Just So I Could Call You Mine

Chapter 11

    Jess

Days have passed and I have found myself escaping to the library at lunch time.

The library opens it's welcoming, accepting arms to me and I find solace in its aged red carpet and white paneled walls.

I have adopted a yellow and white striped beanbag in the corner, where windows adorn the whole wall, as my seat. I grab a book or homework and shimmy into its warm embrace where it molds around the shape of my body.

I have accepted my new routine and have actually enjoyed the quietness to myself and the brief acknowledgement of everyone else in the library.

Desks with a couple of other students are in one corner, the main desk is at the entrance and of course bookshelves are everywhere.

Rays of sunshine warm my back as I settle in for forty five minutes of reading bliss. Ms Sargent runs the library, she gives me quick hello and then she busies herself with reorganizing the shelves beside me.

I have been acquainted with a boy named Reeves who occupies the lime green beanbag opposite me. We share subtle nods and faint smiles, continuing with our own business.

I decided today I would actually talk to him though, you know to expand my bubble. He seems nice by our limited interactions and I think it's time for me to stop moping about having no friends.

I look up from my book and see that he's also grabbing a book out of his backpack which is embellished with band pins, and I'm guessing book and movie reference pins.

"What are you reading?" I ask curiously, peering at the book in his hand.

He glances up at me surprised. He looks at me from under his red curly hair, while simultaneously placing the book on his lap.

"The Song of Achilles, by Madeline Miller," he turns the cover towards me, and even though it has been drilled into me since I was a kid, I go against all book laws, and I judge the book by its cover. (Although I very often judge books I'm buying by their covers)

Its simple yet appealing, and it's apparently a New York bestseller.

I have read excerpts of the Iliad, and I am quite intrigued and decide to write the book down in one of my notebooks where I jot down books I should read.

Reeves asks me about the book I'm reading and I babble on about it enthusiastically.

When I talk he seems genuinely interested and not at all bothered that I'm stopping him from reading.

We talk for a while before both turning to our books to read, until the school bell rings announcing its foreboding tune that I've got to get to class.

Reeves and I walk out the library doors, and as we part ways I'm pleasantly surprised when Reeves says in his quiet, scratchy tone, "See you tomorrow Jess," and walks away down the hall, disappearing among the walloping crowd that's congregating the hallway.

I float through the day, dealing with the motions of sitting alone in classes. I'll get used to it but the dread still sets in each time.

The walk home from school is bright, and the sun burns in the sky with unfortunately not a lot of warmth. Trees with falling leaves, line the side of the road and school buses with boisterous teenagers on board meander past me.

The fall day is crisp and calming.

I have no homework today, so I decide I'm going to go straight to grandpas and bask in the warmth of underfloor heating. I wonder if they are making fall decorations that I can help with, that sounds like fun today.