uncool, stanley barber

21

21 - heaps of trouble like the library

a few minutes pass as stanley whips out his rubik's cube. dina and bradley are laughing and jenny's moved so she's on the floor, adding gum to the bleachers.

i sit in front of where stanley lies and prop my back against the step. i'm writing poetry for a class that i take. since my cast is on my left hand, i have to struggle with my weaker hand, which seems strange to everyone else. poetry's dumb and a waste of time but i strangely enjoy it.

stan peers over my shoulder and reads before i shut it away. "what? are you writing what you love about me?" he grins like an idiot.

"couldn't be more wrong, barber" i sigh. although, there's some inspiration that needs to be dedicated to him. "poetry."

"i didn't know you write poetry-"

"it's for a class" i tell him. i'm worried he'll judge me for sounding like such a priss, but instead he only laughs to lie back.

"it's cute, els. admirable" he says into the air "just don't overwork your wrist. it needs to heal." i nod an okay before he directs his attention back to his coloured cube.

a few more moments pass until i hear a voice. "ella, stan, pst! guys!" i glance over my notebook to see sydney gesturing for us to go over to her.

i place my book down and tap stan's leg before we reluctantly get up and close the doors to talk to syd. "guys i need your help" she says quietly.

"oh. okay" stan mutters beside me. "so you're talking to us now?"

"listen-"

"oh wow! really? interesting" stan sighs as i nudge him in the stomach. i just wanna hear what syd has to say.

"seriously!" syd raises her voice "shut up and follow me right now!" she turns on her feet and leads us towards the library, a place i used to be fond of.

but not now. "holy shit" i say as we look at the debris of what was the library. the shelves and bookcases are toppled over as some books are ripped and torn. what a mess.

"what the hell happened?" stan tries to ask syd.

"i don't wanna talk about it" syd protests.

"why not?" i ask as i move to stand between the books, seeing which ones survived.

"because i don't! okay?" she huffs annoyed at us for even trying to ask. stan joins me in the mass of books as i pick one up that i used to love. "so are you gonna help me or not?"

"well, we'd need a carpenter. or a miracle" stanley sighs, looking at the broken cases.

"i don't care about fixing it, i care about that" syd points to the security camera.

"you're telling me, we need that footage?" stan asks her, a slight bit of annoyance in his voice. "that's in dawson's office."

and no. i am not related to the principal.

"how much detention do you think they'd give us for breaking into the principal's office?" i ask, clearly alarmed. my dad would fucking kill me.

"doesn't matter, cause we're not gonna get caught" syd says, as if it's so simple. i rest my hands on my hips. what've i been dragged into? what've we been dragged into?

we devise a plan, thinking of how we could get into dawson's office. it feels like it's a fucking fortress. syd realises that the janitor will have a key and so there's now a slither of hope that we can pull this off.

"okay, just spitballing ideas here" stan says "but maybe you could distract the janitor and steal his keys?"

"we need someone who has..boobs" sydney concludes. stan looks at me to which i tilt my head.

"we've got ella" he says seriously "you've got boobs-"

"stan, i don't" i chuckle. "you haven't seen the world."

"dina" syd says.

"okay good. so, ella will do the keys cause she's good with her hands-"

"gross" syd remarks.

"we'll be lookouts and moral support" stan points between him and syd. she nods in satisfaction at our plan.

"i can't, stan. didn't you forget i've got a cast" i say, pointing at it. syd's now very frustrated.

"always my fault. fuck" sydney says as she gets down from where we were sitting. "i keep fucking it up with you guys-"

"no pressure" stan interjects. "i'll do the keys. don't stress, syd. ella, you'll cover me."

"got it" i wink at him to which he kisses my cheek. "ok, let's get dina and ourselves in heaps of trouble."