Misfits

Chapter 3: Impressions

"Don't Judge a Book By it's Cover" "#typical"

"Here we are." She announced as we stepped into the library. "Have a seat or roam around. Remember you're working on your projects. Talking is allowed but only for questions or comments. Get to work! I'll be in my office, come to me with any problems. But stick to emergencies. Goodbye!" She left the room, with the doors swinging behind her.

Then there were the moments of silence and stillness. Until America broke the seal. She walked all-knowingly in front of us.

"So introduce yourselves. Name, age, gender, what you're in for. That sort of thing." She looked around at us, thinking someone would step up and introduce themselves. "No one? Fine. I'll go. My name is America, after the country. My age is twelve years old. I am a girl, always have been. I'm here because I cheated."

This puzzled me. Since when does cheating get you into all summer long detainment? "Cheating? Shouldn't that just give you a demerit or something?"

She smiled at me. "Depends on how you cheat. Go beanie boy." America turned to Simon and urged for him to go.

He slowly looked around. I guess he wasn't sure if she meant him. But, who else was wearing a beanie? No one.

"Alright. I'm Simón. Not Simon. Characters, like my o, don't show up on most spreadsheets. I am 13 years old. I'm male. And I'm in here for vandalism." He waited for something. "Oh. You." He pointed at Julia, remembering that he had to choose the next person.

She looked up from her nails, which she had been picking at the polish on them. An interesting character, that one. Couldn't tell if she seemed good or bad.

"Fine. My name's Julia. I'm 11 years old. Though a lot of people say I act older. I'm a girl. And you don't wanna know what I'm in for. Brown-hair. Go." She looked back down at her nails, contempt with her answer. I looked at the other two, neither of them had brown hair, so she meant me.

"I'm G. I'm 12 years old. As far as I know, I'm a girl. And I'm in..." I paused to think. What should I tell them? "Tax evasion."

"Yeah, right." America blurted. She looked at me funny, who's she to judge? Even though I'm not really in for tax evasion. I don't even know what it is.

"Just kidding. I threw a book, and it hit someone. Happy?" Everyone seemed happy with this answer, at least it was logical, except America. She looked at me skeptically.

"Your turn." I said to Lucas. He meekly stood up straight and quietly began to speak. Which surprised me. He seemed like he would never talk.

"I'm...I'm Lucas. Fight." He stopped after quickly muttering the other words, and didn't tell us anymore. But from the looks of him, he's eleven and a boy. Still, I couldn't imagine the small body of his in a fight. Especially not him, being the one getting in trouble.

He pointed at the last boy. Looking scared, as if any of us might suddenly hurt him.

"Right. I'm Connor. I'm 13 years old. Boy. And I'm here for skipping too much school. That's me." He looked around, facing our silence.

"Great. Let's start our research." America commanded, walking towards the book directory. "You guys coming? Or are you going to just stand there like deer in headlights?"

We all broke from our still poses and walked to join her. There we found our topic, and everyone began to navigate towards a section.

I heard towards 700. Where musical info was told to be. There I began to pull out all books any bit related to my subject. Which was basically everything, it was the musical section. In about two minutes I already had a stack half my height. Picking it up was the hardest part. I couldn't tell where to grab onto! Eventually I had the books in my arms, and I began to walk. I spotted a table that was open, and headed toward it.