Survival Of The Fittest

You couldn't bullshit a bullshitter, and Paulo was smelling Harry's clearly.  However, he was all too happy to get the chance to fake input and act like he knew what he was talking about, if only to get Collins off his galo for a chunk of class.  He was about to fake a flu and "go the nurse's office" soon, anyway.  He was through here.

Paulo shrugged at Harry's inquisition of the class.  "Well, it's a Russian book, right?  Nothing never goes nowhere good for people in 'em."  He said, getting a small chuckle from some of the other students toward the back.  That much Paulo knew.  He didn't read much literature, but it always seemed to come up that Russian books were just about people getting fucked, and not in the good way.

After he spoke, Paulo gave a slight grunt and faked a pained expression.  Collins was eyeing him, which was good.  He wanted to sell this good.  Then he could hang out in the nurse's office for an hour and "get better".

Owen settled in to his new spot, now it seemed that theymight get to the good part. Rachel brought up the subject of trains and how they were symbolic of progress in Anna Karenina. Now Harry was trying to join in the discussion, he'd chosen to elaborate on trains more. When he stopped he invited everyone to voice their opinions and soon Paulo was speaking.

Well, it's a Russian book, right? Nothing never goes nowhere good for people in 'em.

Owen could hear some chuckles in the class, and he could say that he did not entirely agree. Now he would have to add to the conversation, hopefully steering it past the train symbolism.

"I'd have to disagree with you Paulo." He kept a straight and serious face "If you recall it was mentioned earlier that Levin and Kitty are able to develop from the hardships that they experienced. While characters like Anna were impacted negatively, and it all starts and ends at the train station for her. Anna's struggle begins because of that event; she sees herself in a loveless marriage and resents her husband, finding in Vronsky something that her current relationship lacked. Vrosnky set in motion the events to her eventual demise, soon the social pressure and the world around her became too much for her, she couldn't handle the way her life changed and so it ended the way it started, with trains."

He chose to stop there, better keep it brief as this was an activity that everyone should be participating in. He wished to focus more on Anna and existentialism but maybe that was for another class. Everyone seemed content to talk about trains for the past few minutes. His mind began to wander a little and he thought that perhaps he'd speak to Harry Hanley once class was over, maybe he would have something interesting to purchase.

Rachael sat quietly as she listened to the responses of everyone around her. Harry suggested that since the trains represent progress that it's a sign of progress being bad since bad things happened at train stations. Neat point, but he would definitely have to find support for that.

Paulo then made a joke about the Russians always having bad things happen to them. Rachael smirked, but didn't dwell to much, because the bad things that happened to Russia included bloody revolution, a near total wipeout of the peasant class, and the threat of mutually assured destruction, so Rachael didn't find it that funny.

Owen chimed in about how the trains only meant bad things for Anna because she couldn't handle the progress of the times. That was a good point, especially since it built off her own. Still, it made Rachael somewhat nervous, since this seemed to be another part of Owen and Paulo's antagonistic relationship, something she feels she might have made worse by telling Paulo the key themes and motifs of Anna Karenina when Owen was trying to trick him.

"Alright, next question," interjected Mr. Collins.

Rachael sat quietly as the seminar continued. Mr. Collins would keep asking new questions about the book, and waited to hear what the class thought. They discussed the symbolism of Frou-Frou the horse, the naming conventions of the story, the importance of the agricultural scenes, and even the purpose of the child characters like Seryozha and Annie. Rachael would speak during some of these questions, but she tried to keep it short and simple. She felt like her statement back at the train question was good for class credit, and so if she simply spoke up a few other times, she would be good for the rest of the Socratic Seminar.

"Last question guys," said Mr. Collins as he reached the last question on his question sheet. "What is the meaning of Levin's story in comparison to Anna's? Why did Tolstoy choose to intertwine their stories even though they only share one scene together?"

Oh boy, the big question. The question that defines the whole book.

Okay, Anna's tale was a criticism of the gender conventions and double standards of 19th century Russia. Levin's was a contrast of country life to the city life of Anna. Well, there's the obvious fact that one is about the destruction of one person while the other is the rebirth of another. I should build off that. Let me latch on to someone's statement.

One of Rachael's classmates mentioned that the two stories was to present a contrast of ideals. Rachael decided to add her own idea.

"Well, I always saw the use of Anna and Levin's stories as a way to present two different lifestyles while still staying relevant to the time the novel was set in. Anna's life is the glamorous city life of balls, fine dining, and traveling. Levin's is a simpler life where finding mushrooms is a good present to give your wife after a day of reaping. The stories are two looks at the classes in Russia, while showing positives and negatives of their lives."

