He Lied, She Believed

Chapter One: February 21st 2011

Chapter One: February 21st 2011

A tall familiar white haired woman stood behind the counter, quickly running book after book underneath the barcode scanner. The minute her wrinkled blue eyes met mine her full lips turned up into a smile and she reached up to push a stray curl behind her ear. “Come to run away to another world again Jaidyn?”

I flashed her a grin and ran my fingers along the smooth marble counter. “Of course Mrs. Wright, same as every lunch break.”

 “What’s your fancy today?” She quirked an eyebrow and stopped scanning the returned books, she leaned forward over the counter and tugged on a strand of my limp hair that had fallen out of its bun. “Oh how I love your hair, such a pretty color. It’s the same midnight black as my late husband’s hair.”

“I think you tell me that every time Mrs. W.” I teased. Mrs. White was the ageing librarian I had grown to love like a grandmother over the three and a half years I have been in high school. I can still remember when her husband, Mr. White had passed away of cancer my freshman year. He was a fighter till the end and even though he passed, Mrs. White still came in to work with a smiling face.

When I asked her why she wasn’t sad about his death she replied, “Oh child I grieve for him every day but I spent thirty wonderful years with that man and I know when my time comes I will see him again and spend eternity with him.” I couldn’t help but admire her will to carry on even though the love of her life was no longer by her side and since that day I became closer to her and began to love her as if she was family.

She shares my passion for the library and one day hopes that I will take her place as Glendale High’s librarian. I’m still not sure if that is the direction I want to head in life, but it is always a welcomed option. The library is my sanctuary. The paper perfume brings me ease and the soft whirl of the copy machines and the loud beep of the scanner bring me comfort. But the main thing for me is being able to escape into another world, someone else’s world and imagine that I am in their place.

Don’t get me wrong, I have a great life, great friends and an amazing loving family but being able to transport myself into other’s shoes via reading brings me great joy and knowledge. I absolutely adore reading. It is my favorite hobby and the library has so many options to choose from.

“Dear?” Mrs. White’s soft voice washed over me. Shaking my head I tried to remember what answer she was awaiting. Oh that’s right, what I’m looking to read today.

“I think I’m going to become Clary today and pretend I have my own sexy, bad boy Jace.” I giggled as I thought about my favorite books that I can’t help but reread over and over again-The Mortal Instruments Series.

Mrs. White let out a chuckle and pointed towards row eight. “You know where they are. Enjoy your lunch break dear.”

I waved to her before turning around and making my way over to row eight. Stopping in the middle of the right hand shelf I reached out and grabbed City of Bones. I probably could make a good librarian. I’ve been in here so much that I know where any genre of book would be without having to use the computer. Walking to my favorite table over by the window, I sat down and began reading.

***

Halfway through our hour and a half lunch I placed my old wrinkled book mark in the book to mark where I stopped and walked back over the counter to check out the book before going to meet my best friend in the whole world, Kamryn Harper, for lunch. She should be done with her tutoring session by now.  Handing the book over to Mrs. White she shook her head and waved me off.

“No need Jaidyn, I know you will return it. You know you don’t have to check out books. I trust you.” She smiled.

“I know it’s a habit I guess. I’ll see you tomorrow!” I returned a smile and made my way out of the double doors and took a right to get to the cafeteria. Once entering the cafeteria I spotted Kamryn right away at our usual table over in the middle. Our other friends weren’t there yet which was a bit unusual. Walking through the line I grabbed a chicken sandwich and water, paid the lunch lady and made my way over to our table.