A Year in my Head

Chapter Three

Chapter Three: The Library

The two of us got to know each other a bit as we walked down to the library. When we reached the building, we both stopped in our tracks in awe. It was gorgeous. The whole place was practically glass, even the roof. You could see the many, many, shelves of books from the outside.

And there were two benches, back to back. One on the outside of the glass building, and one on the inside. My immediate thought was dependent on the weather, if its nice, you read outside. If not, you read inside.

  "This is a dream come true," Chase gawked. "Literally, I feel like I've actually seen this place in my dreams..." I trailed off. I honestly feel as if I had seen this place before...

  "You think we have to pay for the books?" I asked, as we headed for the door. He opened the door for me, "It's a library." "Yeah, but I mean for a membership or whatever." "I don't think we have to worry about that," he shrugged.

   We both stood there looking around the huge library, I wanted to read every book here. "You think we can run?" I looked over at Chase. He glanced around, "I don't see anyone stopping you." We both smiled and darted for our desired sections.

  I found the mystery section. I started to look at the different titles and covers, if any looked interesting I would read the blurb. I picked 7 books and set them on the nearest table.

I wonder where Chase ended up. As I stood there deciding which book I wanted, I thought the silence was getting suspicious. "Chase?" I called to the open place. "Um, Chase? Where are you?" I slowly started to walk around. I was really starting to get creeped out. He couldn't have left me. I mean, he might've. For all I know he's an awful person.

   Maybe I shouldn't go to libraries with people I just met.

  Then, just as I was walking past the rows of shel eves, Chase popped out and scared me. I screamed way louder than I meant and hit him. "Ow! Why'd you hit me?" "Because you scared me." "I didn't realize you were going to throw hands." I gave him a look before I changed the subject,

  "What section did you head off to?" He didn't have any books in his hands. But he looked a bit embarrassed, "Fantasy." I don't know why he's embarrassed, I love fantasy books. "Did you find any interesting ones?" His face lit up when he realized I wasn't going to make fun of him. "Yeah, I set them over here on this cart!" The two of us walked over to a cart, and he showed me the 5 books he picked out.

I told him what genre I like and where I put my books. He grabbed his and we headed to the table and he set his books down. "Should I take three or all five?" he asked me looking at his selection. "One," I answered. He gave me the most confused look. "Getting one means we have a reason to come back here more often," I explained. He smiled, "Smart. Now all we gotta do is choose one."

The two of us looked through our book for another time, deciding which one to take. I took a book called The Guest List and he took one called Shadow and Bone.

Chase looked up at something at the wall, "It's 6 o'clock already?!" My head snapped up to the clock, "That can't be right. We have not been here for three hours. There's no way." "Well just in case it is, we should head back." "You're right. Should we put the books back?" I asked him. "Nah, no one should mess with them. I mean none of my friends read. Do yours?" I started to at least stack mine up on the table, "Clara does some, but she wouldn't be one to mess with someone else's books." I shrugged and we left.

That's definitely going to be my spot to get away. Sitting on one of those benches while reading a good book, sounds like heaven. But Chase came with me today too, so maybe this could be our spot. Both of us sitting on that bench, it's big enough.

Woah, i'm getting ahead of myself. I just met the guy. He could hate me for all I know. But when I hate someone, I stand as far away from them as possible. And I look angry. But as we're walking back, he seems to be pretty close. And has a slight smile on his face.

Or I could just be overthinking it. It's a small path to walk on for two people and it's a nice day outside and he got a new book. What's not to smile about?

I'm really overthinking this. It doesn't even matter that much. Well then again, it does. I'll be spending a whole year with him.

Before I could go into another rant about Chase, he said my name, "Ace?" "Yeah?" "Why do you think we're here? And for so long?" "Honestly, I have no idea. A whole year away from everything and for what?" "Exactly, I just don't see a good reason for it." "Neither do I, Chase," I shook my head, "But at least we got stuck with good people for a year." I nudged his arm. He chuckled, "Yeah, we got pretty lucky." We both smiled as we entered the "campsite" with our cabins.

We walked into the mess hall and everyone else wasn't back. Or unless they were the cabins, we didn't bother checking there. "Hey, are you hungry?" I asked Chase as he sat down. "Yeah, you planning on making dinner?" "Why not," I shrugged as I pushed open the door to the kitchen. It was already 7? Time seems to go by weirdly fast here.

   I decided to make a homemade pizza and while it was cooking in the oven everyone else walked into the building. "Are you cooking dinner?" Hayden walked into the kitchen. "You bet, but none of you get any until you're back into dry clothes." "Okay, fine." I heard the door close behind me and Hayden say, "We don't get dinner until we change." And then a collective groan from everyone.

  That night we heard all about the lake. And more reasons why I didn't want to go. We told them about the library, but didn't make it sound as beautiful as it was. They wouldn't have cared much either way. They didn't plan on reading if it wasn't required.

When we finished eating, the girls and I all said good night to the boys. We went to our cabin and started getting ready for bed. I was brushing my teeth while Jane stood behind me brushing her hair. "Chase is cute," she smirked at me in the mirror. I spit out my toothpaste, "Don't start." "What? All i'm saying is that he is the perfect person for you!" "And how would you know that? We just met him today." "I have good judgement," she told me. Karina walked past us into the bathroom to start her own routine, "He was glancing at you all dinner." "See!" "Probably had pepperoni in my teeth or something," I shrugged walking over to my bed.

"Come on, Ace!" "Jane, how about you cool it and... I'll see if there's a chance I would date him. Not saying I will, but I at least need a month before you start shipping us. Okay?" I waited for an answer. "Okay," she whined, going to her bed.

We all got ready and went to sleep. This would be an interesting year.

*A/N: Is Ace annoying? I tried not to write an annoying mc, but as the author I cant really make a decision like that. I pick apart everything about her and always go back to yes. So if she is annoying, please let me know 🙏*