The Evil Meet and Greet. on Transfiguration

Henny B-F-R

June 06, 2013 3:27 PM

Book club - introductions and recommendations by Henny B-F-R

In the first week of term, Henny had put up the notices for the book club, inviting new and existing members to join her in the Transfiguration classroom on Wednesday night of the second week. As usual, when she arrived, the chairs had been arranged in a circle and most of the tables moved back. A few remained in the centre with a large flagon of pumpkin juice and a couple of platters of snacks. The prairie elves really were very helpful. She allowed a little time for stragglers but hoped that by now even most first years would know their way here, as they needed to come here for class.

“Welcome to this year's first meeting of the book club everyone,” she smiled, “For those who don't know me, I'm Henny B-F-R,” it was good to dispel the notion that she might like be known by her full name early on, “And I'm president of the club.

“We didn't have a group read over the summer, as we thought it would be unfair to any new first years who wanted to join, or older students who hadn't joined before,” she explained, addressing herself primarily to any unfamiliar faces in the crowd. It would have been very boring for them to have to sit through a discussion on a book that they hadn't read, and probably a rather off-putting prospect. She hoped that the words 'Introductory session – all welcome' on the poster had made it clear that anyone who was curious was welcome and that there would be no expectation of them having read a particular book for the meeting.

“I thought we'd have a quick session tonight, where we just introduce ourselves. If people have favourite books they'd like to recommend us to read, please let me know and I'll write them down. Or if you've read something particularly interesting over the summer, you can tell us about that too.

“The final thing I'd like to say is that I'm looking for a vice-president this year. I've thought about whether or not we need a committee and decided that we don't really – not in the sense of secretaries and treasurers and the like, but I'd like a vice-president to pass the club over to when I graduate. Even though that's not for a couple of years, and even though it's a fairly low-maintenance club, I figure they may as well come in now, whilst I'm still here to show them the ropes. If you're interested, submit an owl to me with your name, year and house, and a short bit on why you'd like to be vice-president or think you'd be good at it,” she felt a little bit odd requesting that but she felt she had to have more than names to go off in order to avoid being accused of favouritism. “If I can't choose based off that, I'll pull someone out of a hat. Obviously you need to be at least a year below me.

“Right, I think I've talked for quite long enough, so I'm going to pass introductions, summer reads and recommendations on to you,” she said, nodding to the person on her left so that they would go clockwise around the circle. “And it can come to me at the end,” she smiled, pouring herself a glass of juice and taking a brownie.

Subthreads:

OOC by Henny B-F-R

The Evil Meet and Greet. by Emery Kijewski-Jareau with Irina Volkov, Eleanor Vandenberg, Aubrielle Thornton, Josephine Owen, Melanie Lennox, Waverly Canterbury, Andrina Thornton

OOC Note by Henny B-F-R

13 Henny B-F-R Book club - introductions and recommendations 211 Henny B-F-R 1 5

Henny B-F-R

June 06, 2013 3:42 PM

OOC by Henny B-F-R

If people want to apply for vice president they should, as stated, owl Henny. It's probably best to post these as a thread in the Aladren common room. The vice-president will be decided based on the quality of their contributions to book club and reliability as a poster.

0 Henny B-F-R OOC 0 Henny B-F-R 0 5

Emery Kijewski-Jareau

June 08, 2013 9:23 PM

The Evil Meet and Greet. by Emery Kijewski-Jareau

Emery was trying to be social for his first year at Sonora. He had made a friend, he thought, in his roommate. Emrys was weird. Very weird. But he was fun to talk to and he seemed to have a lot of stories to tell, so Emery thought he’d be alright to share a room with. But, he knew that if he wanted to make more friends and not just classroom partners, he would need to get himself out there and try. Emery had no issues back home making friends, but when you grew up in a small neighborhood, it was just natural to become friends with the other kids on the block.

