The Rebel in Us |Completed|

Chapter Nine

Song to the side

Keane- Somewhere only we know

And if you have a minute why don't we go

Talk about it somewhere only we know?

This could be the end of everything

So why don't we go?     

_____________________________________

Chapter Nine

| Winnie |

            "Here you go and have a nice evening."

            The elder lady nods at Dmitri's kind words, and then heads for the door leaving. I watch as she carries the bag of books across the street and then gets into her boat like car. Lillian sits on the floor in the middle of the children's section and reads from the stack of books piled up next to her.

            I smile to myself at the thought of seeing Dmitri like that. Somewhere next to piles of books, content in his own little world. It made me curious. "You must really like reading to work at a bookstore."

            He smirks as he begins putting things away and nods. "Yeah, I got lucky they were hiring. Wait, are you making fun of me?"

            I smile and then shake my head at his question. "No. No, I was just picturing you where Lilly is... Sitting in the middle of piles of books, trapped in your own little world. No one or nothing to make you feel inferior to it."

            "Did you just say inferior? I'm impressed maybe my ego boosting habits are rubbing off on you." We laugh, and he continues to clean as I watch him move across the floor quickly and gracefully.

            I let my eyes roam back to where Lillian is sitting completely engrossed in Where the Wild Things Are. It brings more curiosity to my mind, and Dmitri's words to me as he left the cafeteria earlier surround my thoughts. "What did you mean?" He looks at me in slight confusion as I work up some more courage to finish my question. "In the cafeteria, when you sat with me... What you said about envying me. What did you mean by that?"

            He shrugged as he cleared the table top next to the register, and the silence added with my curiosity seemed to make his answer that much more anticipated. He didn't look at me when he finally answered though, but every word he said seemed to make me a little more forgiving of myself.

            "I just meant, you know, that you're not letting Calvin and his friends get to you was good. I mean the guy did what he did to you, and said all those horrid things. Yet, you still came to school the next day, walking around with your head held high, even though a good portion of people there already knew what happened the night before." With a slight shrug he spoke again and all I could do was listen.

            "I don't know, I envy that. You were brave, and smart enough to walk away. Not a lot of people would have acted the way you did after something like that." He was right, and it made me feel a little bit better about myself, but he also sounded like he was speaking from experience.

            "So who wasn't so brave? Was it- was it you?" He shook his head no and then closed the register door to face me this time.

            "I just know someone who had to learn how to be strong the hard way is all."

"Who?" My curiosity sparked up another level as his eyes stayed blank and he smiled sadly to me.

            "I promised them I'd keep their secret. Sorry."