Thread Roulette: Creeper

[Event !]

Sometimes even the best spies get caught.

[Jordan Scholl]

Libraries could be some of the most boring places in the world. Or, they could hold the most opportunities. It was hard to tell sometimes. Jordan was hoping this was an exciting day.

He had been lurking around the library for the past hour, trying to listen in on other people's conversations. So far he had heard about someone's laptop being stolen (no opinions as to who did it), someone's mean English teacher, and some three people's girlfriends/boyfriends being mean or whatever. Fine, maybe that was interesting to them. Jordan wanted something real.

So he continued wandering the shelves, looking at people and trying to imagine who they might be if this was Hogwarts. That person was probably a Gryffindor. Really big and strong. And she was a Ravenclaw--always studying. Slytherin. He was putting his gum under one of the tables. Jordan retracted judgment; everyone put gum under the tables. So...just not Hufflepuff.

He turned a corner out of one of the bookcases and stood in the aisle, looking around to see who he would try to follow next.

[Brea White]

Brea liked reading. This probably wouldn’t have surprised anyone who knew about her habits, but her choices in books might have. She liked Sherlock Holmes, Jane Austen, Jane Eyre and so on. And as a result, she’d come to the library to get some of the more…embarrassing books of the selection. There was no way she was going to let her brothers know that she liked chick books. Oh, no. That was one thing that was going to remain secret from them for all eternity. So instead she came to the library and sat on the floor and read them until she’d had her fill, then came back as the tormenter once again. Occasionally she’d get into heavier things, like Crime and Punishment and Les Miserables, but mostly…it was just for the light stuff.

She’d come here with that intention in mind and was currently perusing the shelves, looking for one that she hadn’t read yet. She’d made sure no one else was looking at first, then made her way over to the chick literature section of Jane Austen and fetched out Pride and Prejudice, one of her favorites, although she still thought that Eliza could’ve done better than the weird Mr. Darcy. With one more look around to make sure no one else was following, she turned and crept toward her reading corner, only pausing as she thought she saw someone out of the corner of her eye.

Hm. Her younger-sister-senses were tingling. Someone was watching her. Better to play it cool for now. So she kept going, heading slightly away from her corner and waiting to see if they’d show themselves.

[Jordan Scholl]

Target approaching.

Girl, about his age, looking slightly nervous. What was she nervous about? He ducked behind a bookshelf and peeked around the corner. That was when he caught a glimpse of her face. Quickly he pulled his head back and stood against the bookshelf, running through his mental catalogue of all the people in the school to remember where he knew that face from.

It hit him suddenly. The girl who had walked in on him when he was planting bugs in the teacher's lounge and talking to the magneto girl. What was her name...he knew he'd done the research...White! That was it, the White family...Brianna, something like that. Older brother also attending the school. That was something to watch out for. But he wouldn't get caught.

What was she up to? He grinned slyly and peeked around the corner again, then grabbed a book and started following, totally casual, just another person in the library.

He glanced down to see what book he'd grabbed. Something about Rome and papers and whatnot. Whatever. He looked up to find that his target had miraculously disappeared.

[Brea White]

Yup. She was being followed. It didn’t take the wonderful younger-sister sense she had in order to be able to spot that. Brea was good at what she did. She was an excellent follower, and therefore was good enough to notice being followed. It was little things, like the soft footsteps, the peeking around corners. So when he grabbed a book, she idled at the shelf, looking, until he’d looked down. Then she smiled and quickly slipped out of sight. She took care to put the book back in the right place—Brea didn’t want to tarnish her reputation with adults, now did she?—then slipped around the shelves until she was standing behind the boy. Not being one to beat around the bush, she tapped him on the shoulder, then planted her hands on her hips and gave him her best sister-glare. It was pretty fierce, if she said so herself.

“Why are you following me?” she demanded promptly, and then her eyes narrowed. “And where have I seen you before?”

[Jordan Scholl]

Jordan looked around wildly, wondering where the girl had gone. Then he tried to regain his composure. He couldn't be seen looking lost when he was supposed to be such a super-cool sleuth.

And yet he still jumped about three feet in the air when he felt the tap on his shoulder. He spun around, dropping the book and putting his arms up in defense. Then he saw that Bri-whats-her-name had snuck up behind him and was giving him a stern look.

He could deal with this.

He dropped his hands to his sides. "I wasn't following you, I'm just trying to get through the library. Sheesh. You paranoid or something?" He bent down to pick up his book.

"My name is Jordan," he said, holding out his hand. "My uncles work here at the school. I've been here for a while. We probably have each other in class or something. Or maybe you've just seen me around, since I like to look around."

There was no need to point out the fact that she had caught him in the teacher's lounge unauthorized. She was already suspecting far too much.

"What are you doing here? I thought I saw you pick up some books, but you're not even here for that, are you? Are you following me?" He figured that if he could turn the tables and get her confused, maybe she would forget what he was actually doing in the first place.

[Brea White]

“I’m not paranoid, you’re just a liar.” Brea was always completely blunt about this, especially when dealing with someone who might have a similar amount of intelligence as she did. That wasn’t very often, especially for boys. She’d determined boys were stupid until the age of 30, when they suddenly gained smarts and became rational and civilized human beings. She wasn’t sure this one was civilized, but he seemed intelligent enough. She was still eyeing him suspiciously as he held out his hand, but not enough where she wasn’t going to take it. And so take it she did. “Brea White,” she said, and blinked. His uncle? She wasn’t sure she believed that, but why would he lie about it?

He was asking why she was here? She kept her blush off of her face, but just barely, because the last thing she wanted was for this sneak to know that she snuck romance novels and chick stuff when she was alone in the library.

“You were following me,” she said. “Don’t try to trick me. And I was just reading. Do you even know what book you picked up?” And then, her eyes narrowed. “Hey--! I know you! You were sneaking around in the teacher’s lounge with that one girl!”