As the disciplinary officer ended his announcement, I immediately picked up my bag and walked fast towards my cleaning area. The whole gym was immediately deserted as soon as we were all dismissed.
I walked past the elementary students who were still playing around the halls. I was filled with the urgency to finish my cleaning assignment immediately because I knew the library would be closing soon. I skipped up the stairs, and the moment I picked up a broom, I started sweeping the hallway.
The hallways on the third floor were utterly silent because the elementary students were always dismissed an hour earlier than us. I glanced below the ground floor, and there I saw some of my classmates approaching the building. I know some of them will not hurry because they still want to gawk at their crushes playing on the soccer field. I sighed in satisfaction as I finally finished sweeping and wiping away the last speck of dust I'd seen.
I excitedly made my way towards the ground floor to return the cleaning supplies I had used. I was about to open the broom stand when somebody talked behind my back. I gasped out of shock. I turned around and frowned when I saw who it was.
"God Lili, do you want to kill me?!", I exclaimed as I saw her laughing.
She continued to laugh, but she stopped when I pinched her arm.
"Ouch! Ouch! Sorry, sorry," she said while grinning.
"Hahaha, that was really funny, Lili. Anyway, are you done cleaning?", I asked while still scowling at her.
"Nope, I haven't even started yet," she said as she picked up a hanging rag. "Anyway, why rush?", she asked while turning on the faucet.
I squeezed out the remaining moisture from the rag I used.
"I'm going to the library, so I really need to rush," I continued while hanging the rag on the attached wall rack.
"Oh, I see, I see...", she said while wiping her hands with our uniform's skirt.
"Won't you be coming with me?"
"No, I promised grandma that I would go home early, so maybe next time?"
That time, I was the one who laughed.
"You always said next time... I mean, when will it be?", I asked while chuckling lightly.
"Tomorrow, I can't promise, but it will happen tomorrow," she said in a mocked, gruff voice.
"Ok, ok, captain, I shall wait for you!", I answered, copying her gruff voice.
We laughed in unison, and while at it, a couple of elementary school students looked at us suspiciously.
"Well then, see you tomorrow, Lili! Take care!", I said while heading my way towards the library.
"Take care also, Gette; see ya tomorrow! Beware of the sister," she said while laughing loudly.
I just waved back at her and proceeded back to the library.
I took the fastest route towards the library, which involved the lonely stairs. Students don't usually use it because it's too remote, and there's also a rumor that it was haunted by a doppelganger, which I didn't believe.
It was really silent as I ascended the stairs, and when I finally reached the hallway, I ran past it. I don't believe rumors, but I can't help but feel a little afraid. I was almost out of breath when I reached the library's doorway.
The cold air immediately greeted me as I entered the library. The librarian smiled at me as I walked toward her desk.
"You're going to return it?", she asked while rummaging through the pile of arranged library cards.
"Ba—what's your surname again?", she asked while adjusting her eyeglasses.
I was about to answer her, but she read my surname on my uniform's name plate. I just nodded in agreement.
"Ok, here, you know what to do, Gette," she said while handing me my library card. She smiled as I handed out the books I'd borrowed.
"The clearance signing is already starting, Gette. Aren't you gonna ask me to sign your clearance? Just hand over your library card and I'll sign your library clearance. I'll keep it until the exams are over," she said while putting back the return books to the shelves.
"Maybe on Friday, Ms. Dorothy...", I said while smiling sheepishly.
"Ok, ok, suit yourself."
Honestly, I want to get my clearance signed now, but the bookworm in me won the argument, so I'm postponing my clearance signing because I can't borrow books if my clearance is signed.
I looked around the library, and I sighed in relief as I noticed that there were only a few people who were reading or hanging around. But my relief was short-lived when I heard familiar voices.
I clicked my tongue in disappointment as I recognized them. It's the infamous scrawny boys of seventh grade. Unfortunately, they're my batchmates, so I definitely know who they are. They are quite popular among the scholars—almost all of the regular boys are popular with scholars—since we're all girls. They stick to each other like magnets, and they usually walk together, which I really find cringy.
