Locked In A Library

Chapter One

Actress. Book nerd. Honors student. Writer. Stuck in the 1980s. Silent.

There are many things that I could say about myself, but I always get stuck on that last one. Silent. There are so many things I would like do say, I just never do. I never have. And this was a problem when I was filling out college essays in my career exploration class. As a junior, I am very pushed to discover who I want to be. I'm expected to know where I want to go to school, what I want to do, when, where, why, and any other mediocre question an adult is willing to ask a teenager.

I stared at my blank laptop screen until the bell rang. I folded my cheap laptop and shoved it into the paisley printed bag I had slung over my shoulder. "Leslie!" I heard someone shout from behind me. "Leslie!" I turned to see my best friend Justin running towards me. Sliding against the smooth, dirty-white walls of the Social Studies hallway, I stopped so he could catch up.

"Hey," I chirped as he slowed to my side. "You good?" I chuckled at him.

"Haha," he punched my arm. Apparently, he didn't find his embarrassing spiel of running down the hall as funny as I did. "How's the college essay writing working out for ya?" He asked, nudging my shoulder.

"Don't ask," I mumbled.

"That bad, huh?"

"Tell me about it."

"Are you going to stay after school to work in the library?" Justin asked as he texted someone on his phone.

"Yeah. I have some research to do for an AP World history project. Apparently Mr. Green is a big fan of 2-day projects. Are you still staying to help me?"

"Ummmm..." he looked up from him phone and gave me an awkward smile. "I have this... thing." Justin has always been the flaky one.

"Whatever. I'll see you Monday," I slipped into my AP English class and took a seat, preparing myself for the long weekend ahead of me.

ΧΧΧ

At the sound of the final bell, I rushed to my feet and sped across the hall to the school library.

"Good afternoon, Leslie." The librarian's rosy face beamed as I set my backpack near the first fiction shelf.

"Hello, Ms. Lee!" I replied to her. "Any new book arrivals this week?"

She pondered my question for a moment, then stood up. The chair she had resided on rolled behind her, gingerly tapping the wall. "Here we go!" Ms. Lee handed me a stack of four books. Two of the crisp, new books were science fiction, one was a biography of Andy Warhol, and the other was about the hieroglyphics of Ancient Egypt.

"Can I check out this one?" I asked, showing her the Andy Warhol biography.

"Sure thing, puddin'." She took the book from my hand, scanned it, and I shoved it in my backpack.

"Thanks," I smiled at her. "I need to do some research, but I won't be long." I'm usually very quiet in the library, so half of the time, I just slip out without her even noticing.

"Alrighty."

XXX

As I opened a book about Aristotle's philosophies, I heard a loud clink. The smell of mildewy pages rushed over me as I ran to see what it was. The library doors had shut and the lock (which locks from the outside) was turned. Sprinting to the door and pushing on it, I soon knew of my impending doom. I was locked in the library. And even worse, it's Friday.

I turned, looking at the dozens of rows of shelves that stood in the library. They made a labyrinth that rarely anyone could fully conquer; except for me. I could tell you where any book is my its Dewy Decimal number, due to how much time I spent in this library.

The shelves stretch from the floor, all the way up to the ceiling. Each shelf had about 12 rows, and were wide enough to fit about 30 books each.

My high school has the largest high school library in the state.

I plopped myself into a beanbag chair that rested in front of the non-fiction section and pulled out my cell phone to text Justin.

Me: I'm locked in the school library. Could you get my mom's key and plz come get me?

Justin: Shoot. I'm stuck in traffic on the highway. I'll get off at this exit, turn around, head to your place, then come to the school... but it might be a while.

Me: Any time is a good time. Just PLEASE go AFAP (as fast as possible).

Justin: Gotcha. See you sometime soon... hopefully.

XXX

Since I'm stuck in the library until who knows when, I might as well do some more studying. I opened up the Aristotle book I'd dropped to the floor moments earlier and started scribbling notes into my History notebook. I worked on this for a good half hour until I heard what sounded like multiple books falling. The sound made me jump to my feet, and it was as if they had a mind of their own. I turned the corner of the non-fiction, into the science fiction, and I was looking face to face with a boy with blue-green eyes and dark chocolate hair.