Somewhere Over the Freaking Rainbow (A Young Adult Paranormal Romance) (The Secrets of Somerled) by L.L. Muir Page A

ears, he looked over his bifocals and jumped, as if he'd been caught doing something wrong. Jamison wondered if anyone ever thought to snag his cell to read those messages.
    “Mr. Shaw, I believe you decided we should have a test today on Lost Horizon .”
    Jamison suspected the groans around him were designed to stall things. No one really expected to get out of the test, did they?
    One look around and he realized that more than just the original three classmates were waiting for him to save their butts.
    Crap.
    “No sir, Mr. Evans. I don't remember that at all.”
    Someone gasped in the back. He turned to see the Somerled girl from next door looking at him. She looked concerned, like she thought he was about to piss off the teacher.
    “Have you also forgotten that you claimed to have read Lost Horizon ?” Mr. Evans came around to the front of his desk and sat back on it, a copy of the novel in his hands. “Or have you just forgotten what you read? Because let me warn you now, that whether or not you remember one word written by Mr. Hilton, you and your classmates are going to be tested on it today, Mr. Shaw.”
    “Well, sir, I'm pretty sure I can answer just about anything. Would you like to try me?” Jamison smiled, daring the man to ask him something in front of witnesses.
    Mr. Evans grinned. “Was it Mr. Cloward or Mr. Gardner who told you I like to be distracted by my own voice?”
    “I don't know, sir.” Jamison smiled. “Which one is Mr. Cloward?”
    The teacher barked out a laugh, not at all insulted that his students knew him well.
    “Brownie points for not denying it, I think.” The man began thumbing through the book and paused, briefly reading to himself. “All right, Mr. Shaw. Tell me, who is the coward in this story?”
    Jamison tried not to laugh. If anyone was an expert on cowards, it was him.
    “Well, I’d say Mr. Conrad’s the biggest coward.”
    Mr. Evans’s eyebrows rose. “How so?”
    “I think he pretended to prefer wisdom as an excuse to avoid life.”
    “Oh, very good, Mr. Shaw. Tell me, did you pay much for your Cliff's Notes?”
    “No sir. You can read them online.”
    “Oh ho! More points for honesty. Anyone else in this class want points for reading Cliff's Notes?”
    Most students raised a hand.
    “Well, you don't get any.”
    Grunting was unanimous.
    “Why shouldn't we get points for reading Cliff's Notes?” Jamison was on a roll. He'd had no intention of doing what the other kids had asked, but this guy was too easy. “After all, studying is studying. And if Cliff's Notes help us understand the crap we have to read, then isn't it a valid source?”
    Mr. Evans looked like he didn't want to play anymore. Jamison had to talk fast.
    “Okay, how about this? Cliff says Conrad was brave because he didn't fear the unknown, and that Mr. Mallinson was a coward because he feared so much he wanted to get out of Shangri La.”
    “And you disagree.”
    “Hell—heck yeah, I disagree. I think Mr. Mallinson was the brave one because he was willing to stand up and fight the unknown. He was right to fear it and did something about it. And Mr. Conrad was the coward, like I said.”
    “Wait a minute.” The Somerled chick piped up from the back. “You're calling Mr. Conrad a coward because he didn't want to face real life? That's ridiculous. He chose eternal life—well, not eternal, but incredibly prolonged life, anyway. It was a different kind of life, but still—”
    “It wasn't real life. There was only one choice to make, to be a coward or not. Two categories. In Lost Horizon or High School, or whatever. Everyone is either one or the other.”
    Evans walked to the side of the room and leaned against the wall. “Two categories? Those who fear and those who do not?”
    “No, sir. Everyone fears; we just fear different things, but even what we fear doesn’t really matter. There are those who fear and fight, and those who fear and hide.”
    “Interesting philosophy, for