Page 85 of TJ Powar Has Something to Prove
“Yeah?” TJ mutters. “So?”
“So don’t let her get to you.” TJ blinks. Yara’s voice is fierce. “You know she sees you as a threat, right?”
TJ snorts. “That’s ridiculous. I’ve never gotten her scores at Provincials.”
“Then why does she spend so much time trying to mess with you?”
TJ frowns. Someone coughs behind her. “Hey. The impromptu resolution is being announced in ten minutes.”
Right. She’s holding up the line. Yara lets her take her registration package with one last meaningful look. TJ shakes her head as she goes and descends the stairs in the direction of the gym, where folding chairs and tables have been set up to accommodate the hundred-something debaters, and a large stage is set up for announcements. She scans the room automatically, picking out people she knows from the crowd, and far more that she doesn’t. All these unknowns from across the country packed into one room. This weekend should be interesting.
Of course, possibly the biggest unknown is the one she knows best. Charlie sits at a table alone. He’s already watching her in his unabashed, clinical sort of way. Then he seems to dismiss her, glancing back down at the itinerary in front of him. She tamps down on the anger that again threatens to rise, steels herself, and marches over to slide into the seat next to his. Neither of them acknowledges the other, but he tugs at his bow tie as if it’s strangling him. She hopes it is.
She opens her programme. Two impromptu-topic debates tonight, then three tomorrow for their prepared topic. Tonight they’ll be facing teams from Ontario and Manitoba. Nobody they know. This is uncharted territory.
The speakers blare with the sound of a microphone being tapped.
Mr. York stands on the stage, waving. “Welcome to the Canadian Senior National Debate tournament. We’re so happyyou’re here and we can’t wait for a weekend of great debates...” He drones on for a bit with welcome words, and TJ zones out. She only comes back when he says, “Be It Resolved That there should be a mandatory retirement age.”
As he speaks, the entire auditorium rises in volume as everyone madly scribbles it down. Furious whispering starts as Mr. York adds, “You have thirty minutes to prepare before your first round. You know the rules: No electronics, no conversations with anyone but your debate partner. Good luck.”
As he turns off the mic, there’s a flurry of activity as debaters rise to find quieter spots to work. TJ and Charlie stay in their seats, in unspoken agreement. TJ doesn’t want to be in a quieter spot alone with him anyway. Here, there’s no chance for personal talk.
Charlie draws a line down the center of his page. “I’ll brainstorm contentions for one side and you can do the other. Then we’ll split them. Does that work for you?”
Usually in impromptu debates, she’d work with her partner on contentions for each side, but this strategy guarantees minimal interaction with him. “I’ll take Side Negative.”
He nods, and they bend their heads down to their respective notepads. The whispers of other teams around them only make it more starkly clear how silent they are. How things have changed.
Although, as she’s working away, it strikes her how much implicit trust there is in letting the other mold the entire argument for one of the sides. She tries not to think too much about that.
Five minutes later, she sets down her pen. They share theircontentions, split them, and lapse into silence again to plan their speeches in the remaining minutes. With this time crunch, TJ writes bullet points only. The finer details will be made up on the spot. While she’s thinking, she side-eyes Charlie, who’s been staring at his page as well. Then all at once he starts furiously scribbling. He’s probably just thought of a good point. She wonders if he’d tell it to her if she asked. But no. She’ll find out at the debate, just like everyone else.
She ignores the pang in her stomach and bends over her notes again. When the clock shows five minutes till showtime, they gather up their things wordlessly and head to their assigned classroom, to their first debate and the rest of the evening.
∗
They emerge from their second round only to be cornered by Mrs. Scott. “We need to talk,” she says, and beckons them to an empty classroom.
Uh-oh.
As TJ and Charlie follow her in, she closes the door and says, “What’s going on? This isn’t working.”
TJ frowns. “You realize we won, right?” There was an electric energy in the room back there. Every time Charlie drove home a point, she felt the need to one-up him. She imagined the judges thinking,He’s good, and resolved to make them think,She’s better. The result was a terrifying, aggressive debating style that did them strangely well.
“You were good,” Mrs. Scott agrees. “But you weren’tgreat. You had every opportunity to blow them out of the water and you didn’t.”
TJ waits for more, but there isn’t. Charlie sips from a juicebox, an odd contrast with his tailored waistcoat and bow tie. “So... how do you suggest we do that?”
“Get over yourselves,” Mrs. Scott says bluntly. “I know you both want to do well. And to do that, you need to actually communicate. I thought I told you two to work out your issuesbeforeNationals. Act like a team.”
“Weare,” TJ says hotly. “It’s not like we ever contradicted each other.”
“Are you two familiar with British Parliamentary Style debating?” Mrs. Scott arches a brow. “It’s what university teams do. Four teams total are in the debate, with two teams per side. Sure, they never contradict each other, but the two teams don’t interact much, and they don’t come to each other’s aid. Because they’re still competing. And that’s how you two are acting. Like two separate teams, arguing for the same side.”
TJ scowls, but suddenly she’s re-evaluating. In that first round, they’d been Side Affirmative. She was first speaker, and so her contentions had been rebutted thoroughly by the other side throughout the debate. Charlie hadn’t bothered re-defending many of her points when his turn came, even though he could have.
In the next round, TJ had thought of a good counterpoint to their opposition’s plan, but she hadn’t given it to Charlie for his final rebuttal—and so it went unchallenged.