Our Secret Meeting in the Library

Chapter 1

  "Tell me why we're walking this way again Alex...?" Jeremy pretty much snapped as we walked through the now, almost empty hall together. He'd had his head down; staring into page after page in a new book he just borrowed from the school library all this time. It surprised me a bit to actually hear his voice.  

  "It's like you don't know me! You know every time report cards come out, I go to see who's on the honor's list." I laughed a bit, but Jeremy simply rolled his, nodded and stuck his head back into the book he was reading. That was just like him. He was the coolest guy I knew and said some of the smartest and funniest things you could ever hear, if he actually talked. Jeremy was my best friend; he was a wall flower by choice though.  

  He was a background kind of person, hard to notice and when you did you'd lose sight of him again pretty quickly. I remember one week in particular, no one had any clue where he'd gone. I hadn't even noticed him all week and we have five classes together. All of the teachers had marked him absent and he wouldn't even answer his phone. Although on that Friday, he'd finally said something to me at lunch. It scared the crap out of me. I asked him where he'd been all week and he said that he never left my side! He even said he came over my house for dinner that Tuesday...  

  "You know you made it to the top of the list again, you always do. I could never understand how though."  

  "What's that supposed to mean?" I puffed out my cheeks. Jeremy simply laughed, flipped the page of his book. He glanced over a few words for a moment and didn't even bother looking up at me.  

  "I'll put it like this; I've always wanted to ask how you can cheat like that without getting caught but..." He stopped once again and flipped the page of the book. "Even little ol' quiet me would get caught." I turned my head from him, making him laugh.  

  "I don't cheat!"  

  "It's a miracle you can remember to put on clothes every day, I can't see you remembering how to do a complicated math problem." I opened my mouth to protest, but the truth is he was right. I had a horrible memory; if my arm wasn't attached to my body I'd probably forget that too. My balance was horrible, and the only quick reactions I made were either out of luck or fear so I had no clue how I was good at sports. I guessed that the only thing I had in life was dumb luck and boy did I have it. I was proud of it too.  

  Without much to say I shut my mouth and turned my head forward again. Jeremy giggled, finally looking up from his book for a moment. He gave me a know it all smirk, and the put his head back down. I couldn't stand it when he was right about things, he was quiet but when he showed off, he made sure the world could see it. "Let's just get to the bulletin board already." I snapped back at him.  

  "Oh yeah, since schools already over can we stop by the library after this?" He started still nose deep in his book. "I want to check out some more stuff and return a few books as well."  

  "It's getting late... my mom got Eddie to drive me home today, he gets annoyed pretty quickly." Eddie was my mom's personal assistant, although with all the stuff he did for us he was pretty much a butler. We did have a butler but, Eddie did far more.  

  "You can drag me all the way across the school just to see some stupid list, but I can't drag you to the library for an actual reason?" I sighed, folding my arms like an annoyed toddler.  

  "Fine, I'll go with you. Just make it quick, okay? I gotta get him soon, or my mom will go crazy." Jeremy nodded, without much of another word. I turned my head back to the hall; it was pretty much empty now. The only one's still walking around were the teachers and kids involved in after school activities. The school had far too many. Since this was a privet school and many of the parents had all night jobs or other important business positions the school offered many different activities to keep "busy".  

  The same goes with bulletin boards and trophy cabinets. Since there were so many activities, many of the students here went on to compete in regional or nation events. So there was always a story about someone winning something or someone going somewhere exotic. I looked up, passing by many of the different boards. "Chess team, no... Football team...? No." I was quietly whispering to myself as we walked along. It took us a while, but we finally made it to the board closet to the main office of the school.  

  Anything posted here had to do with school wide events, or academic achievement. If there was something going on, this board was the place to look. I stopped and so did Jeremy, finally putting his book down and looking up at the board with me. "Get this over with, okay...?" He said, sounding pretty annoyed. I did this every time report cards came out and brought him with me every time. If we weren't so close, I swear he would left me by now.  

  "Okay, now let's see." I started as I looked through the different grade levels. The lists were large, even though the student body in the school wasn't so big. Many of the kids here were smart, so of course they'd end up on the honors list. "Oh! Here we go tenth graders." I giggled after seeing Jeremy's name next to the number three. "Looks like someone stole your second place spot dude..."  

  "That's nice. Just find you name so we can go..."  

  "Alright! Alright!" I looked to the number one of the list, with a bright smile on my face. I laughed without paying attention and simply read the words next to the number. "Ha! Ha! Just like always, Hiromi Aitou!" I turned back to Jeremy bright smile still plastered onto my face.  

  "So what place are you in...?" Jeremy asked, noticing that I hadn't actually caught on yet.  

  "What do you mean...?"  

  "You said some guy name Hiromi Aitou was in first place right? So where's your name?" I popped my eyes after finally realizing Jeremy's words were correct. I wasn't in first place? That couldn't be possible! I was reading the wrong list! Besides I know everyone in the same grade as me! I never heard of a Hiromi before! I turned back to the tenth grade list as fast as I could, looking over the names once more.  

  I lowered my head, feeling a knot of this odd twisting feeling in my stomach. I was reading off the right list, but my name was second. I've never been second before, never. Even at my old school, I wasn't second. It wasn't right. It just wasn't right. The people who printed the list could have easily made a mistake when typing it. I was sure that they did!  

  "Oh well right? Let's go, I want to get before the librarian leaves."  

  "Oh well... what do you mean, 'oh well'?"  

  "You know, there's always next time." I leaned against the wall of the school and sat down on the floor. My head still wouldn't wrap around this. "Are you okay Alex...?" Jeremy stopped, finally seeing how distressed I was. "Is this really bothering you?"  

  "Huh...?" I looked up. Jeremy had genuine concern on his face now. "Um... no, no." I laughed a bit, finally getting up from where I was standing and dusting myself off. "I'm fine! Really... just a bit surprised."  

  "You sure?"  

  "Yeah, I'm sure. Don't worry about me." Jeremy nodded after a moment and put the book he was holding in the little netted area on his backpack. He nodded once more, after inspecting me for a moment and began to walk ahead of me.  

  "Anyway..." He started, looking back again. He still looked concerned, eyeing me suspiciously again. "Let's hurry up... It is getting late."  

  I laughed and hurried along with him. That list was wrong. I just knew it was wrong. There was no one named Hiromi in the sophomore class and it was just an innocent mistake, right? I'd go talk to the academic director of the school tomorrow and get everything cleared up! No harm, no foul.