Can't Stop the Questions

Chapter 26: Trip planning

"Good thing that you're not completely oblivious to health!" Audrey's mother comments to her daughter.

"What do you think?" Audey asks the other people around the table.

"I'm indifferent, really" Pablo tells her.

I guess, better him telling me the cold, hard truth than just blindly telling me platitudes out of love, Audrey can see on his body that Pablo is being truthful.

"He obviously means a lot to you, but quiz bowl-State is just a few weeks away!" Audrey's father reminds everyone. "Surely you might want him at your side if he doesn't play!"

"Did you attend quiz bowl games?" Audrey asks her parents.

"No?" her parents answer, on the defensive.

"Quiz bowl games, even at State, are played in much more cramped spaces than a basketball game! Try to imagine how it would feel if everyone and their dogs at State brought their supporters under the form of parents, love interests and B-teams!" Audrey asks everyone in the room.

"Suffice that it would be... a lot more cramped, notwithstanding that, for some teams, just playing at State would mean a lot!" Pablo answers Audrey's question.

"Pablo's right. Even the most fanatical fan bases didn't have more than a half-dozen supporters on site at Leesville! The real question becomes: what makes you feel like quiz bowl teams only have fans at State?"

"By now you know that a school's fanbase comes out and supports its students more in the postseason than in the regular season, sports or quiz bowl. However, you also know about how quiz bowl flies under the radar at most schools, even at schools actually competing at State!" Audrey's father comments.

I might imagine that most people at, say, Kinder or Livonia wouldn't know about quiz bowl-State until about a day or two before the tournament! Here everyone harbors high hopes for quiz bowl-State pretty much from the season opener onwards! And people would be disappointed if we don't medal at State, or compete at the HSNCT! Audrey reflects on her father's statement about quiz bowl flying under their opponents' radar.

The following Monday, at the start of quiz bowl practice, the roster for State is announced. Unsurprisingly, the A-team after LQBA Winter remains together at State and into the HSNCT.

"While we can't play at State, I believe it's a good idea to go and support our team!" Pablo suggests his teammates.

"The question is: who among us have parents willing to drive to Natchitoches on a Saturday morning and watch the VAs play at quiz bowl-State? None of us can drive yet!" Gerard asks the other players.

I am not sure if Ethan can drive, but I sure as hell can't, Nadine ruminates, while she contacts her parents to ask them if they could take the B-team to State. And more specifically at Northwestern State University.

"Ask the chaperone at State, too..." Lilina sighs, not realizing that chaperones are required only for schools entering more than one team when the tournament allows for it, which quiz bowl-State doesn't.

"No, Lilina, there is no chaperone at State, and often Audrey's parents did it this season. However, for the HSNCT, we will need one, but it's ok for the chaperone to be responsible for both teams. We might have that covered if the parish allows us to take a minibus from and to Atlanta, in which case the driver will be our chaperone!" Warren tells the B-team about the chaperone situation and then books 3 hotel rooms at the Marriott Marquis in the VAs' name, for two nights.

A-team players also ask their parents if they can drive their own players to State. And maybe even bring their love interests, or B-team players, if space permits. They also feel like State is going to be the high point of the quiz bowl season for so many, especially for teams that can't qualify for the HSNCT, or even the SSNCT for those in the small schools division.