Something's Wrong With the Different Realms

One: Writing Project

Jasper Jennings

I am bored. I am bored. I am very bored. I don't know what to write. What should I write? I have no idea.

Yesterday, my creative writing class, which I had only signed up for because I thought that it would be an easy class, assigned me an impossible task. You see, you had to write an entire 50-120k manuscript by the end of May. It was currently early February. Oh, and it was worth 50% of your grade as well. That seemed fun!

When Ms. Valance first introduced the project, I started cackling because I thought she was joking. That had earned me a death glare. She was serious about it. She went on and on about how great this project was. And how it allowed students to express their creativity, whatever that meant.

After her little speech, Ms. Valance told us to find a group of 3-4 people to write the book with. At least that was a relief. It meant that my workload was reduced.

I ended up being paired with Isla Venus. We were the only two people left without a partner. None of my friends were in my creative writing class with me. Fortunately, Ms. Valance eased up on our word count because there were only two of us.

I didn't know Isla well. All I knew was that she was nice to everyone, smart, wrote a lot, was usually quiet, and tended to wear a scowl on her face. She was an average-looking high school student, like me. She had narrow, monolid dark brown-back eyes. Rounded glasses and metallic braces. Cropped raven black hair with the tips dyed a bright, vivid green color. Chubby cheeks with bumps of acne. She was short and the day I was paired with her she wore a Pink Floyd shirt with black jeans.

I approached Isla like the awkward teenager that I was. "Hi," I said.

"Hello," Isla replied, smiling a tight-lipped smile. "What type of book should we write?"

"I don't know," I pondered for a moment.

"I don't know... science fiction?" Isla raised a thick eyebrow.

"I think everyone is doing that. Besides, with the world-building that comes with it, it might be too hard to do."

"Oh," it was Isla's turn to ponder, "that makes sense."

We both thought for a while in silence.

"What about romance?" I suggested.

Isla cackled. "Bro, I'm aro ace. I do like reading romance but... I'd rather not write one. I'd rather write a book that has an aro ace main character that's like me. One that's also you know, half-Black and half-Chinese. That probably wouldn't be possible with a romance novel."

I smiled at that. It was nice to be paired with someone who was also part of the LGBTQ+ community. I thought about what Isla said for a moment. About wanting the main character to be like her. There probably weren't many book characters like Isla so it would be nice for her to write a character like her. Then, an idea sprung on me.

"What is it? Why are you smiling?" Isla asked. "Did you come up with an idea?"

"Yeah," I nodded, lowering my voice to a whisper, "I did."

"Why are you whispering?" Isla whispered back.

"Because if we're going with this idea, then I'll have to tell you a secret."

"Okay. I'm good at keeping secrets. Don't worry. What's the idea?" Isla raised her voice to the normal volume.

I raised my voice as well. "Let's write a book based on ourselves and what's happening in our lives."

"Really? Aren't our lives kind of too boring?"

"Don't worry, I know we're not like the teens you see in the media but we'll change some things including the name of our characters, to make it more interesting."