February 14, 2041, southwest Louisiana. Olivia, a freshman, is at a Venomous Agendas cheer practice. Because the cheer squad is in its inaugural season, the coach didn't believe the VAs could do cheer competitively any more than they competed in band. Yet, as with band, cheer is subject to the Rule of Two.

  With the VAs poised to return, once again, into the girls' basketball playoffs, and playing the first round on home turf, the cheer team has limited time to get any coursework done. Olivia's boyfriend, Ned, the rising star wide receiver of the football team, breaks the news at the exit of the locker room, right after cheer practice:

  "Monika has left the quiz bowl team! They're asking for aid!" Ned comes to her, coming a little close to Olivia's blonde hair. "Is there anyone on the cheer squad who wants to play quiz bowl, or is able to?"

  "Do you know why Monika left the team?" Olivia asks him, confused.

  "It seems like her nausea has gotten worse these past few months, so she wants to take care of herself"

  "It's not that I can't help in quiz bowl, but how desperate is the quiz bowl team if they ask the cheer team for quiz bowl help?"

  "Looks like the quiz bowlers had no luck with their usual sources of reinforcements... Quiz bowlers tended to ask the math or debate teams for help first, depending on what they need most"

  Math and debate teams make sense as a first choice to get quiz bowl reinforcements. But if they ask for help that far and wide, in hopes that someone knows someone else, it seems like not many even feel able to deal with the intellectual intensity of the game, Olivia sighs.

  "Are you sure we're talking about the same quiz bowlers? They might know us by name, but they wouldn't know about who's on cheer!"

  "Yes. I already ate up my allowance under the Rule of Two because I play outfielder in baseball, but you haven't, did you?"

  "No"

  "Just ask Flo if you feel up to the challenge"

  Olivia finds it difficult to remain focused on her homework when she has a lot on her mind. Especially when doing said homework with Ned. And the basketball game is held only a few hours from now.

  Speaking of the girls' basketball game, a lot of the fans not wearing the VAs' purple-and-green instead wear red or pink. A few cheerleaders' boyfriends have come with heart-shaped boxes full of chocolates, including Ned.

  "Thank you, Ned" Olivia then starts eating one of the chocolates in the box.

  Just don't eat them all at once... some energy is nice, Olivia starts thinking while her cheer teammates also start eating theirs. Especially when they're already dressed for the game, ready to stand by the sideline to do their moves during the game. And, of course, shout. And not just the quintessential "Venomous! Agendas!" either.

  As the game is about to begin, Norman, VA's principal, makes the announcement just after both band and cheer get into position:

  "Welcome to the first round of the 2041 Division II Non-Select LHSAA girls' basketball state tournament, pitting the eighteen seed, the Leesville Wampus Cats, against the fifteen seed, the Venomous Agendas!" Norman announces the contestants. "Now, for the national anthem, sung by Becky Catton!"

  As soon as the tip-off begins, both teams' band and cheer squads try to do their own things, but the opponents have much fewer of either.

  But while the cheer team dances as one, there are times when their inexperience is made clear to both the crowd and the opposing team. And not just when Olivia gets hit by a ball the Wampus Cats threw out-of-bounds when their shooting guard fails to catch it near the baseline, just four minutes into the game. Which makes Olivia lose her composure because of the lingering pain.

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  "Give me a V, give me an A! Venomous! Agendas!" the cheer squad chants while the referee inbounds the ball after the opponent threw it out of bounds. "Venomous! Agendas!"

  Also, it seems like the cheer squad has a dance and/or chants for specific in-game situations, such as opponents shooting free throws. Or even, near the end of the first quarter, when Becky is closing in on the paint with 3 seconds to go:

  "Draw the foul! Draw the foul!" Olivia chants, swiftly followed by the rest of the team.

  Sure enough, Becky decelerates, causing the opposing center, by sheer inertia, to throw her off-balance. And the whistle blows, signaling that the VAs are awarded a free throw, while trailing by a point.

  Or, because the Wampus Cats already accumulated four fouls in this quarter, Becky is awarded two FTs. For each of these FTs, the cheer squad also chants what they always do at various points of the game.

