The Gang Leader And His Library Girl

Chapter 3: Meeting Again

Jessica's POV:

Oh god, my parents are pissed. They. Are. Pissed. I know that it was kind of a b***h move to hide out at the library when my sister was home, but I just can't handle all of them in one house with me. I kind of wonder how I survived all those years before she left for college. Oh yeah, I would hurt myself. I still do because of the bullying and my parents, but it just gets so much worse when my sister is here.

I close my eyes and slowly open my front door. It makes a creaking sound when I do, and that's all it takes for my parents to come rushing to the door. I peek one of my eyes open, and sure enough, they're both looking at me with a mix of anger and the look that I always get from them. Disappointment.

"Jessica Bliss, where have you been?"

I sigh and open my eyes all the way before letting them fall to the ground. "I-"

"Why are you soaking wet? Ugh, Jessica, you look more awful than you already let yourself look!"

I still don't let myself look at my parents. I bit my lip though. I do look like s**t no matter what I do. "I'm sorry."

I hear my mom scoff. "I'm sure you are, now go upstairs and get changed. You have a supper to make."

I quickly nod my head, walking past both of them and running upstairs to my room. I shut the door behind me, locking it because I know Abby will try to barge in if I don't, then throw my bag onto my bed. As long as I'm not out in public, I can wear actual pants and shorts. I kick my shoes off, peel off my leggings, then pull off my dress. My bra is kind of dry now, but my dress is still soaking wet. I start to make my way towards my closet, but I stop in the middle of my room. In the corner of my eye, I can see my full length mirror. I turn my head to look at it, taking note of the scars on my stomach and the scars on my wrists. I slowly step closer to the mirror, running my fingertips over each scar. All of these are from me.

My mom shouts from downstairs to get me to hurry up. I quickly run to my closet, grabbing an old, white t-shirt and a pair of black shorts. I grab a hair tie from my nightstand and throw my hair up into a lazy ponytail, then shove some bracelets over my wrists. Before my mom can scream at me anymore, I run down the stairs and start cooking supper for all of us.

"So, Abby, how's college been for you?" My mom asks.

Abby smiles widely and sets her fork down on her plate. I rolled my eyes, making sure no one saw me, because I knew that she was about to go into full story mode. "It's great! The classes aren't even hard for me!" Her eyes wander over to me, smirking as she did. She knows that I struggle to get the A's that I have, but I still get them! "Also, the people there are so nice! I expected them to be nice, but not this nice."

"Oh?" My dad looks at her, then at me. "So you've made many friends, have you?"

Abby laughs and nods her head. "Of course! Everyone loves me!"

Doesn't that sound a little obnoxious? To me, yes. To my parents, it's a sign of good self esteem. Whatever they want to call it, she uses it against me every chance she gets. She uses anything against me, really. "Do you like the supper I made?" I try to talk to them, but they completely ignore me. Or, they did until Abby decided to bring me up in conversation.

"I think that Jessica should get out there more, you know? When she goes to college, it's going to be awfully hard for her to get more friends."

I clench my teeth together, pushing around my peas on my plate with my fork. "I have friends."

"Name one." Abby challenges me.

This time, I meet her gaze, sitting up straighter too. "Kayla."

Abby rolls her eyes. "Yeah, I could have guessed that, but do you have anymore?" My silence gives her the satisfaction she's probably been craving, and smirks.

My mom clears her throat, looking directly at me. "It would be nice if you were more popular with kids like your sister is." Like your sister. What else would I have expected from them? Everything is about Abby! She's little miss perfect, and I'm the stupid little follower that can't get anything right. But, instead of screaming at them, cursing them out for saying those three words to me over and over again my whole life, I just bite my tongue, nod my head, and continue to push my food around with my fork.

***

Kayla nudges my foot under our desks, drawing my attention away from my stories in my notebook. I silently close the notebook while looking at her. Kayla isn't a straight A student. She usually gets B's or C's, but we just click. She gets me and helps me get through things, and I do the same with her. Of course, hanging out with me causes her to get picked on a little bit, but she insists that she doesn't care about them. She doesn't get bullied as bad as I do, but I can tell that it's slowly taking its toll some days.

"Can you tell me now about this guy at the library?"

I smile and a laugh a little bit. I had told her about me meeting up with Ashton after school towards the end of lunch today, but I couldn't tell her everything that happened, but she's been eager to hear all about it. "Okay," I look around, then scoot my desk closer to her subtly but Kayla doesn't give a s**t. She stands up and shoves her desk right next to me, then sits down calmly. It's the last class of the day again, and yeah, I have everything done. Kayla just likes to waste her time during this hour and do the homework later. I sigh, but still smile at her. "The guy's name is Ashton-"

She gasps and rests her chin in both of her hands. "That sounds like a hot name. I bet he's hot. Was he hot?"

I laugh quietly so no one would hear me, but I can feel the heat rising in my cheeks. "I think he was kind of cute."

She stares at me, then a wide grin cracks onto her face. "You like him."

I shush her before answering. "No. I don't. I thought that he was kind of cute, but that's it."

She rolls her eyes and sinks back into her chair. "Well, that's no fun." I laugh while she pouts. "Well, he was obviously interested in you because he wanted to meet up again, right?"

I sigh and play with the spiral wire on my notebook. "He didn't see me, remember?"

She gasps and looks at me wide eyed. "You saw a kind of cute guy which probably means he was hot and didn't even let him see you?"

I nod my head. "I was in the room, and he was lost. I talked to him for a while before my parents called and I had to leave. He just wants to know about this side of town."

"So you're giving him a tour?"

"Kinda?" I squint one of my eyes at her, but she just raises her eyebrows at me. I sigh and lean my head on my right hand so I can still look at her. "I'm just telling him about this side through bookshelf number 98."