When he saw the book club notice on the bulletin, he thought this would be a great opportunity to meet people. Emery enjoyed books. He enjoyed graphic novels more, but books would do alright too. Plus, he was an Aladren, so this sort of club people would probably believe to fit right up his alley.

He nervously made his way through the school to the Transfiguration classroom. He didn’t know the type of people who may show up here or whether or not any of them would be first and second years for him to get to know. Not that he wouldn’t become friends with older members, but even he was aware that it would be weird to have a friend who was in a class with one of his older siblings. Plus, they would graduate long before him and that would leave him one less friend.

Finding himself a free seat, Emery sat down and waited for the club to begin. It didn’t take long for an older brunette to stand up and greet them. B-F-R? That was strange. Although, he couldn’t really talk much, his mother said most of the students when she had been a Professor, had simply called her Professor K. Emery wouldn’t be surprised if people began to shorten his last name. it would be something he’d have to adjust to. He had done it when he had added Jareau, he could do it when they took it away.

When he found himself in the hot seat to introduce himself, Emery rubbed his curly brown hair, stood up, and cleared his throat. “I’m Emery Kijewski-Jareau.” He started, his green eyes looking around at everyone. He hated talking in front of groups. Reports were the worst. “You know, I do enjoy reading, but I can’t say that I’ve read anything this summer that would really be of interest to anyone. I mainly stuck to reading graphic novels. But, I’ll be sure to keep up with anything that the club wants us to read.” Emery added, mainly to Henny so that she didn’t think he was a complete waste of time. But, he was only eleven and all the other boys in the neighborhood read the graphics and then chatted about them most of the time. Emery needed to keep up with that too.

6 Emery Kijewski-Jareau The Evil Meet and Greet. 259 Emery Kijewski-Jareau 0 5

Irina Volkov

June 10, 2013 9:19 PM

Indeed it is evil. by Irina Volkov

Book club was certainly up her alley. While Irina did plan on joining other clubs to help with her future plans, book club was something she knew she would actually like. She loved to read. She loved to write too, but that was mostly in her journal. In books, she found that she could escape whatever was going on in her life. She could go anywhere, do anything, be anyone. She especially enjoyed the stories where she got to be a princess. No one would ever mistake her for a princess in this life with her plaid skirts and simple shirts. She never wore makeup and her blonde hair was usually pulled back, either in a ponytail or a braid. All in all, she thought she was pretty plain, but it didn’t mean she didn’t want to be a princess. It just wasn’t realistic.

She didn’t have time to dwell on it though since an older girl began to speak. What an odd name. Henny B-F-R. Why wouldn’t someone state their full name? It seemed rather silly to go by just some initials. If she were to go by some initials, hers would be Irina V. or she could go by I.V., but then people would think her name was Ivy. That didn’t really work. No, it was just better to use names properly. Besides, she just didn’t like the idea of nicknames or the like. Their names were their names for a reason.

Aside from the oddness of her name, Irina paid full attention to the rest of Henny’s speech. Most of it was basic stuff like how they didn’t do a summer reading list, how things worked, and so on. Unfortunately, with the end of her words came the beginning of theirs. She was glad that she wasn’t the first to introduce herself as that seemed to be on the boy next to her. Graphic novels, interesting. Her brother, Aleksander, read some of those. She couldn’t remember anything specific though since she had never read them herself. Maybe she would talk to this boy and see if they were actually something of interest. Maybe it would be something they would end up reading in the group.

Then, it was her turn, “My name is Irina Volkov. I read a few things over summer. I suppose the one I would recommend is Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White. It’s a really amazing story. I read it at least four times just in those couple of months.” She wasn’t sure what else to say about the book. She didn’t want to ruin it for anyone that hadn’t already read it. She had read other things, but there was just something about Wilbur that she adored. She wished she could have a pet pig, but she knew her family would never go for it.

