Dew raised his hand just when Clara finished her explanation. "Ma'am, what about those who never read any kind of literature at all?"
She gave a wide grin to Dew as she spoke, "Oh my, Dew, wasn't it? Are you talking about yourself right now?"
Dew slowly nodded to affirm her thoughts. Clara clasped her hands together enthusiastically as she continued, "If you never have read any," her expression changed almost immediately, and took a 180 degrees flip, "go read some you PATHETIC LITTLE BRAT!"
The entire classroom was caught in a laughing fit as Dew awkwardly sat down, scratching his head.
"So then, if some more are in the same group as him, you could take up some suggestions from your parents, your friends beside you, or even come to me. I can help you with books if you want. So read some and do the assignment right. You could also go to the library, though I think you are yet to be issued with a library card. So for now, do whatever it takes. And also, after summarizing, we would call you up here one by one to present your writings." She wiped up the board behind her, and proceeded with the class, as the clock ticked by.
After their homeroom ended, Dew bent towards the girls in front of him. "Hey hey, you guys read literature? Ever?"
Emma gave him a disgusted look, "Who doesn't in this age Dew? Tell me one thing, how do you pass your free times?"
Dew pondered for a while and then replied, "Football, cricket and if there any time left after taking rest, then sleeping, I guess."
Hazel sighed helplessly. "Tsk tsk, no wonder you are such a dumbo. At least you should read one book, you know. Only playing and reading textbooks is not going to help you even an inch. Right Airi?"
Airi was thinking about something too deeply, so when Hazel called upon her, she jumped out of her daze. "Huh?"
"Oh my god, where were you Airi? Don't say, you are in my group too!" Dew got excited with the anticipation. At least to have someone cool and smart as Airi, the same as him, makes him less embarrassing.
Airi cocked her head aside, as she looked at Dew. "By your group, you mean, the dumbo, non-reader ones?"
"Pfft!" Emma and Hazel burst out by the way Airi stated that. "Dew, you just got knocked out in the worst way possible! Ahahaha!"
Dew swatted his hands to hide his embarrassment. "Yeah, yeah, you all are so great. Then save this dummy too. Suggest me something to read."
Airi's eyes brightened up at the mention of suggesting a book. "What genre do you like? Fictions? Fantasy? Romance? Tragedy? What kind? I can suggest some according to it."
Emma grabbed both of her hands, staring into her eyes. "Oh God, you got this bright look on your eyes. Look at the shine!" Hazel noticed it too. "Yeah Airi, you seem like a completely different person right now."
Airi got startled by Hazel's words. She hurriedly composed herself to a calm look, but soon enough that was replaced with a guilty look. "Is that embarrassing? Is that disappointing?"
"Of course not!" Three of them shouted it together, making Airi's embarrassment completely disappear.
The four of them laughed at how stupidly giddy they were being.
"So then, where's my book to the rescue?"
"Hum, are you good with anything?" Airi honestly wanted to give him something he would truly enjoy.
"I guess I should be, as long as it is not some kind of spooky stuff, or anything horror."
Suddenly, an idea struck in her head, she looked at Hazel with a mischievous grin on her face. And probably Hazel got it too, as she nodded in confirmation.
"Then there's just a perfect one for you. Bram Stoker's Dracula."
Dew became a bit doubtful upon hearing the name, "Dracula? It sounds a bit…"
"Oh, definitely not Dew. it's just the name of the character in it, that's all," Hazel interrupted Dew in his words. "I'm sure you'd love it, I did too."
"Yeah, there is no way I would deliberately suggest you something you would feel uncomfortable with," Airi added back to reassure him.
Dew somehow got convinced. "O...kay. If both of you say so. Then I will have to ask you to lend it to me, Airi."
"Sure, sure, I'll bring it tomorrow for you." Just then, Emma nudged at Hazel by her elbow, "Hey Hazel, you two look suspiciously and weirdly happy about it. What's this book about?"
"You'll see soon, just hold on," Hazel whispered back to her while anticipating the expression they are going to get from him.
------
After having classes all day long, their lunch break started.
"Hey girls, I am going to go to the canteen, want to tag along?" Dew asked from his seat.
Both Hazel and Emma agreed to go, but Airi had some other plans, so she refused to go with them.
