Not That Typical

Prologue

"Come on, Sal!"  I cried, pulling her through the mall at top speed.  "It'll only take a few minutes!"

Sal wrenched her hand away from me, giving me her signature glare.  "Oh, no.  You say a few minutes, but you end up in there for hours!"

"Please!" I begged.  "I need this book!"

She sighed.  "Fine.  You'll shut up for at least two days."

"Yes!"  I cheered and raced into the book store that we were in front of.  Sal followed behind me, grumbling and messing with her blonde all the way.

I walked in and the usual smell of books hit me.  I looked around at the housands of books that surrounded me and grinned.  This was my place.

Sitting above the fantasy section was a bunch of banners announcing the release of Rick Riordan's book, The Mark of Athena.  I grinned and rushed to the section of the store.

Surrounding the section were a bunch of teenagers and college students that had probably grown up with the series, while I had just started it the year previously.  I was only in seventh grade.

I had always been a reader, a fantasy reader to be more exact.  I had read and finished the Harry Potter series by the age of seven and ever since I had lived my nose in a book.  I had been waiting for this book for a year and I couldn't wait any longer for the action and romance to begin again.

I tugged at my brown curls anxiously as I sped walked to the shelves.  Hopefully there would be one left.   

I smiled in relief as I saw that there was one, and only one book left.  I reached for it and was startled to find a hand on top of mine.

********

I blushed furiously as I pulled my hand back.  I looked at the source of the hand to see a guy around my age blushing as well.  

His blue eyes were sparkling shyly and like he was trying not to laugh.  He had messy brown hair that covered his face a bit.  It might just have been me, because he had tried reaching for one of my favorite books, but he was extremley cute.

He cleared his throat, breaking the silence between us.  "You like Rick Riordan's books?"

I smiled uneasily.  "Yeah, he's one of my favorite authors."

His eyes brightened as he grinned.  "Mine too!  I've been waiting for this book to come out for forever!"

I smiled with more ease.  He didn't seem hard to talk to.  "Yeah,  that cliffhanger at the end of the previous book was unbelievable."

He grinned even wider then gestured toward the book.  "Well go along.  Take it."

Under normal cirumstances, I would've grabbed it from the bookshelf, but my stubborness was getting it to me.  "No way.  You got to it first."

He raised an eyebrow.  "Your hand was under mine, so technically you got it first."

I gave him a glare.  "Stop being a gentleman and get the book."

He smiled and held out his hand.  "Jake Den."

I looked at him quizzically before shaking his hand.  "Calie Fisher."

"You have really pretty eyes."  He blurted, then blushed even more.

I blinked.  I had Hazel eyes with brown and gold flecked around them middle.  They also seemed to change with my mood.

"Don't make me laugh."

We started to walk around the book store.  In the children's section of the store there was an elderly woman reading a picture book to a bunch of toddlers.  I shuddered.  Little kids always bothered me.