Soul Lines (Completed)

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen
Elle's POV

The library was a coffin of silence. The heating unit made more noise than the six or so students who bunkered down in fear of looming deadlines. Ms Harmin patrolled the aisles, her finger fused to her lips as she monitored the library, silencing students who dared to type too loudly.

Jacobi, Kendra and I were hidden amongst the canons of law, loose paper strewn around us as we tried to find our motivations. We'd been in the library for over an hour, and my page was still blank as I twiddled nervously with my pen. Jacobi was half of my distraction. He twirled his pen effortlessly between his fingers, a swirling baton, as he stared at an old PlayStation portable he had found on Tuesday after searching the dredges of his drawers in a state of procrastination. He made it look too easy.

The rest of my thoughts were on the piece of paper that burned through the fabric of my uniform. We had an essay due in a week, and all I could think about was the restraining order which felt like it was charring my pocket. I was meant to be thinking about court hearings and the conflicts that created them, and I was, in part, but I couldn't write about my own experience.

Kendra wasn't any better. Her page was filled with scribbles, doodles of flowers, skulls, and the silly little 'S' everyone learned to draw in third grade.

It was clear that we weren't welcome in the library. Ms Harmin had looped around the aisles eight times to walk past us, shaking the floors as she stormed down the halls in search of evidence that we'd made a noise.

We couldn't help ourselves, whispers and stolen laughter were heavenly distractions, and Jacobi's chips powered our inspiration. When no one else was making a peep, the whispered conversations and the crinkling packet of chips became deafening roars.

We could always tell when she was coming because her steps vibrated through the shelves and up our backs. Kendra would start a new page when she went by, pretending to be immersed in meaningless song lyrics as she scribbled the words to Bad Guy and Truth Hurts onto her page. Jacobi and I would pick up books, reading random sentences without taking them in until she had passed; Jacobi would leave greasy barbeque-flavoured smudges on the pages as he flicked between them, which would then annoy Kendra.

She kicked him silently when Ms Harmin turned her back, gesturing to him to clean his hands, but he stared back cluelessly.

'At least wipe your hands before you pick them up!' she hissed when Ms Harmin scurried off after another noise bounced around the library walls. 'And make sure you don't hold it upside down. She's eighty, not stupid.'

'At least wipe your hands.'

'Great, no wonder you can't read a book. You are only five.'

It was the calling card Jacobi had been waiting for because he flung his study notes onto the ground and replaced them with his PlayStation portable, a childish grin stretched across his face. 'Good, I have never seen a five-year-old study, and some five-year-olds don't even attend school, and that's the kind of five-year-old I want to be.'

'We graduate in three months. What are you doing?'

I snorted, finally looking up at their pair of them. 'Jacobi pretty much has a guaranteed position with the pack, and if that doesn't work out, his dad will give him the business.'

'I hate you.'

Jacobi lazily pounced at Kendra, looping his arm around her neck as she squirmed, and pulled her close to press a sloppy kiss to her temple. 'You love me.' He cooed, falling onto her lap and gazing up at her, the lights reflecting in his eyes like stars.