After school the next day, I went to get coffee before going to the library. I sat with my best friend, Megan and sipped my iced coffee. "He's cute." Megan said, pointing to a boy from across the room. I looked up and met eyes with the boy. Brown eyes, short brown hair, and light stubble. I recognized him almost instantly. He was in the gang of boys that had attacked me last night.
"Not really." I laughed it off. I still hadn't wanted to talk about what had happened to me last night. I knew that I should tell her, because she was my best friend, but now didn't seem like a good time. She'd over react and cause a scene, alerting the boys in the corner of our presence here. That was the last thing I needed right now. Another reason to worry.
"Yes, really!" We should go talk to him." she said, practically melting all over the table. I stole another glance. This boy was sitting across from the blue haired boy and the boy with the black hair and dark skin. I stared back at the napkin holder. I was sure if they saw me, they'd remember. My heart seemed like it was about to break through my ribs with how heavily it was pounding.
"I don't think that's a good idea. He's with his friends." I pretended to answer this casually when I wanted to leave the coffee shop right away. They definitely wanted to kill me before Styles had stopped them.
"Nonsense! They're cute too. Come on." she begged. I was surprised that she was acting like this. Usually, I was far more interested in boys than she was- but not these ones. I couldn't believe that it was coming to this, but I had to stop her.
"Oh no!" I exclaimed, knocking my coffee off the table. "What a tragedy! Now we'll never get to meet them! Oh well..." I sighed, bending down with some napkins. Much to my dismay, the sound of the coffee dropping had made everyone in the entire shop turn to stare at the mess. Including the boys that I had tried so hard to avoid. I made eye contact before quickly looking away and flushing. My heart raced. I hoped that they'd leave me alone. They went back to their coffee quickly, so that was a slight relieaf. Besides, this was still better than Megan introducing the two of us to them.
"Charlotte!" Megan groaned, helping me mop up the mess with paper towels as the barista glared at us from behind the service counter. I had apologized time after time, but I'd rather have her death glare than of the boys in the corner. "Well I've got to get home. I have a test tomorrow." Megan said after a while. "And don't think you're off the hook for avoiding those boys."
"Oh. Yeah, I'm still so sorry about that. I'll make it up to you somehow." I said, before we separated. I knew that she was mad, but it was the lesser of the two evils in this situation.
"Good afternoon." I said to Ms.Monroe once I got to the library.
"Good afternoon, Charlotte. Good to see you. How was school?"
"School." I repeated as I always did and Ms.Monroe smiled sympathetically at me before returning to her own book. I wandered to the romance section and picked up a completely random one after judging the title and the description. I was never one to judge a book by it's cover, but I figured that the title of a story is a signifiant statement about what lies inside of the book. I was always very picky when entitling my own works and I figure that other authors are as well. It's like an introductory statement- well, it's what comes before that. What could be more important?
The chimes by the door clanked against the glass of the door, but this time, I was alert. I wondered if it was Styles again. I pretended to keep reading but watched the figure stalk in. I glanced at Ms.Monroe who was also squinting. The boy walked to the historical fiction section and sat down on the ground, crossing his legs, just as I was in the next aisle. Thank goodness I finished Little Women yesterday. I glanced down at my legs to see my reminder of last night just barely peeking out from the hem of my shorts. I wanted to get out of the library immediately, but I knew that there was no way without the boy noticing and I was almost sure that it was Styles. He'd definitely see me. I grimaced and tried to steal a glance of the boy's face. From behind the shelf, he looked up, his eyes meeting mine. Bright eyes, curly hair. It was definitely "Styles". He smirked before getting back to his book. I closed my book to leave, but I was still scared that he'd stop me on the way out. He stopped his gang from what I presume to have been rape or murder the previous night. At least that's what I assumed he was doing. Perhaps he just wanted to kill me himself. I pushed more books aside to make a gap on the shelf. Styles looked up and glared. "What?" he growled.