"You truly are no fun, Jess." She smiles while saying this.

I laugh and roll my eyes. "Are you coming with me this time, then?"

She bites her lip, looking at her desk. "Actually, I'm going to meet up with Derek."

I look at her, a smile playing on my lips. Derek is the guy that she's been working at the movie theater with for a few years now. They became friends, but she told me a while ago that she has a crush on him. He graduated last year, so he's older, but only by a year. "So, a date?"

Her head whips into my direction. "No! It's not a date. He just wants to hang out."

"Where?"

"The park."

I smile at her and pat her back. "Good, because if he tries to take you on a date at the movies, then you need to get out of there fast."

She laughs and swats my hand away. "Whatever. He just wants to hang out, and I guess I'm fine with that."

Of course, I knew that it hurt her a little when he said he just wanted to hang out. Honestly, I think that they would be really cute together. I haven't been able to be around when they would both hang out, so I don't know how they act with each other all the time, but from what I have seen, I think they would work. "Don't worry, I think he wants to be more than friends."

She smiles and nods her head. "Thanks." The bell rings, giving me relief. Kayla pulls her desk back in place while I stand and collect all of my things. "I better go so I don't miss Derek, but I'll call you tonight, okay?"

I nod my head, both of us making our way through the hallway. She turns in a different direction than me, though. There's a shortcut through the back of the school to get to the park, but it's easier to go through the front of school to get to the library. I start walking down the sidewalk when I hear a car pulling up beside me. I turn my head to look, and of course, it's Brandon and his friends. "Hey, Jessica. We were wondering, maybe you need a ride somewhere?"

I shake my head quickly and start walking a lot faster. I pay close attention, though. His car slows down, and I can hear them cutting the engine behind me. As soon as I hear one of the doors click open, I start running as fast as I can. They start shouting my name and running after me. They're a lot faster than me though, and are starting to catch up. "Get back here, you little bitch."

I whimper and push harder. It's kind of hard to run when you have a book bag jiggling on your back though. Brandon catches my arm, but I quickly turn around and slap him in the face. He lets go out of surprise, but it's replaced with anger. It takes a little bit for me to register what I just did, but when I see the anger come back in his eyes, I turn around and start sprinting this time. He starts running faster this time too.

I make it to the library and quickly get into the janitor's closet. I can hear all the guys rushing into the building and they start to look through the big space. I know it's only a matter of time before they check the closet, so I quickly crawl into the tunnel. When I swing open the make-shift door at the end, I just let myself fall onto my back on the couch. I reach my foot up and kick the painting back in place, then close my eyes and sigh. I'm panting already, and trying to control it only makes it worse.

"Library Girl?" I gasp and fall onto the floor. I look up, expecting someone to be in here, but no one is. I hear chuckling, then the familiar voice comes again. "What? Did I scare you?"

I look at the bookshelf and I finally recognize the voice. Ashton. I bring my hand over my eyes, sighing in relief. "Thank god, it's only you."

"Who else would be in this shitty library?"

I roll my eyes and stand up, looking through the small hole again. "This isn't a shitty library. I happen to like it very much."

He rolls his eyes and shakes his head. "Whatever you say. Are you going to show me around, then?"

"Nice try, but I told you that I would just tell you about it."

He sighs, then sits down on the floor across from bookshelf number 98. "Okay, do it the hard way. What do you know?"

I pull my chair next to the bookshelf. "Well, are you ready?"

After a few hours of talking to Ashton, I think I'm finally relaxed and comfortable around him. He is definitely a flirt, though. I always ignore it, rolling my eyes most of the time. Even though I was supposed to be just telling him about this side of town, we've learned a lot about each other. Like, over the usual amount a person should know about someone in that short of time. Of course, he doesn't know about the bullying, the abuse, my self harm, or even where I live for the matter. But, he still knows me.

I know about him too. I can tell that he's hiding a few things from me though. I don't push him. I'm keeping my secrets, so he can keep his.

"Hey, Library Girl?" Ashton asks. He now knows that my name is Jessica, but I guess he likes calling me that. He said something about making a new name for me when he can actually see me, but I don't think that's going to happen soon.

"Yeah?" I turn another page in the book that I'm reading.

"Are you really not going to let me see you?"

I smile and laugh a little bit. He's been trying to talk me into coming out of the room, but it's not working. "I told you no."

He groans and I hear him banging his head against the other shelf. "But you sound like you have a sexy body."

My face instantly flares up and my eyes go wide. "Shut up!"

I hear him laughing. "Eh, it was worth a shot."

I roll my eyes and start reading my book again, but still listen to what Ashton is saying. "By the way, I'm still wondering about the old buildings around here."

I furrow my eyebrows together and look at the bookshelf. "Why?"

He hesitates before answering me. "You know, just places to hang out with friends and stuff." Liar. "Got anything?"

I close my book and rest it on my lap. I start tapping my fingers on it, staring at the bookshelf. "It depends. Are you going to tell me the truth about why you want to find them?"

"I wasn't lying."

I cross my arms. "Yes, you were."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"No. I'm. Not."

"Oh, please."

"I WASN'T LYING!" He finally screams at me. He must have pushed the bookshelf because it shook with force. I gasp and jump up, backing away from it.

"I-I'm s-sorry." I start packing up everything into my book bag. "I shouldn't have said anything."

"No! Wait, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell."

I swing my bag over my shoulder and step onto the couch. "I should probably go."

"Please." I swing the tunnel door open and start to climb in. I only get one knee in when he says something else. "Are you coming back?"

I bite my lip and shake my head. "No."

"I'll just find you then."

I keep climbing into the tunnel, not really believing what he was saying. "Yeah, have fun with that since you don't even know what I look like." With that, I swing the painting back against the wall and begin my way back home.