𝐆𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐆𝐈𝐑𝐋𝐒 [a rini au]

NINETEEN

          Nini found herself back in her AP Literature class on Friday morning with four chapters of The Catcher in the Rye read. She had a jam packed week between cheer practice, SAT prep, and hanging out with her friends. Nini was drained, but she knew she had to come up with something for Ms. Sampson's first Socratic seminar.

When she walked into the room, the desks were arranged in two circles. There were name tags on each desk, and Nini spotted hers immediately at the inner circle. She said her greetings to some classmates and her teacher before taking her seat, but only when she looked up did she realize that ghost boy himself was sitting right across from her. He had his head shoved in his book, which she could tell was heavily annotated. He had a pen cap between his teeth, and his leg bounced up and down beneath the wooden desk. Nini peeled her eyes off of the boy after observing and remembering how she scolded him following Monday's class in a fit of insecurity. She had told herself that afternoon that perhaps she was too harsh on the naive transfer, but she quickly shook off that guilt. She was completely in the right – she had way too much to lose.

"Welcome to our first Socratic seminar!" Ms. Sampson clapped as she closed the door of the classroom and took a seat at the inner circle of desks. "If anyone is unfamiliar with how this activity goes, I'll give a brief rundown.

"Those in the inner circle are going to share and debate ideas first. I'll propose a topic, but people can build off one another, ask me questions, anything to engage in discussion. Then, after ten minutes, the circles will switch. Those in the outer circle will come to the inner and vice versa. Everyone in the outer should be taking notes on what the inner discusses so it can help them guide their own conversation. After another ten minutes, we'll switch again, and I'll prompt with another topic. We'll do this a few times. Anyone have questions?"

Nini was proudly familiar with Socratic seminars. She was the queen of them, always leading discussion and sharing the brightest ideas that her teachers would admit that they themselves had never even thought of before. She sunk into her seat a little further and retrieved her own book, ready to comment on whatever Ms. Sampson threw at her circle.

"Okay," the teacher began, tapping her pencil on top of the notebook she possessed. She flashed a smile to the inner circle students. "Let's talk about the narration. Obviously we know the book is written in first person, but we get to learn a lot about protagonist Holden Caulfield in these first few chapters just by the way he talks. Thoughts?"

The brunette rose her hand, Ms. Sampson pointing to her with a nod. Nini straightened up, folding her hands on the desk. "I thought Holden's narration was particularly interesting because of how he describes Pencey Prep and the outside world," Nini started boldly. "He makes it a point to express his distaste regarding the ugliness and hypocrisy in the world, and I think it goes to show that his character will probably be one that tries to fight heavily against the flaws of society. He's clearly confident in his beliefs, and that probably indicates that he has a solid conception of where he stands in life."