How To Get Banned From A Library

Crack The Spine Of A Book

How To Get Banned From A Library

•Crack The Spine Of A Book•

Lilia could tell that she was aggravating to Cody.

The way he would scrunch his nose and pinch its bridge in frustration whenever he learned something new about her said that much.

But new looks, Lilia noticed, were forming as she did things that concerned him. Cody would take off his cap from time to time and run his fingers through his hair for instance. Or perhaps he would breath in really deep and stare Lilia down, much as he was doing now, as she rummaged through the junk in her bag again.

The jingling of coins filled the short distance that was separating them as Cody tried to lean forward and catch a glimpse of what all was inside. But Lilia was quick in snatching the shoulder purse away, and after, smirking at him.

She waved a finger at him as the same hand held the quarters needed for their experiment, her chipped nail polish being extremely noticeable to herself as she did so and the loose bracelet on her arm slid down into her jacket sleeve. 

"Nuh-uh," Lilia began, closing up her bag again. "I think it's become pretty obvious that this is filled with objects used for destruction. Therefor, you, Mr. Goody, aren't going to like all that you'll see. Unless you get in on the fun the right way, you looking in here isn't going to happen."

Cody crossed his arms while one of his hands was holding the book from earlier, and rolled his eyes -another sign of how annoyed he was with Lilia-, saying, "If sticking around you and becoming, well, you is the only way to earn a peek, i'd say it's not worth it. You'll be out of my hair after this anyway."

Lilia dropped her bag on the floor next to the current washing machine they were standing by. "Oh, come on. I'm not that bad, am I?" Though Lilia didn't want to admit it, she regretted the words the second she asked them. She knew the answer, and it was one she didn't actually want to hear.

And Lilia could tell that the same words she was thinking were hanging in the air between them somehow, despite them never being said.

She expected a snark filled comment from Cody -the boy who wasn't living up to the normal stereotype of being the antisocial bookworm she's read about-, and she did receive such. "Seriously, Lilia? Have you met you? I'm sure no one looks at you and thinks, 'Yeah, she's not bad. I bet she's the kindest, most normal girl ever, looking all biker chick and those death glares just make me want to talk to her. Oh, and I heard she likes burning books, which of course is a major turn on.'"

He had his hands in his pockets as the words were spoken, but the point still came across and in a way that made Lilia lean against the washer and giggle. It was short and simple, being better than how this question was normally answered, especially if it was her mom replying. Lilia saw Cody smile at the fact too and grab the coins from her hands before she could react. "Hey! Give 'em back."

"First, answer this question," Lilia bit the inside of her mouth as he said it, tapping her foot on the floor as Cody continued. "We came here so you could throw this book into the laundry, didn't we?"

"And if we did?" Lilia asked him, grabbing the book and coins from him, and turning to the machine. "Lighten up, Cody. The book is already ruined, what will a good washing hurt?"

Cody didn't answer her, Lilia sensing his discomfort behind her as she picked the settings she wanted and tossed the book in. The washer made a sound resembling spleersh and whirled the book around after a moment as Lilia looked on through the clear door.

And then, much to Lilia's surprise, Cody came up next to her, staring as the not so strong duct tape wrapped around the hard back came peeling off in the rough scene before them, random pages coming out of it later.

There was silence -minus the old ladies a few spots away from them, whispering not so well about how the teenagers these days needed new hobbies that didn't consist of wrecking books- as they watched the water inside spin.

Cody shifted a bit, positioning his backpack better on his shoulder and suddenly saying, "Why do you do it?"

"What?" Lilia questioned, her eyebrows lowered.

"What do you find fun about all of this? It's reckless, unneeded..." Cody trailed off, looking for the right word. "It's wrong."

Lilia shrugged, breathing in deep and then cringing from the smell of bleach and overly fragranced detergent around her. "It's not something you explain, Cody. At least, not in my world anyway."

"And what exactly is your world, Lilia?" He pressed, and Lilia had yet to question whether that was a good thing or not.

She sat on the floor, the cool tile present as it collided with her thin jeans. Cody did the same and sat crisscross applesauce like in pre-school, Lilia taking the opportunity to rest her feet on his knees.

He didn't seem to enjoy her old black boots there though, but she kept them in that place anyway. Until he pushed them off that is.

Lilia huffed and ran her hands through her hair, her fingers twisting around a strand of the bright red and lacing it between her fingers. "My world consists of reading books and destroying them, nothing more to explain."

"Then, tell me this. Have you ever at least done something to a book that didn't cause complete and total disaster?"

Pondering over it, she grinned. "Um, let's see, i've cracked the spine of a book before. It didn't cause any real damage that I got in trouble for, but you should have heard the snap it made. I'm sure by now it's broken in half or something, but not that much harm then."

"I guess you're right. Compared to other things you've done, I should probably be praising you after hearing that."

She playfully leaned forward with a grunt and slapped his arm. "You make me sound like a monster."

"In your world, you might not be. But in mine," Cody paused, staring at her as Lilia averted her eyes and absentmindedly played with a necklace hanging from her neck. "Lilia, in my world, i'm pretty sure you're considered the devil in human form."

——

Question: If you were given the chance to go into the world of any book, what would it be and which character would you be? It can be any character at all, but try to choose one that fits your personality.

My answer: Um, dang! There's so many amazing books. I definitely love reading about the worlds in books, but i'd be too much of a wimp for most of them. But i'm gonna go with 'Uglies' by @scottwesterfeld. The world he made for the uglies and pretties was so amazing! But i'm not sure which character I would be. Part of me hopes I would be the female version of David (aka my favorite character from that series) because he doesn't care about outer beauty, he cares about what's on the inside.