THE BLUE ROSE
It was a special double-class that Nadya had arranged on Romanticism as her students were finishing up their survey of that particular –ism for what they called their international literature class. She asked Nicholas to sit in on the class and award the winning team the blue rose. The class of sixty or so students was divided into four teams, each with a captain. In the team quiz show format each team would be asked ten questions in each round, and Nicholas was supposed to ask bonus round questions on English or American Romanticism.
The group was quite rowdy when Nicholas walked in and barely noticed him in their collective self-absorbed preparation. They were mostly females with one or two guys who seemed to stick out like sore thumbs on the periphery of the large classr
