Chapter 18: The Unsuspecting Student And Pedro Martinez

Sophia got up for school on Monday morning, actually looking forward to it. She was amazed. She was looking forward to her second period of the day, which was English. Today was the day they took a quiz and started discussion on their latest assignment-Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare.

This was the first time Sophia could ever remember that she had actually already read an English assignment. She had even seen a production of the play-Warren had gotten a copy of a video from his English teacher, who had shown it in class. Warren's teacher had shown it because he had said you didn't get a lot of the subtleties of the humor from just reading it-especially the bawdy stuff. Warren had agreed, and after he had shown the video to Sophia, she had also agreed. She re-read the play last night, and was actually going into a class feeling well prepared. Amazing.

She walked into class and sat down next to Jessie. Jessie was the only person from her usual crowd in this class, and that was a good thing, because she was afraid her rep was about to take a severe beating. Ah, well, fuck it.

Keith Waters walked in to face his Freshman English class. He was kind of dreading it, because he was teaching Shakespeare. Lots of high school freshman had trouble with Shakespeare, and this was not any kind of advanced-placement class.

He gave a quick ten-minute quiz, just to see who had read the play. He took five minutes to correct all the quizzes, so he could see what was what, and saw that a few kids had gotten all the questions right. He was, however, completely dumbfounded that one of those people was Sophia Daniels.

He started a discussion on Taming of the Shrew. Lots of kids hadn't read it, not to his surprise, and some kids had tried and had not gotten it, also not to his surprise. But some kids had read it, and had gotten it-and to his sheer amazement, one of the kids that seemed to have gotten it the clearest was the heretofore completely unteachable Sophia Daniels.

Insightful comment after good question after insightful comment. He couldn't believe it. After one particularly good insight, Mr. Waters couldn't resist himself.

"OK, Sophia, tell me. Is that really you, or were you somehow replaced by a pod person?"

The whole class laughed at that. Sophia looked a bit sheepish, "It's really me."

"You read one of my assignments?"

"Oh, I read Taming of the Shrew over a month ago. I just had to re-read it."

"You. Read. Shakespeare. For fun."

"Yeah. I love him. I even got the Collected Works as a birthday present."

"There goes your rep, Sophia. Destroyed. For ever," interjected Jessica Reidel from behind Sophia. Even Mr. Waters laughed at that.

"I'm still trying to figure out what got into you."

"Her preppy boyfriend, that's what," said Jessie.

"Thanks, Jess," said Sophia dryly.

"You have a boyfriend who introduced you to Shakespeare?" asked Mr. Waters.

"Yeah," Sophia smiled. "He loves him, and got me completely hooked on him."

"Older guy?"

"No, a freshman."

"He goes here?"

"No." Sophia was smiling, but her voice got very soft. "St. Mike's."

The whole class started whooping and hollering at that. Sophia Daniels going out with a guy from St. Michael's? Unbelievable.

Even to Mr. Waters. "You... are going out with a Prep guy?"

"Yeah," Sophia said, blushing a bit and somewhat sheepish, but proud. "Ranked third in his class, even."

"Wow," said Mr. Waters. "I do believe I need a drink." The whole class hooted at that one. "Later, perhaps. Now, back to Miss Daniels's favorite author..." He shot her a smile, which she returned.

At the end of the class, Mr Waters called Sophia over. He handed her the quiz with 100% written on the top. "Great job, Sophia. If there are any other great authors that your boyfriend wants to introduce you to, tell him he's got my permission."

Sophia laughed. "I'll do that."

"Seriously, Sophia, I think it's great. I love Shakespeare myself. Anyone who converts is OK by me. Of course, I would prefer that it would be my fabulous teaching technique that would convert them, but who can compete with a boyfriend?" They both laughed. "Seriously, since you learned to appreciate Shakespeare on the fly, if you have any ideas to get it through to some of the kids who aren't getting it, I'd appreciate hearing about them."

Sophia thought about that. "Well, the main thing Warren-that's my boyfriend-emphasized to me when I first started reading Shakespeare, was not to get bogged down with the language. He says lots of people get frustrated by this word or that, and miss the poetry and meaning of the play."

"Good point. Was Taming of the Shrew the first one he gave you? I always find it a good one to start with."

"No, Taming of the Shrew was the second. This is my boyfriend, remember, we're in love and all that-what do you think he gave me first?"

"Aah. Romeo and Juliet," Mr. Waters smiled.

"You got it. Remember, this is me we're talking about, and I'm dating a complete, total Preppie. The whole lovers-from-different-worlds thing sucked me right in, like Warren knew it would. Although we are, as Warren says, trying to avoid that whole double-suicide thing."

Mr. Waters laughed. "So, he sucked you in with Romeo, and then gave you Shrew. Good approach. And you had no problem with Shrew when you read it?"

"No, but that reminds me. I didn't get it all until I saw it."

"Saw it?"

"Yeah. Warren's teacher over at St. Mike's showed them a video of a theatrical production of Taming of the Shrew. Warren borrowed a copy from him to show to me. You really don't get how risqué and funny that play is until you see it done."

"You're right. You're absolutely right. Think Warren could get me a copy of that video?"

"I'll ask him."

Sophia walked into work positively bubbly. She had actually had a good day at school. A really good day. Not only English, but she had gotten an 85 on an Algebra test. She couldn't wait to tell Warren.

Warren was thrilled. Sophia, happy about school? He was so happy. A few more days like this, he thought to himself, and that self-confidence of hers would be at an all-time high. He agreed to ask Mr. Rogolli about the video, and didn't think it would be a problem.

Walking home that night, Sophia was still on a high. Warren loved it.

"Well, Soph," said Warren, "a day like that deserves a reward. I didn't plan it to be a reward, but what the heck. It'll just make your day better."