The Twilight Twenty-Five
thetwilight25 dot com
Prompt: Banned
Main Character: Bella
Rating: T
Word Count: 446

In English, Dr. Greene hands out eighteen battered copies of Orlando and tells us to settle down. The module we're starting is "Language and Gender," and along with Orlando, we're supposed to study Shakespeare's Twelfth Night; the film, Elizabeth; and a handful of other texts we have to find ourselves.

I flip past all the introductory waffle and read the first sentence. Then re-read it, just to make sure I did just read something about a guy beating up on a severed head. My thumb marking the page, I flip the book back over and scan the blurb. The guy can change genders? I'm equal parts intrigued and intimidated, and again I wonder if I shouldn't have just stuck to Advanced. Victoria talked me into taking this class. "You'll be fine," she'd promised. "And you can always drop it."

"All right. That's enough, Year 11."

The girlish chatter fades, and I look up at Dr. Greene. She's tiny, several centimetres shorter than me, and today her headscarf is a vibrant turquoise. She always looks so enthusiastic when she comes to class—like she can't wait to teach each lesson. I've only had her for two weeks, but I can already see why Vic was so stoked when we heard she'd be taking Extension 1. She had "the Doc" in Year 9 and reckons she's an excellent teacher.

"So," Dr. Greene says, "has anyone read any Woolf?"

Beside me, Vic nods, and so do two girls sitting in the front row. I'm still learning names, but I'm pretty sure the blonde is Jessica, the dark haired girl is Lijuan.

"Have any of you three read this?" Dr. Greene holds up her copy of Orlando, with its rainbow of sticky flags poking from between the pages. The girls all shake their heads.

"Okay. Now… Yes, Victoria?"

Vic's hand is in the air, and I know that look in her eyes. It's that same look of barely held back laughter she wore last period when she asked Mr. Molina how black holes were formed. "Was this book banned, Doc?"

"Victoria." Dr. Greene's stern voice doesn't match her proud smile. "Would I ever set you a text that hadn't been banned by someone, at some point?"

Most of the girls laugh quietly, but Vic looks a little disappointed when Dr. Greene tells us to open up to page one. Mr. Molina had taken Vic's bait, talking about black holes and wormholes and antimatter for so long that we hadn't even opened our Physics textbooks before the bell rang.

"Isabella," Dr. Greene says, "would you start reading, please?"

I nod and try to swallow my nerves. "Uh, yeah. Sure."

Thanks for reading. You guys are fab. Shell x