**Please Do Not Vote Until June 14th. Voting is from June 14th - June 21**
As a child, I would spend hours in the library. After hours of searching for the perfect books, I would eventually stumble across one with a captivating cover. Excitement would well within me as I brush my petite hand over the glossy cover. Without wasting another minute, I would open the cover and delve into the book. After reading the first line, I would close the book with a frown on my chubby face and place it back onto the shelf.
My father wandered down the aisles of books until he stopped in front of my sulking form. Crouching beside me, he engulfed my hand into his.
"What's wrong Bea?" He asked.
"I can't find a book I like," I pouted.
A thoughtful look appeared on his face as he scratched his balding head. Reaching around my hunched form, he pulled a plain looking book off of the shelf and handed it to me. Furrowing my brows, I wondered why he would give me such a boring book. The cover didn't even have pictures! It had a plain red cover with gold letters on the front.
Grimm's Complete Fairytales, the title read.
I didn't know who these Grimm brothers were, but they definitely needed to upgrade their covers, I thought as I opened the book. After only a few sentences I was hooked. My eyes widened in amazement as I looked back up my father.
He gave me a knowing look and said, "Don't ever judge a book by its cover, Bea. This could be the best book you ever read but you wouldn't have known because you judged it unfairly."
From that day on, I lived by that motto. I would never judge another book by it's cover again.
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A smile slipped onto my face as I inhaled the comforting aroma of dusty pages and brewing coffee. Sparks ignited as I brushed my fingers over weathered bindings. Skimming through the rows of books my eyes finally settled on a large leather bounded novel. Balancing on my tiptoes, I tried to reach the top shelf but my short stature kept it out of my grasp.
Even though it was impossible for me to reach the book, my determination refused to falter. I will read that book, I mentally declared. Placing my foot on one of the shelves, I tried to climb to the top shelf. The shelf wobbled under my weight. Extending my hand towards the book, I tried to grab it but it was still a few inches out of my reach.
Gripping the next wooden shelf, I started to pull myself onto a taller level. I bit my lip and reached upwards. A triumphant smile stretched across my face as my fingers grazed the spine of the book.
"Yes!" I cheered once my hand was firmly clamped around the book.
My excitement was cut short, however, as a deafening roar of hoots and hollers echoed off the library's thin walls. The ground began to shake as a stampede of boys ran through the stacks. Dread knotted my stomach when I realized my high school's football team, the Knights, had just entered the building. Clinging onto the bookcase like a baby koala, I briefly closed my eyes and prayed that they would leave.
A blur of royal blue and gold jersey's ran past the bookcase I was on. They were gone, I vaguely registered as feeling returned to my fingers. I released a heavy sigh and started to climb to the ground. Just as I was about to touch the floor a moving brick wall rammed into me from the side. I fell to the ground with a loud thud and my precious book dropped out my hand.
"Ugh," I groaned as I started to pull myself up from the ground.
"Geeez," a low masculine voice growled, "Watch where you're going!"
YOU ARE READING
Judging Covers (#OnceUponNow)
Short StoryNew and a bit alarming... who would have ever thought that this could be? Beatrice Hanes is cunning, beautiful and destined for greatness. But after her father loses his job, greatness would have to wait. In order to save up for her dream college B...
