The library stands tall and sun-drowned across the street from a fire station. The beige building is small for a library but is large enough to hold many memories for three of the middle school children within.
Marco sits across from two girls. He spikes his dark hair up and wears blue contacts but it is easy to see that he is of Hispanic descent. Across the dark wood table is Krystal. Even sitting down, she is shorter than both of her companions but still solidly built. The third child, me, sits next to Krystal. Her face is prepared to smile, as she certainly will soon, for a grin is never far away when she is with her best friends. Her hands rests on the intimidating pile of books stacked on the table in front of her.
Since my two friends seemed content to just sit and stare, I went back to perusing the small section that was the young adult area of the library. I would see an interesting title or an intriguing splash of color and pull the book out for further inspection. Look at the front cover, back cover, inside cover, make a decision: not good enough. Then I would continue my quest for the best fiction novels (often vampyre themed) I could find.
When I had collected two more books, I returned to the table my friends were sitting at. They looked at me, at the books in my hands, at each other, and rolled their eyes. They know me so well. That’s when my other best friend, Jake, joined the table. He’s a werewolf and knows I have a fascination with vampyre books, but he doesn’t mind. As long as I never say that Edward is better than Jacob, he is content to leave me alone.
According to the myths in movies and novels, werewolves are always tall, muscular, and can barely contain their anger. Those are all LIES. Jake is about the same height as me, soft-looking, and generally very goofy. REAL werewolves don’t LOOK like werewolves.
“Hey!” he greeted us. Everyone within a 10 foot radius glanced over at us as if to say “This is a library”. I hit him and whispered to him to sit down. For once, he actually did what I said.
As I told Krystal about the books that I’d chosen, Marco and Jake stared neutrally at each other. They didn’t have the best relationship. “I’m hungry. Can we go eat?” I looked at my other two friends and they shrugged. So I checked out the books that I had, whilst making pleasant conversation with the librarian (everyone who works at that particular library knows me). Then my friends and I headed out into the warm May evening air.
The trees were once again leafy after hibernating and seagulls flew overhead, although the library was not actually near the lake. Or a sea. Smells of fried chicken wings and fries drifted over the business/house lined street of Chicago Avenue. I was looking behind me to see if the Sears tower was visible from that position. That is when Jake proceeded to trip me. Werewolves are so unmanageable.
