Two nights before the booster club-sponsored SAT date, Rebecca texts her other three SAT study companions about the logistics of taking the test.

Rebecca: Ask your parents if you can go to my place on Friday night; my parents will drive all of us to the testing center

Which prompts Albert, while undergoing a review session of key concepts, both math and English, to ask a favor of his parents.

"Rebecca's parents are offering to drive all of us from and to the testing center on Saturday!" Albert then pleads with his parents. "Could you please let me go sleep at Rebecca's place after football practice? We're going to review all key concepts for the SAT tomorrow night!"

"Yes, better Rebecca's family spending on the meal than ours, especially since I haven't heard back from what jobs I applied to!" Cody starts explaining the reason for this.

With his grades, he obviously can't aim for, like, Tulane, but at least LSU might be doable. And I really hope that he could actually score what he did in practice tests, in the 1200-1300 range, and anything over 1300 is gravy. From what I saw in years past, most people in town who go on to attend LSU have 3.5+, but have only a few ECs, and Al is about average for it. However, 3.5 represents about the top quarter of the class, and they're all over the place on the ACT, Cody ruminates while he checks whether there's anything new for him that he could apply to that's within commuting distance.

And then Al responds to Rebecca's offer. I accept. it would make life easier for my parents; we can't afford them to drive me around.

"Tomorrow night, after football practice, I'm going to Rebecca's place to study for the SAT, and eat dinner there..." Al announces to his family. "I'll be away Saturday morning, too!"

"When will you return?" Heather asks him, wanting to plan around it.

"Saturday afternoon, and I'll be doing my regular homework then..."

"I really hope you'll do well, especially when you wasted the booster club's money for it!" Lana then starts praying for his success.

"Good luck then!" Heather prays in turn.

I guess, he must have good reason; after all, he often invoked the excuse of having to study for the SAT all summer when he left home. So maybe I was a little too hard on him at times, Heather ruminates as Al leaves the room.

Speaking of homework, he returns to his room to do what homework he had for his courses, with math going last because he feels like it could overlap with his SAT studying. And more specifically the Algebra II material.

Of course, care must be taken to ensure that he isn't neglecting the English portion. So he also combs through the writing practice questions that he obtained via email in the past few days, going over them.

The following day, a little tired by the need to wake up early for the morning football practice, he goes through one final verification of his supplies to ensure that he'll have everything he's allowed to at the test center.

Speaking of which, he goes straight to Rebecca's home after the practice ends. However, Albert seems a little shaky in the late stages of studying because of how football practice occurs. On the Friday night before the SAT the booster club pays for...

"I know I need to do better than the SAT equivalent of a thirty-two on the ACT, fingers crossed for a fifteen hundred or better" Rebecca then warns the others. "By now, you may be aware of this, but don't expect to score the same for real as you did in practices"

"I'd be okay with a fifteen hundred or better, and then I can rest easy for the ACT in March" Daisy pitches her expectations in.

"Has everyone entered LOSFA's code on your SAT registration?" Rebecca's mother asks the foursome.

"Ah yes, TOPS money" Albert sighs. "Yes"

"Me too" Anna sighs. "If I do well tomorrow, I won't need to worry about testing"

I am the only athlete who took up the booster club offer for the August SAT, I learned a lot with them over the summer. Most of the players on the football team would just wait until the state-sponsored ACT date in March of their junior year. I took up the booster club on their offer because it was less cumbersome than a fee waiver from the College Board, especially when dad lost his job lately, Albert reflects on the circumstances leading him to take the SAT on the booster club's dime.

"Don't forget: upon returning home tonight, prepare your supplies for the SAT, get a good night's sleep and then I will pick you up early in the morning" Rebecca's mother goes over the plan to get the four to the testing center in Lafayette by 7:45 AM.

"By what time should we be ready to leave home?" Anna asks her host.

"Ideally six forty-five AM..."

The booster club signed me up for the SAT on their dime, and only included LOSFA's code. However, I vaguely heard about TOPS money at school, without going into the details, Albert sees fit to ask a question to Rebecca's mom.

"One question about TOPS money: what are the various levels of funding?" Albert asks Rebecca's mom.

She shows him a chart with GPA and ACT score requirements, but he's clueless about how does that translate to the SAT. I get it, there are three GPA thresholds: 2.50, 3.25 and 3.50, and 20, 23 and 27 on the ACT respectively. But how much on the SAT does that represent? I might be able to maintain a 3.50 just fine, but if I score high enough tomorrow to be deemed equivalent to a 27+ on the ACT, I no longer need to stress out about it.

