the first chapter

the second chapter

"nora!" my friend shouts to me in the hallway.

"hey, kim. what's up?"

"people are talking about you." she says, leaning against the locker next to me. "apparently some kid named king is telling the whole football team about you! what did you do with him?"

"um, i didn't do anything." king walks through the hallway with his little posse of jocks behind him and winks at me. what an asshole.

••• next day •••

"hey, mrs. wynn," i mumble.

"what's the matter, nora?"

"that jock evans told his brainless buddies something, now people are talking about me." i groan. king walks in and automatically makes eye contact with me and smiles. i ignore him and go to my table but of course, he follows me.

"what's up, nora?" i stay silent and pull my notebooks out. "uh, nora?"

"king, i have a lot of work to do. i came to the library for silence."

he frowns at me. "is something wrong?" i ignore him again and he hesitantly walks away. i don't have the time to entertain someone as immature as king. he only wants to maintain his reputation. i guess doing something with the girl who never gives anyone a chance is a flex.

kim walks into the library and sits next to me, eyeballing king on her way over.

"that's the king kid, right?" she whispers.

"mhm. i'm not worried about him."

"well he is kinda cute and he's staring at you..."

"yeah, because he's a creep." i sigh.

••• 3:23 pm •••

i open my phone to a text from an unknown number.
yo, nora. it's king. oh great, how did he get my number? did i do something to you? i set my phone down and pick up my book.

I wasn't hopeful. I don't know stats or nothing like that, but Death-Cast fucking up alerts isn't exactly common news. i read. all i wanted was to get lost in the puzzle of my book. but now all i can think about is king. what he said to the team, why he got suspended, why he's so interested in me. i have questions but i can't ask them. i can't let him get the satisfaction of successfully "getting" me. so i won't. i won't engage with him, i won't entertain him.

••• next day •••

"ah, nora! that young man came in earlier and asked about you." mrs. wynn tells me as i enter the library. intrigued, i lean against the counter.

"asked what?"

"well, he seems to be nervous that you aren't talking to him." and that's when something clicks. mrs. wynn seemed to be really engaged with me and king, trying to get me to talk to him.

"mrs. wynn, did you give king my number?"

"how could i possibly have done that?"

"well, you have a computer and you work for the school." she flashes that same warm smile and chuckles lightly.

"he'll be in any minute. he might need help with some more homework." and just as she says that he walks in, immediately locking eyes with me. i stay stuck to the counter as he approaches me.

"hey, nora. sorry if you uh, thought last night was weird. but seriously, did i do something?" he asks. i look back at mrs. wynn, who is desperately trying to hide her excitement. i won't entertain, i won't engage.

"nope," i respond, going to my usual table. it's clear mrs. wynn is plotting something. i'm not sure why she would be so invested in high school situations but she seems to enjoy this.

••• next day •••

"mrs. wynn, i know you have something to do with king's sudden interest in me." i confront her.

"well, as you've already noticed, he's very interested in you. you should talk to the boy, he's always asking about you," she responds. i go to my table and wait for king to show up. once he does, i notice him holding a gift bag. he goes to mrs. wynn to get his job for the day and then walks over to me.

"i got you something." he gleams. "it's a notebook. i heard you want to be a writer and i thought this could help." it's sweet. he's sweet but i still don't understand. why is he going out of his way to do this? to get my number, to figure out what i aspire to be?

"aren't i supposed to open it?"

"oh... yeah." he laughs nervously. "but uh... do you like it?"

"yeah. i do, thanks." i guess i can't ignore him.