The Perfectionists

Chapter 13

ON WEDNESDAY, AUDREY SHOWED UP to film studies class early, hoping to talk to Mr.Jay, but he didn't come into the classroom until the final bell rang.

"Okay, everyone," he said, and turned to write on the chalkboard. "Today we're going to start a new film. This one is called The Bad Seed. Anyone heard of it?"

A lot of eager hands shot up,Audrey's included. He turned around and his eyes landed on her. "It's the one about the little girl who commits murder," she said, encouraged.

Jay nodded. "A perfect-seeming child. Daughter of a perfect family. How on earth could she be capable of something so awful?"

Audrey's stomach clenched. It was a strange choice of film after one of his students was murdered. She glanced at the others. Jane shifted. Evie tapped her toe incessantly.

Jay walked over to the television and turned it on. "Those of you who have seen it, what would you say are some of the main themes?"

Audrey's hand shot up again. She was determined to redeem herself after that big red C. "Nature versus nurture," she volunteered. "A perfect family should, in theory, raise a perfect girl. What went wrong."

"Indeed." Granger's smiled gleamed. "So what could go wrong, Audrey? Any thoughts?" "Well." Audrey could feel everyone looking at her. "Maybe some people are just born evil. They can't help it."

Jay snapped his fingers. "That's one of the central arguments in this film: Are people born evil, or good? Very smart, Audrey."

She sat back and grinned. Chad caught her eye and raised his brow. Show-off, he mouthed teasingly.

"We can even think of examples in our own life," Jay went on. "There might be people we know about whom we ask that very question."

Jay dimmed the lights, and everyone quieted down as the film came on the screen. It was just as scary as Audrey had remembered, and the little girl in the movie reminded her a lot of Ben. When the final bell rang, she started to pack up her books, pulling nervously at the hem of the gray Theory dress she'd worn because she knew it made her look serious.

"Hey," Chad said, turning around with a grin. "Want to go off campus for lunch today?"

She smiled at him. "Thanks. But I need to talk to Mr.Maraj ." "Oh, right. Good luck." He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

Audrey waited until everyone else had left the classroom before she stood up and slowly walked to the front of the room. Jay was erasing the chalkboard, his back to her.

Outside the classroom she heard the hallway filling with the chaos of freed students, lockers slamming and kids shouting. When Jay finally turned, he looked surprised to see her there.

"Audrey. What can I do for you?" The essay trembled in her hands, the big red C at the top catching her eye. She bit her lip and tried to sound as confident as possible. "I wanted to talk to you about this grade, Mr.Maraj ."

He sat down on the edge of his desk. "I see. Do my comments make sense to you?" She shrugged, still staring down at the paper. "I guess so. You thought it was stupid."

"Not stupid." He stood up off the desk quickly, and all at once they were standing so close together she had to look up to meet his gaze. A warm, citrusy smell came off him, like tangerines sitting in sunlight. She swallowed.

"The essay was very well written, Audrey. Your prose is among the most sophisticated in the class. But the arguments were unfocused, nothing like your previous papers."

Audrey nodded. "Yeah. I was kind of distracted when I wrote it." "It was a tough topic, and this was a tough week," Jay said, his brown eyes steady on her. "It's hard to lose a classmate—or, in my case, a student."