Keepin' it Real

t h r e e

I love Mondays. After a long weekend of attending awesome parties, shopping, and making out with my unbelievably hot boyfriend, what could be better than seeing all of my adoring fans- oops I mean friends- again? I hope I don't ruin my ah-mazing manicure with all the high-fives... At this point, I hope you've caught on to the fact this is complete, and utter bullshit. My adoring posse is made up of one person, and she prefers violence to shopping bags. At least people know her name...

"Mandy!" I thought I spotted a blonde ponytail at our usual table. 

It wasn't her. 

Oops.

"You called?" Stinging from her trademark punch on the shoulder, I smiled and turned around. 

"God, there are too many blondes in here. I think I just broke Shiela Parker's eardrum." I read somewhere that most people initially react to others' trauma with sympathy. Mandy is not 'most people'.

"She deserved it. She's so full of sh-" I clamped a hand over her mouth. 

"We're in a library," I whispered through my teeth. "Did you learn nothing in grade school?"

"I learned that Shiela's a complete bit-"

"Mandy, I strongly advise you not to finish that sentence-"

"-ch. Really."  she flashed me a grin. "So how's my favorite four-eyed criminal?"

"Oh please," I waved my hand in front of my face. "I got off on a warning!"

"Yes, and that's very impressive, you little devious felon, you!" She pinched my cheek. "I bet you were all sly and slipped some money under the table when-" 

"Oh, shh. I played it safe and just went with a few 'uh... ums' then left it at that." 

"Ugh come on! You could have been at least a bit more exiting! Ya know, plea the fifth and all that shit!" She waved her arms absent mindedly around her.

 "Do you even know what that means?"

"Of course I do! Like, equal rights, don't kill people, yaghta yaghta yaghta!" I brought my hand to my for head and sighed heavily...

"Ok, well, I'm gonna do what all the normal people are doing, and read... alone."  I strolled into a nearby isle and peered at the bookshelf.

"Argh fine, I hope that you and your 'fine literature' enjoy yourselves." Mandy grinned slyly. "I'm gonna go do something actually fun."

"See ya!" I waved my hand sarcastically. I loved Mandy but, even though she was my only friend, I could only handle her in brief doses. I suppose that I'm just that 'alone' type of person. I reached to the book shelf and pulled down the first book that my hand grasped. Of course, The Lady in Shalott, an extensive poem about a woman who lives alone in a castle and cannot leave. Then, dies because she sees a hot guy on a horse. I found it quite depressing. Still, I carried the book to a soft armchair in the corner to read it again, though I simply skipped to the last part. For some reason, it was my favorite.

"She left the web she left the loom,

she made three paces through the room."

I peered up and saw a boy sitting alone across the library.

"She saw the water-lily boom,

she saw the helmet and the plum."

His right foot tapped slightly has he read.

"She looked'd down to Camelot."

I couldn't stop glancing at it.

"Out flew the web and floated wide;

The mirror crack's from side to side."

It wasn't strange at all;  just the way he did it...

"The curse is come upon me," cried

The Lady Shalott."

Up-down-up-down-up--

"Down she came and found a boat

Beneath a willow left afloat."

My eyes carefully followed his green, Nike sneakers.

"And around about the prow she wrote

The Lady of Shallot."

I slammed the book shut.