He then looks up conversion charts for SAT scores to the ACT, assuming he'll score the same on the real test tomorrow morning as he did on the latest practice tests. Which work out to 1050, 1150 and 1290 respectively.

The foursome takes one last practice SAT, albeit under digital testing conditions, so they would all get an idea of where they stand, and whether their expectations are realistic. Especially Albert, who has the lowest practice score: 1300 at this point in time.

They return home and get to bed early that night so they can be awake by 6AM on a Saturday morning for the test, and eating breakfast beforehand.

"Once the SAT ends, please keep the study material for your sister to use..." Cody instructs Al while he eats cereal.

"Why? It's a little early for her! You're going to stress her out, and make her learn material that is too advanced for her!" Lana counters. "I get that VA is the most competitive high school in southwest Louisiana, but it's usually in junior year that people prepare for it! No one here prepares for it in middle school!"

"Yeah, there's a difference between giving study materials to Heather now and making her use them now!" Al retorts while he reluctantly forwards a bunch of emails containing SAT practice questions to Heather.

This is the kind of thing some people at our quiz bowl or debate opponents would do, not us... notwithstanding that I know almost nothing about them. Not even Anna or Daisy slipped a word about that, Albert ruminates while he eats his cereal. The only reason I know about the lengths some go to prepare for the SAT is because of last night's practice reading question.

After he finishes eating the cereal, Albert double-checks his supplies to ensure that he has all the supplies he needs, and whether they're allowed. And he hastily gets dressed before Rebecca's mom picks up the foursome. Al is last to board the car for a 45-minute drive due east to the testing center.

Upon arriving at Acadiana High, the four meet dozens of other test-takers from other parishes, all going through security before they can get seated to take a pencil-and-paper SAT in various classrooms. I really hope that I made the right decision to take the SAT now, early in junior year, rather than to wait until the state-sponsored ACT date in March, Daisy ruminates while shaking in her seat. I might not yet know what I want to do with my life, but I do know that my future won't play out in this region. To make it a reality, I must score high on the SAT.

And a lot of people taking the test (whatever that meant, when Louisiana is clearly an ACT state) are shaking in their seats, too. They are motivated by moving up the TOPS scholarship ladder for some, getting into a better college for others...

Most people have practiced some for it, but in very uneven amounts of time. As such, some students are sweating more than others. I won't let a stupid test, paid for by the booster club, wreck my future! Albert and Daisy both think, in different positions in the testing room. And they start sweating when they come across test items they deem to be harder. Just not the same items. I mustn't squander the trust the booster club placed in me!

Three hours and a half later, most of the test-takers are getting tired. At the end of the test, or at least those who don't have the extra 50% time, one of the proctors answers a question that so many taking it have in mind.

"You will all be asking when your scores will be released. Scores will be released to you two Fridays from now, and colleges will receive the results within ten days of that date" a proctor pre-emptively answers the test-takers.

Joy... two weeks until we find out the cold, hard truth. About how a summer of nightly practice questions will bear fruits, if any, Daisy then clutches her daisy chain necklace.

And, like Daisy, Albert is very anxious about test scores, but clearly doesn't have the same aims. Which Al asks her about at the exit.

"Daisy, you might have mentioned your target scores in passing, but what would it mean to you if you achieve them?" Albert asks her study companion.

"First, Anna and Rebecca both set their targets so high that they could apply anywhere they want without having to worry about numbers. I still feel I can try for Tulane or higher, depending on how this upcoming debate season goes..."

"You know my grades, while good for a football player, aren't in the same range as yours, so I can't just aim for the same colleges as you!"

"I guess, you just want to go to LSU. You might not be the most familiar with the world of high achievers, because even though the achievements of the academic teams are celebrated, the parish media tends to zero in on the star students, just like in sports!"

"I get it, you don't star on the debate team, you live in your own world, away from everyone else! You don't live the same academic life!"

"We feel pressured to attend the best college we can, and, while we aren't as pressured as our debate opponents, As much as I'd love to think that where I will attend won't define my future, there are times when I envy the theater actors not on the debate team..."

"The actress I know best academically is you. How good are the theater actors not on the debate team in class?"

"It's like night and day. The strongest academically of our actors not in debate is around three point five, but doesn't stress out about anything more than that number..."

When you consider that all 5 actors on the debate team all have 3.8+, it's natural for the other actors to turn to the debaters in theater for help, provided they take or took the courses they need help in, Daisy ruminates as she returns to the car back to Jennings.