Valhalla High (A Magnus Chase Fanfic)

Words Are Power

      I didn't know anyone in my American Sign Language class. I had spent the previous hour in Learning Lab watching Doctor Who and I was starting to feel like the Doctor whenever one of his companions parted. The teacher greeted us with their hands along with their voice. "My name is Vidar Valli and I will be teaching your Introductory to ASL class."

He didn't sit behind a desk, but instead at the front of the classroom, so that we could all see the signs he made. His voice was commandingly soft. He spoke plainly and matter-of-factly like a judge dealing out sentences. When one of the students hurled insults at him, he remained calm. It was like he knew they'd end up doing badly in his class and he had no need or desire to rub it in.

In the end, Vidar was the only one who assigned us homework (I should hardly count getting a syllabus signed as difficult; it's easy enough to forge your parent's handwriting if needed). "I will be giving you homework every night," he told us. "The only way to learn a language is to immerse yourself in it. You will be doing that by watching the assigned videos on Canvas and practicing the signs you learn from them. Every Monday, there will be a pop quiz, so come prepared."

As the bell rang that let us out of not only this class, but school for the day, I heard many grumbles. "I'm switching to French," one student complained.

"Me too," another student agreed. "I'd rather pretend to not know how to play basketball than this."

I strode past them and waited outside for my mother's car. I heard my phone vibrate and I took out my phone. My mother had texted me, saying she was running late from work. My mother was a park ranger for the National Park Services and someone had gotten lost on the trail.

     I did what my advised and went over to the library to hang out. The library had been one of my refuges since as long as I can remember. One of my earliest memories was my mother taking me to get my library card when I was four. The first book I checked out was The Giving Tree; I still hate the main character as much as I did back then.

     I grabbed a snack from the library coffee shop and sat down to work on some homework. The library offered WiFi and I used my school-issued Chromebook to follow along the two Canvas videos for Vidar's class. When I was done, I closed the lid of my laptop, stowed it back into my backpack, and decided to look for some books. That's when I bumped into Alex.

     I was totally caught off guard and sputtered an apology. Alex offered me a smile. "Why do you look so tense? I'm not going to decapitate you or anything."

    "Right, really reassuring," I replied.

Alex laughed. "See you later, Maggie."

Maggie? Had Alex just given me a nickname? It took me a few moments to recollect myself. I checked out the the new YA novels. There was a new Maximus Chaos and the Gods of Asgard book, which I checked out along with a few science fiction books that I wanted to reread. I checked my phone. My mother said she'd be at the library in about half an hour.

I decided to pass some time by reading the Maximus Chaos book. I found a cushy armchair to relax in and opened up the book. I was just reading about Maximus meeting his cousin Annabelle and her boyfriend Peter when my phone vibrated; my mom was here.

It was past six already and my mother looked tired as I clambered into the car, but her face brightened as she caught sight of me. "How was your first day of school?"

"Okay," I said. "No one has been really mean and it seems like my classes will be challenging."

My mother started backing the car up. "That's good to hear. You've always been a smart boy. You know, your uncle Randolph got into Harvard, but I think you could do even better: you could probably get some pretty good scholarships."

I shrugged. "I dunno if I want to go to Harvard; I'm not really into law."

My mother signaled and turned the car onto the street. "Then, you don't have to go there."

I lived with just my mother and I knew she'd been saving money for college, but we weren't rich. "I'll help you fill out the Fafsa on October 1st," my mother added.

The idea of going to college was both nerve-wrecking and exciting. I didn't really know what I wanted to study yet, but I hoped that college would give me a chance to start over. All my life, I had been told it gets better as you get older.

In elementary school, I was told kids would be more mature in middle school; "they wouldn't tease me about my asthma," the teachers insisted. In middle school, the bullying got worse. When a rumor that I was gay circulated around the school, I found myself shunned; even some of the teachers joined in. Again, I was told it would get better in high school.

If anything, high school was worse. I was picked on at my first school because I didn't fit in with the "cool crowd." I stood up to a bully named Surt and he turned my life into living Helheim. My mother talked to my teachers and the principal several times, but none of them did much to stop Surt from beating me up. He did it when he was off school grounds, so they always claimed they couldn't punish him.

The worst bully I had ever encountered was a guy at my last school named Ratatosk. He lived for drama, always spreading rumors and sowing discord among friends. The worst part was that I couldn't stand up to him because everything he said about me, I already told myself. I just hoped that whatever college was, it would be better than high school.