𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐃𝐈𝐆𝐘

TEN | THE PROPOSITION

↳ This one very specific photo is how I envision Jonathon. The man in this picture is Samuel Trépanier, but I don't actually picture John as him because he looks very different in all of his other photos. He's an attractive man nonetheless, he just doesn't scream "Jonathon DuPont" to me outside of this image if that makes sense, lol.

Jonathon had done exactly what he said he would do that week, and emailed Jade a list of ten different works of literature that he believed to be better-suited for her reading level. She was pleasantly surprised to find that she hadn't yet read any of the books on his list, and together, they narrowed it down to three that she could potentially read before the end of the semester.

At this point, the semester was already about halfway over, so Jade likely wouldn't have enough time to get through more than one or two—possibly three—books.

Fortunately, Jade was not only a fast and avid reader, but she had mastered the art of skimming and scanning as well. Regardless, she figured she'd still end up reading the rest of the books on the list eventually, so she wasn't too stressed about it.

Once the two had finalized their reading selection, Jonathon took the rest of the week to come up with a new plan for Jade in the second half of his course, and today marked the start of the following week.

Immediately after class, Jade would have her first one-on-one session with Jonathon.

She was feeling quite nervous for their private session, though she couldn't help but feel jittery over the fact that she was going to be alone with him again. While she was aware that the sole purpose of this meeting was to give Jade a chance to actually learn something new in British Literature, she wanted to try and get to know her professor on a more personal level.

What was he like outside of Sonder University? Did he have any passions unrelated to reading and literature?

Was he seeing anyone?

Jade wanted to find out as much as she could. She didn't want to go back to her old ways of manipulating him, but she was desperate to learn the answers to these questions.

At the end of class, Jade waited until all the other students had cleared out of the room before making her way down to where Jonathon was.

"Hey," he smiled, "You ready to discuss some literature?"

"Absolutely," she said with a soft chuckle.

The two sat together around his desk, and Jade gave a full breakdown of her analysis of the first several chapters. The first book she chose from the list had really intrigued her, so she took it upon herself to dive right into reading as soon as she obtained it from the library. She was already eight chapters in.

Jonathon watched intently as Jade enthusiastically referenced back to different quotes and sections throughout the text in order to justify her various interpretations of the story and the author's intent. He enjoyed listening to her explain her thoughts in such depth, and was heavily impressed by the wide range of knowledge she possessed, as it helped her arrive at so many distinct conclusions.

He contributed his own opinions and ideas to the conversation, and also countered several of her points for the sake of debate—which Jade was actually thrilled about. It brought a ton of unconsidered perspectives to mind, and also helped her formulate new thoughts, but it became difficult for her to have so many of the theories she was most confident in be challenged with such validity too.

"You really know your stuff," Jonathon grinned towards the end of their hour together.

"I'm honestly trying to keep up with you, which is kind of frustrating for me," she admitted. She wasn't used to having a teacher who could keep up with her relentless brain, and she had never struggled so much with her coursework before.