Stay With Me

Chapter One

Chapter One

A loud, snickering noise snapped my head out from the book I was intently reading. I tried to ignore them, thinking that they will keep silent as soon as they realize their noise will disturb the peaceful ambience of the library. I waited for their snorts and laughs to fade. And thank the good Lord, they did. A glorifying silence once again surrounded the area, and I smiled, shifting my focus back to my book.

Then a thud echoed through the room, a familiar sound of a body hitting the ground, and a howl of laughter followed.

Grimacing, I craned my neck to feed my curiosity, seeing a poor boy in the corner of the last row of bookshelves. He was struggling to stand up, a foot stepped on the end of the right side of his pants, another foot on the other. Those feet belonged to two of four guys flocked in a table and sitting on seats that were a bit small for their size. The high school guys were all cackling with laughter, watching the boy who was maybe six or five years younger than them wriggle to get the bottom of his feet back on the ground.

I was about to stand up when Mrs. Worth approached the group of mundane noodles, her face tight, trying to look annoyed. However, Mrs. Worth being herself, her furrowing of brows, narrowing of eyes, and tightening of lips can easily be compared to a kitten’s. She was never the typical stereotype version of a librarian. This public library doesn’t need a woman with hair in a bun, eyeglasses with pointed edges and watches every person like a hawk, occasionally shushing a conversation or two. This library was usually undisturbed. Until now.

“Really? This is a library? This shitty place has only what, six, seven people? Ah, poor thing.” one of the mundane noodle said, the largest one, while faking a sympathetic expression. He looked at Mrs. Worth, then to the boy who managed to get out from being pinned to the ground. He frowned in disgust at the librarian and hissed, "See what you did? The little birdy escaped!”

The gang laughed again. High-fives were thrown and met in the air.

Mrs. Worth said something, her face dead serious. The skinny guy, the one with brown hair that looked greasy, stopped snickering and stared at her.

“Go back to your shit, you old hag."

My jaw clenched when I heard that statement that was accompanied by that annoying voice. That's it. That’s the final straw. I pushed my glasses up my nose and gripped my cross body bag. Closing my book, I stood up, never straying my eyes away from the mundane noodles. I walked towards them, stopping beside Mrs. Worth. I placed my hand gently on her slightly trembling shoulder and smiled politely. I grabbed one of the books that has been ignored in the table and handed it to her.

“Mrs. Worth, will you please put it back to its shelf? No one in this table is intellectual enough to read a book.” I smiled sweetly at her and slightly nodded, giving her a hint that I’ll take care of these babies.

Thankfully, she sauntered away to the bookshelves.

“Hey, you bitch! I was reading it. That was my book.” The largest guy with flabby arms exclaimed.

“As I've said, no one in this table is intellectual enough to read a book." I repeated. "That book is a library's property. If you really wanted to read it, you could have started reading it instead of bullying a boy who is a lot younger than you guys are."

"An aggressive bitch, I see." He grabbed another book that was previously in the hands of the brown-haired guy. They all grinned at me. My eyes focused to the book that the big guy was holding— I mean, spinning in his index finger like a basketball.