𝐁𝐞 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐀𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐎𝐟 𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 || 𝐍𝐞𝐢𝐥 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐲

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞

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"WHY is the word 'dick' written on your book?"

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GRAPES OF WRATH, ROMEO AND JULIET, THE GREAT GATSBY. All were books that the children at Welton Academy were forced to read. From Shakespeare to F. Scott Fitzgerald their works were highly praised by the English department and despised by the students. Will in no way enjoyed reading about a rich white man idealizing about the one thing that he could not have. Nor did enjoy reading about two lovers torn apart by death when it could have easily been avoided. She despised the curriculum pushed upon her and her peers. A novel should be chosen by the reader. A novel should not be forced upon the reader. Though the girl would never admit it, her animosity towards the subject sparked in the fifth grade when she was sent home after engaging in an argument with her teacher about the validity of Peter Pan being a heroic figure. In the young girl's opinion the boy in the forest green tight tights ripped children away from their families and prevented them from experiencing life. In Will's opinion you cannot postpone the future simply because you are afraid of it. Her teacher was less than content with her opinion. Ever since that day Will had focused on mathematics and science rather than English and literature.

The students of Welton entered the classroom, the room not seeming different than any of the others throughout the building. Dozens of small wooden desks were lined up in four rows. Three windows provided light to the room, the midday sunlight draping across floor like a carpet and coloring the room in a pale yellow. From the wall hangs images in frames of famous authors and poets such as Whitman, Frost, and Wilde. One by one people take their seats at their respective desks, quietly conversing about whatever they please. Will took her place beside the window, Moby Dick open in front of her with the pages split down the middle. The words of Herman Melville flowed off of the page like the waves that the whale swam in. Behind her sat Neil, the boy scribbling down onto a scrap piece of paper with a pencil that was left behind. He crumpled up the page on which he had written and carefully tossed it forward, making sure that the paper did not land on another desk. Will's eyes were drawn to the piece of paper that just arrived beside her book. She glanced around, stopping when she saw a grinning Neil. He gestured to the page in her hand, eyes filled with excitement. Will audibly sighed and opened up the paper, her eyes scanning across the sentences written in charcoal.

'Everyone is using one of our two days off to head to town, you in?'

'Yes or no?'

Will stared at the offer, contemplating her next move. The girl stealthily grabbed a pencil off of Cameron's desk without his knowledge and circled her answer. She crumpled the page back up into a ball and threw it behind her to Neil, smirking when it hit him in the head. Without hesitation Neil read the response, grinning when he saw a circle around 'yes'.