0 Irina Volkov Indeed it is evil. 0 Irina Volkov 0 5

Eleanor Vandenberg

June 11, 2013 11:26 PM

Oh, it's not that bad by Eleanor Vandenberg

Nellie thought the book club sounded like a cheesy sort of club to be a part of, but she liked reading and she knew having any extracurriculars on her belt would look nice. And anyway, book club fit her best out of all the clubs she had heard about. She walked into the Transfiguration classroom thinking that a classroom was an odd place to have a book club meeting, and found a couple people already there. She grabbed a cup of pumpkin juice and sat down, not wanting to snack too much.

One of the older girls began to speak and Nellie found the girl's abbreviated surname a little odd. What sort of family did she come from? Maybe not a really prestigious one if she was okay with abbreviating her name as such. But Nellie was learning that people were different here and so she just brushed it off as something American pure-bloods did. The rest was technical information and Nellie nodded along, paying attention even if it wasn't all that applicable to her.

She had come to like introductions because she liked being in the spotlight. It was a nice change from falling into the background whenever her parents were gone or family friends came over and ignored her presence. Sometimes it was hard being the only child of two busy parents, but she loved them all the same. It was just here that she felt like she could get more attention from people than at home. Nellie was glad she hadn't gone first in the introduction circle; it was always nice to see how people did it first and copy them so she wouldn't stand out too much and end up the weird one of the pack.

It was finally her turn. "My name is Eleanor Vandenberg, but you can call me Nellie. One of my favorite books is Around the World in Eighty Days by Verne. I forgot his first name. It's an adventure story where a guy tries to travel around the world in eighty days." She smiled, hoping that was enough to say to describe it. She had never been all that good in describing books in detail without giving away spoilers.

19 Eleanor Vandenberg Oh, it's not that bad 266 Eleanor Vandenberg 0 5

Henny B-F-R

June 12, 2013 9:42 AM

OOC Note by Henny B-F-R

I probably should have said that I'm happy to accept made up books (i.e. ones that come from the wizarding world) as well as real (i.e. Muggle) ones, so feel free to be inventive.

0 Henny B-F-R OOC Note 0 Henny B-F-R 0 5

Aubrielle Thornton

June 14, 2013 7:35 PM

Surely not so bad by Aubrielle Thornton

Brielle had been looking forward to the return of Book Club on top of everything else she was planning on doing this year. She’d still been fascinated by the time period of the Holocaust, though she knew better than to read anything about Hitler around Darina. As of late she’d been reading Night and The Diary of Anne Frank more than many others she’d been reading in the past. As she grew in age she grew in desire to learn about the subject and had switched from fiction to non-fiction writings on the subject.

When she saw the notice up on the board for Wednesday night’s Book Club meeting she was really excited and ideas for book suggestions ran through her mind quicker than a hamster wheel. She didn’t have long to wait for the meeting and she was glad for it.

Brielle walked into the Transfiguration classroom and smiled at the circle of chairs and the table with snacks. She sat down and when everyone else came in, Henny started talking with her introduction and welcome. She went on to talk about that this session was going to be about introducing themselves and picking a book to read for the next one.

Then she mentioned that she was looking for a Vice President this year and Bri almost raised her hand for it, but then she spotted the look on Andri’s face sitting not too far from her. It was clear to Bri that Andri wanted to be the VP, and maybe that would just be what her sister needed. Andri had been much quieter than usual since they found out about their father and Bri wanted to do what she could. But then Henny added the fact that she wanted someone to pass the club on to when she Graduated, which would count Andri out. Andri and Henny were roommates and year mates. Bri sighed and glanced back at Andri who’s face fell.

The introductions started with Emery Kijewski-Jareau, the Headmistress’ son, who said he liked to read, but mainly read graphic novels. Bri had never read one of those, but would be interested to see what they were all about and she smiled to Emery to show him she’d be interested to see what they were all about.

Then another first year spoke up by the name of Irina Volkov who mentioned Charlotte’s Web, which was one that Brielle had always loved when she was that age. Bri smiled at her as wide if not wider than for Emery. She even nodded to Irina to show that she knew what she was talking about.

