So Much for Thinking
[Agh...Y'know, this morning I thought I'd be able to come home, read for an hour or two, and go to bed, all homework done...no good. It's like my teachers planned this or something. They get me all excited about having free time, and then they go and pile it on at the last possible moment... O.o;;]
As it Is, Part II
Popcorn and Sugar Cookies
The school's halls were empty, or nearly so; it was seven in the morning. Classes didn't start until 8:15. There was no reason to be there for a half-hour at the earliest. And yet she was there, computer bag full of books and schoolwork and CDs slung over one shoulder and a folder full of Japanese lessons clutched in one hand, ID case hanging dutifully around her neck. She paced the halls, taking a turn around the back corridors and breezing through the technology section, passing through the Commons wiith nary a glance at the police officer and then pulling up in front of the library, legs stretched and shoulder aching from the weight of her computer bag. The doors were locked. No surprise, the library wasn't supposed to open for another twenty minutes anyway. She retraced her steps and found a seat into the water fountain set into the wall, opening her notes and beginning to study. Five minutes ticked by slowly. She began to hear voices, distant but coming closer. The band hall was open. It was time to leave. She tucked her notes back into the front pocket of her folder and slipped her pen into her ID case, swung her feet back down onto the floor, and was gone before the first of the early-morning band members had the chance to sense her presence.
She had been in the band, once. Two years previously. She had given it her all, spent all of her spare time practicing and helping others, had even organized a morning sectional to bring up the low-level players up to speed, but it hadn't worked out. The other players weren't willing to put forth the effort. She knew she was just wasting her time and energy, so she quit. The few members who had stayed had never forgiven her. She had spent the last two years avoiding anything to do with the band.
Snapping out of her thoughts, she realized she had walked back to the library entrance. Still locked. The librarians were late, as usual. No matter; she set her bag on the floor and leaned against the locker, relishing the relative peace of the school and breathing in the strangely scented air.
The air was the whole reason she liked standing in this particular hallway, really. The library was great, sure, but by 7:45 it was packed with students, loud and noisy and no better than the other congregation areas. No, it was the hall she came for. The air had a slight chill, enough to make her think about putting on a sweater but never enough to be uncomfortable. And the temperature was counterbalanced by the queer, somehow warm smell of sugar cookies and popcorn. She had yet to figure out where it came from - it certainly wasn't the cafeteria, even though the kitchens were only about fifty yards away, and there were no classrooms nearby, so it couldn't have come in with any teacher. It was as if the smell just appeared there in the early morning, as if by magic, and disappeared by lunchtime.
The last ten minutes slipped away and the library door opened from the inside. The librarian greeted her with a small smile and a handshake; it was nothing unusual for the girl to be there well before the library was open. Actually, it was more unusual for her not to be there. She took her normal seat, in the middle of the lower area but sheltered behind the wall, equidistant from the History and Foreign Languages sections and only a few feet from the little computer island, and spread her papers over the table. It was 7:30; her day had begun. Japanese lessons were replaced with World History worksheets, essays, and Chemistry notes.
The door opened. She looked up in surprise; no one else was ever this early! She glanced up. It was a fairly short guy, long light-colored hair and black T-shirt. She couldn't see his face. He was bent over the front desk filling out the sign-in sheet. The girl gave a small shrug and turned back to her work.
"May I see your ID, sir?" the librarian asked politely. The girl heard the chair sliding back along the carpeted floor as she got up.
"Sure. Here."
The girl froze.
It was him.
Random Quote of the Day:
On the plus side, death is one of the few things that can be done just as easily lying down.
- Woody Allen
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