Rival

"What makes you think all population of girls are like Hanna?" -Hyori

Bom’s POV

                “My name is Mr. Costa,” the guy introduced himself, “and I will be your English teacher for the semester.”

                He was tall, tanned and…hot. His face was slightly radiant with a haughty smile. His hair was nicely cut with a slight wave around the edges. His eyes were bright green, and it seems as though even his eyes were smiling.

                Hyori and I looked at each other with our eyebrows raised. We were sitting together, obviously, with Gin and Jung-woo right behind us.

                Someone raised their hand asked, “Where are you from, Mr. Costa?”

                “I am from Italy,” he gave a dashing smile, “has anyone every traveled to Italy before?”

                No one raised there hand up and the teacher seemed mildly disappointed.

                “Ah, well,” he shrugged, “let me introduce myself. I am Mr. Costa...as I said before. I am from Sicily, and I love the sea. I am fluent in English and am hoping you guys will enjoy this English class very much. We will mainly be focusing on speaking and…reading, understanding literature, that sort of thing. But since it is your graduating year and I’m not a mean teacher, I’ll make this class quite easy for everyone.”

                Gin looked positively delighted.

                “Can you say something in Italian?” someone interrupted him.

                “L'italia è un paese meraviglioso,” he smiled, “but for now let us study the magnificent subject – English.” (Italy is a wonderful country)

                The students nodded sort of in awe. Hanna was in our class as well and I was sure by the way she was staring at Mr. Costa; her favorite subject suddenly became English.

                “Right, so what are some of the best classics you’ve read in your spare time…or at school?” Mr. Costa asked.

                It seemed as though no one really had any good opinions on classics.

               “Uh…let me list a few for you guys…” he said, “…I’m sure all of you read…uh…Animal farm, that’s an important book, Wuthering heights…Great Expectations, Catcher in the rye. Oh there is also To kill a Mockingbird, Great Gatsby, Heart of Darkness, and Lord of the flies!”

                The class was silent. Hyori was silently nodding as if she was approving his selection of books.

                “Can someone tell me why people enjoy these books?” Mr. Costa asked, his eyebrows burrowing in question, “why they are so important and significant to us?”

                Everyone looked sideways too each other, unable to answer. Gin seemed flabbergasted on why people would even bother reading them.

                “Okay…” Mr. Costa gave us a dramatic exasperated sigh that made a few of us laugh, “why do you read Shakespeare?”

                “Why do you read Shakespeare?” Gin asked out loud, that made some more people laugh.

                Mr. Costa gave a gleeful smile, “great question…Soo-yung, right? Okay, here’s another question, who is Shakespeare?”