The Lightwalker in Maple Hills (Boyxboy)

Chapter 8

I ask my mother to drop me off early to school so that I could go to gym class and get dressed before the rest of the class showed up so that I could dodge any problems with Kobie. To my surprise, she is happy with the idea and says she has to edit some designs and the extra hour wouldn't hurt. We hurry down to school in the long silent car ride, and it almost feels like years have passed when I finally arrive to school. I lean over and kiss her on the cheek before opening the door and walking out towards the school.

I dodge the large groups of students and go straight towards the library, where I know I will sit in one of the aisles in the back reading my book. I walk in and suddenly smell the old book smell and start towards the large white stairs, but stop when I hear the familiar voice of Mrs. Gloria.

"Hey Josh, you're here really early, have you read the boo-" she stops as I turn towards her, looking at the bruise on my face. I suddenly realize she's looking at is and turn away.

"Uh, yeah, I started reading it last night," I say as I pull my hoodie over my head. I hear the wheels of the chair move, and the sound of her flats walking across the carpet before the light squick alerts me that she has left her desk.

"Josh what happened?" She asks as she walks in front of me and looks at my cheek. "Who did this to you?"

"What? No, no, I tripped that's all. You know how clumsy I am." I say trying to convince her.

She crosses her arms and looks at me with a concerned look that pierces every part of me, making the truth break it's way towards the surface. It's sad to think the librarian is my friend, but its not bad. Mrs. Gloria understands me, which is good in some cases, but a large inconvenience right now, because she knows I am lying. But I grab the shovel and continue digging my hole.

"I swear Mrs. Gloria, I tripped. No one hit me, and nothing bad happened. I just tripped down the stairs and hit the side of my face on the tile."

Her arms continue to be crossed but she rises and eyebrow the shrugs. "Okay, okay. I'm sorry, I just don't want someone like you being hit."

I let out a long breath while she walks back behind her desk, and sits down. She continues to look at my bruise, and I know that she doesn't believe me, but I can't show that I am lying.

"Anyways, I actually got dropped off early, and was hoping to go upstairs and read my book." I smile a little, trying to finish the deal.

She smiles and nods, hiding the fact that she doesn't believe where I got the bruise, and probably never will. "Sure, go have fun."

I smile and start towards the stairs, completely aware that Mrs. Gloria watches me with her arms crossed thinking about every possible way I could have gotten the bruise. I just hope she doesn't think too hard because it isn't that serious.

I walk down the rows of aisles, seeing a few occupied by couples making out, protected by shelves of book so that no one sees them. I continue down the rows until I reach one that isn't occupied, and far enough that any horny couple won't feel sorry when looking for a place to realize the pressure. I walk down to the middle of the aisle and sit down on the floor and pull my backpack forward and removing the red covered book before opening it and figuring out what it really is. The last time I tried Kobie smacked it out of my hand shoved me, and after checking it out, it has stayed in my back until today. I open the book and flip through the first few pages that give the printing information before I finally discover the title; Dracula.

After about thirty minutes of reading I look down at my watch and notice that the bell will ring in a few minutes. I get up and shove my book back into my bag before I quickly walk through the rows and down the stairs, where I see Mrs. Gloria still sitting in her chair. Except this time she in on her computer looking stuff up on the internet.