing in. Olivia beats both Jim and a Russian player to it:

  “Wars of the Roses!” Olivia exclaims.

  “Ten. For ten points each...”

  Normally, in civil wars, the aim is to either declare independence from a faction and the breakaway faction attempts to govern the resulting territory on their own terms, or to overthrow the preexisting government, Olivia seems to dwell on the first clue of the tossup she just answered.

  But this time around, VA plays slightly better than previously, so rather than trailing the Russian team by the last tossup, they are in the lead by 35 points. Everyone shakes in their seats as the final tossup begins:

  “Tossup number twenty-four: the reverse transcription variant of this technique allows for quantification of RNA by converting it into a complementary DNA strand in its early stages”

  Last time, I caused VA to lose the game because I carelessly buzzed in on the final tossup. I must be 100% certain of the answer to buzz in this time around, Olivia starts sweating when she starts hearing the first clue. Which leaves everyone in the room bamboozled. As does the second clue:

  “Taq polymerase is commonly used in this technique due to its heat stability”

  Even as both dumbfounded teams exhaust the power mark, neither one seems to be able to buzz in. As the third clue rolls around:

  “An instrument called a thermocycler is used to perform it”

  But here Cindy, Olivia and two Russian players are locked into a four-way buzzer race, turning the question into one of reaction times.

  “PCR!” the Russian science player shouts in a thick Russian accent.

  “Ten. For ten points each, answer these questions about US constitutional history. It’s not the Declaration of Independence, but this document was the first fundamental law of the United States”

  “Articles of Confederation?” the Russian history player seems unsure of the answer.

  “The Articles of Confederation’s failure forced the following event to be held a few years after their ratification”

  We answered correctly all the tossups that pertained to American history and literature in both games against Moscow #263 A. I don’t expect much from these Russians in this category, Olivia muses as she watches, powerless, the Russian players struggle for five seconds.

  “Constitutional... convention?” the history player is still unsure of his answer.

  “During the Constitutional Convention, this plan formed the basis of today’s Congress”

  Pray that these Russians don’t convert this bonus part, Joaquin starts praying by his station as the atmosphere in this game room peaks in tension. Especially since Moscow #263 A is within five points of repeating their previous game against VA.

  And, of course, these five seconds feel infernal to everyone as they feel the clock ticking on them. Olivia’s heart rate, however, seems to increase the most out of all players. Once these five seconds elapse:

  “Answer?” the moderator asks the Russians drawing a blank. “Connecticut Compromise, twenty on the bonus and that’s the game. Moscow three hundred sixty, VA three hundred sixty-five”

  The VAs sigh in relief when they narrowly held on to their lead in that rematch against Moscow #263 A. As they leave the conference room in which their game was held:

  “Olivia, you played much better now than you did in the previous game against that team!” Joaquin comments in an attempt to cheer her up.

  “Now that we got our first-round bye, you have a better idea of how playoff games will feel, by virtue of having played against some teams expected to go deep” Cindy points out to Olivia and Jim.

  Flo turns to Olivia. “Historically, players who were able to play as well as even you on a team finishing the HSNCT prelims with an eight and two record or better tended to be smart enough to take on multiple AP courses on top of two or more extracurriculars, quiz bowl included, and get good grades in said APs. So you should be able to take on multiple APs next year, do cheer and quiz bowl; you shouldn’t second-guess your intellectual prowess!”

  “Fine, I should stick to the schedule I signed up for…” Olivia sighs. But I must remain mindful that I’m not the smartest cheerleader in the world.

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