Venomous Agenda Memoirs

Chapter 30: April Fools in December

December 2027. While, of course, Chantal keeps winning extemp in debate tournaments, the new POI player proves unremarkable, and Daisy, as well as Gaston, both seem to be having a relatively strong season, but falling short of ToC bids.

As for quiz bowl, Kinder scores its first victory on the buzzer against the VAs at the LQBA Fall Invitational South in a nail-biting game lost by the VAs when Myriam negged on the last tossup. However, neither one would go on to win a HSNCT berth as of yet.

Of course, with Faith captaining the math team, but Myriam and a handful of other fresh recruits not quite measuring up to Faith and Valerie, the team finds itself unable to replicate its success of last spring, and gets eliminated in the third round of the Math Madness playoffs. However, Myriam is still able to get to the AIME, just without USAMO expectations.

After the AIME qualifiers are released, Valerie meets with Chantal and Daisy on the night of December 15, at her own home, feeling that it's best to get the 3 kids for whom early admission is a gamble together to find out if said gamble has paid off.

"Time to roll! Chantal, you go first" Valerie signals her teammate on the math team to check on her REA application to Princeton.

Chantal is as nervous as nervous can be, she starts to hyperventilate and then pray as she accesses the Princeton application system. The other 2 remain by their side and on the edge of their seats. And, of course, Glen is filming the entire scene from the moment the 3 girls are in position.

Because so many try to access their decision letter by that point, the system is a little slow so once Chantal finally reads it...

"Dear Chantal..."

"Keep going, please..." Daisy asks a paralyzed Chantal, while she opens her own Dartmouth application. "We regret to inform you..."

"Daisy, you know what's left for you to do" Valerie pleads with a devastated Daisy.

"Against the coach's advice, you went ahead and decided to apply ED to Dartmouth anyway! There was no way you could have gotten in without at least having played at Nats, even with the grades you got!" Chantal scolds her debate teammate, before resuming her reading of the Princeton decision letter. "Congratulations! I am delighted to offer you admission to Princeton's class of 2032" Chantal then jumps for joy, but Valerie starts to hyperventilate herself, knowing her turn has arrived to check on Caltech.

From what knew about Daisy when I still was VA's principal, Daisy was less intense than even Flo, even though Flo wasn't the most intellectually intense girl in the world. The same Flo who underperformed twice at district qualifiers. Now, Chantal is better rounded than Valerie is and, in international relations, well-roundedness is an asset. Yet I can't help but feel like I let my daughter gamble her future away. As much as I would love to believe that Caltech is a good fit for her... I hope she doesn't develop an addiction to gambling, Glen then watches a visibly shaking Valerie check on her Caltech application decision.

If I don't make it, will I be condemned into attending LSU? Might be affordable, yes, but... are the lost opportunities worth the savings of going to LSU? Valerie ruminates while struggling to keep her cool. I don't want to waste my two MOP participations, but I don't feel like I am in the hot seat in mathletics anymore; Faith is the one the parish adulates now. Dad doesn't pressure me about my college choices, he trusts me enough to make the choice by myself. "It is my absolute honor to offer you admission"

"Woohoo! Valerie made it to Caltech! That's my daughter! That's a nice consolation prize for failing to make it to the IMO" Glen shouts for joy.

Meanwhile, Chantal notifies her parents, asking them to prepare to pay the deposit at Princeton, leaving Daisy alone with Valerie while Glen shuts off the webcam and starts editing the resulting clip.