Walking Away

Trying and Failing

Raven

Today is the third day I've been kicked out of the house. The police still haven't found the person who had broken in, and they wouldn't tell me what was in the letter. I found that I didn't really want to know. I don't want to know if he went that far.

I watched as Johnathan sat on one of the library couches, watching Ali play with some other kids. Apparently this is one of her favorite places to go.

I tapped Johnathan on the shoulder. "Am I interrupting?"

His grin was worth going to the library. "Not at all. I text you, remember?"

I nodded, sitting down beside him. "Yeah. But I figured you just felt bad that I wasn't allowed home."

"Or, I like talking to you so much I am willing to take every opportunity." Johnathan countered. He was very light today, his eyes almost playful.

I shook my head, ignoring the light blush in hopes it would fade quickly. I felt kind of out of place in a library, surrounded by people who had no problem reading any of these books.

Johnathan must have noticed. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." I glanced at Ali. "Looks like she's having fun."

"She is." Johnathan agreed. "So, what's wrong?"

"I told you, nothing." I answered him again.

"Yeah, you told me nothing." Johnathan crossed his arms. When had he gotten so stubborn?

"It's really nothing. It's stupid." I tried.

He frowned. "I'm beginning to hate that word. Why won't you tell me?"

I huffed. "It's just that I'm in a library. And people like me don't really belong in libraries."

"People like you?" I would have thought he was picking on me, but he just seemed confused.

"People who don't like to read." I explained. The blush burned hot, and I knew it was a bright tomato color now. I didn't say my real meaning - not people who didn't like it so much as people who had trouble doing it.

"Oh." Johnathan looked at Ali, giving her a thumbs up. She returned the gesture and nodded. "Come on."

He stood up and faced me, holding out a hand. Once I took it, he led me up the stairs, not explaining what they led to.

"What are we doing?" I asked.

"All your books are audio books, right?" I nodded, and he continued. "They have a whole section of them up here, along with movies and CDs."

I smiled a little as he showed me, and we browsed for a little while, making a pile of anything that seemed interesting. I wasn't as interested in the audio books, but it was fun to see him find things.

"I wonder if they have an audio version of our history book?" I asked, mostly to myself. That would save me a few migraines.

"Do you need one?" Johnathan, as always, was paying attention.

I sort of shrugged. "Not really. I mean, I manage, but it takes forever and it's incredibly frustrating. I still have to study for next weeks quiz, and I'm like five chapters behind."

"Let's look around." Johnathan suggested.

After looking through the whole history section and the educational section twice, I pretty much gave up, discreetly just watching Johnathan as he kept going. His concentrated look was in full effect as he scanned the titles.