He's a Fanboy?!

He Wakes Me At Midnight

dedicated to @-Bands- for motivating me to actually finish and update haf LOL you are a great person

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"Hi Annabelle!" Katy and Dale chirp in unison. Ah, I missed them. Too bad I only see them once a month. Maybe if we went to school together we'd actually be friends.

"Hi Katy, Dale. Hey guys," I nod at the three other members of the library council, taking a seat and slinging my bag off. I let it fall to the carpet with a thud. "Joy here yet?"

"Yeah, she's just getting the snacks," Katy informs. "so what's up?"

Out of nowhere I get the usual feeling of fear from someone--that isn't Brayden, or Luke even--trying to make real conversation with me, but I play it off. They're just like me, anyway. Book fanatics.

"Not much. I don't really have a non-fictional life, remember?"

"How's that Brayden guy?" Dale asks, wiggling his eyebrows. I heat up a little.

"He's--um--great."

"Awe, Annie! You're blushing! So Brayelle has made progress?" Katy gushes, and I'm not really sure what to say. And when did everyone decide that Brayelle was our ship name?

"Uh, I don't know. What counts as progress?"

"Do you like him?"

When I was in grade three and I wasn't scared of social situations yet, I would talk to girls about their crushes. Girls liked to confide in me because I was quiet. There was always one phrase they'd end the conversation with: Do not tell anyone. Because if you did tell someone, then that someone would tell some other someone, who'd tell another someone who'd end up telling the actual crush.

I'm terrified of that happening. But it's unlikely that Brayden will ever cross paths with Katy and Dale again. "Yeah," I breathe.

Katy jumps up and down, balling her fists and squealing. "BRAYELLE IS HAPPENING, HOES!" Dale jumps up on the table and starts dancing, taking his shirt off when Joy walks into the room.

"Hey guys, so I brought--DALE!" Joy, our council leader yelps.

"Oh, hey Joy," Dale flashes her a smile before casually putting his shirt back on and hopping off the table. "You missed a few things."

I do my best to hold in my giggles, looking at Katy. Soon the moment passes and Joy sits down skeptically, like something else might happen. While she converses with the other members, I whisper with Katy and Dale. "But guys, honestly. Boys in books are just better. How could I ever make Brayden like me?"

"Oh, darling," Dale fakes some kind of Effie Trinket accent. "don't you worry. I have a feeling you won't need to try."

__________________________

Brayden is not at the library again.

Not that I'm mad at him. Dream Brayden was right: It isn't a commitment. We didn't have a contract to meet up at lunch everyday.

But I did think we had some kind of unspoken agreement that this was where we could really be ourselves. To not come would be like giving up precious time. Well, precious to me. Who knows about Brayden?

In an attempt to escape reality, I open a book (Champion by Marie Lu.) It works.

I drift off into another world and nothing else matters. I don't need to think about anything or anyone else. I don't have to worry that my life is going to be the same old boring routine before I met Brayden. I can live here, between the pages for awhile.