AnOther Alice: A Novel (Undergoing Editing)

Chapter 08

At seven-thirty on Monday morning, Mark Woodbury strode into his personal office in Greenwald college, set down his travel mug and leather messenger bag and turned on his work desktop. While the computer booted up, he took a seat, drinking occasionally from his black tea. Taking another crack at his student's latest assignments, Woodbury double-checked his revisions, making sure that graded them all.

There was a knock on his door. Classes weren't supposed to begin for another hour, but Woodbury was no stranger when it came to early birds—in fact he expected them, mostly curious students too inquisitive about their scores.

"Come in," he said.

A young woman with long dark hair stepped into his office, towards his desk. It was Alice Gordon, cradling a transparent folder that contained a few visible sheets of printing paper.

"Morning, Mr. Woodbury." said the Other-Alice.

"Good morning, Ms. Gordon. I take it that your weekend went well. How's your brother?"

She raised an eyebrow. "My brother?"

Woodbury stopped skimming through papers and looked up at the Other-Alice, who seemed a bit lost about what he said. He kept his thoughts to himself. For now.

"Yeah, you know," Woodbury said, a small smile appearing on his full lips. "Your twin brother, Adrian."

The moment he said twin, it was like a switch had been flipped. The doubt in her eyes melted away, and she beamed with newfound radiance.

"He's fine and our weekend was great," said the Other-Alice. "Speaking of which, I mostly spent it focusing on this."

The Other-Alice glanced down, motioning with her eyes at the folder in her arms.

"Is that for the contest?" he asked. "Did you write another one?"

She tilted her head to the side, again unsure of what he was referring to. "Another one?"

Woodbury opened a drawer and began pulling out a stack of folders. She laid them out on his desk and he sifted through several before picking out a black folder, one adorned with graphic art stickers and the name ALICE G. written in glittery gold pen ink.

"This one," said Woodbury. "You handed it to me Friday, remember? It was right after that last period of the day."

"Oh, is that right?" The Other-Alice said. "Silly me, I completely forgot about that."

He studied her expression, the hurt look in her face intermingled with other emotions in her chestnut eyes that he couldn't place. The Other-Alice reached out to collect her submission. "You know what, it's more than fine."

"Are you sure? I mean, I wouldn't mind swapping out this one," said the Other-Alice. "With that other one."

Woodbury grabbed hold of the folder's end. "There's no rule about how many stories per student. Contests like these give you the chance to test out the different voices."

He tried to pull the folder closer, but the other-Alice's hold on it proved too strong. Something was off. She wasn't herself.

She must really want to use this version instead, Woodbury thought.

When he tugged it again, this time a little harder, the other-Alice's hold tightened. "But I have a strong feeling about this one." She pulled it back, her strength out-matching the teacher's. "I thought this plotline would be better, which is why I wrote another story."

"All the more reason to submit more than one, Ms. Gordon. Sometimes one's over-confidence, especially that of a young writer, can produce less than favorable results. Can you guess the amount of rejection I received when I was your age?"