"They're not," Miss Lansing addressed Alene first. "Sit wherever you like." Little did her students know, where they chose to sit would be their first test of the semester. "And thank you, Miss Holmson for your kind remarks." Adalise allowed herself a playful wink at her new student. "Come in!" she called to the tentative students in the doorway. "Sit wherever you like, there are no assigned seats here."
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Lavender waited excitedly at her desk, her hands folded together and sitting atop of her desk.
Her leg jiggling wildly as she waited for class to officially start.
Miss Lansing looked down at her book again and continued to read for a few more moments a stream of nervous girls trickled in and seated themselves hesitantly. Some headed right for the back, given the choice, but others, like Lavender, sat directly in front of her in the front row. The varying levels of confidence were quite amusing.
Lavender smiled at the few girls she faintly recognized, then gripped the sides of her desk tightly, her knuckles poking through her skin and turning it even paler than her original skin tone.
She took a few deep, slow breaths, then let go and awaited class to start.
Alene had sat behind Lavender. Close enough to speak up and be heard and noticed. Yet not too close. It was a formula she had figured out in middle school and stuck with. Normally she would have sat closer to the middle. But being behind Lavender was the right move. She seemed the slightest bit a teacher’s pet, and Alene would not mind a little light falling her way as well. Besides, she and Lavender were roommates. They might as well work together to some extent. Sitting near one another was only natural.
Lavender scribbled a note on a piece of paper and wrote are you looking forward to class? on it, folded it and slid it on top of Alene's desk, behind her.
She then turned forward, she couldn't get it trouble could she? Class hasn't officially started yet anyways, right?
Miss Lansing appeared to only be reading, but she continuously glanced up to see the pre-class happenings in her classroom. Many girls were chatting, hushed chatting, and looking around for familiar faces. She smiled briefly and continued to read, though her mind wasn't retaining much of the words. Her eyes moved absently so she could focus on the sounds of her students.
Alene took a black pen and and dashed a quick, noncommittal probably. She slid it quickly to Lavender’s desk before sitting up straight. Lansing seemed nice enough but you could never sell the difference in how a teacher acted in and out of class.
Lavender view Alene's note.
She then frowned down at it the response the other girl has given her.
Probably? Miss Lansing seemed like fantastic teacher! Anything she would do would be surely to be some kind of fun, right?
Miss Lansing shut her book softly, pushed it to the top corner of her desk, and looked out across the room to signal the start of class. The whispers that had been bouncing around immediately hushed. She then looked down to the left side of her desk and opened one of the drawers. Her fingers searched until they found a small cardboard box, which she placed it on her desk, opened, and pulled out a fresh piece of chalk for the blackboard.
"Get out your textbooks and open them to the first page of the introduction. It's on page 15," she stated. "Titled A Summary of English Development." The classroom filled with the sounds of shuffling and pages turning as the girls did as they were told.
Alene smirked at the fact that the first page of the introduction was fifteen pages in. But she stayed alert, ready for what Lansing would be teaching.
A student raised her hand, and Miss Lansing called on her. "Are we reading the preface?"
"You may read it on your own time if you're so inclined. For now, may I have a volunteer to read?" Miss Lansing asked, as she rose from behind her desk and looking out over the girls. "Miss Lane?"
The girl in question looked up with wide eyes. "Oh, okay. Um… A Summary of English Development by Denise J. Edwards, Ph.D.
"The English language is a complex system that few are able to see the true value of. Literature, poetry, prose, and playwright have crafted the formation of our society. Giving literature a rating to determine its greatness has been difficult, being of the many opinions of many different peoples. But even the oldest and most eloquent of literature texts can be rated using the Jenkins-Edwards System…"
The girl who was reading trailed off slowly as the soft grinding of chalk on the blackboard filled the room. Miss Lansing had turned and was writing "J-E" across the top of the blackboard. When the girl paused her reading, Miss Lansing turned back around and arched her eyebrows. "Why did you stop?" she asked gently.
The girl quickly looked down and began to read again. "The rating system consists of two simple measurements: the scale of quality and the scale of importance. The former is a measure of the work's content, and the latter is a measure of the impact and popularity of the work."
Miss Lansing drew a giant graph on the board, marking one axis as "Q" for quality and the other as "I" for importance. A few girls began to get out notebooks and draw what their teacher was drawing, eyes flicking up to the board and back to their individual pages to make sure they got every little part of it copied correctly.
"A grand work of Shakespearean literature would score highly on the scale under quality and importance, thus making it a truly remarkable piece of literature, while Garnier's works would be of a mediocre quality and, additionally, mediocre importance," the girl finished reading and looked up.
Miss Lansing had marked an "S" high and to the right and "G" lower and to the left. Once she was finished, she turned back to face the class. "Dr. Edwards tells us what in her summary?" she asked, dropping the chalk into the tray, dusting her hands, and surveying the room. "Anyone?"
Lavender straightened her back and raised her hand shyly, her expression stern and mild.
