Bookworm (Hunting Tales)

Chapter 2

Ace Benning

My stupid curiosity always getting the best of me. Normally, I would never touch a book. Never. Teachers hated it, but books just… weren’t my style. I knew how to read, but I was a snail, and the words always ended up swimming around the page. 

What does all of this have to do with books? Everything. Every stupid little thing. Because, you see, if I’d stuck with my motto and ignored books I wouldn’t be in this mess. 

But, alas, I had to go against my flow and pick up that old, moldy book off the shelf. To make things worse, I even opened it. I even read some of the story!

The horror!

As if that’s not bad enough, it was a fairytale. A princess fairy tale, Beauty & the Beast. 

Then, I brushed the picture of The Beast and poof! I’m surrounded in weird, swirling smoke and there’s no longer a ground. 

I have no idea how long I was surrounded in the ‘magical swirling smoke’ because it only felt like a few minutes, but when I’m finally out of it I’m standing on the sidewalk of a busy street and it’s suddenly the afternoon. 

Wait, I thought when I opened that cursed book it was only 7:00 in the morning? Now it’s dinnertime? 

What the hell was going on?! 

Oh, but life decided to laugh at my confusion and despair and throw this little conundrum at me:

I’m standing there, staring at the street like an idiot, when a girl suddenly materializes in the middle of it. She falls to her hands and knees as if she’d been falling and throws a weird-looking book on the asphalt. She lifts her head…

And, waddoya know! There’s a beautiful yellow taxi flying down the road at her face! 

…What was I supposed to do? Watch her turn into a pancake before my eyes? 

Yes, I decided to be even more of an idiot and run into the street. She was already standing, so I pushed her to the sidewalk roughly and picked up her stupid book. The taxi almost hit me by then. 

Frustrated with the world, I jumped up on the hood before it could hit me. It screeched to a halt, and I jumped off again. 

Well, not before kicking the bumper and yelling a few choice words at the driver. He didn’t get a chance to respond, though, because I’d already run back to Book-Girl. 

She was getting to her feet on the sidewalk. Apparently, she’d fallen again after I’d shoved her. 

A great rescue attempt, I know. 

I didn’t bother to stop and talk. I just threw her book at her and continued walking. You know, I kind of had a lot on my mind, materializing in the middle of some giant city hours after I’d just been wandering my school library in search of a ‘research book’ for a project. 

Annoyingly, Book-Girl followed me down the sidewalk and grabbed my arm, turning me around. “Hey!” she said. 

I turned to her begrudgingly, rolling my eyes. Truthfully, I didn’t just shove girls out of the street to save them from being hit by a taxi everyday, but I had more important matters to face. 

Such as being homeless and broke. Those are two very important things, I think. 

She had a pretty face, I’ll admit it. She was pale, probably from reading giant, thick books all day, but she still had freckles. Her hair was a boring shade of brown, swept out of her face and tucked behind her ear. It was tied up in neat ponytail that hung loosely , curling slightly. Her eyes were wide, and I couldn’t decide if they were naturally that way or if she was simply scared. They were brown, almost hazel, and they searched my eyes.