29 Days Of Grace

Day 4

"Love is a varied term. It could be the puppy dog love, you teenagers share, or it could be the love that inspires slow songs. What is love for you? Is it the touch of a hand, or the few seconds of eye contact that cause your nerves to hype up? Is it the butterflies in your stomach or the feel of somebody's presence in your life? I'd like to hear it from you. What do you define love as?", Mrs Stone finished as she smiled at us,her eyes glittering.

It was the day after we'd visited Aiden's family cafe, and I was already itching to go back. Sitting here in English Lit, I couldn't help but fantasize about it.

"Mr. Reynolds. Would you like to speak a few words about what love means to you?"

All eyes turned on Zach Reynolds, who sat there smirking, as he popped the collar of his varsity jacket.

"Of course, Mrs. Stone. As you know
I'm an expert in this department. Just ask the girls", he smirked at his fangirls, who nodded a yes as his friends hooted in the background.

Zach Reynolds, football captain and ladies' man. With his good looks and cocky attitude, he was the girls' favourite at school.
Truth be told, he could be nice at a few occasions, but the rest of the time? He was a total pig.

"Love means sex. And as I'm a genuine teacher on the subject of Love , I could teach you, with extreme care. Just give me a call."

Zach winked, as a few girls fanned them self, muttering about how hot he was.

"Umm alright. Well, that was Mr Reynolds views on that topic. But from next time, Zach refrain from advertising your after school activities in my class. I'd appreciate that.", Mrs Stone looked pretty grossed out and I couldn't blame her.

Zach shrugged his shoulders, pouting his lips a bit.

I rolled my eyes at his ridiculous behaviour, wondering how someone could be such an idiot.

"Ms Parker! I see your expressions!", Mrs Stone rubbed her hands together, grinning widely. Now all the attention was on me. All I wanted to do was get through class unnoticed, but apparently, that was impossible.

"I feel you disagree with Mr Reynolds views on this topic. Do you?"

"Yes, I do.", I muttered.

"Really? So what is your perspective on this topic?"

"Let's hear this.", Zach prompted, his eyes shining with challenge.

I straightened up in my seat, uncomfortable than ever before.

Aiden nudged me from my right side, gesturing my to stand up and speak.

I shot an helpless look his way, but he just shook his head.

Taking in a deep breath, I stood up. Looking down at my fumbling fingers, I spoke,"Love isn't a state of perfect caring... To love someone is to strive to accept that person exactly the way he or she is, right here and now. Maybe that's why most of us experience such disappointment over love in our lives.  We've defined it wrongly, and so we expect things to happen that don't happen. And we always seem surprised about what does happen.  If we realized that love isn't supposed to be some kind of joyride all the time, but rather a struggle, our expectations might be more in line with reality."

Once I finished speaking, I looked around, suddenly aware of how quiet the class was.

Mrs Stone was looking at me, like I'd given her the cure for cancer.

"That's beautiful, Grace. Amazing, even. What do you want to be in life?", Mrs Stone questioned me, still looking as if she was in a daze.

"I'd like to be a writer.", I answered shyly.

Everybody looked at me in aww, their eyes conveying one thing, shock.

"You'd make a great writer.", Tori Kelly, captain of the girls' volleyball team, smiled at me, making something flare in my chest. Was it pride?

Aiden whooped as the bell rung, clapping for me.

"Ms Future Writer, I have the right place for you to see."

"Where?", I questioned, smiling, as everybody passed me, telling me how much they like my perspective.

I caught a pair of blue of eyes staring at me, recognising Zach Reynolds right away. He saluted me as he walked out of the class with his friends.

With an exasperated sigh, I turned to look at Aiden, who was already watching me with a raised brow.
"Meet me in the parking lot, after school."

That's all he said before he mock saluted me like Zach had done and walked out of the class, leaving me just standing there like a loser.

--------------------------------------------

"This is the place I was talking about. The place I wanted to take you to. I'd come here every day with my mother when I was little.", Aiden told me.

"Umm, Aiden? I'll be able to see much better if you'd remove your hands from my eyes."

"Right. You ready?", he asked me dramatically.

"Aiden! Just get on with it!"

"Alright, alright. No need for you to bite my ear off."

As Aiden removed his hands from my eyes, they flew open to gauge the surroundings.

We stood outside a huge old building, guarded with a gate.

Pushing the gate open, Aiden guided me inside. My eyes widened, as we steppped inside the red building.

The smell of the library was different. I could smell new ideas just by walking in, the powerful smell of imagination coming from the books on the shelves that wanted to be read, the antique smell of the pages of old books, the untouched books lying on the shelves, the smell of the dust coming from these books.

"You'd come to the library?", I asked Aiden.

He shrugged, but I could see his ears turn pink. Cute.

"Day 4, reason 4- all the books you haven't read in this world. You'd be surprised.

I smiled at him as I ventured further inside.

I could feel the carpet underneath my feet, it was so comfortable to walk on. The piece of cloth on the chairs were made with the finest material for the convenience of the users, I could sit and learn all day on these chair and never feel a slight feeling of a pain in my back, the different wooden pieces around the library was smooth and clean, some had graffiti drawn on them by the visitors. Almost every piece of wood in the library had its individual graffiti.

"Books here are ancient.", Aiden told me," Like really old. But there good. Inspirational, even. This place is close to my heart."

"Thanks for bringing me here.", I told Aiden.

"Anytime, now let's go explore for a bit."

------------------------------------------

You guys are amazing, really. So many reasons for the challenge! I'm thinking of extending the days for you guys and maybe take up more reasons from ya'll if you'd like. What do you think? Comment down below!