Three girls, all seniors.

Of the three faces,you already recognized one from your first period seminar. Li Porter is the adopted Chinese daughter of a white family. You vaguely remember hearing that her father was in the military or maybe state department. Her uniform is flawlessly neat; each strand of her black hair is perfectly in place and her makeup highlights her high cheekbones. She played on the Westwood Soccer team which showed in her sculpted body.

You glance down at your attendance sheet to remind yourself of the other two names. Sophie Mitchell is the second girl in the room. Her skin is so pale you wonder if she’s ever been outside. Her rich, dark brown hair makes a beautiful contrast. You know she’s interested in creative writing but your paths hadn’t crossed. She looks like she purposefully bought a uniform skirt in a size too big and had it altered to fit so she could be more covered up.

Chloe Morgan is the last one in. In stark contrast to Li, her messy, light brown curls tumble all over her shoulders and her uniform feels like it had just been thrown on moments ago. She adjusts the cat eye glasses that frame her green eyes as she flops into one of the seats. She has a look in her eyes like she’s mentally a thousand miles away.

You look at the three girls spread out at their seats. “It seems a bit silly for me to teach from up here with only three of you doesn’t it?” You grab the three copies of the syllabus you’d prepared and hand them to the girls before turning one of the seats to begin to make a circle of the four of you. The girls follow your lead.

“That’s a bit better. Well, welcome to the Poetry elective class. I’ve decided to rework things a little to focus the scope of the class more. We’ll be more intentionally discussing themes of love and desire, starting with Sappho and going forward.”

You look at the girls’ faces. Li’s interest is clearly piqued at the mention of Sappho. Chloe doesn’t seem to recognize the name. Sophie is hard to read; she looks curious but with a hint that she recognizes the name and what kind of love and desire you’ll be starting from.

You continue, “We’ll be doing all our work in class, reading and discussing the poems together to capture an authentic response. No outside work will be assigned, with the exception of the semester’s final project. Does anyone have any questions?”

The girls shake their head no.

“Excellent. Miss Mitchell, why don’t you read first.”

You pick up a slim volume entitled Sappho, Poems and Fragments and open it to the page you’d marked. You point at the poem Sophie is to read as you hand it to her. A flicker of relief crosses her face. She must have assumed it would be more sexual than the one you selected to start with.

She reads out in her soft voice:

_He is equal with the Gods, that man / who sits across from you, / face to face, close enough, to sip / _your voice’s sweetness,

_And what excites my mind, / your laughter, glittering. So, / when I see you, for a moment, / _my voice goes,

_My tongue freezes. Fire, / delicate fire, in the flesh. / Blind, stunned, the sound / _of thunder, in my ears.

_Shivering with sweat, cold / tremors over the skin, / I turn the color of dead grass, / _and I’m an inch from dying.

“That was beautiful Miss Mitchell, thank you. Now, who makes you feel like that? Who makes you jealous of everyone else who gets to be close to them?”

The room is silent and you wonder if you’ve gone too far too fast. Li smiles, “I have someone in mind.” The other girls nod as if they do too. No one seems willing to offer a name though.

“How quickly did you think of them?”

“Immediately, Mr. Turner.” Sophie answers softly, as though she’s ashamed. Li nods and more boldly answers “Same.”

You look over at Chloe, who stares vaguely into the middle distance with a soft smile just barely visible.

“And it looks like Chloe thought of someone pretty quickly too.” Li teases the other girl.

“Well, those will be good to keep in mind as we keep reading. Miss Mitchell, why don’t you turn to the next flag in the book and hand it to Miss Porter.”

Sophie passes the book to Li who smiles when she sees her piece. Her voice is clear and strong as she reads the fragment:

Stand up and look at me, face to face / my friend, / unloose the beauty of your eyes.

You watch her body language. She shifted ever so slightly in her seat so she was subtly delivering the reading to Sophie.

“I’d like to have you read that again, but this time,” you pause, pretending to think of the idea in the moment, “this time read it to Miss Mitchell.”

Li shifts fully in her seat to face the other girl. Sophie doesn’t make eye contact. A hint of a blush crosses her cheeks as Li reads again.

“I want you two to think of this as a natural conversation. Please, take a third read, and let yourselves react really authentically.”

You watch Li stand up and walk closer to Sophie. Sophie looks frozen in the moment not sure how she should react. Li leans down and runs her perfectly manicured finger down Sophie’s chin as she begins. She tilts the other girl’s face as she just barely whispers “My friend” in the third reading. “Unloose the beauty of your eyes…” sounds like a command when Li reads it in spite of her soft delivery. Sophie’s eyes lock on to Li’s. For a moment, the two girls look at each other like no one else exists in the world.

You stand up and softly step over to position yourself next to Sophie. You lean down and whisper “What do you feel right now?”

The girl isn’t shaken from her reverie. She answers, her eyes not leaving Li’s, “I feel warm all over.” Her hand subconsciously traced its way up her thigh, her hand gently coming to rest over her lower stomach.

You look up. Li is smiling, watching you as you talk to the other girl. “And Miss Porter, how do you feel?”

“I feel like she’s followed instructions.” Her fingers brush Sophie’s cheek as Li tucks a stray lock behind her ear.

“That’s good. I’m always glad to hear that about one of my students.” You lean in to speak to Sophie again. “Miss Mitchell, what do you feel right now?”