Cheshire Girl

Ch. 10

I went and found the YA section, mostly to kill time… maybe find something to read so that I looked busy at school.  I checked in with Charlie, who said she'd join me once she finished writing about that article for English.

                A few other kids had walked into the library, but they weren't anyone I was concerned about.  They nodded to me with small smiles, but then went off to whatever it was they were going to do.  At least the majority of Cheshire High didn't make a big deal about me.  Kids like Blue Eyes and Gray Eyes and Cynthia… they needed to get out more… out of Cheshire, I mean.

                I found the YA section and sat in front of it.  There were a lot of choices I needed to narrow down.  Kids walked around me, not bothered by someone sitting in the middle of an aisle; they were all going to the reference and nonfiction stuff anyway.

                I could tell who it was from the corner of my eye before he sat down next to me.

                "Choosing or still looking?"

                "I've narrowed it down a few."

                "House of Night?"

                The spine was black and had a crescent on it.  Could it be any easier to see what it was about?  "Vampires are dead."

                "Pandemonium?"

                I'd already pulled it out and skimmed it, and read the description on the back.  It was pretty short.  "I don't need pictures."  It was a graphic novel, although too short for a 'novel'… in my opinion.

                "Poison?"

                I frowned.  The font of the title was interesting, and the face of the purple-eyed girl on the spine gave me the chills.  It also shared the author with Pandemonium.  "Considerable."

                "The Hunger Games?"

                I searched the shelves until I found it; I had a copy at home.  "Read it."

                "Is it good?"

                "The movie did it just fine, but the book's always the best."

                Ethan took it off the shelf and started flipping through it.  "The movie didn't make it seem so girly.  Is it girly in the book, like Twilight?"

                I found it on the shelves, tattered, worn.  "No."  I looked at him.  "You read Twilight?"  But he was… a guy.

                "I finished it during Winter Break.  Bella—no offense—is an idiot.  All her problems would never have happened if she stuck to Mike Newton.  Edward comes with too much baggage.  He's an idiot too."

                I raised an eyebrow.  "Impressive."

                "Yes, I read."  Ethan flipped to the very last page of The Hunger Games, and then the very first page.  "Aw…."

                "What?"

                "There's no Author's Note or anything.  Just a 'For James Proimos'."

                "Is it important for there to be an Author's Note?"  I took down Poison and skimmed through it before reading the back.