Pre-Jump Earth Literature

[aestrix]

It's a new term, and the end of the break between terms most students have been enjoying. But time marches ever on, and so at 1:00 PM, just after lunch, twenty-six students all around the age of fifteen are finding seats in an obnoxiously decorated classroom. It's one of those classrooms that tries very hard to be peppy and inspirational, and only succeeds at being very out of touch, and kind of creepy.

Soon it will be time to read about things long-dead people wrote.

Comments

[aestrix]

Frank flinches when he reads this, in a subtle fashion.

Well, when you feel up to participating again in class, let me know.

[thisvorlunatic]

Miles doesn't deign to reply to that one at all.

[aestrix]

Well, that's okay.

Class continues. Classmates read. Shakespeare is discussed. Then, near the end of class:

"Now, I think that you've all got a good grasp of Shakespeare. But, I think a lot of you have felt kind of shy about talking about your thoughts while in a classroom environment." He does not look at Miles. (To be fair, Miles is not the only student that is trying to avoid attention and not talk.) "So! I'd like you all to group up into small groups of two or three - even four, if no one's being left out - to pick one of Shakespeare's plays that we've either read over in class, or another one of your choice. Over the weekend, I'd like for you to meet and discuss the play, and then write me a short essay on what you discussed. Doesn't have to be long or eloquent, I just want to hear what you think!"

[thisvorlunatic]

At the back of the room, Miles snickers.

[poll_the_stars]

The other Barrayaran in the class suspects that the teacher would really rather not hear what she thinks. Frank gets a dry, unimpressed look. Really. This is what he's going to do? Okay. Fine.

Time to find a group. Yay. Her very favorite thing.

(No it isn't.)

[thisvorlunatic]

Unsurprisingly, absolutely no one in the class wants to go anywhere near Miles. Fine by him. If he ends up left out, that will just mean no one but Frank has to suffer through the essay he plans to write.

[poll_the_stars]

It turns out that he is not left out.

"Would you," asks Yvette, voice even and attempting to be casual but not quite making it, "like to group up?"

[thisvorlunatic]

...He considers this.

She was surprisingly tolerable about all this last class. And it would save him having to pair up with a Betan.

"Sure," he says.

[poll_the_stars]

Good, she wanted to not be paired up with a Betan, too. Not that Betans aren't nice, but - Betans. She would like to talk to someone who is not from Beta Colony or her sister, even if that person is kind of terrifying in a child of the Regent (well, now Prime Minister) and plays board games with the Emperor kind of way.

She nods, and borrows a seat from an unused computer terminal nearby.

"I don't really have a play in mind, I sort of vaguely want to read The Tempest but I'm not set on it and not picky," she says. "You?"

[thisvorlunatic]

"Take a guess."

[poll_the_stars]

She starts laughing.

"Ah," she manages, once she's gotten a hold of herself. "That - okay, sure."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Our teacher seems determined to make me suffer, so I am determined to make him regret it," says Miles. "I am going to write such an essay."

[poll_the_stars]

"Of course you are. Of course."

[thisvorlunatic]

He laughs.

[poll_the_stars]

She snickers, then asks, "When do you want to meet up to finish reading the play?"

[thisvorlunatic]

He shrugs. "When's convenient for you? I'm not exactly overbooked."

[poll_the_stars]

She considers. "Sometime tomorrow, after lunch?"

[thisvorlunatic]

"Sure. Where?"

[poll_the_stars]

"One of the study rooms in the library, if they're not all full?"

[thisvorlunatic]

"Sure, sounds good."

[poll_the_stars]

"All right."

Class ends, and assorted students depart.

(Yvette is silently thankful that she did not blabber on like a lunatic today. Good job, Yvette.)



And then, the next day: the study rooms are not all full! He seems to have gotten there before Yvette, but there is a room that Miles can claim.

[thisvorlunatic]

He checks the registry, inputs his student number, and goes into the newly claimed study room to sit and read the play and regret his choices. Brilliant idea, Miles. Shut yourself away in a small room with a Vor girl to explore your feelings about being an unlovable demi-mutant. This is bound to end well.

[poll_the_stars]

Well, here is the Vor girl.

"Hey," she says.

[thisvorlunatic]

"...Hi," he says, awkwardly.

[poll_the_stars]

...

Gosh this is a small room they're going to be alone together in for a while, isn't it.

RIGHT, MOVING ON.

"So um, I don't - actually have a plan for how we'll tackle this. Have you finished reading the play?"