Valhalla High (A Magnus Chase Fanfic)

We All Come From a Slain Giant

August 30

     Mature adults (read: me) do not laugh about stuff that aren't remotely funny in their biology class. They do not laugh as their teachers are giving a lesson unless the teacher makes a joke. Unfortunately, my class was filled with immature teenagers (read: not me) who laughed whenever Mimir said "reproduction" or "sexual selection."

     After the ninth time time the class lost it (I kept track by rallying on the upper left hand corner of my paper), Mimir gave everyone a severe look of displeasure. It was the kind of look you give someone after they've cut off your head. "What's so funny?" Mimir asked.

     Two of the guys sitting in the back, Mothi and Magni, exchanged smirks. "Hey!" Mimir said. "I saw that. Now don't go thinking I'll give you preferential treatment because your father is my coworker."

    The two adolescents' faces soured. "And don't go thinking that I'll be easy on you because you're on the football team," Mimir continued. "My bosses were never easy on me and neither were the foreign leaders I met. Why, your behavior would get you executed in some situations."

     At this point, the whole class had fallen silent. No one was laughing anymore and several people exchanged alarmed glances. I saw Alex lifting one eyebrow as if to ask me why we had to put up with this lecture; I shrugged in response.

    Mimir's voice jolted my attention back to him. "We're learning serious stuff today! I'm teaching you about evolution and how"

    A student raised their hand. "What Junior?" Mimir asked.

    "So you're teaching us how we're descended from maggots?" he asked.

    "I'm not descended from any filthy maggot!" Mothi exclaimed, while Magni nodded in agreement.

    "Nope, when the first being, a guest was killed," Junior said. "Maggots rated on his flesh evolved into us."

    "Correction, Junior," Mimir said. "You share a common ancestor with maggots. You're more like cousins than children."

    Magni folded his arms. "They're no cousins of mine," he said. "Maybe some people are descended from maggots, but not I. Why, I've seen my family tree back four generations and there are no maggots listed!"

    Now, it was I who was trying not to laugh. Mimir shrugged. "Keep that thought in your head while I lecture, so you will not bother the class the next time I say sexual selection.'"

   Magni started laughing. "What's so funny?" Mimir asked. "Are you do immature that you cannot hear scientific terms without bursting into giggles? If so, you can kiss your AP credits away, Mr. Gunderson."

    Magni stopped laughing. Mothi clenched his fist. "Don't you dare bully my brother!"

     Mimir, seeing a kid larger than him flexing his fist, paled slightly. "I only leant that this is a scientific lecture — not a comedy show."

    Samirah raised her hand and Mimir seemed only too relieved to speak with her. "What's your question, Samirah?"

    "I was wondering if you'd explain sexual selection for the benefit of my classmates," she answered.

     Mimir smiled. "I'd be honored to. It's actually on the next slide."

    He moved to the next slide. "Sexual selection is the process by which traits that make an individual more likely to reproduce are passed down by generations. Unlike natural selection, sexual selection may favor traits that may actually hamper an individual's likelihood of survival. There is a reason that Charles Darwin once said the peacock's tail discussed him. He wondered why it was evolutionary advantageous for a bird to grow and maintain such a burdensome, if beautiful, tail. Sexual selection solves this problem."

Magni raised his hand. "So you mean guys try to be hot for girls?"

Mimir bit lip lip. "Well, that's one of way of saying it, though I would've worded it differently."

"Wow, girls have a ton of power then," Magni said. "They control all of human evolution."

Mothi nodded in agreement. "So you mean that's why girls go for guys with cool shoes."

"Stop trying to justify your fight," Samirah said beside me underneath her breathe.

Alex raised his hand. "Mothi, I think you're forgetting that men have traditionally decided who women marry."

    Mimir nodded. "Which brings me to my last point: artificial selection."

    Mimir spent the rest of class educating us on the difference between natural, sexual, and artificial selection. "We'll have a pop quiz on this in two days," he said.

***

     The rest of my day went without incident and my mother picked me up at the library again. Since it was a long drive from her workplace and she often had to work overrule anyway, we had decided that the library made a good meeting place. I had also started packing a snack to eat in the afternoon since we often got home late.

    Spending time at the library went I spent less time streaming Dr Who episodes and more time on homework. Still, I liked the place. It was warm, peaceful, and the librarians didn't care if I sat in the same armchair for two or three hours (though I usually got up to use the restroom or get some water). I just had to be careful to eat my snack in the café.

   My mother's eyes were worn, but she smiled at me as I got into the car. "What happened at school?"
   
    "Nothing much," I said. "I turned in my essay for English. We started glazing our pinch pots. Some kids made a big deal about Mimir's lesson on evolution."

    "Do they not believe in it?" she asked.

     "Well, some kid thought we're all descended from maggots," I said. "A bunch of others kept laughing whenever Mimir said reproduction."

    My mother rolled her eyes. "Kids haven't really changed, have they?"

    "Unfortunately not," I groaned.

    My mother exchanged another smile with me and turned on the car radio. Her favorite station was playing Nirvana right now. She had always told me I looked sorta like Kurt Cobain — especially with my long, shaggy hair. I sure didn't have his voice, though. We sang along to the music and my mother drove home and I wondered what Mimir would make of this.