The Beginning of Everything

Despite the late night, the team makes it on time for the third round of debates. Toby, grinning, asks Ezra whether he and Cassidy are together now, to which Ezra honestly replies that he’s not sure. Cassidy comes down wearing a plain school uniform, not the Harry Potter outfit. She pulls Ezra aside, saying seriously that they must talk. Worried, Ezra is expecting a conversation about their relationship, but instead Cassidy tells him that she switched their debate numbers yesterday, so he had been debating as her the whole time. She is begging him to continue the deception, so that—in her mind—it’s as if she isn’t competing at all. Ezra is confused, since she competed the day before, albeit under his name. Cassidy explains that she threw the first round, so “Ezra” is essentially out. She tries to explain that she wasn’t joking when she swore never to compete again, and this is her way of justifying to herself that she hasn’t broken that promise. Her name might be there, but she wasn’t debating as Cassidy. Ezra is confused and annoyed, not wanting to be involved in any cheating, but since there is no harm done and Cassidy seems inexplicably desperate, he agrees to continue the switch.