Then another first year spoke up, calling herself Eleanor, but that they could call her Nellie. Around the World in 80 Days… A Classic… Cool. she thought with a smile towards her as well. She smiled at Nellie as well and realized that meant that it was her turn now.

“I’m Aubrielle Thornton, a fourth year Teppenpaw and I read a lot. For some reason history is really interesting to me and lately I’ve been reading non fiction about the Holocaust and its actually kinda depressing, but it is really true. Some of the books I’ve been reading is ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ and ‘Night’ but I’ve also recently read Les Miserables. Though I like reading anything really.” she said as she looked to the person next to her so they knew it was their turn.

0 Aubrielle Thornton Surely not so bad 0 Aubrielle Thornton 0 5

Josephine Owen

June 24, 2013 4:57 PM

It kind of grows on you. by Josephine Owen

Josephine liked the book club, hence her return yet again to one of its meetings. She had always enjoyed reading, and although at first it had been unsettling to hear that others hadn't enjoyed her own favourites, after a while she came to appreciate the variety of opinions a person could have, and she liked to discuss alternative interprations to a work of fiction. Henny was part of a crowd with whom Josephine doubted she would see eye-to-eye, but on her own she seemed okay, and she did a great job of running the book club. This year she was asking for a vice president, and Josephine was almost sorry that she was ineligible, being, as she was, in her final year at the school. It didn't bother Josephine that she was one of the oldest students in the book club. Inititally, she had hoped it might contribute to her being voted Head Girl, if she spent time with more of the younger students, but the badge had gone to Reggie, and Josephine was still content to be one of the more mature faces in the room. Yes, some of the books the younger students read might occasionally be juvenile, but sometimes they conjured up real winners, things that Josephine would never have thought to read of her own volition.

The introductions were begun by a small collection of said younger students, yet their responses were all so different. Graphic novels had never been among Josephine's interest, but her sister Jade had read several, and even owned a couple of dog-eared copies. She would be open to learning a bit more, if the opportunity presented itself. Charlotte's Web was one of the many Muggle children's books Josephine had heard of but never read, but Around the World in Eighty Days was also one of her favourite reads. Brielle, while Josephine liked her in general, had very peculiar literary tastes, in the Pecari's opinion. History in general didn't interest the seventh year, but gory and unpleasant history was utterly abhorent. She didn't understand why someone would willingly read that sort of thing for leisure.

When it was Josephine's turn to introduce herself, she'd had time to consider which book she would mention, and as she'd recommended her favourites already at previous bookclubs, she decided instead to detail a book she'd read over the summer, despite its somewhat limited appeal to the current audience. "My name is Josephine Owen, and I'm a seventh year pecari," she said, hoping that the other Pecaris present would already recognise her, due to her Prefect status. "I also read a lot," she said, smiling at Brielle as she borrowed the other girl's words. "A book I read over the summer that I particularly enjoyed over the summer is called 'Welcome to the Wireless.' It's written by Serilda Staunton, who is more famous for 'Pumpkin Pie at Whistlestop,'" she gave a very brief backgroun to the lesser-well known book by a fairly prolific American writer. "It's about a witch who broadcasts on the wizarding wireless after moving to a new area, and she adjusts to her new life and finds love. I know it sounds cheesy," Josephine admitted, "but I found myself really connecting with the characters. Oh," she added as a sudden after-thought, "I wouldn't read it until at least fifth year, though," she said, with a brief apologetic glance to Henny and a barely perceptible reddening of her cheeks. "There's some, um, adult content."

0 Josephine Owen It kind of grows on you. 196 Josephine Owen 0 5

Melanie Lennox

June 24, 2013 7:25 PM

Like a flower. by Melanie Lennox

Melanie was excited for the book club this year. She really loved to read, she'd even gotten Class Bookworm in the yearbook last year. Plus, reading had always been an activity she could share with her sister, they could read books together and talk about them. The Teppenpaw had even read to her sister when Valerie had been sick.

