I am, I am, I am.

[Cleo Warren]

Oh, Sylvia Plath, could you have possibly written anything more depressing?

Cleo Warren loved reading and literature. She probably would have been all but disowned by her parents if she didn’t. She just didn’t like reading what the school district told her she should be reading. They were so freaking boring.

Not all of them were; there were definitely a few that she’d liked, a couple she’d even loved. Sadly, The Bell Jar was not one of them. She didn’t understand the hype. Cleo had her own problems to deal with; the last thing she wanted was to read about someone else’s. Cleo always opted for books that were jam-packed with action, and then, of course, one or two sappy romantic novels which she would hide underneath all her other books. Those were a secret.

But the curriculum demanded that she read The Bell Jar this year, and Cleo was nothing but their irritated humble student servant. A quick reader, Cleo finished the book fairly quickly; it wasn’t incredibly long. But she still had to do the assignment on it, which was why she was here. At the library.

Throwing her backpack on one of the empty tables, Cleo figured she’d find some new reading material before she started working. She had to get the next book on the syllabus anyway. Moving towards the fiction section, Cleo tucked her iPhone into the back pocket of her jeans, Imagine Dragons playing through her head phones.

She ran her fingers over the spines of the shelved novels, playing with the end of her braid with her other hand. She wasn’t really sure what she was looking for - well, aside from her mandatory reading - but she was hoping it’d jump out at her once she saw it.

[Deleted]

Kyle pushed through the doors to the library brushing a few late winter snowflakes out of his hair and off his shoulders, he was grateful to be inside and not in the noisy and intensely bright snow outside. Sometimes enhanced perception was the pits but, being in the library, sometimes it was the greatest thing in the world.

Kyle breathed deep the wonderful aroma of books, all musky tree pulp, aromatic inks and residual people smell. Kyle let out his breath and smiled, there was definitely no other smell like it on Earth not one that brought him as much joy anyway. Kyle walked casually toward the study area to deposit his coat and pack before stopping to return The Bell Jar at book return. Generally Kyle disliked mandatory reading as much as the next person, I mean if you had to require someone read the book it must not be a good enough book, but The Bell Jar had surprised him. It had a slow start and he almost decided to wing the assignment but then the book had taken a turn for the dark and the protagonists struggle with mental illness pulled him inextricably to the end. Kyle thought that the book was going to be a flop but it did end up redeeming itself, it did leave Kyle craving something a little darker and more horrifying though and he was now hunting for H.P. Lovecraft.

Kyle noticed that there was one other backpack in the study area and thought to himself, "Perfect, not many people here today glad I came when I did."  Kyle dropped his things at one of the other tables, placed an earbud that looked more like an earplug in his right ear, turned on Breaking Benjamin almost as low as the volume would go and set off in search of the mighty Lovecraft.

Kyle strolled up and down a couple aisles of horror before deciding to try fiction. As amazing as the library was it was still subject to human error, and you would sometimes have to search for a book forever before finally managing to find it had been pushed through to the opposite side of the bookshelf into either the self-help section or romantic drama.

Kyle turned the corner into fiction and noticed a girl also perusing the fiction section. She was slightly shorter than him and had her long, dark blonde hair done up in a braid that she was playing with while examining the shelved books. From almost a full aisle length away Kyle could hear Imagine Dragons playing through her head phones, albeit slightly muffled.

Kyle liked her already, music while looking for a book was his own preferred method of finding something new to read. He wondered if they liked the same kind of books as well seeing as they seemed to have similar tastes in music, one band anyway. Kyle made his way toward the girl, thanking God for his enhanced perception giving him this ice breaker.

Kyle gently tapper her shoulder, "I'm sorry but I couldn't help overhearing your music, Imagine Dragons are a pretty good band. My name's Kyle by the way."

[Cleo Warren]

Bopping her head along with the music, nothing really jumped out at Cleo while she was perusing the shelf. She’d plucked a light-hearted Nicholas Sparks books off the shelf, skimming the back quickly to make sure it wasn’t too depressing. She liked her casual reads to be light-hearted and fun; she got enough dark and dreary from Sylvia Plath. She typically wasn’t a fan of Sparks (because most of his novels were depressing) but this one seemed harmless enough.

Hmm…what else, what else? She should probably get something that was actually substantial, as opposed to just mindless fluff. But what did she want to read? God, this always happens. She knew she should have scoured Amazon looking for recommendations before she came here. This happened every time she came to the library; she’d spend more time wandering around looking for something new to read instead of actually doing her work.

It’s not like Hammel’s selection was incredibly vast anyway. It was good for a school library, but most of it’s collection contained textbooks and research material. Their fiction section was decent, but it was no Barnes and Noble. Anything that was decently new that she wanted to read wasn’t here. She usually liked to buy her books anyway, but she didn’t have a ton of space for them in her tiny dorm room. That and she was usually too lazy to go off-campus to the bookstore.

She let out a sigh when nothing else really appeared to jump out at her. She really needed a book connoisseur who knew everything she liked to read and just told her what to pick. She hated looking because what if she found something and didn’t like it? Then she’d have to finish it anyway because she hated starting and novel or a series and leaving it unfinished. Even if it sucked, she needed some kind of closure!

She was about to give up, but she really didn’t want to go back to her seat just yet. Sylvia Plath and The Bell Jar were waiting for her there and she wasn’t quite ready to tackle them yet. She felt a tap on her shoulder as she pulled a random book off the shelf. She turned, locking eyes with a familiar face.

She pulled her earbud out of one ear. “Huh?” He’d heard her music? “Shit, sorry, is it that loud?” She asked, reaching for her phone to pause the music. She wasn’t one of those people who listened to her music so loud that the whole room would be able to hear it. But he knew what band she was listening to, so it must have been.

“Oh, you’re in my English class.” She stated. He didn’t sit near her though; her usual spot was in the middle, towards the door. “I’m Cleo.”