Chapter 1: You Wanna Rub It In?
Levi
-Last Night-
I glanced at my watch and sighed. "It's so late now. I have a few more stops to go before I get home." I should have just driven there. And school starts again tomorrow. Why didn't I think before hopping on a bus and traveling five hours away from home? Why am I so impetuous?
I looked through my window, expecting to see a line of trees and buildings. What I wasn't expecting was to also hear meowing. The bus had stopped because of the traffic. Searching for the source of the sound, I spotted the cat upon an old-looking tree. I noticed two things, 1: the cat was alone, and 2: the branch it was on gave away a light crack. I immediately shot up from my seat and opened the window. The cold air hit my face hard and I recoiled, hugging my long padded jacket even tighter. But that was the least of my worries.
It might have climbed up but can't get back down on its own.
That's when my hero complex--I mean impulsiveness kicked in.
It wasn't too high up but the cat could still get injured if it happened to jump. Now that I've seen it, I can't just leave it stranded up there.
Since the bus was stuck in traffic anyway, I couldn't let myself be even more late to get home so I might as well just walk, it'd be faster after all. I told the driver that I wanted to get off, he shot me a not very nice look and said some not very nice words in response but opened the doors nonetheless.
I hurriedly ran out, evading and ignoring the other cars and buses that honked at me. The night air was cold and chilly even though winter was nearly ending. I finally reached the tree.
It's been a while since I've climbed a tree...
---
I opened my eyes to suddenly facing a cloudless sky. My head was throbbing from having fallen at such a mediocre height. I'm surprised I didn't get a concussion. Profusely blinking from the shock, a thought came back to me.
The cat!
I was about to get up from my uncomfortable spot on the ground when a black fat blob squished my cheek and struggled out of my jacket. I turned my head only slightly to see it walking away from me.
A 'thanks' would have been nice.
At least it's fine. I didn't go through all that trouble for nothing.
The thanks would've still been nice though...
Then another thought made me shoot up from the ground, ignoring the weird stares I had been getting from random strangers and running towards the next bus stop.
The next bus was arriving in about 45 minutes.
"Fuck this shit," I muttered, getting out the phone inside my pocket and going on the uber app.
No Ubers are available in your area.
Is this a joke?
Losing every string of hope I have by the minute, I spotted a taxi heading towards me. Maybe all wasn't lost after all.
After waving in front of it for what seemed like forever, the car stopped and I quickly got in and exasperatingly told the driver where I was heading. I glanced at my watch again and my heart rate quickened. Please don't be sold out.
-
Carelessly throwing bills at the driver and mentally cursing myself for being so rude, I slammed the door shut and ran as fast as I could towards the Turn-The-Page bookstore. It closes at 10:00 pm on Sunday and it was now 9:45. Thanking my great stamina, I pushed open the heavy mahogany door, the door swinging as I did and a familiar wooden scent filled the air.
This was strangely the most popular bookstore in town for good reason (only among the introverts of course), mainly filled with antique and second-hand books, but has new books placed at the front too. The building is old, huge, and built in the 1600s and only a few minutes by bus from where I live. The bookshop is over three floors and is full of tiny rooms and crevices stacked with books. Books are everywhere, shelves cover every surface apart from narrow strips of floor used to walk on. Books are stacked in piles on the floor, the stairs, EVERYWHERE. Despite it being three stories they actually had to get steel posts to support the ceilings, and they were caving in from the sheer weight of books. If you want to find a particular book but don't have the patience, you're better off just ordering it online. The whole store smells of must, paper, ink, wood, fresh new pages, and also delicious coffee and muffins from the cafe next door. It was weird but I liked it.
When I first discovered Turn-The-Page, back when I was 13, I was a 7th grader at Crestview, 17 miles from home, and knew no one in the area. Had I not glanced across the parking lot while my dad and I were driving past and caught the "+comics" sign set back from the road, I would have mistaken the place for a rundown shack. It does a great job of blending in with the other buildings so someone who doesn't read very often wouldn't even know it was a bookstore. The special donated books were placed in a specific area, where I picked up many old horror, sci-fi, fantasy (completed my run of Sailor Moon first editions, not that they were ever worth anything), and suspense novels.
This room also shared the gaming materials, and while I don't game it allowed me to get to know the owner who was in charge of the store, Mr. Baige Penn was a happily married man who still lives by his goal along with his wife to never have kids no matter how adorable they think they are. He prefers to be called Baige so as not to feel old despite him being in his late forties but it just makes me feel weird so I call him Mr. Penn. We bonded through a mutual love of R. M. Miller, Harry Potter, and the Percy Jackson series.
I was there practically every other day picking up Miller's books I'd missed over the years, and this gave us the opportunity to compare notes. Mr. Penn would always hold and suggest to me the latest comics he thought I would like. When I was a kid, I used to save my allowance and go every week and after seven long months, I officially owned the entire Star Wars series collection on a pedestal (not literally) right under all of R. M. Miller's books. Over an entire summer that bled into fall, I read all the comics in print until I finally caught up. The store always had the SF/F section right upfront and after that, I would march right up to the bays, pluck the latest installment on the day of release and make my purchase. It was a huge store to me then and still is now. I still haven't read every book and trust me, I've read a lot of books.
Mr. Penn was currently scanning a 13-year-old looking boy wearing a purple gowns' book.
The book I wanted.
I glanced back at Mr. Penn who just gave me a sad look and shook his head.
No. I refuse to believe this.
I ran to the 'currently most popular' shelf, searching for the book I had waited seven months for. The book I talked my best friend Ansel's ear off about and theorized all the possibilities that could happen in it. All the crossovers and alternate universes and new characters. The book I was willing to spend $76.99 for.
The book was now sold out.
Completely sold out. Sold in, sold out, sold up, sold down, sold everywhere-it was sold out.
It was the last book in the series.
I sank down to my knees, crumpling my fists in defeat. It was over. All over.
I looked up to see the same thirteen-year-old boy from earlier staring at me in silence.
I scoffed, suppressing a laugh, and gave him my full attention. "What? You wanna rub it in?"
"Do you want it that badly?" he frowned. Did he feel bad for me? Could I convince him to hand the book over?
I thought about this for a moment. Was I really willing to guilt-trip a thirteen-year-old for a book?
Yes. Yes, I was.
I somehow made make tears come out of my eyes like I was in some music video from the early 2000s in my car staring through the window while the rain was pouring, staring into his soul.
He scratched his head in thought. "Well..."
Wait, this was actually working? He was falling for this?
I could be an acto-
"-Sucks to suck. You should've gotten here earlier."
I froze.
The kid evilly smirked, walking away, his gown fluttering behind him, completely unaware of me flipping him off.
It was at this moment I realized I had lost all faith in humanity.
----------------------------------------------------------------
This took a while to write. I did this instead of my homework. I did this instead of practicing for my math test. I did this instead of studying for my math exam. (Yeah, we have a test and an exam.)
But that's just me procrastinating so it's nothing new.
Anyway enjoy and I hope you like this chapter! (The writing's a little wack but I'm honestly trying guys).
I'm sleep deprived. I haven't slept for 77 hours straight lol.
k peace
~Potchachoe~
(Ps. no, coffee doesn't help. It's like water to me now.)