A Whole New Kind of Crazy

[Amanda Joy "AJ" Lane]

Lately, things were a whole new kind of crazy that AJ was trying to adapt to. She'd finally started training, finally gotten a trainer willing to take her on. And then he'd abruptly left Hammel, leaving AJ what felt like back at her starting point. She'd only had a few sessions with Jay and she was just starting to feel confident. She tried not to blame him. She couldn't blame him. But yet she couldn't help but feel inadequate, like she was untrainable, or something like that...

Not to mention, ever since the halloween dance she'd been dealing with a lot of feelings for Travis that she felt like she couldn't have, especially after his break up with Michael. Things were just a tangled mess and she was left reeling after her last encounter with Phoenix and Oriel who had finally come to apologize to her. She wanted to be in control. She craved it after all that had happened to her. And now she was back to square one...

She was meandering down aisles in the library, running her hands along the spines of books. She needed something new to read. She'd just finished Jane Eyre. Reading was her way of escape and she found she needed it a lot more lately.

[Terrence Mathews]

A door opening and closing. Footsteps. Terrence could easily hear whoever it was entering the library from his office. Since he wasn't doing anything of too much interest, just looking on the internet for possible books to order in for the students (and himself, of course), he decided to go check on everybody, see if anyone needed help, the usual. He left his office to see one of his most regular visitors, and someone he actually considered to be a friend, lazily scanning through the shelves. He recognized the look on her face, he'd seen it a few times before. Something was troubling her very badly, and... he hated that. He frowned to himself and looked around a little, before remembering something.

He went over to an open box near the entrance of the library and rummaged through it until he found the book he was searching for. He pulled it out, held it in his hand and turned towards AJ. He looked at it intensely, focusing his power on the item. After a few seconds, it hovered slightly above his palms and he slowly looked up to the shelves where AJ was. It floated swiftly, but gently over until it landed in front of her.

He'd been wanting to give her the book for a short while now. It was called "Just Don't Fall" by Josh Sundquist. It was an autobiography of his life so far, and he had a very inspirational story. Terrence wasn't perfectly certain if AJ would like it that much, but it was worth a shot, and it would possibly help her feel more confident about herself.

He looked over at her face a smiled a little, "I had it ordered in recently. I-I thought you might like to give it a shot." Hopefully, the book would brighten her up a little bit. He honestly despised seeing her upset.

[Amanda Joy "AJ" Lane]

Every now and then, AJ plucked a book off the shelf, stared at it and then put it back, unsure of what exactly it was that she was looking for to read right now. However, a certain book caught her attention when it landed on an empty space on a shelf in front of her and she smiled as she picked it up and looked down at the book in her hands. The appearance of it only meant one thing.

She turned around, brown ringlets falling over her shoulder. Terrence. She was here so often, that they knew each other better than a librarian and a student normally did. But Terrence seemed to understand her nature and that made her feel like maybe she wasn't hopeless. "Definitely," she told him. It was a kind gesture that showed he'd been thinking of her. "I've been dying to find something to read. And if you suggested it, it must be good."

[Terrence Mathews]

It made a huge smile burst onto his face, her reaction to the book. It made him feel somehow proud of himself and immensely happy for her. From the looks of things, she was very intrigued, but so was he. He knew, as always, that it wasn't exactly his business, and he shouldn't pry, but it was AJ. He always snooped into her business, but only to try and make things better. "So, why the long face? What's up?" He sent a warm smile her way, she still looked like she needed it.

Even in the short amount of time he had been there at Hammel (as a member of staff), Terrence and AJ had made strong friends of each other. He recalled even being questioned by another member of staff about it, because they apparently seemed a little too close. But he didn't want to leave her company because of that, and not for the sake of himself, but for her sake. She seemed pretty fragile with her emotions, being a pheromone manipulator did that to a person, and she needed someone to rely on. If there wasn't someone in close reach for her, Terrence was always there for her to fall back on.

He'd be there for her no matter what, because he respected her and the stress she went through on a daily basis. She was very strong in his eyes, almost a role model.

