Souled Out ➳ Lauren Jauregui

six

I hurried as fast as I could to get up to the second floor and make my way around the balcony to find the other set of stairs up to the third floor.

"Y/N! Wait." Lauren breathlessly said, trying to catch up to me and doing a good job of it.

I didn't answer her. I knew I had to sprint faster up this flight of stairs that way I could sneak into one of the rooms without her noticing.

Soon, I was running as fast as I could down at long hallway with a dead end. I hurried to enter the huge door on the right and close the door behind me quietly.

After taking a short breath to calm my lungs down, I could hear Lauren yell from the outside. "Y/N! Come out." She sounded like she was almost begging until she finally let out a loud groan. "Ugh, fine. You've underestimated me. I guess the girls and I are about to start a search party, Y/N."

I could slightly hear her walk away from the door and I was finally able to let out a breath of relief. I blindly reached through the dark to find a large switch on the side of the wall. I pulled the switch up to light up the whole area.

I turned around to see what I call 'The Playground'. It's actually the library, but it's huge. Different levels hold rows of book shelves, carrying thousands and thousands of books. I call it the playground because this is the only playground I'm accepted in.

I pulled my hair down from the messy ponytail it had been in since the bus fight, and strolled up the ramp to the second floor of the library to find a certain book I had been looking for since Tuesday.

"Breathing underwater, here I come." I muttered under my breath, mentally groaning at the excessive energy it would take to find this book.

LAUREN'S POV

"Woah." I muttered to myself as I opened a huge door into a ginormous room. I'm sure the square foot of this one room is bigger than my whole house back in Miami.

Rows and rows of bookshelves filled with untapped reading resources were lined up all over the room, making me believe that this is what paradise looks like.

"Camz is not gonna believe this." I softly whispered, walking further into the room to look over all of the books. My hands slightly brushed over the hardcover bridges as I walked through, still trying to find Y/N.

I know how it's looked lately between the new girl and I, but that's just a cover up. I don't mind Y/N at all. In fact, I've overheard her in a few conversations with the girls so I know she's intelligent and funny. It's just that I hold grudges easily, and the grudge I have for her and her father is still circulating in my brain.

I hate not being free to do my own thing, but what I hate even more is a bully, and that's what Y/N is dealing with.

I circled around to find a ramp leading upwards towards another level of the library.

"Woah." I said once more, still being equally amazed as when I stumbled across this room.

I heard a few shuffles along the row of shelves. I followed the sounds to a row in the back.

"Yes! I found it." I hear Y/N happily say to herself.

"Found what?" I asked, passing into the row she was on.

She jumped out of fear and held the book out at me to shield herself. I never really noticed how jumpy she was until this moment right here.

"Oh. It's you." She frowned, pulling the book back close to her person.

"Don't sound too excited." I joked.

Y/N yawned and reached her hand up towards the swollen eye to slightly rub the edge of it. I basically sprinted to grab her hand and make sure she didn't touch the injury with her dirty hands.

I'm not a doctor but I'm sure there's something about germs on hands.

Y/N stopped for a second, with her other eyes shot open and her mouth slightly agape. She pulled her hand away to look at it, mentally noting, before starting to walk away from me.

"Are you okay?" I asked, noticing her weirdness but I was still intrigued in her response.

She nodded, taking a deep breath. "I'm fine. You just touched me."

"Oh." I said worriedly. "Do you not like that? Some people don't like 'touchy-feely' people because of germs or stuff like that."

"I was just caught off guard." She went passed the ramp leading down to keep going straight towards a lounge-like area. Y/N plopped down on a beanbag and started to open the book.

Her good eye narrowed harshly at the pages, trying to read but her patience was strong. She flipped to the next page and stared deep into the words obviously becoming little more frustrated now.

I sat on the arm of one of the couches and decided to get her attention. I've never been alone with her before and she actually doesn't seem to bother anyone. She's kept to herself. "Breathing Underwater? What's that about?"

She shrugged, "It's a story we had to read freshman year. It's about bad teenage relationships."

"Oh, I've had a lot of those." I laughed, pushing my hair out of my face. I really wanted to ask her about the library and I decided that it wouldn't hurt to ask. "So, I can tell this place is kind of special to you, but I was wondering if Camz and I could read some of these. You've got a lot and I promise you'll get them back. I just feel like all of this shouldn't go to waste."

"Go ahead." She nodded, turning to give me her attention. "And if there's not a book here you want, im sure my Dad would hook you up."

I nodded approvingly getting up from my seated position. "Sounds like a plan." I was turning to leave when I looked back at the girl on the bean bag. "Oh yeah, but you really should go let Ally look at your nose. It's dripping again."

Y/N looked down at her white button up uniform and groaned out loudly, "Well, fuck."