A Year Of Hope

School started Monday, and I still hadn't finished my screenplay.

And so that Sunday, Jane and I spent the day writing our screenplays in my bedroom. Jane sat on my bed as she often did, and I sat at my desk. And we wrote until it was late and we had finished.

That week classes resumed, but it wasn't nearly as busy as before Spring Break since there was no showcase to prepare for, and it was sort of a relief because the latter half of the semester was about to be packed with papers and projects.

In Intro to Education, we began discussing teaching philosophies, and different schools of thought when it came to education, which would all later come together to help us form our own teaching philosophy. This would not only be for a grade in this class, but we would be required to turn one in when we applied to formally join our college's teacher education program.

Our lesson in Teen Literature would be approaching in about a month, but our group had sorted out all the details of our lesson and we were all set to present.

In British Literature, we began covering Agatha Christie.

And then there was creative writing. Dr. Van announced that we would not be reading the screenplays in class since they were too long, but instead she would be making copies and whiting out the names and giving them to one of our classmates to critique. They had to annotate it, and write response paper at least 1 page long.

That Monday though, we began talking about our final unit, novels and novellas. We wouldn't be writing our own, however, we would begin brainstorming or even begin writing one that we would continue with in the next creative writing course. We also had an assignment to read one novel or novella and write a paper explaining why this is an example of quality literature.

I already knew I was going to read one of Jane's books. I had been so busy, I hadn't gotten around to reading them, but now I had an excuse. I decided I would read A Little Life. 

At the end of class, we would talk to Dr. Van. Jane and I had been growing somewhat close to Dr. Van over the semester, in a mentor sort of way or even somewhat like a friendship. Dr. Van would ask us about our studies, or the books we were reading both inside and outside with school, and we would ask her about her life. We found out she was writing a new book, and she had written two others prior which, and this was surprising to me, she didn't announce publicly because she didn't want all her students to find it and read it. 

"But... I think I'd be okay with you reading it, if you guys were interested. I can get you each a copy," Dr. Van had said.

We also found out Dr. Van had a wife named Theodosia who she just called Theo, and they had two sons, both in elementary school. One named Theodore and one named Vance, each a variation of their own names.

On Monday we had stayed 30 minutes later just catching up from the break, and Wednesday we stayed even later until Sam strolled in to say, "Is everything okay?"

Dr. Van checked her watch and her eyes widened as she packed up her things, "Oh my goodness I completely lost track of time. I need to be on the other side of campus in 15 minutes. Jane, Mordecai, wonderful chatting with you as always. And who are you that I have the pleasure of meeting?" She said to Sam.

"Sam Foster," she had said, sticking out her hand for her to shake it.

"Ah, Sam Foster. So wonderful to meet my favorite students' friend," Dr. Van said and shook her hand. Then before she headed out she pointed two fingers at Jane and me. "Do not speak a word that I let that slip."

I nodded and Jane said, "Pinky promise we won't speak a word."

Dr. Van gave Jane an endearing grin and said, "Yes, well see you on Friday."