[Amanda Joy "AJ" Lane]

Somehow she knew Terrence would ask, he knew her facial expressions and body language too well not to. "It's just been a rough week. A rough couple months actually." He had to know what it was about. It was the usual: her power. "Pheromone manipulation is a bitch," AJ said in a low voice as she turned to him. It wasn't often that she swore, but what the hell, she was passionate about her hatred for her power, just as she was passionate for literature. Except it wasn't just her pheromone manipulation that was the problem...there was Travis too. A boy problem. God, when was the last time she had one of those? Oh yeah...Oliver.

She tried to match his smile with a weak one of her own, but it faltered. She clutched the book in her hands. "It's why I haven't been to the library so much lately."

[Terrence Mathews]

Terrence nodded knowlingly as AJ recounted the thoughts on her mind into words, a concentrated look on his face. He would've been shocked by her language if it was anyone else, but she was allowed to be annoyed. All powers came with side effects. Some were practically harmless, like getting a small headache that died off in the near minutes, but some were dangerous, torturous and painful. Migraines lasting for hours, days on end, the possibility of heavy or sharp objects flying your way (Terrence's main problem) but AJ really did have the short end of the straw. Manipulating people's emotions, your own emotions, on a daily basis, just because you didn't have the ability to stop it from happening, would be very taxing and difficult to deal with. Terrence couldn't even begin to imagine how hard living her life was.

His smile grew smaller, until it was only one, awkwardly turned up corner of a mouth. He had noticed AJ's lack of presence, but he put that down to studying and her power. It was probably hard to want to be around people when your power played them.like puppets.

His small smile became a slight frown, "I did miss you, y-y'know." It wasn't much of a statement, but he hoped it meant something to her. He wanted her to feel... not alone. Then he devised an idea, "I was just, just ordering some books f-for the school," he signalled in the direction of his office, "You can help me." He retracted into his shell a little, "If you want to that is, I won't force you to do anything."

[Amanda Joy "AJ" Lane]

AJ's small smile brightened. "I missed you too, Terrence." She had indeed, just as much as she missed the library. Life was rough without good reading material and a caring librarian to match. She appreciated how he didn't try too hard, didn't smother her with 'Wow, I'm sorry' or 'I bet that sucks.' No, it was just a genuine 'I missed you' and that was enough for her, more than enough for her.

"I'd love to help," she told him, clutching the book he'd given her to her chest. "That is an offer I can't refuse because it involves books."

[Terrence Mathews]

Terrence's smile reflected AJ's, her comment made him feel all warm and tingly inside. He liked knowing that people enjoyed his company, and she had a large confidence to that fact. It made him blissfully gleeful. It obviously did mean quite a lot to her, as well, because of her reaction.

He continued to smile as she hugged her new book and accepted his offer. "Perfect." And with that, he made his way into his office. He was glad AJ had accepted, she was one of the few people he knew who really enjoyed books. Yes, lots of people read as a hobby, but a lot of people didn't feel like the books were anymore important than that, and AJ did. It made him feel... needed.

[Amanda Joy "AJ" Lane]

AJ followed Terrence to his office. She was sure some would find it weird that she was so close with the librarian, but honestly, she didn't mind. She would always be looked at differently and not just for that and it was about time she got used to it.

"What kind of books are you ordering?" she asked curiously. "May I suggest more fantasy?"

[Terrence Mathews]

Terrence noticed a revising student nearby poke their head up in curiosity at their conversation, and when Terrence made eye contact, the sitting boy gave him a funny look. He understood why. It probably didn't help his situation that he was practically bouncing from toe to toe to get to his office.

He went around the desk and sat down in his chair, pulling his desktop monitor around so that AJ would be able to see it too when she came in. There were chairs on the other side of the desk for her to sit at, if she wanted to. He smiled at her suggestion, "Yes, I've got a few fantasy novels ordered already, but you can never have too many books!" He clicked around a little on the website and kept his eyes on the screen, "Any particular titles or authors?"

[Amanda Joy "AJ" Lane]

AJ could imagine loving the job that Terrence had, although maybe not at a school for metas. Being a librarian, being around books all day. That was a dream and she would read in her spare time and help others find good books to read.

She followed him to his office and plopped down in a chair across from him. "Never too many. I like having a variety to choose from." She grinned back at him. "Well, for one, we could use plenty more copies of the Lord of the Rings."