Otherworld: A Son of Two Realms

Chapter 4: "The Best Book Ever"

"Thank you again, Melissa," Mrs. Crill said. "Let's switch gears a little and talk about Marcus Ward. Who can tell us what made him so extraordinary? You've been unusually quiet, Jack."

The whole world seemed to go silent as Jack met Mrs. Crill's encouraging eyes. What could he say about Marcus Ward?

He was a maniacal author whose writing process was, at best, obsessive and, at worst, torturous.

He made life hell for everyone who tried to work with him and drove away every friend he ever had.

He cared more about the make-believe realm of Guildron than he did about his own son.

But as the silent seconds ticked by, Jack strung together an answer if only to make Mrs. Crill move on to the next student. "Marcus Ward introduced lots of new elements and archetypes to the fantasy genre which are still impacting authors today."

"Excellent," Mrs. Crill nodded. "Now, by a show of hands, who thinks that Marcus Ward is a better writer than Tolkien?"

Nearly every hand went up and Jack raised his as well, if only to blend in with the class. He had an ongoing bet with himself for how long he could go without someone bringing up his father's masterpiece. He had been approaching the record of three weeks, but now would have to start all over.

"Does anyone think Tolkien is better?"

Out of his peripheral vision, Jack only saw one red-haired girl raise her hand.

"Excellent," Mrs. Crill said, "Kate, what's your reasoning here?"

Jack paused in his wallowing, focusing his ears without looking over.

"I've never been as big a WOTR fan as everyone else," Kate said.

Jack's interest was officially piqued. Gorgeous, funny, and not a fan of his father?

"Maybe it's because I just read it last year and everyone else grew up on it. I'm not saying its a terrible book but maybe nostalgia is clouding everyone's judgement. I mean, when I was little, I thought The Fox and the Hound was the greatest movie ever made."

Across the room, Kevin scoffed loudly. "That's stupid. Tolkien is so boring compared to Ward."

Mrs. Crill pointed to a sign behind her desk. "Kevin, what does Albert Einstein say about opinions?"

Kevin slinked back in his chair, reciting the quote without even reading it. "'Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment.'"

"And are you smarter than Albert Einstein?"

"No, ma'am," Kevin mumbled.

"Kate has just touched on a fascinating point that segues nicely into your assignment for this week." Mrs. Crill tapped a key on her computer and the smart board's projector hummed to life. "I want you to pair up and each take either Lord of the Rings or War of the Roads. Think about how your own nostalgia has colored your opinions of these works, find some citations to back up your views, and present to the class on Friday. You can take the rest of the period to find a partner and get to work."

The class broke into a cloud of loud whispers as students turned to one another and began pairing off. Jack sat quietly next to Kate, his eyes trained on his notebook, trying to think of the smoothest way to ask her. He didn't want to jump in with "Hey, let's partner up!" and scare her off but he also didn't want to come at it with "Well, I guess we can work together" and make her think he was slumming. Somewhere in the middle was good–

"Well?" Kate said.

"Huh?" Jack said, the word sounding less smooth than he had hoped.

"You're going to ask me, aren't you?"

Jack opened his mouth before his mind figured out what to say. Back in Denver, where everyone had known who he was, talking to girls had never been a problem. In fact, they had done most of the talking. But here, where he was nobody, he felt completely out of his league. "Sorry, I'm not very good at this."

"It's not hard," Kate said, trying to keep a smile off her face. "Ask me if I have a partner yet."

"This is embarrassing."

"It's only embarrassing if it doesn't work."

"Do you have a partner?"

Kate put a hand on her chest. "Me? Why I don't have anyone to work with."

"Would you like to work with me?"

"I suppose," Kate said with a shrug. "See, that wasn't too embarrassing."

"Yeah, I'm sure you'll never remind me of this ever again."

"So, partner, which epic fantasy series would you like to–"

"Lord of the Rings!"

Kate lifted an eyebrow. "I thought you were a fan of Marcus Ward."

Jack leaned in, enticing Kate to do the same. "I lied. Honestly, I can't stand him. Between us, he can come off as a little full of himself."

"No," Kate said with a fake gasp. "Don't let Kevin hear you say that. He might scoff again. Fine, I'll take Ward. I just wish everyone in here wasn't such a WOTR fanatic."

"Oh, one other thing. If we're going to work together, I have some ground rules. Well, really just one rule."

"Yeah?"

"Don't ever, under any future circumstance, use the term WOTR."

Kate couldn't hold back a laugh that wrinkled her nose in the cutest way. "Deal."