Librarian Blues❄Troy Barnes

renegade - chapter 8

"Maisy, your spending in the library is out of control. Why are you buying so many books?" Dean Pelton asked, handing me a file. I flipped through the contents to see that it was all the receipts from the past month for book orders.

"This kid keeps spraying cheese and various other things into the books. I can't keep them out there for other students if they're like that. Connor can fix some of them, but he can't fix them all. I don't know what to do," I groaned, setting the file on his desk.

"Well, can you prove it's a student doing it? Because, if you can, we can make him pay to replace the books. Or at least limit him from getting books from us," the Dean explained. Reno hopped onto his desk, staring at me while I thought about what to do.

"I don't know how to prove it's him. He always brings the books back and I've seen the spray cheese in his backpack, but I can't necessarily prove it's him," I stated.

"Then...find a way? I don't know what you want from me. Now go, it's time for Reno's breakfast," he scooped her up and carried her to the couch before making me leave his office.

I trudged back to the library, ignoring the greetings from students. When I got back to my desk, I sat down and pulled out a notepad to start brainstorming ideas. How the hell was I going to catch spray cheese Bill?

"Hey, you okay? You seem perplexed," Connor asked, sitting on the corner of my desk.

"We have to find out how to catch Bill in the act of cheesing the books. Or I'm gonna get my ass chewed. We've been ordering too many books for the budget," I explained.

"Okay. It can't be too hard right? I mean, he's always using spray cheese in the halls. I'll just follow him all day and see if I can record him doing it. Not like I have anything better to do," he suggested, pulling out his phone.

"You'd do that? You'd follow him around?" I asked.

"I will if you go out on a date with me. Let me show you that I'm a lot more fun than the loser you have been going out with," he leaned down toward me and reached out to tuck my hair behind my ear like he had the other day. I put my hand up, blocking him from touching me.

"Nah, I'm good. Guess I'll just do it myself. You can man the front desk today, have fun!" I smiled, standing up and motioning to my chair. He rolled his eyes and sat down with an angry thud. I stopped a laugh from escaping as I walked away, ready to find Bill.

"Hey, Maisy! Why are you out of the library?" A familiar voice called out. I looked around and saw Troy running towards me.

"Hey! I'm trying to find a student. His name is Bill. I have to prove he's the one spraying cheese in the books we've been replacing," I explained.

"Oh, spray cheese Bill? He's in the cafeteria. Come on, I'll take you to him," Troy stated. I thanked him and he grabbed my hand, pulling me behind him as we rushed to the cafeteria. He pointed him out at a table in the corner, a few books spread out in front of him with a can of spray cheese out.

"Hey, buddy. Can I see the books you're looking at?" I asked, walking up to his table. He froze, looking up at me in pure panic.

"Uh, sure. Here's one," he cautiously handed me a book from the table.

"Bill. You have to stop," I groaned as I flipped through the pages of the book he handed me. Almost half of them were covered in spray cheese or had a slice of cheese between them.

"The pages were like that! It wasn't me!" he shouted, grabbing the book from my hands.

"Hey now, no need to yell. Come on, let's talk," I tried to calm him down.