Shattered

Chapter 4

Alex

          Fuck yourself, Alexander Sullivan. What's wrong with you?

        "Look who it is!" AJ shouts, raising his hand up to high five me. "It's Sully! Who's my man?" He gives me a big grin and pats my back, hard. I wince and he frowns at me.

        "Bruh. Don't be a girl. You're single now!" he grabs my shoulders and roughly turns me around, waving towards the sudden crowd of girls walking by.  He whistles, and earns a few winks in return.

        "You've just been taken for so long, you don't know what it's like to live the single life." I nod, and start looking around in the crowd. When I was dating Brae, none of these girls ever mattered. I never had a second glace, let alone a first. But now that I'm single, it's like a new world opened up. There's blondes, brunettes, blue eyes, brown eyes, a huge variety that I had been missing out. I could totally get used to this. I run a hand through my hair, hoping to give off the sexy look. It was after I put my hand back down that I realized I was being stupid. I start scanning the halls, not sure what I was looking for.

        Until I saw her, and she saw me.

        Braelynn.

Braelynn

        "What the hell is the rush?" Sierra said, through gritted teeth. She grabs my hand and pushes her way through with the other.

        "Fucking move, bitches!" she shouts, bumping shoulders and creating more chaos around her. People turn and give us dirty looks, and I try my best to look as apologetic as I can. I keep quiet, but Sierra doesn't know how. Eventually, we push our way through the crowd, and Sierra smooths out her lavender dress. 

        "Animals," she growls.

        I'm frantically looking around, making sure Alex isn't in the hallway. I wasn't up for an ecounter.

        Sierra notices my wandering eyes, because she snaps in my face, rolls her eyes.

        "Fuck Alex, remember? You don't need him, you're single and ready to mingle. So stop looking for him. Show everyone how hot, sexy, and single you are. Got it?" she nods frantically at me, narrowing her eyes. I nod, avoid eye contact, and look beyond her shoulder, where Alex was staring right at me.

        He sends a smile and a small wave, and pushes his way through the crowd, trying to reach me. I panic, grabbing Sierra's arm and squeezing. I pull her back into the crowd while she throws a few cuss words, towards me and the crowd. 

        Today is not going to be a good day.

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        My lunch table consists of myself, and Sierra, and some other people I actually hate talking to. The job I assigned for myself at lunch is to keep quiet and agree to what everyone is saying. Today I walk right pass the cafeteria, and straight into the library. I set my crap down on an empty, and quietly pull out a chair. No one's in the library at lunch, so the only sound I can hear are the birds outside and the librarian frantically typing away on her computer. After a while, the typing stops, and I hear the sound of feet walking my way. I look up from the book I'm reading, and glance at the old librarian, who's only a couple feet away. She gives me a big smile, and fixes her glasses.

        "Isn't it lunch time?" she asks, looking at the clock. Her teacher ID says Ms. O'Brien.

        "Yeah," I say quietly, "I should be leaving in 20 minutes or so, don't worry about me." I give her a weak smile, and glance back down at my book.

        "I actually enjoy the company." her voice is soft and sweet. "No one comes in here anymore. Once in a while, I'll get a class in, but with the new technology, no one really needs the books. My job is on the line actually, it's nice to see a pretty face once in a while." She points at a chair, and I nod. She slowly pulls it out, and sits down, straighting her skirt. She gestures at my book. 

        "I love Dickens. Although, A Tale Of Two Cities is definitely not one of my favorites." 

        I nod. "It's really.. wordy. I don't mind it, I need a vocabulary challenge." 

       Ms. O'Brien smiles, and stands up.

        "I can't sit down and lounge long. The library always ends up a mess, whenever people use it, they can never figure out that putting the books back is a must." she shakes her head and sighs.

        "I can help you." I offer. It's the perfect distraction from the rest of the world. 

        "Oh no, I wouldn't want to interrupt your life. Who wants to spend their days in a library anyways." her tone is sad, and she looks out the window. 

        "I like organizing." I stand up, pushing in my chair. I head over the the mystery section, and notice that the books were not in alphabetical order. I pull out an Edgar Allen Poe book that was tucked into the F section, and place it back into it's home. 

        "Then I would love the help."