Yes! Good statement Rachael. That should be good for the rest of the lecture, so let me see what others say.

((OOC: xylophonefairy, it's fine if you don't know the novel, it all depends on how much Harry should know. Also, I skipped ahead in the seminar simply because it feels like this might get tedious if we have to keep repeating character actions for different questions. Fill in the time skip as you please, but the present moment is after Rachael spoke.))

Daniel was practically in a panic by the time the seminar was drawing to a close. At this rate, he'd get a big, fat, malevolent zero as his grade for the day. Sure, it wasn't like he was in any danger of failing, especially from what he hoped was just a minor thing, it was a matter of pride. English is the class. If you don't have English, then what are you? A miserable pile of secrets, that's what.

Maybe that quote was wrong. He didn't go on the internet often, so any and all memes were usually absorbed from Michael. Wait, why should he even care about the correctness of his internal monologue? It's not like anyone would know. Except for mind readers, if they existed. He wasn't about to discount the possibility of oh crap we've got like five minutes left say something you idiot-

Rachael was saying something. It had officially become the time to grasp at straws, hopefully there was something to hold on to here.

Well, I always saw the use of Anna and Levin's stories as a way to present two different lifestyles while still staying relevant to the time the novel was set in. Anna's life is the glamorous city life of balls, fine dining, and traveling. Levin's is a simpler life where finding mushrooms is a good present to give your wife after a day of reaping. The stories are two looks at the classes in Russia, while showing positives and negatives of their lives.

Daniel mentally took a deep breath and spoke. You can do this, guy. You are the literature man of the minute. "I think that Tolstoy intertwined the stories mostly to show the contrast between the two protagonists of the book. Whereas Anna is self centered in comparison to Levin's ideal of living for God and goodness, she is still a pioneer, searching for autonomy in a male-dominated society."

Welp, too late to take it back now. If only life had a rewind button. Or save states. You don't have to be a gamer to realize the full potential of being able to create copies of the universe that you can return to at any moment in time. It'd be cool to see a book deal with that idea. Maybe there is one. He'd have to check.

((OOC: Not having Mr. Collins comment, mostly because I, also, have no idea what I am talking about, merely gleaming this mediocre analysis from Sparknotes.))

After his trains leading to train stations analogy, a bit of bullshit he was quite proud of, Harry had successfully not spoken for the rest of the class, other than a couple of witty remarks and pointless expansion that didn't add anything to the conversation. Were they going to discuss the book again? Because if so he was going to go and google it, and some intelligent analyses, and maybe ask his cousin Jenny. He had in the past bought essays off Jenny, who lived in Colorado and was good at school but less good at the social aspect of life. Mixed in with payment was always some kind of advice on her latest social dilemma.

Harry rocked back in his chair idly and glanced around for the clock. It was nearly the end of class, nearly his ticket to freedom. He'd nearly survived a class for which he hadn't read the book, and felt a strange sensation of pride, even though he knew shirking school work wasn't nevessarily something to be proud of. But he'd made nearly thousand bucks over Christmas, working all the hours he could get at the movie theatre, shovelling snow, walking the dogs of people who didn't like the cold. It had been exhausting. Harry wondered if he could pay for a better grade. Seattle was a liberal kind of place, right? He looked over at Mr Collins, and internally shook his head. The teacher didn't seem like the type to take bribes.

Fortunately, Mr Collins redeemed himself just then by saying that this one was the last question. Harry listened with fake attentiveness, then realised it was one of the many questions that had been introduced over the course of the class that couldn't be answered with one paragraph of wikipedia knowledge. And he was pretty sure he'd forgotten most of that. Fortunately, other people were able to leap off the question and make some semi sensible comments.

"Dude," Harry said softly to Daniel, who was sitting fairly near him. "I don't even know what half of those words mean!"

Paulo looked up at the clock.  There were about seven minutes left.  He'd been holding onto his "I'm feeling like merda" excuse for awhile.  It had been his great fortune that Collins hadn't called on him all class, and the other kids had minced words for a pretty good chunk of time.  

But now he was prepping for that wrapping up class shit teacher's liked to do, and Paulo's wasn't having any of that.  He grimaced again, raised his hand.  Collins nodded to him.

"I'm not feeling so well.  There's only like six minutes left.  Can I go to the nurse's office?"

Collins gave Paulo a knowing, irritated sigh, but nodded.

