The Library Girl

Chapter 38

December 26, 2016

I love Leanne so much. She is my saviour, and I am so grateful that I have her in my life right now.I feel a very similar way about my friends. I'm so lucky to have such wonderful friends, and so many of them, to help me through these hard times.

While I was writing my last diary entry, people began to gather around the library. The word had already spread that it had burnt down, and the whole town had come to see if it was true. All the librarians were there, and so were my friends, as well as many other people, most of whom I'd recognised from the library. Unfortunately, the Anti Book Movement were also there.

"How are you, library girl?" they smirked. "How do you feel now that your home has burnt down, and all the books are gone forever? Do you want to cry?"

My friends all looked at me in confusion. 

"Your home?" said Emma. "What are they talking about?"

I took a deep breath and looked at them all, one by one.They were all looking at me with the same expression on their face, an expression that demanded answers.

"I guess I have a lot of explaining to do," I said.

***

"So, what are you trying to say, Rosa?" said Hannah. "Your house burnt down, you've been living in the library all year, and you haven't even spoken a single word about it to any of us?"

I had just told my friends everything, and you could see that they were struggling to take it all in. I nodded.

"Why haven't you told us, Rosa?" said Emma. She looked hurt.

I felt so stupid. "I... I thought you wouldn't believe me," I hesitated before adding my other reason for not telling them."And... I thought you wouldn't want to be my friends any more if I told you."

"Look at me, Rosa." Emma's voice was stern. I looked at her."Whatever made you think we wouldn't believe you? We're your friends, and we always will be. Next time something happens,promise you'll tell us, okay?"

"Okay," I said faintly. I felt so ashamed of myself. Why had I kept something so big from my friends? And why had I thought they wouldn't believe me?

Evie came over and gave me a hug. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

I felt warm inside. Most people probably would have stopped being friends with someone who had acted the way I had. But my friends stayed true.I'm so lucky to have such loyal friends.

***

I went home with Leanne that night. She told me I could live with her, and her home was a very comforting environment to be in. I read more Baby-Sitters Club books and she cooked me a lovely warm dinner. After dinner, we went to the lounge and sat together on the couch.

"This must be hard for you, losing your home for the second time," she said.

I told her everything. I told her about how I felt when I got back from Emma's Christmas party, and how sad I was that my book and story were gone. Her reply to this surprised me.

"I have something to tell you," she smiled. "Your story is not gone."

What was she saying? "It burned down in the fire," I said."How could it not be gone?"

"I actually finished reading it a long time before I gave it back to you," she told me. "And it was amazing. It was just like a real book, and I decided that it needed to be one. So I typed it up and sent it to a publisher... and it was accepted." here she smiled and gave me a squeeze. "You're going to be published, Rosa!" she added playfully.

Published? This was too good to be true! I gave Leanne a big hug. With her in my life, maybe things wouldn't be so bad after all...