The middle

The bookstore

After a big fight with her mom, some tears and unnecessary arguments (they both loved to be drama queens), Maggie decided the only place worth working at was the bookstore.

She loved that bookstore.

That was the place where she decided to become a writer.

She was thirteen years old, her eyes were puffy, her hair was a mess and her bully was chasing her after school with her idiotic group of friends. They were calling her names and laughing at her side braids.

Maggie couldn't help it. She cried a lot. It was so easy to tear up for her, she was always selected in drama club for the roles no one else could pull off every night. Like Juliet. Which is why this stupid girl hates her.

She wanted to be Juliet so she could kiss Connor. Everyone's crush. He was nice, friend of everyone, really cute smile and light blue eyes that killed on sight. When she heard Maggie was going to be Juliet, she decided to make her life impossible.

Maggie was almost running when the tears started to form again, so she pushed the closest door and got in.

The first thing she noticed was the smell. It was sweet and smoky (she later discovered it was incense) and strong enough to make her turn around and stare in awe at the rows of books. She can't remember if she walked, slide or just floated to the fantasy section, but suddenly there were five books on her lap and one opened in her hands. 

She stayed there for two hours, reading and contemplating how people could create using just 26 letters. How could Narnia be so different from Lord of the Rings (and she just read the first two chapters of each). She decided it was magic. She forgot why she was crying, she forgot about the girls laughing at her, she forgot about them hating her. She could only think of how beautiful it was to get lost inside a different word.

She bought the only book she could afford with pocket money: Romeo and Juliet.

Maggie has read dozens of books since, and she is well known in the bookstore community, so she was feeling pretty confident about the possibility of a job there.

She wore a nice dress, yellow with little red and blue flowers, that reached just above her knees and black converse. In her hands was her CV, which basically was two sheets of paper listing summer jobs form her high school years and her grades from the past two years of college.

She opened the door and felt right at home. The air smelled just as it did that first day and the books greet her like old friends. She sighed right there at the door. Except for the three small tables and a coffee counter, everything was pretty much the same.

She walked to the register and slowly slide the two pages to Adam, the owner. He must be in his late sixties now. He wore big glasses and all the hair he had was on his chin. He had big complexion and could totally lift a box full of books on his own.

"Maggie, Maggie, Maggie" he said walking around the counter to give her a hug. Maggie didn't have grandparents, so he was always like a grandpa for her. Ever since she was thirteen, he took her in and taught her how to classify books and how to tell a good writer apart from a phony. He was part of the reason she couldn't write, actually. She was always scared her work would not make the cut and she would stay a phony for ever.

"Hey Adam" Said Maggie, hugging him. She truly missed coming here after school everyday.

"It's such a pleasure to see you! How's school going?" 

Maggie told her about the story she needed to write to go to writing school and how her mom asked her (made her) get a job. , "

"You just wasted two perfectly good sheets of paper" he said picking up her resume "You can of course have a job here, dear Maggie".

His smile was so pure, it filled her heart.

* * *

The first thing he made her do was dust.

Five minutes in, she was sneezing like crazy. She dusted two bookshelves before needing water, and then she dusted another two before going outside to try to breathe normal again. How long was it since Adam cleaned up there? Since someone cleaned up there?

There were other two employees at the bookstore, the barista and another sales person like her. The barista was a lovely girl named Julia, who was always singing songs under her breath. The other sales person was Johnathan, Sean's friend. Maggie didn't remember Johnathan being a book person, but she never really talked to him before.

When she stepped outside, she closed her eyes and breathed. The sun in her skin was perfect. She hated when the sun burned, but she loved it when it was warm, early in the mornings, and you could just stand there and let it wrap around you.

Maggie sighed before turning around to go back in, but she crashed into someone and they both fell to the floor.