"Obrigado."

He leaned forward heavily on his desk, pushing himself up to his feet.  As he leaned, he got his head a little close to Rachael's ear and whispered  "Thank you for talking so much, menina.  You ain't got a body but at least you smart."

That was just the kind of charmer Paulo was.

He headed out of the class, clutching his gut to sell the fact that he wasn't feeling good.  As he hit the door, the look of illness on his face gave way to a smirk.

((Paulo Abbate continued in From Sao Paulo to Seattle))

With only a few minutes left to class Owen was anticipating the arrival of the bell. He'd done his part and contributed to the class discussion. He was fairly certain that he'd filled his criteria of work for the day and wasn't planning on going any further.  What's the point if the bell was going to ring so soon anyway? He figured, plus he wasn't incredibly fond of class discussions or Anna Karenina.

Paulo chose to leave early; he claimed that he was sick. Owen rolled his eyes, and watched as he made an exaggerated act of being ill. Now that he was gone the class atmosphere was definitely much quieter, well, at least that was Owen's opinion.

"Someone wrap this up so we can all get going." he muttered, the tone of his voice was laced with annoyance but he was sure no one had heard.

Still he wasn't going to answer, instead choosing to keep his mouth shut and shove his hands into his jacket pockets. Not much there, his keys and some money that wasn't his, the wallet that belonged to the original owner was probably lying in a gutter or bin.

He started to shake his leg in anticipation, he had things he wanted to do and Collins wasn't exactly providing the most stimulating or interesting questions. Owen planned to keep quiet for the rest of the class. There were just a few more minutes until the end of class and he figured that he might change his mind about seeing Harry, it really depended on if Harry made a dash to the door or not. He wasn't going to chase after him and he'd always be around another time.

After Rachael gave her thoughts on the intertwining of Anna and Levin's stories, Daniel spoke.

"I think that Tolstoy intertwined the stories mostly to show the contrast between the two protagonists of the book. Whereas Anna is self centered in comparison to Levin's ideal of living for God and goodness, she is still a pioneer, searching for autonomy in a male-dominated society."

Okay, that was a good response. I'm glad the Jean Valjean thing was just a sign of delirium

After a bit of chatter from other students, Paulo asked to go to the nurse.

Huh. If he was feeling ill, he should have gone earlier. Maybe it's intensified so that-

"Thank you for talking so much, menina. You ain't got a body but at least you smart."

Paulo had just leaned over to her and whispered that in her ear before he got up from his chair. Rachael simply froze.

Oh God, why did he have to say that? Does he just enjoy making me feel worse? "Ain't got a body"? Huh? Does he think I'm fat? Or is he criticizing my chest-

"Alright class, we got about three minutes left, so we better use that to get the room back together.  Please move your desks and chairs back to their proper places," announced Mr. Collins.

Rachael quickly looked up and got out of her seat before aiding her class in the rearranging of the class room.

Ain't got a body.

That line stayed in her mind as Rachael moved her desk back in place and began to pack her belongings in her bag.

"Okay class, that was very good. Some of you spoke really well, and others need to speak more," said Mr. Collins. "The test is next class, so be prepared to write about one of five essay topics on Anna Karenina."

RRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGG

"Okay class, see you next time," said Mr. Collins.

Rachael got up from her desk and made her way out of the door. She had to go to Ms. Liddell's science class next, so she quickly scurried down the halls to the Science Hall.

Alright, I did the science homework she asked, now I just better be ready to-

Ain't got a body.

Rachael sighed. This was going to be a long day.

((Rachael Langdon continued in Life is like a broken record))

After his remark failed to draw Mr. Collins' ire, Daniel sighed with relief. He was in the clear, and his grade was hopefully saved. He was somewhat more awake now, though he didn't trust himself to say anything more. He'd probably end up rambling about how Marius's relationship with Cosette was a symbol of the romanticism of the time, or whatever. Daniel didn't really trust his brain to do what it was told, at least not without strict guidance.

Dude, I don't even know what half of those words mean!

Ah. Someone was talking to him. He turned to face the source of the statement. It was Harry, someone who Daniel only really knew from class. Apparently his vocabulary was confusing. An explanation was in order. "I do tend to be overly verbose when sleep-deprived. It's a failing of mine, I suppose." Daniel whispered back. He paused for a moment, and mentally reexamined what he had just said. Whoops. "Like I am right now. Sorry."

