Victorious Secret had come over from Pasadena, which was Tom’s hometown. There was a short and spirited debate about whether he was allowed to support both teams, but in the end he decided to protect his safety while sleeping and stuck with Nina’s team. The four ladies of VS had to be content with the entire Caltech astrobiology department, who had come out to support the team captain, who was one of their own.

Bob leaned over to Tom. “Regular people play this game, too, right? You don’t actually have to be a rocket scientist?”

Leah heard the question and answered first. “No, and sometimes education gets in the way of knowledge.” She blinked. “Which sounds profound but isn’t.” Then she added, unable to stop herself, “Besides, astrobiology is not rocket science per se, it’s rocket science adjacent.”

After a pause to let that settle in, Tom shook his head. “Trust me, I am an incredibly average guy and I had my own team.” He paused. “Which, now that I say it out loud, does sound a little bit weird.”

“You quit your team?” asked Laura.

Tom nodded. “I don’t have as much time as I used to.”

Nina rolled her eyes. “You can make time. I am literally in the exact same relationship as you, I simply moved stuff around.”

“What did you cancel?” he teased, his eyes dancing as he looked at her. “Tell the normal people what you moved out of your schedule to make room for both me and trivia.”

“Additional reading,” said Nina defiantly.

“Which was additional to?”

“Work reading,” she said in a slightly quieter voice.

“Which was on top of?”

“Regular reading,” she muttered.

Tom turned up his palms and grinned at Bob. “That probably answers your question.”

“Everyone’s an expert on something,” said Bob, “I suppose.” He looked at Laura and grinned. She grinned back, glad he was there.

She lowered her voice and leaned closer to him. “I’m nervous.” She wasn’t sure why, but she felt like Bob was on her side, in some indefinable way. A good friend.

Bob kept his voice low and said, “Don’t be. It’s not like you’re competing for the honor of your state or anything.”

Nina interrupted, having apparently turned her hearing up to bat-like. “Not her state, but her team. Don’t minimize the challenge, Bob, this is serious stuff.”

He raised his eyebrows. “It has ‘trivial’ in the name.”

“Shush,” Nina replied.

Bob looked at Laura and made a goofy face. She still felt nervous, but she was reassured at least one other person wasn’t taking it too seriously. Nonetheless, when QuizDick rang a tiny golden gong—yes, really—she got ready to make a fool of herself.