Owen unzipped his cheap blue jacket and pulled out the crumpled plastic square attached to a lanyard.

He handed it forward without saying a single word.

Eli dug into his front pocket and produced his own blue plastic competition badge.

“Are we going home now?” Eli asked.

“Because my regional score was higher than the elite academy average.

I charted the standard deviation during the break, and I know I beat him by fourteen points.”

“No,” Claire said.

“We’re going to the finals.”