In fact, now that the sixth year wasn't quite so sick, Melanie wanted her to come to book club too but Valerie didn't seem at all comfortable with the idea. The older girl really didn't know how to socialize given all the time she'd been ill. She knew how to be proper but was now felt really uncomfortable around those she didn't know well and Melanie wasn't about to force it on her and upset her. Besides, she still felt it necessary to keep Valerie's stress level down so she didn't get sick. If she got sick again, she could have to leave school and the fourth year didn't want that . Found the thought quite unbearable actually.

Still, she was glad her sister had friends of her own, even if they weren't the most proper sort that Mother would approve of. To Melanie-and she thought, Father-it was more important that they were good to Valerie and genuinely cared about her. Though, much as she hated to admit it, the Teppenpaw was just the tiniest bit jealous, which in turn made her feel. She and Valerie used to be each other's best friend and school had changed that a little bit. Still, they were still extremely close and spent most of the summer together. And Melanie had Marcus-just thinking about him made her blush a little-and supposed she could call Lucille a friend. There was still time for them to get closer. Valerie had only truly became better friends with Brianna last year.

However, just those slight twinges of jealousy made Melanie feel horribly guilty. Of course she wanted the Crotalus to have more people whom cared about her. She needed that so badly . Valerie was so awkward is social situations now and any time the fourth year did feel jealous, it was very much overridden by the guilt and seeing her sister's need to have people who genuinely liked and cared about her was way more important.

She took a seat next to Josephine Owen and awaited her turn to speak. Henny introduced herself and made the introductory remarks. Melanie's eyes lit up at the mention of the book club having a vice president. She would love to do that. She might have been a Teppenpaw rather than an Aladren, but she had a genuine love of books and she was so dedicated to and passionate about the club. The only other activity she really had interest in here at school was being a library helper of some sort. Melanie was going to send her application into Henny as soon as the meeting was over. Though, it would be difficult for her to mention the reasons why she should be the vice president. She wasn't lacking in self-esteem, but she held modesty as a virtue-and even more so since starting at Sonora and being exposed to Carrie O'Malley as a classmate. Therefore, she found bragging about her good qualities even more distasteful than she had previously. Still, she thought it was something she would enjoy and be good at. Melanie knew her own strengths, she just didn't like to tell them to others. It was tacky and low-class and she wasn't even comfortable hearing others do it.

The next person to talk was a boy-probably a first year-who seemed kind of awkward and uncomfortable. The fourth year gave him a warm smile. She wanted to do her best to be welcoming to everyone. He introduced himself as Emery Kijewski-Jareau and Melanie recognized the name right away even though he wasn't society. He was quite obviously the son of the Headmistress, but she was going to treat him just like she would anyone else. She tried to be kind to people no matter who they were. Granted, some people made it very difficult. So long as he didn't do anything to hurt Valerie, which was unlikely given the age differences between them and his general demeanor, they wouldn't have a problem. Same went for anyone.

He also talked about having read graphic novels over the summer. Melanie had no idea what that meant. The word graphic suggested inappropriate things to her, but she had sincere doubts that an eleven year old would be reading that sort of thing and based on her impressions of Headmistress Kijewski-Jareau, the Teppenpaw doubted she would let her child read such things at all. Therefore, a graphic novel had to be something else. At least, she sincerely hoped so. Still, she maintained her friendly look, instead of allowing a horrified expression on her face, as he was surely talking about something else, some Muggle thing. Melanie knew the Headmistress was not a pureblood, so her children had probably been exposed to Muggle things.

The next person to introduce was Irina Volkov. The name Volkov seemed a bit familiar, but she wasn't entirely sure. Irina had not introduced herself as a proper pureblood and again, the Teppenpaw had never heard of the book that she'd mentioned. Perhaps she wasn't as well read as she'd always thought. Or they were reading Muggle books. Melanie had never been exposed to such things. If such reading material entered the Lennox home, her mother would burn it in the fireplace. If Irina was a pureblood-a foreign one perhaps going by her last name, and Melanie was never as good as knowing the foreign ones as the American ones-her parents must have been more liberal.

