The Quest for High School Mathletic Glory

Chapter 17: The Waterloo of the Venomous Agendas

The Venomous Agendas competition calendar was simply infernal, but the AMC12 was offered even for those who weren't part of the official team. Some decided to participate at the last minute, caught in the Math Madness frenzy, so that, even though the official team took the A version, many people were ready to enter the B version, whose school entry was paid out of playoff revenues. Including Randy, Shane, Ted, Curtis, Zack (the strong safety) and Florence. Especially with the promise of extra credit for the first four math classes...

It was obvious that the chances that one of those supernumerary contestants qualifying for the AIME were low; yet several questions asked during the first three rounds were drawn from past AIME editions. But with the first-round victory, now the playoff frenzy went beyond the town alone; the parish media made it so that the whole parish had their eyes on the Venomous Agendas as the Southern regional final draws near. And the neighboring parish whose school was eliminated in the first round as well, but beyond these two parishes there wasn't any real interest.

Elsewhere in the state, people instead turned to the high school football championship. Without necessarily reaching Texan proportions, it was still an event people clearly preferred to a mathletic tournament.

Speaking of second and third rounds, however, the Venomous Agendas beat respectively the Owls of the Archimedean Upper Conservatory (Florida) and the Colonials of the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (Virginia). The latter constitute the biggest mathletic rivals of their next opponent, Whitman. However, the Vikings start wondering if the Venomous Agendas would not become their other big mathletic rival.

"Oh, crap... it's the Venomous Agendas again! We beat the Village School last week, but the Venomous Agendas?" Zhou, the one that blamed Geneviève for their SRA loss, questions again.

"Venomous Agendas? They were the only team that defeated us in the regular season, but we shall show them that the playoffs are another game entirely!" the coach then points out to the team.

"What are we doing wrong that we can't seem to defeat the Venomous Agendas when it counts? There are three players to neutralize!" a Vikings mathlete asks them.

"We can't "neutralize" a player in this competition the way we could neutralize a player in a football or a basketball game!" another Vikings mathlete sermons him.

"Gen caused us to lose the Square Root of the Answer last year, she also caused us to lose our regular-season game! If we can't counter her, we're toast!" Zhou screams at his teammates and is about to strangle one.

"Zhou, if anything, Marcia is the greater threat, not Gen. Obviously, Gen is a very good player, but Marcia is just faster. She's the fastest opposing player we ever faced"

"Remember our loss against the Venomous Agendas; it was a very tight game, and it came down to her vs me! From here on out every game will be tightly fought! As before, we must take them out now or face the consequences later!" Zhou keeps believing that Geneviève is responsible for all of Whitman's mathletic problems on the national stage.

"Now, the game will begin in a few moments. Third time's the charm, right?"

The parish newspaper, the school announcements talk of tonight's game as a game that is billed as a third clash of mathematical titans, an inter-state rivalry as it can't happen at the high school level otherwise. But one of Zhou's teammates makes the mistake of treating this game as if it was played in person. In the Venomous Agendas' locker room, while the group's equipment is being installed...

"You're all nervous, I see it. But we are now too deep in to give up now. We beat them in the regular season, we can do so in the playoffs, and the bursts of speed are ours! It would be a little disappointing if there was someone among you five that does not qualify for the AIME, especially when we consider that some short-answer questions are drawn from past AIMEs!" Trent designates the five players whom he can rely on to be part of the top 5 no matter what.