He turned his attention back to the class. Paulo had claimed that he was sick, and was excused to the Nurse's Office. Daniel felt that it was probably legitimate. I mean, what would be the point in faking an illness just to skip about six minutes of class? Seems like a bit too much work. Not that Daniel had any experience in the matter. He had never cut class in his life, though he had occasionally considered it when math got a bit too much to wrap his head around.

Ah, math. His old foe. It lied in wait for him at the end of every day. Looming. Intimidating. Easy day at school? No homework, interesting classes? TOO BAD, FOOL! HAVE TWO DOUBLE-SIDED WORKSHEETS, BOTH DUE TOMORROW! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Of all the anthropomorphic personifications of subjects, Daniel felt that cackling madman fitted math best. You could never trust a mathematician. They'd always be counting things or, even worse, doing equations. The gall of it all.

Wait, did Paulo just whisper something in Rachael's ear? Huh. Daniel didn't think that they were friends, or anything. Of course, he wasn't exactly the one to know about other people's relationships. She looked a bit unsettled. It wasn't exactly hard to make her nervous, though. It could have been something innocuous. You were overthinking things, man.

Daniel was snapped back to reality when Mr. Collins said that it was time to bring the room back to its native state, along with announcing that there would be a quiz tomorrow. Welp, there goes tonight's plans. He'd have to review what he had read. Of course, considering that his plans consisted solely of reading, with the possibility of checking to see how Michael was doing, it wasn't that much of a loss. He sighed, starting a bit as the bell rang. Time for history.

Heh, that was kind of clever. Time for history. Anyway, he'd better be off.

[Daniel Whitten: Continued in These Dusty Shelves]

Harry helped move the tables and chairs back to their original position so that the English class looked like and English class again and not Drama. He was in two minds about things, the gratefulness that class was over combined with the fact that he was going to have to bullshit an entire essay about the damn book he hadn't read. That was much harder than bullshitting in a class discussion, at least then he could just twist around whatever Rachael said and pretend it was a whole new point. Perhaps one of the essays would be about trains and he could make his bad progress comment again. Two bullshits for the price of one. Was bullshit even a verb?

After such horrible classes as that one had been Harry sometimes found that people were more desperate to buy chocolate than normal. Fortunately he had a lot going, and as he dropped his cracked but otherwise pristine copy of Anna Karenina into his backpack there was an almost audible rustle of candy bar wrappers. Heck, Harry thought as he glanced into the bag, I could do with one of them myself!

He also thought about Paulo's escape with a degree of respect, the kid had built up to his exit, and if he weren't an actor himself, or maybe if he didn't know Paulo, he might have believed him. That would a good test of acting skills, and Harry made a mental note to try and do that sort of thing. Getting out of class would be a good thing, especially classes that coincided with other people's lunch period. If he could make his lunch quotas in someone else's lunchtime then he might actually get to eat for once.

Harry glanced round at the class, most of whom were starting to make their way out. Mr Collins swept from the classroom muttering something about coffee, and Harry took the opportunity.

"If anyone wants something to sweeten the sour taste left by Anna Karenina," Harry said smoothly, unzipping his backpack, "then I've got all the usuals! Hershey bars for sixty cents! Peanut butter cups also sixty cents! Get 'em before they go!"

((Harry Hanley continued elsewhere))

((Also, I have just realised that I have absolutely no idea how much chocolate bars cost in America or what constitutes a good deal. I'm trying to work it out from Walmart's website. They're supposed to be cheap anyway.))

Most of the students had began to depart as soon as the bell rang. Some stayed back, mostly to purchase goods from the school's best source of goods.

Good ol' Harry Hanley was always looking for opportunities to sell, unfortunately chocolate was not what Owen had in mind to purchase.  Now that Harry was busy selling to other students Owen would not inquire about goods such as alcohol, because it would be stupid to ask about it at the moment as they were still in class. The stuff that Harry had, Hershey chocolates and peanut buttercups, were not to Owen's liking as they were much too sweet. Owen would take far too long to finish a single bar of chocolate; it was just something he ate rarely and often he never actually finished them. So he would pass.

Owen picked up his book and pens. Even though he wouldn't choose to purchase from Harry that day he figured that it wouldn't hurt to wave as he left.

"Hey, Harry. I'll catch you later. Save one of those chocolates for me, okay?"

Sure, Owen didn't like the chocolates but it didn't hurt to be nice to the guy, Owen actually liked him enough, after all what he provided was a great service . After waving good bye Owen left the class behind him, eager to get on with the rest of his day.

((Owen Veveris: Continued in beauty tarnished))