The Book Club

Chapter One

A/N: This is a continuation of Hell and Back. It is focused on Nancy and Robin though so I'll try to make the two stories as separate as possible.

There were a couple things that interested Nancy Wheeler. Literature, type writers that were clean, poems. She loved cracking open a fresh book. She loved the smell of fresh printed paper, untouched by other hands. She loved looking at her name under an article. She loved her work, her art, her literature. She loved her collection of novels, each one with small notes taken in the margins of the pages. She would occasionally stand at her book shelf, dragging her fingers along the creased spines of the books. Nobody had ever taken her book, borrowed them, or seen her notes inside. She liked it that way. Although, she also liked people who asked her about her books.
Nancy stood quietly in front of her mirror that sat in the corner of her room, adjusting a sweater that she had taken from her mom's closet. It was a big day, she had to look professional. She brushed her curls out of her face, admiring the subtle blush that sat on her cheeks. She grabbed her bag off the floor and started towards her bedroom door. Her kitten heels tapped down the stairs, her head down, trying not to be noticed by her family because she was way too late to talk. She made it out of the house, successfully, and got into her car.
"Hello, Professor Moreau. It's Nancy Wheeler with the Hawkins Weekly." She stood in front of a large oak desk, a man on the other side of the desk. His attention was not on Nancy. She was a woman, unable to write a good paper according to his beliefs. She dealt with it often, she knew her way around it.
"The Hawkins Weekly?" The man looked up from his stack of papers. "That's not a real paper, gorgeous."
Nancy tried to avoid the obvious belittling in his voice. A woman can't be gorgeous and smart? "Yes, sir. It is a real paper. We're independently run." Her hands tightened around the briefcase she was holding in her hands. The man sighed and gestured for her to sit. She complied and took a seat in front of him.
"What do you need Mrs. Wilson?" He lowered his glasses, looking at her over them. She straightened out her shoulders.
"It's Wheeler, Nancy Wheeler. I'd like to talk to you about your previous encounters with tax fraud. Is it true your employers are laundering money and committing tax evasion?" A scandalous smile spread across Nancy's face as she held a recorder under her briefcase.
Nancy left the interview, satisfied with the intel she had gathered and headed for home. She got to the parking lot, got into her car, then got on the road. She continued to smile as she drove. It was another successful day of bringing down a large corporation. She clicked on the radio. Music filled the car as she nodded her head along to it. She moved her shoulders back and forth, eventually leading up to a full on dance. She jammed along to the radio, glancing out her window occasionally, watching the trees pass by her window. She smiled as she pulled into the library parking lot. She got out of the car, grabbing her bag as she walked towards the front of the library. She opened the large doors and walked into the library. "Hello, Nancy." The woman working the front desk said as she walked towards the row of tables. Nancy smiled in response. She had been in the library hundreds of times before but never bothered to know the lady working the front's name. Nancy sat down at a table, pulling a notebook out of her bag. She stuck a pair of headphones into the recorder and started to transcribe the recording into her notebook. She focused in on the words as she wrote, blocking out everything around her. She glanced up to see someone sitting in front of her. She turned and hit the pause button on the recorder. She looked up again to see Robin.
"Oh!" Nancy took off the headphones and set them to the side. "Hi, Robin. What are you doing here?" Nancy set down her pen.
"I don't know. I saw you working and wanted to say hi." Robin tapped the table. She had sat a book down on the table next to her. Nancy smiled as she reached a hand across the table and grabbed Robin's book. "Hey, what are you doing?" Nancy looked down at the cover of the book.
"Jane Eyre?" Nancy looked back up, somewhat shocked by Robin's choice.
"Yeah?" Robin snatched the book back.
"I just didn't know you were the type to read." Nancy leaned against her elbows on the table. There was a quiet pause then Robin opened her mouth to speak.
"Yes. I am." Robin responded somewhat offended. "I like to read. What's wrong with that?"
"Nothing! I was just a little shocked." Nancy shook her head. They continued to talk, each of them laughing a little too loud for the librarian. She appeared a couple minutes later, shushing the girls. Nancy covered her mouth, stifling a laugh. "So what are you doing after this?"
"Oh, I have to go home. I was only supposed to be here for a couple minutes." Robin crossed her arms and leaned forward. She looked Nancy up and down then got a tad flustered.
"Well, I'll take you home." Nancy started to put her pen and notebook in her bag. She glanced up at Robin, who was not moving. "You have to go home so come on." Nancy stood up and tossed her bag over her shoulder. Robin stood up and followed Nancy.
The car ride was quiet. Robin kept her eyes focused on the trees as they passed the window while Nancy nodded along to the music. There was a silence that was almost awkward. Nancy glanced over to Robin. "Did you get invited to Steve's party?" Robin asked, breaking the silence, as she looked over to Nancy. Nancy met eyes with her.
"Yeah, I was going to. When is it?" Nancy gripped the steering wheel as she turned the corner.
"Tomorrow night." Robin kept her eyes out the window. There was something about Nancy that made Robin feel a little weird. It wasn't that she didn't like Nancy, she just didn't know her very well. The last time they spent this much time together they almost died. Robin watched as they approached her house. Her mom's car was parked in the driveway. "Um, well I'll see you tomorrow night." Robin waited until Nancy stopped then quickly got out of the car and ran up to the house. Nancy furrowed her eyebrows.