She kept her eyes on the floor as she did though, she didn't want people already thinking she was a teachers pet, she just wanted to show Miss Lansing she was paying attention.
Miss Lansing's lips twitched up into a small smile, and she inclined her head toward Lavender. "Miss Holmson?"
Lavender swallowed audibly, hoping her answer was near enough correct as it sounded mediocre in her head.
"Is it that works can be rated on the scale of quality and importance and that the higher it is on both, the better the piece of literature is?" She said questioningly, her answer did not sound so correct now that she had said it out loud.
(I've never seen the movie so I just had to wing it—)
Miss Lansing snapped and pointed at Lavender eagerly. "Yes. Exactly. Now, this obviously gives great and well-known authors like Shakespeare the upper hand, but what about the works of underrated poets, authors, and playwrights like Garnier and plenty of others? This is where Jenkins and Edwards fall flat." As she said "flat", she slammed her palm firmly against the top of her desk. "This is no way to separate the mediocre from the extraordinary! Not with formulas and opinions and a… a… rating chart! Heavens, no. It's completely and utterly ridiculous."
She turned on her heel, walked back to the board, and in one swift motion, she erased through the chart she'd just drawn. She faced the class again, her lips pursed and eyes alight.
Lavender quickly smiled, but her smile faltered to a frown just as quickly.
She looked at the chart she had drawn in her notebook, they had done all that for nothing?
Lavender looked up at Miss Lansing, then back down at her notebook again, then finally, back up, keeping her gaze focused on the woman.
Alene bit the inside of her lip while listening, confused. Then nodded. Then a look of irritation flashed across her face. She raised her hand.
“I’m happy that we’re starting out demonstrating the fallacy of popularity, but why did we have to get this book to do that?” Part of her wanted to make trouble. The other part was genuinely confused. She didn’t have to worry about money, but some students probably did. The book was probably expensive.
Adalise leaned on her desk and arched her eyebrows. "You didn't buy the book solely for the introduction, now did you Miss Zheng?" she inquired, an amused glint in her eyes. "And you didn't just buy a book either. You bought a collection of thoughts."
Another student spoke up. "Miss Lansing… that's cute and all, but what does this have to do with our lives?"
"Yes, well… I know there are some of you who say you should just study Dr. Edwards, pass English, and be on your merry way. But we don't read and write poetry because it's cute," Miss Lansing stated, her eyes sweeping the classroom. "We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. Now, understand me that medicine, law, politics, the sciences… these are all noble pursuits and indeed necessary to sustain life. But poetry… beauty… romance… love… these are what we stay alive for. By simply reading our Dr. Edwards and getting on with life, we fail to experience a passionate existence. In fact, the introduction seems to be the least important part of our books for the term, and we shan't be needing it anymore." After a brief moment of silence, as she let her words sink in, Miss Lansing straightened herself and declared, "Tear out that page."
Her command was met with silence.
"Tear it. Out of the book. Go on," she repeated, walking around her desk. No one did anything. Looks were exchanged around the room. Miss Lansing walked towards Lavender's desk. She stopped and surveyed the room for anyone who was listening to her.
Lavender obeyed, like the follower she was.
She slowly ripped the page out, cringing with each tearing sound the page made.
When the page was fully ripped out she held it up.
"Now what?" She asked, looking up at Miss Lansing.
Alene stared in shock. "Why!" she whispered. "We don't need to damage the book to prove your point!" She wasn't sure, but a hint of anger might have slipped into her voice. She flushed a little, she should have realized how stupid it was to speak up like that. Over the introduction. Ugh it was obvious now. Stupid.
But now what was Lansing up to? She couldn't just destroy a book. That was… Well it would just be wrong.
Miss Lansing straightened and continue on her way past Lavender's desk, giving the girl a satisfied smile as she passed her, and stopped beside Alene's. Her light perfume made her smell of flowers, and she also carried a honey-like scent because of the tea she'd been drinking. With Alene speaking out, she chose to change the lesson a bit in a spur-of-the-moment decision.
"It's not my point your proving," she replied. "And this is about something much bigger than making a point in a classroom at a prestigious school. This class will teach you to be creative and think for yourself. You don't have to rip out the introduction now, but should you change your mind later in the term… feel free to let me know." While her expression was stern, there was something behind her eyes as she looked down at Alene. "Have you ever considered yourself to be a defiant young woman before, Miss Zheng?"
Alene looked down. “No ma’am.” She could feel the eyes on her and her stomach twisted with an ache she knew would linger, no matter how she tried to shake it. At least she wasn’t crying. That would be mortifying.
Miss Lansing gently touched Alene's shoulder. "Well, I think you should. And I think more people in this class should learn how to speak their minds like Miss Zheng did here today." She was smiling as she looked down at Alene, and she winked. "Well done," she murmured quietly.
Then she turned and headed back to her desk. "And for the rest of you who did tear out the introduction, excellent work as well. You're beginning to understand what this class is truly about." Her eye swept over the sea of confused, half-smiling faces.