It was the same with Nellie Vandenburg. She was pretty sure Nellie was pure just like Irina but had not introduced herself the usual way and suggested a book that Melanie was unfamiliar with. She supposed they weren't necessarily Muggle books, there was no way for the Teppenpaw to even know about every book out there written by a wizard. She gave both girls welcoming smiles just as she had Emery.

Then it was Brielle's turn. Melanie was a little surprised to see her roommate here. It wasn't as if the other fourth year was stupid, it was just that Melanie couldn't imagine her as the sit still and read a book type. She always seemed to be in constant motion, doing things, a very energetic sort of person. She was a little surprised that Brielle would read something depressing too. She was always such a happy cheerful person.

The fourth year almost sighed with relief when Josephine mentioned an author that she'd actually heard of before. Melanie hadn't read the more famous book and she certainly hadn't read the one the older girl was suggesting but at least she knew who the Pecari was talking about. Though the mention of adult situations made her a bit uncomfortable. Her family would never consider that proper reading material for someone underage! Fortunately, Josephine had suggested nobody under fifth year read it, and given that there were at least three first years, herself and her roommate, it was unlikely to be chosen.

Next was her turn and Melanie took a deep breath as she introduced herself. She was perfectly okay with talking in front of others, it was just difficult when nobody had introduced themselves properly. If she did, she'd look stuck up, which was not how she wanted to present herself and if she didn't, she would look improper, and that was never okay. "I'm Melanie Lennox, of the St. Louis Lennoxes" The Teppenpaw introduced herself, hoping they'd see her for herself and not judge her for what was a habitual greeting anyway. "This summer I've been mostly getting into the classics." By which she meant magical literature. She had to pick a book to recommend too, it wouldn't look good for her chances of Vice President if she couldn't even do that, and it was something Melanie would really enjoy doing. "One of the books I read over the summer was 'When Night Falls' by Ophelia Grimes. It's about this poor girl whose parents die, and she's sent to live with wealthy distant relations who are quite cruel to her." She left off there, so as not to ruin the book for anyone.

11 Melanie Lennox Like a flower. 226 Melanie Lennox 0 5

Waverly Canterbury

June 27, 2013 8:03 PM

Hopefully not like les fleurs du mal. by Waverly Canterbury

Joining something new was always really exciting, but with the influx of new clubs, Waverly, for once, didn't feel the need to join every single club to support her friends who were heading them. She had had a lot of fun the year before with Jade's horse club and Henny's book club had allowed Waverly to make some time to read in her increasingly busy schedule. There were so many others that she could hardly wrap her head around them and had finally decided, after much deliberating, that she could only make room in her schedule for three: hers, Jade's, and Henny's.

She was glad she had made that decision as she waltzed into the Transfiguration classroom. She thought it was kind of an odd place to have it, but she didn't mind. As much as she loved the library, she had been spending a little too much time in there these days. She saw a few new faces and a lot of old and smiled at the faces she knew. Bri was there too and Waverly gave her a happy wave before picking up a cup of juice and taking a seat.

Henny gave her speech and the introductions began. She was apparently looking for a VP and as awesome as that position could have been, Waverly knew she had to put her club (and everything else) first. She saw Bri's eagerness to take that position and wondered briefly what it would have been like with her best friend being the VP of two clubs. She was grateful Brielle didn't raise her hand after all. She was kind of hoping Bri would take the Baking Club from her after she graduated. The thought of graduation made her sad, but she put it away from her mind.

The first boy who went was definitely the Headmistress's son and she smiled extra brightly at him. It couldn't be easy being the headmistress's children while attending the school she was in charge of. At least Waverly couldn't imagine that. The next girl mentioned a book that Waverly actually knew, and so did the next girl. Bri mentioned muggle books as well and Waverly almost laughed with delight. One of Waverly's favorite books was actually not from the muggle world, but they were supposed to say what they had read this summer. In that case, Waverly's access to a magical library had been non-existent.

