Page 6 of For Your Own Good
UP UNTIL YESTERDAY,Teddy had thought of Zach as just a little prick who’d grumbled—loudly—about giving up his phone during class. He always sat in the center of the room with a smirk on his face, waiting for an opportunity to crack a joke, make a snide comment, or do anything else that would get attention.
Now that Teddy has met his parents, Zach seems even worse. Daddy will protect him, or so he thinks.
“We’re going to do something different,” Teddy says to the class. That gets their attention. “I’ve decided to let you choose our next book.”
With a great flourish, he raises the pull-down screen that covers the chalkboard. Unlike most teachers, Teddy won’t give up either one. He doesn’t use smartboards.
Two book titles are written on the board. Teddy gives them a moment to read. Some write the titles down; others just stare. Confused, perhaps, at being given a choice.
“Any immediate thoughts?” Teddy says.
Three students raise their hands. The same three students who always raise their hands. Teddy points to the least offensive one.
“Connor,” he says. “Which one do you prefer?”
“Moby Dick.”
That makes a few of them smile. Even without their phones, they knowMoby Dickhas to be shorter and easier to read than the second book.
They’re right.
Two students still have their hands up, but Teddy doesn’t look at them. He surveys the room, landing on the back row of the class. The Invisibles. That’s what he calls the students who try to disappear.
“Katherine,” he says.
Her head snaps up. She had been staring at her desk.
“Care to offer an opinion?”
She looks at the board, perhaps for the first time. Katherine is a petite girl with blond hair and skin so pale she almost disappears.
“Um,” she says.
“Um?”
“Sorry. I mean, no. I don’t have an opinion.”
She never does. Teddy stares at her until she looks away.
Finally, he zeroes in on Zach, who is looking at a girl sitting diagonally from him. He’s staring at her legs.
“Zach,” Teddy says. “Any thoughts on the books?”
Zach glances up, not looking a bit surprised. He smiles as he speaks. “I’m sure they’re both great books.”
Somewhere, a girl giggles.
“But if I have to pick one,” Zach says, “I thinkMoby Dickis the best choice. I think it’s the most relevant, given how the environment is so important. Especially the oceans.”
A few people in the class applaud. Others roll their eyes.
Most students don’t want to readBleak Houseby Charles Dickens, and for good reason. It’s one hundred and fifty thousand words longer thanMoby Dick.
“Thank you, Zach. Anyone else?”
No one raises a hand.
Perfect. Just as Teddy had planned.