On the other side, in her office, Clara was tending to some documents. Suddenly she stopped by the sound of a faint knock on the door. "Yes, come in," she responded without even looking at the door. After the sound of the door opening, followed by a closing, she heard a young girl's voice speaking up, "It's lunchtime already Ma'am, aren't you going to have lunch?"
Clara looked up to see the owner of the voice, and she was rather brightened up seeing Airi standing in front of her. "If it isn't our little jasmine. Sit down, sit down."
Airi took a seat, with a beaming look on her face. "You remembered my name?"
"Of course I did. Not everyone got jasmine on them, and it's hard to ignore such a pretty bright thing."
Clara tidied up her documents, kept them aside from her table, and turned towards her student. "So what's wrong, not having lunch either?"
"I had something to talk to you about, so I had my lunch as fast as I could." Airi
paused for a while before she asked out, "Is it okay to talk now?"
"Sure, I've told you anytime is fine," Clara reassured her with a smile. "What is it?"
"It's about the assignment this morning."
"Oh, you must be wondering why a P.E. teacher giving out literature assignments? Well, it's something every homeroom has to do the first thing of the semester, and I can't possibly make you newbies run on the ground like your life is depending on it. Sports should be something fun, not for scores."
"I see, that's why." Airi nodded, understanding the objective in her mind. "Well, Ma'am, that's not the only thing I wanted to ask about."
"Something else? Okay, I'm all ears."
Airi shifted a bit in her position to make herself a bit comfortable. "Ma'am, what if we choose someone more recent than someone classic?"
"You mean about the assignment?" Clara asked back. "Who do you have in mind?"
"Nicholas Sparks," Airi spoke up.
"Nicholas Sparks huh... hum, yeah, he is recent, like really recent," Clara tilted her head to the left, as she seemed to recall about it.
"Yes, he is. His very first work was published a few months ago, named…"
"THE NOTEBOOK!" Both of them shouted out at the same time. And the bright light in Clara's eyes while saying it, didn't escape Airi's eyes.
"You do know about him, Ma'am!" Airi became excited to find someone knowing about her favorite author.
"Of course, I do. He is indeed new but his writing is so beautiful. The way he describes the feelings and emotions of the characters is way too good."
Airi frantically nodded her head up and down, like a little chicken pecking on food from the ground. "Totally, right? His love stories sure give a different feel."
Then all of a sudden, Airi put her hands over her mouth to shut herself up. She slowly, guiltily, said in a muffled voice, "Guess I shouldn't have said about reading romance novels to a teacher out of all people." At that time, students reading romance novels or poems was still a bit of a taboo. Even her mother nagged her a lot about reading those.
'Eeek! That was a bad slip-off!'
"But you already did, little jasmine." Clara couldn't stop smiling seeing the innocence in her. "Well, that is surely something you never should've done, hum? But I am going to be kind and forgive you if you answer me something honestly."
Airi guiltily bobbed her head, ready to face anything that comes ahead.
"So, why do you read romance novels?" Clara asked the first question, while not showing the fun she was having on her face.
"Because it is my favorite genre. And also I know the least about romance and love, so I desire to know more about it."
The way Airi answered piqued interest in Ms. Clara's mind. "Care to fill me in?"
"Umm, the thing is, I do know there are so many kinds of love in the world, like Familial love, love for siblings, cousins, love for that old grandma who always blesses us back if we help them, love for classmates and teachers. And that goes on. But all of these are bound to an event or a relationship, or some kind of exchange between them."
Airi had a tiny bit of hesitant tone in her voice, but yet she voiced out what was in her mind open to her teacher. Thus she added, "where, a love for a stranger, is rather, have no roots. Nothing to relate, nothing to give and take. So, what are the drives behind them, I wanted to know that really bad, I wanted to find that. I'm still trying to, but while searching for it, I fell in love with how they depict those stories and the way they narrate every inch of it, every emotion behind it."
Airi looked at Clara to figure out her reaction upon hearing her answer, and when she saw her teacher didn't show any kind of displeased look on her face, she sighed in relief inwardly. But in the same time, she couldn't even detect anything that could be positive to her, in Clara's expression. So she felt a tiny bit tensed as well.