A Kiss Under The Mistletoe

Chapter 14: Gwen the Book Hoarder

*above is Gwen's coffee mug and t-shirt*

"There's plenty of sense in nonsense sometimes, if you wish to look for it."
— Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Angel

After using half an hour of my life not reading but texting Luke, back and forth, he finally gave in to read the Percy Jackson and Olympians series. Then I finished reading The Maze Runner that made me stayed up all night to watch Book Talks in Youtube by my favorite booktubers, polandbananasBOOKS, jessethereader and some others to reminisce my feels.

Let me tell you something, cliffhangers are the worst.

After that night, I woke up a little late. I did my morning routine much quicker and didn't waste any time. I wore a t-shirt that says in the front, Mundane Fools and at the back, It's Never Just A Book, with a jacket. I checked my wrist watch and I had a few more minutes to spare.

Carrying my books, there are at least five, and my school bag strapped at my back, I went downstairs to the kitchen and saw my father dressed up in his work uniform making coffee. I put my books down and my bag on the table where I found two bags of take-outs.

I opened one bag. "Ooh! What's this?"

My dad looked back. "Morning," he softly greeted.

"That's your breakfast, hun," he said while I looked inside.

"Ooh! A croissant!" I said as I pulled it out of the bag. There were three croissants inside. I took a bite of it while I opened my school bag.

I glanced at my dad and saw him glaring at my books. "What's wrong?" My voice was muffled because of the croissant.

"Aren't those a little too much?" His voice was full of concern.

I put all of my books abruptly in the bag but they didn't fit so I removed all the things in it. "How can a little is too much?" I asked my dad.

"I need a bigger bag." I informed him. I put my school supplies inside first and laid five of my notebooks at the very bottom and put my books in it too.

"No, you don't." My dad said. He stood beside me, observing my agony. "Do you really need this?" He questioned me, holding up my copy of 1984 by George Orwell.

"Yes." I simply answered.

"And this?" He held up the fifth book of Harry Potter, Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix. I nodded in reply, still struggling to fit all of my books. "But you've read this already?"

"Dad, you're such a muggle. So what? Sometimes, I love reading books I've already read, when I'm bored." I explained.

"Honey, Red Queen—"

I cut in, "dad, I haven't read that one yet."

He inhaled deeply and continued what he was saying, "Red Queen, Magnus Chase, The Fate of Ten, and," he read the title, "Frankenstein?" He looked confused.

"I gotta read classics too, you know." I shrugged. To be honest, my brain is already being cut open because of 1984. My favorite teacher kept on telling me to read it if I liked The Hunger Games. In my mind, I corrected him, I LOVED The Hunger Games, 'like' doesn't even begin with it. Therefore, I gotta try reading it because those dystopian worlds begun with 1984.