Lionheart

Chapter 2

                At Melrose they don’t offer proper education. That’s a little bit pardonable to him given that it’s a public school, but they could at least equip it with a better library and librarians. Unfortunately it’s not up to Nick to get them fired and replaced.

                Crinkling his nose in disgust, Nick passes by the table he was supposed to occupy. Why hadn’t he seen the couple making out underneath it before?

                Nick growls under his breath, takes a quick scan of the anarchical, mostly gray and white library. At the very back he spots a girl wearing large headphones, sitting on her hands. She doesn’t seem to be doing anything other than mindlessly nodding off to her music, so Nick approaches the table resolutely, taps the surface and sits at the end.

                She doesn’t seem to notice him. Normally that should please Nick, but he finds out that this girl who dresses up like very young models on magazines is listening to metalcore like she can hardly hear it. His lips curl down at the noise. He doesn’t care if he looks moody, pouting like he does right now; he has good reason to. He actually had hopes for this table.

                Oh well; it doesn’t matter anymore. Nick takes his current read out of the black messenger bag he placed on the seat to his left. Out of habit, he takes a quick, surreptitious whiff of the book as he opens it and huffs. I can deal with this racket. At the very least, he’ll try.

                “Hi, Nick.”

                 Said boy very nearly falls off the uncomfortable foldable chair at the unsuspected greeting. It’s Seth. Again. He was the only one who would go out of his way to piss Nick off like this.

                For a moment, Seth just stands there smiling at Nick in a way that always nonplusses him. 

                “What do you want?” Humoring Seth might bring him closer to his alone time.

                Seth lightly taps the girl’s shoulder. She snaps her head in his direction to glare at him, but Nick doesn’t miss the slant of her lips as Seth points at the empty seat next to her. The girl nods her acquiescence and Seth takes his seat in front of Nick, all the while looking like everything in the world is pleasant.

                “Let’s talk.”

                Nick rolls his eyes. “The library isn’t a place for talking.”

                Seth gestures behind him, says, “Didn’t stop them,” and kind of grins at the blank stare Nick gives him after.

                 “I’m trying to read.”

                Seth grins toothily. “You sure?”

                  Nick raises his voice inadvertently, trying to look down his nose at Seth. “Not if you’re around.”

                The girl who’s been sitting with her mouth shut pulls her headphones down to rest around her neck. She taps the table thrice to get Nick’s and Seth’s attention.

                “Is that Devil Wears Prada?” Seth inquires with an amiable smile on his face.

                The girl looks at Seth and turns to look at Nick

               She looks back and forth at both of them with all the earnestness of Nick’s own mother, then carefully drawls, “Let’s take this fracas outside, bitchcakes; you guys are well on your way to getting kicked out by the librarian.”

                Seth blinks at both the girl and Nick, but the blonde sets his book down and crosses his arms and legs, obstinately narrowing his eyes at her. “There’s nothing to take outside.”

                The girl finally peels herself away from the table’s surfaces, resting her fists on her hips just as stubbornly. “Yeah, there is.”

                Nick scowls. “How the hell do you even know what we were talking about?”

                “I moved the earpieces back.”

                “I would have noticed.”

                “Oh, but you didn’t.”

                The corner of Nick’s lips twitches. “Mind your own business.”

                “I would, but I can’t leave him—“she makes a slow, clarifying gesture in Seth’s direction, “alone. Not while you’re Mr. Super Pissy-Pants when clearly,” she brazenly rolls her eyes at Nick in the most melodramatic way he’s seen on a kid, “he just wants to get to know you. Also, I don’t really appreciate the tension, really.”

               Nick shoots Seth, who looks positively withered and thoroughly befuddled by the astonishing turn of events, a look. But the other boy just shrugs and shakes his head. What tension…?

                Gathering his things, Nick stands up. “I’m leaving."