A familiar girl named Josephine went and she recognized her as Jade's sister and a former Prefect. Waverly herself was really proud to be wearing the Prefect badge on her robes and she let herself smile a little. They had something in common! After Josephine went Melanie Lennox, and Waverly found with pleasant surprise that she recognized the title Melanie had mentioned. She didn't know the author very well, but she did know the book. She had yet to read it, however, but she would ask Melanie later about her opinion of it.

It came to her and Waverly smiled at everyone. "Hi, I'm Waverly Canterbury and I'm a fifth-year Pecari." She made eye-contact with Josephine, glad to have another Pecari and fellow Prefect (though she was much older) with her. "I also love reading, especially magical literature." There was a difference for her between magical and muggle literature. Classics usually brought to mind Dickens and Austen while fantasy was more magical. "I didn't get to read too much this summer, but one that I did read was The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo. He's such an amazing writer. It's about a boy who goes searching for his treasure and learns about himself and the world along the way." There was no better way to put it in her mind and she turned to the next person to go.

19 Waverly Canterbury Hopefully not like les fleurs du mal. 218 Waverly Canterbury 0 5

Andrina Thornton

July 03, 2013 11:43 AM

The Choice is clear by Andrina Thornton

Andrina had been involved in Henny’s book club before and not even being in the 5th year would stop her from joining her friend and roommate’s club this year. She had read a lot over the Summer, taking as much time to spend in the large library at her Grandparent’s manor house in solitude when she could. Andri was mad and sad and upset all at the same time. She was just plain out confused with the whole thing with their dad. The others seemed to have been taking it in stride with the rest of the family there, though she thought that was just an outer reaction on their parts. Andri just wanted to be alone, so she held solace in her books.

She read anything she could get her hands on, in fact the Aladren had read so many different books she couldn’t even pinpoint one she’d liked above all others. Knowing full well that Henny would ask about books they’d read she tried her best to remember one specifically. There were three by an author she hadn’t really read before (that indeed she was surprised to find in her grandparent’s library). The three were called ‘The Choice’, ‘The Gift of Acabar’ and ‘The Twelfth Angel’ and the author was one Og Mandino. All three reminded her that life could be down in the dumps so bad and a person could want to do something stupid, but there’s always someone who can be found to take the person back into reality. As much as all three made her cry, she felt better after reading them and had begged her mother for copies of all three. Her mother had lovingly obliged, and she carried them with her everywhere.

When she first saw her roommate’s notices for book club for the Wednesday night of the second week back to school, she had decided that she’d mention Og, and those three books. Walking into the Transfiguration room in her uniform robes with a pair of jeans and a random tshirt she’d picked from her trunk, she saw the chairs in the circle with some snacks and what looked like pumpkin juice in the center of the circle.

Andri waved to Henny, hoping that it wasn’t weird between them. Andri wanted very much for her two friends for the wedding to be Henny and Kitty and she wasn’t sure how to go about making sure that Henny knew that. Then again, she also knew that the issue between herself and Alicia (whatever that was) could stop Henny from wanting to get in the middle. After all, Andri had kept to herself mostly and Henny was much closer friends with Alicia than with her. Andri would be understanding if Henny didn’t want to come to the wedding with her, but she really wanted to change a lot of things in her life right then and to start with she wanted to change her friendships or lack thereof of them. The fact that their father was pretty much completely out of their lives was changing a lot of thought processes in the family, and it wasn’t something she was happy with or proud of. In all actuality, she was angry and upset and yet, still happy too.

It was weird.