After recovering from that disappoinment, I immediately moved towards my target spot, which was the fiction section! It was located on the right side of the library, and so when I got there, I immediately searched for an available seat. I found an empty table, and yes!—it was conveniently near my favorite book genre shelves, so that somehow compensated for the disappointment I felt earlier.
I was scanning the fiction books when I saw something unusual in Chick Lit's' area. I immediately saw a copy of the book I've been waiting for for, like, many weeks. It was coincidentally borrowed after I finished reading the fourth book, so I was forced to wait for it to be returned, but now here it is!
But why is this in Chick Lit books?
I suddenly had the urge to laugh when a possible reason popped into my mind.
"Of 'course someone's going to borrow it!—but, fortunately, I will borrow it first!", I thought triumphantly as I stared at the book.
"All hail to cabin 6! She who has wisdom had foreseen such a tactical move! All hail to Athena—", my mind's delusional victory talk suddenly came to an abrupt end as I sensed that someone had occupied my place.
I turned around and saw it was the scrawny boys. I gritted my teeth in annoyance as I looked at them comfortably lounging in my place, but I stared at the book I found, and I smiled.
"Maybe fate is testing me—first, it gave me a pleasant surprise", I thought while gazing at my book.
"Then a horrible one", I continued as I angrily gazed at them.
I just sighed out my frustration and continued to look for another book to read. I decided to go to the new books and check out something interesting. I was about to grab a book with a nice book cover when somebody's hand grabbed it first. I instantly turned my head around, and to my surprise, it's one of the scrawny boys, Ervi.
I suddenly felt nervous when I saw him gazing at me. I looked away because there's something weird that I'm feeling. It's probably the buried admiration I felt for him way back then.
Ervi was my first crush in my high school year; well, to be fair, I'm still only in seventh grade at that time.
I liked him because he looks smart, which was really true because he's one of the smartest kids in our class—but when I discovered that Lili also likes him, I decided to unlike him. At first, I tried to find faults in his attitude, which was not that hard because he really has. He's really arrogant, which I didn't like, so I ended up transforming my admiration for him into scorn, which I believed happened until that moment.
Doubts started to form in the back of my mind. Sometimes, I feel that I like him, but sometimes I don't. I admire his wittiness, but sometimes I scorn it. I appreciate his confidence, but other times I find it arrogant. It's an endless cycle of admiration and scorn, and I am not really certain what I really felt for him—that's why I buried it.
Unfortunately, it's resurfacing again. I stood up and immediately moved away from him. I went to the opposite side of where I was, even though I'm not really interested in the book it has. One of his friends noticed me, and immediately he yapped.
"Hey Ervi, is that the new girl who looks like Jenni?", the tanned one teasingly asked Ervi while looking at me.
"Jenni, your the one that got away ahahahha," the smallest one chimed in.
"No, bro—she didn't get away; she's just in another section with another guy," the dark one added teasingly.
I decided to sit down on the empty seat and read the book that I found earlier. I tried to focus, but in the end, I just found myself unconsciously listening to them.
"Yeah—I remembered; it was her," a deadpan voice chimed in.
"Yiehhh maybe she's following you, Ervi," a high-pitched voice said.
They laughed when the high-pitched voice said that. The librarian immediately rang the bell to signal silence. I immediately looked up from what I was reading, and I angrily looked at them. They were still laughing, only this time soundlessly.
"Those thick faces scarecrows!", I muttered angrily under my breath.
Fortunately, after almost ten minutes, one of those scrawny boys decided to stand up and bid good-bye to his co-scrawny boys. One by one, they started to bid good-bye to each other, until it was only Ervi that was left.
I decided to gaze at him, but it was a bad decision because he immediately caught my eye looking at him. I instantly looked away when I got busted. To ease the embarrassment I felt, I looked down again and continued reading the book. I was about to look again when I felt something brush against my shoulder. I looked up, and it was him!
I just stared at him while he placed the book on the table. I wanted to say something to him at that time, but my throat seemed to parched. After placing it gently, he mumbled something—which I didn't understand because I'm still too perplexed to do so. He walked away after saying what he said, and up until now, I still had no idea what he said that day. But I'm happy he let me borrow that book first because it was certainly a good one.