At school, Alex had just rolled into the parking lot when a sight caught her eyes. Their librarians stood outside the school building with a van full of books next to them. They seemed to be taking them into the building and probably up to the library.
As she came closer, Alex connected the situation to the previous announcement they made on the library’s bulletin about a book fair in the nearby town. They must have hauled in a new batch of books for the library. She skated excitedly to them.
“Alex, dear” the head librarian greeted her. The roots of her hair had a white color while the rest had been dyed to a red copper shade. She had deep smile lines and a plump body shape. If it hadn’t been for the lack of elasticity in her skin, people could barely tell her age.
“Good day, Ms. Eilla” Alex smiled, “Found anything good at the book fair?”
“Several ones, my dear!” She answered, “Around in their 20s too.”
Alex choked a laugh, “Ms. Eilla!”
“I may be old but I can still appreciate beauty, you know!”
“Makes perfect sense” Alex tapped on the tip of her skateboard and placed it between her back and her school bag, “Let me help.”
“Thank you” Ms. Eilla said, “Now, just don’t overwork yourself.”
“I won’t!”
Alex had just peeked into the back of the van to get some books when a voice called out to her.
“Hey, Al” Jae Parker greeted beside her. He also bent forward and peeked in the van, “Whatcha up to?”
Alex’s hand froze mid-air. She hadn’t forgotten the little incident near the locker room. Her aunt gave her an excuse to tell her parents—which was that her phone broke and that it needed to be sent to a shop for repair. This had bought her time to get it back soon. At least, hopefully it would be soon.
What she needed to know was what Jae planned to do with it.
“Hey, Jae” she replied, making a pile of books to carry, “Just helping out to get these to the library. Wanna help out?”
“Sure, why not? I mean, we can get out of first period if we did this, right?”
“I’m more than willing to tell your teacher, young man” Ms. Eilla interrupted and place a hand on Jae’s arm, “It would be the least I could do.”
Alex rolled her eyes and hid a smile. She could tell that their head librarian used a firm grip to hold Jae—most likely to squeeze his bicep. Not the kind to ruin her fun, Alex picked up the books and turned towards the building.
The trip didn’t go smoothly since students already loitered the hallways. Alex needed to be constantly aware of their movements in case one of them could hit her and the books.
“Hey, Al! Wait up!” Jae yelled from behind her. It took him no time at all to catch up. He carried more books than she did but it didn’t seem to bother him. Multiple students greeted him as they walked together. The more it happened, the more Alex sped up her pace.
“Woah, why are you in a hurry, dude? We’re not gonna be late. Eilla said so” Jae reminded. We walked up the stairs to the second level of the school.
“I don’t really appreciate missing classes, Jae” I responded though it had been mostly from the attention we had been receiving.
“Right, right. Valedictorian. Studies. Career. Bright future.”
What was that supposed to mean? Alex thought, “Think whatever you want of it but I planned to make the best of every opportunity I get.”
We took a turn towards the left, the library being at the of the hallway.
“Nothing. I’m not thinking nothing of it” Jae defended. His pitch of his voice rose a bit higher as if he said it sarcastically instead.
Alex rolled her eyes, “Well, what are you thinking of then? Your mysterious Cinderella?”
“Ugh, not you too” he groaned, “Look, I really just want to return someone’s phone to the right owner.”
“To see her again, mhmm. I know these moves.”
“What if I want to? So what? Is that a bad thing?’
Yes, it is! Alex yelled in her mind but out loud her words were, “Curiosity. Totally understandable.”
“Lol, Al. Why did you ask? Are you gonna help me find her?”
‘Idea has been planted. Bait has been offered. Time to take the bite’ she smugly chanted to herself.
“How am I supposed to help exactly?” Alex asked.
“Definitely not putting up posters. At least, not yet.” Jae explained, “We’re thinking of checking the yearbooks at the library after school. Luckily, they’re colored so we can narrow down the possibilities. The eye color is the key.”
“What if they wore colored contact lenses?”
Alex’ question made Jae pause mid-step but he caught himself soon enough and kept walking, “True. That is a possibility. I didn’t think it was a perfect idea but it is an idea, at least.”
By now, they reached the library. Jae put down his books and opened the door. He pushed a hand on it and waved Alex towards the inside, “After you.”
“Thanks, man.”
She walked inside and used her foot to keep the door ajar as Jae picked up the books. The library doors usually close on their own to keep the inside away from most of the noise of the outside world—plus to not let the heat in.
“Nice teamwork we have, Al” Jae said amusedly. Alex rolled her eyes.
They headed over to the back where the storage room was located. A few workers stood outside its door with a piles and piles of books. When they saw the two students, they pointed to an open space for them to place their deliveries.
The first bell rang loudly but inside the library it sounded more like a distant cellphone’s call alert.
Upon hearing this, Alex and Jae were shooed out of the library and instructed to get to class.
Jae faced Alex once they were out in the hallway.
“Meet you back here after school?”
“Yeah, sure” Alex cleared her throat, shrugging her shoulders and thinking about how exactly she’d tell Logan about the whole thing.
Before Jae could turn away, he looked back for a moment, “You know you didn’t turn out to be as uptight as I’d thought you’d be.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Alex snarled.
This made him laugh, “Nothing, Al. You did leave one time at lunch, you know. Don’t think we didn’t notice but then, I realized it had been us who suddenly invaded your space and I totally get that.”
“Uh, yeah, yeah. I don’t hold grudges. No worries.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, I’m sure.”
“Cool” Jae beamed. For a moment Alex thought the move made his blonde hair and his dark blue eyes sparkle a bit but she brushed it off, blaming it on the light.
“Yeah, cool, uh, see ya later” she scratched the back of her neck then waved goodbye. The room of her class was downstairs while Jae’s was at the other hallway around the corner of the library.
“See ya, Al.”
With that, the two went their separate ways.
