My Heart's Choice (On Hold)

Chapter 1

'Prestly Grek High' glistens over the huge black gates, in bold cursive letters. The morning sun-rays bounce off the metal in style, giving it the effect of a permanent glow. I stand right under the huge structure staring ahead at the massive building that I am about to enter. School.

Now don't get me wrong. It's not that I'm lazy to go to school or that I dislike school. No, not at all. I love school so much. But it's more like I dislike certain students. Three of them to be specific.

Thinking about them gives me goosebumps. But I do my best to smooth them out and I take a deep breath - very deep indeed that I can smell the sweet fragrance of a flower shrub nearby mingled with the foul scent of a trashcan.

Well, holding this breath I step into the premises of Prestly Grek High and let it out almost immediately, before it can suffocate me to death. I hope that this helps with my anxious heart, but it does NOT - at all. Like always.

Heaving a loud sigh, I walk towards the building squeezed between all the students walking that way. I slow down my speed hoping to delay the inevitable. I show up at my locker slow as a snail and am amazed to find that there's no one waiting to remind me how much of an ugly and useless mole I am.

I sigh in relief and look around the corridor to make sure that there is no one waiting in hiding for a surprise attack. It even kind of feels weird that there is not even one person waiting to ruin my day.

A small smile plays on my lips - this is a first, in ages.

I work the combination on my locker and open it, hoping to pick up my books for first period English Literature. But one glance inside my locker and my heart shatters to a million pieces before it picks up speed like a crazy speedster. All my books that were in the locker are gone! All of them.

I spot a yellow post-it note sticking to the inside of the door. There is a smiley face smudged at a ton of places, with one word written below, on it.

Library.

My heart skips a beat. Gosh! They took my books to the library? My mind spins with all the possible things that they could do to them. I glance at my watch - only ten more minutes for the bell. Without a second thought, I take off running to the library.

The library is in Wing C together with the Counselor's office, and that is approximately a kilometer away from the locker room. This can be a second's run for any athlete out there but given that I rarely run, and let alone a kilometer for that matter, it takes me forever to get to Wing C.

I enter the library panting like a lunatic. The scent of paper and books greet me upon my entry and I take a second to inhale it before a loud alarm goes off inside my head reminding me why I am here.

It is too quite, even for a library. My footsteps echo behind me as I rush through the aisles trying to figure out if the post it note meant anything else when it said 'Library'

There is no one inside, except for Mrs. Allen, the librarian, who is giving me curious looks. Who would be at the library this early in the morning?

"Is there anything I can help you with, dear?" Mrs. Allen breaks the silence.

I stop in my tracks and stare at her helplessly. I so badly want to ask her if anyone carried a set of books into the library, but that would mean I'll never see my books again.

"No, it's fine. I got this," I say smiling at her and pretend to browse for a book.

She stares at me for a few seconds and goes back to perusing a fashion magazine. I heave a sigh of relief, although my heart is in chaos, and quietly make my way to the very end of the library.