No Good ⇥Dallas Winston⇤

nine

Arabella Morris
—

"Good morning" I say to the older lady standing at the register. I decided to make a trip to the book store because I have nothing better to do. She looks at me and smiles immediately. She looked excited to see me as if no one ever greets her while walking in.

I make my way over to the section labeled 'fiction' and look through one portion of the shelf. I didn't come for anything specific so I was looking for whatever seemed interesting. Which is what most people come to the bookstore to do. I'm not a huge reader, but if I happen to read a really good book I won't be putting it down anytime soon.

I grabbed a book called Ten Seas and started to walk over to a nearby couch, but was interrupted by feeling my chest collide with someone else's. I looked up and it was PonyBoy.

"Pony? Oh my goodness i'm sorry." I said, letting a small laugh. He smiled at me and picked up the book i dropped.

"Wow, Ten Seas? Didn't know you were into this kinda stuff." He said, analyzing the book cover. I furrowed my eyes brows.

"How do you mean?" I ask. I have no clue what this is about, but of course the book expertise here knows.

"It's not bad, just a little gory." He replies. I nod my head, taking the book back into my hands.

"Well have you found anything?" I shouldn't be asking this knowing he probably has a whole stack piled up somewhere.

He chuckles and says, "actually I haven't found anything i'd enjoy yet." Maybe it's just because they are my only friends, but i've never seen anyone read as much as PonyBoy. We could be eating at a restaurant and he'd probably whip out a book and not say one word the whole time.

"Shocker." I reply. He nods in agreement.

"Alright well i'm gonna head back home. Would you like to come with me? Maybe Dally will be there." He says, sending me a wink. I feel my face heat up, but i roll my eyes.

"I'll pass, i'm gonna stay here and maybe find something worth reading." I tell him, taking a glance at the book i'm holding and putting it neatly back on the shelf. He smiles at me and waves bye.

"Be safe!" I call out, before he can walk out the door. He turns around for a second and laughs. I watch him walk down the part of the street I can see from inside the store , in a very non creepy way, then return back to my book browsing.

It's been about 10 minutes later and all i've done is read the first few pages of a lot of books to decide whether it's good or not. I pick up a heavy book and almost drop it at the feeling of someone tapping my shoulders. I quickly turn my head around and the sweet old lady from the front desk is standing there.

She smiles at me and says, "I didn't mean to frighten you, but I couldn't help but notice you've been in here for quite some time."

"Oh! No i'm good i'm just trying to find the perfect book." I reply to her. She shakes her head at me and takes the book out of my hands. I look at her with confusion all over my face.

"You want a perfect book? Go to the mystery section. This area right here is the decent books." She says. I smile at her.

"Thank you ma'am." I say, walking to the mystery section. Mystery books have never been the peek of my interest, but who am I to talk.

I pick out a book and walk over to the register.

"Will this be all?" The lady asks me.

"Yes ma'am." I say, placing the book on the counter so she can ring it up.

"You know, for a teenager around here you sure have good manners." She tells me. I can't help but smile.

"My parents had a strict rule of always using your manners and i guess i've never really grown out of it." I say. She nods her head.

I pay for the book and make my way outside, feeling my back pocket for my switchblade. My switchblade is the only thing that makes me feel safe in this part of town.