Transient

Compromise

"Do you think any of these authors were actually thinking of all these symbols when writing this stuff? Like, it's gotta be hard enough to write a whole novel, do you really think they were mapping out all these extra symbolism and metaphors every other damn page?"

"Penny-"

"Like the whole foreshadowing thing? I mean, most everything in life comes back round full circle anyway, i really don't think half these techniques the teacher pulls up are intentional. Maybe the author just wanted to write a simple story about a man trying to change his crappy life, i'm sure the "dim light at the end of his street" doesn't really mean renewed hope or faith. It was just a dim light at the end of his street when he looked out the window you know?"

"Penny that's not-"

"And why do teachers praise these sort of stuff so much? Does it make it a good book if you're having to read between the lines to find all this abstract imagery just to understand what in the hell is going on? Surely it's a good book if you can relate or it makes you feel something...i don't feel anything when these damn guy won't stop going on about lights and shadows out of his apartment window."

"Penny." Mina sighed finally. "We really don't need to think that much into it. The assignment is about representations of rebirth, it doesn't matter if they were intentional or not, it's just how much we can recognize from what's already been established."

Penny rolled her eyes. "How does that help us? Shouldn't learning be about picking things apart and asking more questions?This is just...spoon feeding us the answers."

Mina blinked. They had been in the library for the past half an hour and had made little head way, Penny questioning the validity of every literary technique Mina made note of before falling off into a tangent. Penny was smart, Mina had underestimated her. She was smart in a way in which she saw the corners and bends of what Mina saw as straight lines, smart in the way her mind was open and curious and ready to disagree. But it wasn't going to get Mina the grades she wanted if Penny continued to argue with everything an author, who had been dead for a hundred years, wrote.

Mina was growing irritable and losing patience.

"Penny, i understand this is frustrating you but i'm sorry, you're not going to be able to change anything. It's just black and white okay?"

Penny scrunched up her nose. "Well i'm just saying it shouldn't be. Life isn't black and white. We should have more options and interpretations open to us, surely that would prepare us for life more than this, like, this is the right answer, this is the wrong answer. You're either going to get one or the other."

Mina blinked. For her, it was all black and white. Do this, don't do that. Success or failure. One destination and only one way there.

"Like i said. " She spoke quietly, fingers flexing in annoyance as she shuffled with her notes. "The assignment doesn't go that deep. It's high school. I just want to give the answers the teacher is looking for to get the grades okay."

Penny shrugged, suddenly aware of Mina's strained tone. "I was just venting. It's fine. I don't want to flunk either, trust me." She offered Mina a sunshine smile, all teeth and crinkly eyes. Mina almost flinched. "I'll focus now."

"Penny!" A lilting voice called and Mina looked up, bristling instinctively when she saw Daphne, clutching books to her chest, long dark  hair pulled back, wearing a moss sweater and grey skirt, primped and put together in a different way to Mina, more mature and sophisticated, Mina feeling even more startling out of place in her girlish pastel hues and baby pink headband. Daphne's dark eyes narrowed in on them, a small smile on her lips and she walked slowly over, body languid, sliding into the spare seat with ease, propping her books on the table, elbows on the books and chin resting on the back of her hands.