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The final bell rings obnoxiously in Jade's ears to signify the termination of her second to last class period for the day. Not much went on throughout her day. She kept to herself in the majority of the classes since she was most of the time, the only junior in a senior-dominated class.
But there was one thing that invaded her thoughts the entirety of the day; the arrogant, icy blue-eyed blonde with warm pink pursed lips. The blonde she's come to find out goes by the name of Kinsey Scott, thanks to Mrs. Rodriguez's firs period roll call.
There is something about that girl that makes Jade completely lose herself in the moment.
Jade finally makes it to the library. Her safe haven. The place where she feels like she can escape the constraints of society and what it pressures her to be.
Working at the school library is a part of her class schedule. It's considered a student aide period so it sort of gives her a free class period.
Jade makes her way to the large dark brown cluttered front desk. An older man, probably in his sixties, with matted gray highlighted locks sits behind it, continuing to scribble down nonsensically on a single sheet of paper. Jade stands there, slightly swaying back and forth on the heels of her toes, awkwardly.
"Um...excuse me, si-," She starts, letting out a modest cough.
"Charlie!"
Jade quickly spins her body around to discover the strawberry blonde from her first period AP Philosophy class. Bewilderment spreads across her features.
The strawberry blonde makes her way over to the front desk as the older man quickly lifts his head. This allows Jade to view the wide and thick gray mustache that sits in between his nose and mouth, along with the deep wrinkles that cover every inch of his face, clearly identifying his old age.
"She's the new girl. I'll give her the tour."
The older male with the beige hearing aid simply nods, unmoved. He returns to his mindless scribbling.
"Sorry about him, he's a little... deaf." The blonde strenuously whispers, pointing to her ear as if the man can hear her. "The name's Lucia by the way," The enthusiastic female continues, facing Jade and rapidly sticking out her right hand causing Jade to flinch back a bit. Jade stares at the girl in utter confusion.
"I-I'm Jade," The brunette says quite uneasy about this sudden meeting. She shakes the strawberry blonde's hand just to be polite.
"Oooh, like the gemstone?" She ignorantly questions with too much excitement spilling out of her as her glimmering emerald eyes nearly bulge out of their respective eye sockets.
Jade's eyebrow stays lift as she stares at this girl, astonished by her ability to scar someone within the first couple of seconds of meeting them.
"I... guess?" Jade shrugs in response.
"Well, let me show you around," Lucia begins, wrapping her lanky arm around both of Jade's shoulders. If Jade could explode right now she would. Jade doesn't really welcome this much affection, not even from her own flesh and blood.
Jade knits her eyebrows in complete confusion as she is being dragged by the strawberry blonde stranger. The emptiness of the library becomes apparent as the squeaking from Jade's all black sneakers bounce off the walls of the vast library. Her shoes leave minor skid marks across the vinyl flooring as she tries to halt the pulling from the unexpectedly stronger female. Jade's legs soon gain momentum as she tries, with all her might, to keep up with the girl hauling her away.
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After what feels like hours of listening to Lucia babble on about nothing, Jade is on her own shuffling the books and placing them in alphabetical order. She resides at the very end of the shelf by the back door that leads to the faculty parking lot.
Jade cautiously peeks through the shelves, checking to see that Lucia is far, far away from her. The strawberry blonde is situated about seven shelves away as she peacefully places the books from the return cart, back onto the shelves. She looks so calm and peaceful. Normal maybe.
Jade releases a dense sigh as she returns to her task at hand. She feels like she's able to breathe for the first time today. Relieved that no one is here to make her feel uncomfortable.
While she shoves the Pride and Prejudice novel into the space in between Persuasion and The Princess Bride, she spots something in her peripheral view. A shiny silver color.
With her undying curiosity eating at her, she can't help but glance over her shoulder to see something she wish she didn't.
The arrogant blonde devouring the lips of some random boy.
Kinsey leans up against the driver's side door of a crimson Mustang in her neon silver windbreaker, whilst the somewhat tall boy with loose honey curls lying atop his head, roughly grips her hips, pulling her in as close as possible.
Jade's eyes stick like glue to the scene in front of her like she's watching the most dramatic event in a television show.
The couple seem too engrossed in their makeout session to pay any mind to the brunette creepily watching them through the elongated rectangular window of the library.
Only, Jade isn't indulging in this, at all. Something within her kind of drops. Maybe it's her stomach or her pride. She feels a bit downcast for some reason. A bit disappointed.
"Cute couple aren't they?"
Jade almost shits herself as she feels the whisper wistfully tickle her neck. She recognizes Lucia's inherent high-pitched voice.
Jade gradually rotates her neck to face the extremely odd strawberry blonde.
"What the fuck?" Jade whisper-screams back to the strawberry blonde whose face was merely inches from Jade's lips. Jade has lost all her timidity with Lucia. The blonde has become less intimidating and more trying.
"Oops, sorry," Lucia giggles, taking the hint and stepping back away from Jade, while Jade goes back to organizing the books seeming like nothing just happened.
Lucia's blank stare begins to irk Jade to the point of no return.
"So~, why were you staring at them?" Lucia buds in after staring at the brunette hesitantly. She stands there with her hands enveloped in one another, nervously waiting for Jade's explanation.
"Cause they're sucking face in the parking lot when they're supposed to be in class. Wouldn't you take a second glance at that?" Jade retorts defensively, increasing the pitch in her voice.
"Yeah, but you looked...I don't know...kinda sad."
As Jade is about to reply to the female, she is literally saved by the bell. The final bell of the day sounds throughout the library.
Jade takes this as her cue to leave and runs away from facing the truth. The underlying truth she has been running away from for years.
She retrieves her skull-painted backpack from the storage room of the library and speed walks out the door, ignoring Charles who didn't even notice the teenage girl swiftly brisk past the desk.
