Cliche

Book Hugging

One of the jobs of being a Teacher's Assistant to an English teacher is that you get to go to Library to pick up books which is exactly what Bree is doing. She entered the school's library with a long list of books to borrow for later's English class with Mrs. York. 

A Collection of Classic Fairy Tales. Bree read from the list given by her teacher. It was the last thing she needed to borrow so she better make it quick. 

The "English/Literature" section of the Library was at the very back. But she was surprised to see someone there, considering that students weren't exactly allowed there. It was her friend from the writing club, Alex, the twin sister of Conner Bailey hugging a book. 

Hugging a book? Bree thought. It was unusual that such a brilliant girl would hug a book. Let alone whisper to an inanimate object. 

A few rows behind her though, Bree noticed it wasn't just her who was watching Alex. It was Bree's least favorite quadruple, the Reading Club. Namely, Mindy, Cindy, Wendy, and Lindy. Bree rolled her eyes as she saw the four pretending to put books back when In reality, they were watching, more like spying on Alex. 

"Take me home. Please take me back," Alex whispered to the book sounding as though she was crying. 

Just then, Conner arrived on the scene. Bree automatically backed from him feeling somewhat awkward. The sight of Conner also startled the Book Huggers and caused them to actually put books back on the shelves instead of spying. 

Conner, on the other hand, felt weird as if he was at home in the library (even though it was his first time being in any place with books). He saw Bree, Mindy, Cindy, Wendy, and Lindy all looking towards someone sitting down in a beanbag. It was his sister. 

"Umm Alex?" Conner said carefully picking what words to say to his sister. "I couldn't find you anywhere in the Lunch and-"

Alex sat up quickly and wiped the corners of her eyes with her handkerchief.  She stood up quickly and picked up the A Collection of Classic Fairy Tales book to put back on the shelves. She saw Bree "hiding" behind a bookshelf and immediately gave it to her. 

"Thanks-" Bree said. 

Alex slung her backpack on her back and headed out of the Library without borrowing anything. Conner was ultimately confused and made to ask Bree about what was Alex doing before he arrived; a voice in his head said: 

You'll screw up so much. Just ask about Alex to one of the four girls putting back their books. 

No. Another voice inside Conner said. Besides, they attend the same writing club after school. They should need a chance to talk to each other. To get to know each other. 

Conner was now like Alex. Always overthinking everything. Although, it wasn't school stuff he was overthinking about. Now annoyed by the voices, he brushed it off and decided to talk to the person who was near him. Unfortunately, that person was Bree. Conner turned red and (possibly) started to ramble. 

"Hey um, I'm Conner Bailey. We both attend the same writing club and uhhh-" Conner paused thinking of what to say next. "We also attend the same English, Science and...." 

"You don't need to introduce yourself," Bree said calmly even if she had the last book she needed for Mrs. York. The books were needed by the fourth graders for the teacher's English class which was just in five minutes. 

Breathe in. Conner said to himself. Breathe out. She's just a girl who probably knows what Alex was doing. She's definitely not the reason for the supposed end of the world.

"So," Conner continued trying to be quick. "What was my sister doing?"  

"Oh her-" Bree paused as she thought about the matter again. "She was hugging this book." Bree held up A Collection of Classic Fairy Tales for Conner to see. "And was whispering things like: take me back please grandma." 

Oh no. Conner said to himself again. She's worried about the fairy-tale world again. 

"Well... uh," Conner tried to say bye but he couldn't. He was busy looking at Bree's brown eyes.  

There was a beat as Conner made to leave Bree alone but was stopped. 

"Conner?" Bree said. "Can you tell Alex to meet me at the cafeteria after school?" 

Conner nodded. He wanted to just bury himself with books and let no one see him. 

There was another pause of awkward silence. 

"Uh, I should really be going now," Bree said finally, holding up all the books their English teacher needed. "See you later" 

Bree signed the library cards of the books quickly and left the library. Sure, the conversation was awkward. But she had talked to Conner for the first time. What she didn't know though, was that the awkward conversations would be more and more frequent...

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Alex left the library only to run into Percy. Literally.

"Alex," said Percy. "Shouldn't you be in classes?" 

"I was just heading to Algebra. Shouldn't you also be in classes?" Alex said. 

"Uhhh Prefect duties," Percy said humbly showing a badge that said "PREFECT". 

"Oh," Alex said. "See you later then." 

Alex turned around to go to her locker. 

"Wait!" Percy said quite nervous. "My friends and I were planning to go out to the mall or something tomorrow afternoon. Are you able to join? Your brother said he will come. You can also bring anyone else with you." 

"Umm... I have plans tomorrow but I'll try to make time tomorrow." 

Percy smiled broadly. "See you tomorrow If you can." 

Alex smiled back. There were butterflies in her stomach but didn't care, she even loved the feeling of it. The school bell rang as Alex ran hurriedly to her next class, apparently getting redder and redder with every step. 

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A/N: so....I think another ship was born. also, idk where this fanfic is heading towards (though i have a rough idea planned). though i still have a few more of my oc's to introduce in the next few chapters so yea

i might be going to update sooner (since its the school holidays atm) but of course i will still be trying to update frequently once the holidays are over. 

by the pace we are going rn, i think it might only write this fic on the year of "enchantress returns" since if i write fanfic about conneree for the next *counts * four books it will be long so... * insert thumbs up emoji * 

also, i kinda made two references from two fandoms i also like. so try spotting them. (clue: its abt percy jackson and harry potter). and i also kinda changed charlotte bailey's personality to the one like sally jackson's personality (bc i have been reading pjo alot lately and i kinda got used to sally jackson-)

hope you had/will be having a great day!

-lex