  Becky throws the first free throw, which circles around the hoop before making it into the basket. The tension is rising into the gym as the VAs' starting small forward throws the second free throw and... the VAs are back in the lead! However, one doesn't need to know much about basketball to know that a one-point lead at the end of the first quarter is very fragile.

  By half-time, though, the game remains very tight, and, during the 10-minute break in play, both band and cheer are given the opportunity to perform as a stand-alone interlude. Which is what makes a basketball game more than just a basketball game to the eyes of the people who bought tickets for it.

  Their half-time routine that, despite VA not entering cheer tournaments, is tailored to the rules of such. Namely that said routine lasts exactly 2:30, the maximum length allowed under international rules, tumbling included. Then followed by band, performing one of the tunes for the spring concert, right after the cheer squad's routine ends.

  By the time the fourth quarter's dying seconds roll around, VA is down by two points. Becky is in the defensive zone as the opposing point guard shoots a three-pointer, which bounces off the board. Olivia shakes in her position while said ball is threatening to hit her teammates.

  Near the edge of the court, however, Becky catches the ball before it goes out of bounds, but is being double-teamed by the biggest two opposing players. As much as Becky could try...

  "Move, Becky, move!" the cheerleaders shout in Becky's direction, while prancing with their pom-poms in hand.

  Feeling the clock ticking in on her, a sweaty Becky sees an opening through which to shoot a three-pointer. Everyone in the gym agonizes for a few seconds, as the ball leaves Becky's hands and flies across the court, the buzzer ringing when the ball hits the backboard.

  The ball enters the hoop, a fraction of a second later, in a way reminiscent of the three-pointer that won the VAs the Division II Non-Select state title against Pearl River, ten years earlier. Speaking of which...

  "And the Venomous Agendas win this game, fifty-six to fifty-five! Their next opponents, on Monday, are... the Pearl River Rebels!" Norman announces, while the crowd descends upon the court.

  As for the cheer team, the team is herded into a separate room, with their coach, Annette, asking the cheerleaders a favor for the Pearl River game.

  "You don't have to go if you don't want to, but If you accept to go to cheer on our girls' basketball team on Monday in Pearl River, you must be ready to go in the same bus as the basketball team" Annette then takes the names of volunteer cheerleaders to make the trip to Pearl River for their second-round game.

  There's a grand total of three volunteers, all three of whom try to convince the other cheerleaders to go to that game. But it's in that phase that the realization hits home in Olivia's mind:

  "I'm tired of only serving in a support role to someone else. It's ok for me to do so, but not all the time!" Olivia rants in front of her cheer teammates.

  "What do you mean, Olivia?" one of her cheer teammates asks. "You kept quiet about the purpose of cheerleading!"

  "Because we don't compete, and frankly, we can't afford to, we're stuck serving as a side show for the team at whose game we're performing! However, I'm not quitting on the team, I'll just join another one where I feel like I'm in the actual fray!"

  "What are you talking about?" a confused Annette asks Olivia in turn.

  "I'm going to play quiz bowl; they were asking for help left and right for days!"

  "What? No!" the other cheerleaders gasp upon hearing about how Olivia decided to play quiz bowl out of the blue.

  "Never did I, in my life as a cheer coach, nor as a math teacher, hear about a cheerleader wanting to play quiz bowl!" Annette also gasps about Olivia's decision to play quiz bowl.

  Notwithstanding that my previous employers didn't even field a quiz bowl team in the first place! I'm new as a math teacher here, but not new to the job. I moved all the way to rural southwest Louisiana so my family's income could go a longer way! Annette muses, while the cheerleaders take their showers. Sure I heard about quiz bowl here and there at work, and, of course, they're pretty high-profile in town, but cheer flies under the radar here.

  Once the cheerleaders are done taking their showers, Ned meets with Olivia once again, but after Olivia posted on her social media about how she's going to play quiz bowl for the VAs. And, of course, notifies Flo, the quiz bowl coach, of her intention to play on the team.

  "Oh Ned, tonight's buzzer-beater was just like how you go around catching the ball in the endzone!"

  "That's your cheerleading background speaking. I'll grant you that both are exciting moments to cheer for" Ned then kisses her.