The Animals Have Come to Play (Completed) (unedited)

Library Mishaps

(Chapter 9: Library Mishaps)

After school the same day, Cynric met with me in the library to start on the project. I walked into the still atmosphere. The room smelled of the normal musty, old book scent. It mingled with the new page smell and an air freshener that I guess was supposed to be pine. I made my way across the carpeted floor, staring around at the dozens of bookshelves. Here and there were posters of celebrities with books with the bold word: READ under them.

Making my way to the back of the library, I was surprised to see almost no students. I frowned wondering where they were. At the last school I attended, the library was always filled with students. I found a single lone table occupied towards the middle of the back room. Cynric had a few thick physics books stacked next to him. He was scrolling through a conversation on his phone. As I walked closer, he turned off his phone and looked over to me.

"You're here. Good, we can start then." I smiled shyly before grabbing the seat across from him.

"Any ideas on how to demonstrate Bohr's idea?" I questioned, raising an eyebrow as I opened the notebook I brought to jot things down. I rolled the grip of my pencil between my thumb, pointer, and middle finger. The eraser end created lazy, looping infinity signs as I waited for his reply.

"I haven't really thought much on the subject," he admitted.  I gave him a judgmental look. I clicked my pencil so more lead came out and wrote 'Physics Projects' at the top.

"You had plenty of time to do it instead of being on your phone," I reprimanded. He shrugged his shoulders. Resting a hand on his cheek, we had a moment of silence, just staring at each other.

"How about something like stop and go lights? One of us could talk about the theory as we point up to one above the bottom, and then when we go back down, the other hits a switch and a light goes off?" I questioned, looking at him expectantly. He sucked in both his lips as he mulled over the idea.

"How about we get to know each other instead," he offered back, sending me a charming smile. I narrowed my eyes at him, wrinkling my nose in distaste.

"Or, we could do the project now and in spare time get to know each other," I shot back, defiance lacing my tone.

"We'll have plenty of time to do the project later," he pointed out, leaning a bit closer to me. "What was your first impression of me?"

"That you're stupid," I lied as I brought my eyes down and nonchalantly started writing down my idea as one of the possibilities. In all honesty, I was excited and in awe that I was seeing a Pureblood outside my family.

"Mine was 'Wow, she's the Pureblood that I've been searching for for the last couple of weeks. She's just as beautiful in person as she is in wolf'," he told me. I looked up, regretting it as my face flushed. He smirked at my beet red face. I gave him a small smile before looking back down. I doodled a little T-Rex in the corner of the paper.

"Are you sure that's how you felt? I was running all over the place, and I'm sure I looked like crap. Unless of course, you're really into feces. Not that I'm judging or anything..." I trailed off. I looked up with a smirk.

"You better take that back," he threatened teasingly, leaning over the table to get closer to me. I leaned back, a teasing smile on my face. An idea dawned on my, and I bit back me smile.

"Only if you can catch me!" I exclaimed in a whisper, feeling mischievous. I darted out of my seat, turning sharply around a corner of bookshelves. I heard Cynric's seat scoot across the carpet before his muffled footsteps took off after me. I passed one isle of books before taking a right through the next one. I quickly turned left at the end. I took off between the rows of bookshelves before turning right once again.

In front of me, there was a row of larger book cases blocking me from going straight. They towered above me a few feet. When I was deciding on going left, I was suddenly lifted up as strong arms wrapped around my waist. Against my better judgement, I squealed, accidentally kicking the bookcase in front of me. It teetered before falling over. A loud clapping of the wood hitting the ground rang through the room, and I covered my mouth in horror.

"What is going on in there?!" the librarian yelled angrily; I struggled out of his grip. I whipped around, an embarrassed blush burning across my cheeks.

"Nothing," Cynric said, sending a side look towards me. I opened and closed my mouth unattractively. Why wasn't the librarian freaking out about the toppled over shelf? I twisted around, looking over my shoulder at the chaotic spill. My eyes widened in surprise as I saw everything was back in place, the shelf standing upright with not a single book out of place. I brought my gaze back to the suspicious woman, a sheepish smile on my face.

"Yeah, nothing, Ma'am!" She sent us another withering glare. Her eyes ran over the shelf I had been looking at, her eyes inspecting every inch of it.

"If I catch you two doing anything to disrupt this peaceful atmosphere, you two are going to be kicked out for the rest of the year," she threatened, looking back at us. I grinned cheekily and nodded my head vigorously.

When she turned away from us and started walking away, I shot a mean look towards Cynric and slapped his arm. He looked over at me with an indifferent look, but I saw the twinkle of joy in his eyes.

"Dumbass!" I hissed under my breath. "You could have gotten us into serious trouble!" He raised an eyebrow at me as he started back towards the table.

"You're the one who kicked it over. You're the one who would have gotten us in trouble. I fixed your mistake."

"Motherfucker."

"What was that?"

"Nothing!" I responded sweetly as I followed him. I drilled holes into the back of his head, silently killing him over and over. He hummed in response. We sat back down, me grumbling angrily under my breath and him smiling.

"So, what candy do you like?" he asked suddenly after a few moments of silence. I raised my eyebrows in question.

"Twix? Why?" He hummed again. I narrowed my eyes in suspicion. "So, about the project. What else can we-"

"If you could have any super power, what would it be?" he interrupted me. I glowered at him in annoyance.

"The ability to super punch you into focusing on the task at hand." He sent me a judgmental look.

"Come on, Ari! Just let me get to know you!" I appraised him, sitting back in my chair.

"Fine. But, you have to give an idea for a demonstration first. A legitimate one." His mouth screwed to the side. He leaned in, whispering his idea into my ear. I scowled as he moved away.

"My idea is so much better than your's." I grumbled out. He smiled widely.

"I know, but it's a legitimate idea!"

"I hate you."

"Where do you most want to travel, but never have been to?" he asked, ignoring my jab.

"Seoul. I've always wanted to go there for the Lotus Festival. I've seen pictures, and it looks so beautiful, bright, and colorful."

We continued going back and forth with questions until the librarian came in. She glared in disgust at us.

"Library's closed now. Leave." She turned her nose up at us as she turned to leave. I made a face behind her back, and Cynric chuckled next to me. We walked behind her. I had my notebook tucked closely to my chest as we talked on our way out.

"Tomorrow we'll go get the materials for the project after school," Cynric told me as we stopped in front of my car. I smiled, looking down at my shoes briefly before looking back up.

"Yeah, sounds good. Good night."

"Night," he replied, surprising me when he wrapped his arms around me in a hug. I let out a shocked laugh as I wound my arms around him. We let go, and I smiled up at him before making my way around the car. I got in and looked out the passenger window to see him gone. One thing was for sure though.

Cynric Nanik gave damn good hugs.