String of Fate

Chapter Seventy Six

I almost groaned out loud when I saw the group of younger teenagers at the computers in the library. The library that I frequently attended to carry out my college work away from home was small enough that I would be able to hear the four of them from where I was working. At least it shouldn't be long until they left to go to the youth club once it opened. One hour for me to work and a one hour wait until the youth club opened. Even if they were loud, I should be able to get some work done. I waved to Reuben at the computer at the main desk before heading to an empty table to set up my laptop.

After that, I managed to focus on my schoolwork by putting an earbud in to listen to music. It helped to drown out the loud kids. I typed away to work on my reports. I needed to do a good job at these since I was rubbish at exams. For some reason, the information would not stay in my head. After a couple of hundred words, a cup of tea was placed on the table at the side of my laptop. I looked up to see Reuben smiling at me. "Thanks. Please tell me that's full of sugar."

"I only put two in. What's the report on this time?" He wondered, sitting down for a minute at one of the chairs. I noticed that everyone else had gone. "I just closed. I have a few returns to sort out before I leave, though, so you can continue working for a little bit longer."

"Oh. Right. Thank you. You didn't have to do that. I could just take the work home." I replied. I glanced at the screen. "And this is for my internet security section of my coursework so it's all about hackers and all that junk."

"We both know that if you took your work home then you wouldn't be able to do it with your little brothers running around. Your mother was actually in here earlier before picking them up from school and she was saying that they had been quite troublesome recently." He answered, taking a sip from his own tea as I typed a little more. I was near the end of the section, so, I could finish that off and try the rest of the report at home once the boys were in bed. It wasn't due until next week anyway but getting it out of the way couldn't hurt. "How old are they now?"

"They're now five years old. I'm lucky that they have an early bedtime." I explained, finishing my sentence and saving the document. My time was up. I started shutting my laptop down and picked up my cup, thinking that it was now cool enough to drink. "You haven't done your returns yet."

"I'll do them in a little bit." He told me. I finished my tea and set the cup to the side as I started packing up my laptop by sliding it into my backpack along with my notebook and pens. "It's just putting them back on the shelves."

"I'll help you with them. With the two of us putting them back, it'll be a lot quicker." I offered, getting up and going to the returns pile. I picked up a couple of books by the same author. "Have you already scanned these back in?"

"Yes. You don't have to help, though." Reuben said, picking up a couple of gardening books.

"I'm happy to. I get to delay going home and be surrounded by books. It's a win-win for me." I replied, finding another couple of romance books before heading to that section. I put them in the correct shelves, sliding them in with the other surnames starting with the same letter. It reminded me of my bookcase at home – I organised that in alphabetical order, too. "So, any plans for the weekend?"

"It's one of my friend's birthdays on Saturday so we're going to be a good catch up." He answered as I grabbed some children's books and he picked up a stack of crime books, heading back over to the correct shelves. "You?"

"Hide in my room reading in the hopes that the boys forget that I am there and don't nag me." I told him, tidying up the kids section so the books that had been left on the tables were now back on the shelves. "I have an inset day on Monday though, and I was hoping to go to the zoo but my parents won't be able to take me and be home for the boys' finishing school. It kind of sucks since I wanted to use my new phone to take decent photos because the camera is amazing on it."