Henny welcomed them to the first meeting of the book club and introduced herself and mentioned that she was the president of the club before continuing on. When Henny mentioned she was looking for a Vice President, Andri’s eyes lit up and she wanted to raise her hand when her roommate finished speaking. Then when Henny said she wanted the VP to take over when she graduated, Andri sighed and her face fell. There was no way she could take over the club when Henny graduated because when her roommate did, so did she. With a sigh, Andri kept listening to Henny finish and then the first few people spoke up in their own introductions.

Andri watched around the circle as Emery started his introduction and mentioned that he liked to read and mainly read graphic novels. Her brother Alexander liked those, but Andri didn’t really understand the point of them. She supposed that could be a boy thing? Emery was clearly their Headmistress’ son, and Andri wondered how it felt to be him right then, announcing to the group of them what his last name was? After all, what’s a name? Just something one calls oneself to differentiate from someone else. A rose by any other name would still smell as sweet… she thought pulling what she really was thinking about right then as well as a line from Shakespeare, shivering at having to say her last name. She almost wished that Silas would adopt them all and she could get her name changed away from her awful father’s name right then and there and was half tempted to ask her mother if she’d try to get him to do something like that. She wouldn’t do that, but Andri really wanted to…

After Emery, another first year spoke, calling herself Irina and Andri smiled as best as she could to the two first years who had spoken. Irina said she liked Charlotte’s Web and Andri nodded in agreement. Each of the Thornton’s (well, most of them anyway) even being older, still loved that book. There was something about how Charlotte the spider managed to make Wilbur seem awesome and special amongst the humans around him. Andri had to breathe deeply for a moment to stop a wanted tear from falling. With a small glance towards Henny, Andri hoped her roommate and hopeful friend saw the look and that perhaps they could talk again later. That was, if Henny wanted. Andri wouldn’t steal her away from Alicia or the rest of their group if she had plans. Andri would be fine alone, after all, she always had been, what would change now?

After Irina, came another first year, this one introduced herself as Eleanor and mentioned that they could call her Nellie. Then she mentioned Around the World in 80 Days and Andri smiled. She hadn’t met many younger children who’d liked that book like she had. There was something about the travel that had her hooked. Andri made a note to herself to tell Nellie that the author’s first name was Jules. It was Jules Verne who’d written that.

Then her younger sister Bri introduced herself and mentioned Night and The Diary of Anne Frank, then Les Miserables. Andri shook her head at her sister, understanding why it was fascinating to her, but wondering at the same time why in the world her sister would choose that type of book to mention at Book Club. She’s something else… Andri thought to herself as Josephine spoke up next. Andri only knew that Josephine was her sister Addison’s best friend and a Pecari Prefect, not much more than that (Addi was very private, so she couldn’t know much more), so to hear her mention a book that didn’t really have content for the first years or even the fourth years like Bri and Clara confused her a moment. She left it at that though and Melanie was next to speak. Bri’s roommate had mentioned ‘When Night Falls’ and the idea of it intrigued Andri. She’d not read that one ever before and would be interested in doing so in the near future. She wondered if Melanie actually had that book and perhaps would let her borrow it? Andri would try to ask her later on, once all introductions had been made.

When Waverly introduced herself, the Aladren listened. Her sister Bri and cousin Clara spent a lot of time talking about Waverly all the time as she was their best friend and she wanted to give her more of the time of day because of that. Waverly mentioned The Alchemist and Andri nodded in agreement. She’d actually read that one and she wouldn’t mind reading it again. She’d realized that she was sitting next to Waverly and when the Pecari finished talking, she knew she needed to start.

“I’m Andrina Thornton, fifth year Aladren, just like Henny. I, like my sister, read a lot and this summer I spent a lot of time reading over at the Manor from an author named Og Mandino. His books aren’t long mostly, in fact they are quick reads, but they also teach lessons. My favorite ones of his are ‘The Choice’, ‘The Gift of Acabar’ and ‘The Twelfth Angel’.”

Andri turned to the next person to show them that she was done with her turn and waited to see what happened next.

0 Andrina Thornton The Choice is clear 214 Andrina Thornton 0 5