Books provide many things for us. Knowledge, ideas, a sense of opinion. But what about what’s between the lines? What most people miss. There is so much in books that it is hard to catch every detail, but some select few readers can catch everything and that becomes their way of life. The people who think in ways you wouldn’t think to think of. The people who notice what you wouldn’t think to notice. The people who think and read between the lines.

Chapter One

“Mom, have you seen my—“ before I could even finish, my mom had already picked up my library card and started to hand it to me, but then pulled it back just as quick, before I could grasp it.

She had a look on her face, again. The same look she had every time that I went to the library. “Do eat something,” she mumbled. “You always get so into your books that you don’t eat for days.” She was still holding the card just out of my reach.

I let out a long sigh. “Dad,” I droned the syllable on for longer than needed, “Tell mom to give me my card,” she slapped it into my hand and my dad just stared at me from over his morning newspaper, his eyes barely reaching over it, almost as if he were peeking and not staring.

“Look,” I pulled my fist out of my pocket, “I have five, six, seven, eight. Eight dollars for a hot dog. Can I go now?” I asked as I wrapped the crumpled bills around the card and slid it into my back pocket.

“Only if you give your sister a ride to the movies with her friends.” Said my dad, finally putting the paper down and taking the first bite of his breakfast. His hair was neatly combed to one side and he just looked so… clean.

I rolled my eyes. “You’re kidding, right? Tell me you’re kidding. It’s only 7:45. Are the movies even OPEN?”

“The first showing is at nine, so you can take them to eat, first.”

I clenched my fists, trying not to lose my temper. “Dad, can’t you just let her borrow your car?”

“Emma.” He sounded irritated and I didn’t blame him. But he couldn’t honestly expect me to want to chaperone a bunch of giggling, preppy 15 year olds? “Just stop. You should hear yourself. You sound ridiculous. Your sister just got her permit and you know she can’t drive alone—“

“She has her friends doesn’t she?”

“--and if you don’t clean up your attitude,” he continued, ignoring my snide comment, “you will be taking her everywhere until I say so. Understood?”

I nodded and grabbed my keys from the kitchen counter. “Tell her she has fifteen minutes and then I'm leaving her here. I’ll be in the car.” I walked out of the front door in a not so pleasant mood. I don’t want to be stuck driving Allison and all her little friends everywhere, I thought over and over, reminding myself of why I was doing this. I sunk down in the driver’s seat of my navy blue Ford Mustang. Unfortunately I couldn’t get the radio loud enough to calm me down and drain out my thoughts. I could just barely hear my sister banging on the window yelling at me to unlock it. After ignoring her for as long as I could, I turned down the radio and pushed the Unlock key.

“I'm sorry, Allie.” I gave her my most sarcastic smile. “Were you waiting for me to unlock the door?”

“Shut up.” Allison glared.

I pulled out of the driveway and drove out of our subdivision, in silence until I got onto the highway. “Okay, so who all am I picking up, exactly?”

“Sarah, Ashley, and Todd.”

“Okay, well.” I was tapping my fingers impatiently on the steering wheel. “How about this? I’ll pick up Todd and Sarah… and then to get to Ashley’s, you pass by the library anyway, so you can just take the car when we get there and make your way to pick up Ash and go to the movies.”

Allison nodded and tried to act calm and cool as we pulled onto Sarah’s street, but I could tell she was overwhelmed with excitement that I was going to let her drive my car alone. Sarah was already waiting on her front porch when we pulled up. Allison opened her door and pulled up the seat to let Sarah crawl in.

“So what are you going to see?” I asked. They both gave two different answers at the same time. “Whoa… what?”

“Pirates three.” My sister said.

“No! Mr. Brooks!” argued Sarah.

They argued back and forth for a few moments, both describing why their movie was better and why the other sucked, until we got to Todd’s house. I didn’t feel like pulling into the driveway this time, so I just honked from the curb. He came out in plaid shorts and a shirt that said, “I'm probably lying.” Which is more than true for him, probably.

“Okay, we’ll see what Todd thinks.” Allie mumbled.

“What I think of what?” Todd managed as he squeezed into the back seat.

Sarah sighed. “Would you rather see the obvious choice—Mr. Brooks—or some stupid movie—Pirates three?” I watched Todd’s eyes jet from Sarah to Allison’s and then to my eyes in the rear-view mirror. “Uhm… Pirates.” Todd replied.

Sarah hit Todd across the chest. “You did that on purpose you little shit!” Todd just laughed and pulled her close to him, kissing her forehead lightly.

I continued to watch them in the rear-view as we got on the highway again. I smirked at Sarah making fun of Todd for how badly he was singing “Forever” by Papa Roach. They had been going out now for almost a year and their relationship was still strong as in the beginning. Pretty much every girl wanted him and Sarah had him.

I drove silently for the rest of the way to the library while they all talked amongst themselves. I stopped the car a few blocks from my destination. My sister and I both got out of the car and she met me on my side.

“Now,” I jiggled the keys in front of her. “Before I give these to you, remember the rules. Do not draw any attention to yourself as you drive. Don’t you damage my car in any way. Don’t speed. Don’t talk on the phone while you’re driving and if you drink and drive, you’re DEAD.” I squinted my eyes at her. “And one last thing. If anything happens—anything at all—don’t call mom and dad, call ME. Got it?” I looked from Allison to the two in the car and they all nodded in agreement.

With my book bag already on my shoulder, I told them to have fun. I started on my walk to the library. The walk never really bothered me; I get to watch all the different people as I pretend to mind my own business. When I finally got across the street from the library, I felt a sense of relief wash over me. I was going to actually get some Me Time today. As I stepped off the curb, something just didn’t feel right, though. Like an out of body experience, it was all slow motion to me, and at the same time, it all happened so fast.

I looked to my right and saw a car, no more than ten feet away, coming right at me.

I didn’t even try to move, I don’t think I really wanted to. I felt right, almost happy. I didn’t understand the feeling, though. Maybe it was just my turn. My turn to die.

Everything went back to normal speed. Taking a quick gasp of air and closing my eyes, I heard several things. A car’s blaring horn, screeching tires, and my little sister scream.

Pain shot through my body as I landed on the ground, but that wasn’t all I felt. I felt hands on my waist and I voice telling me that I was okay. My eyes straining to open, I saw a man leaning over me. It was then that I realized that the car did not hit me and I was back on the sidewalk where I had started.

“I'm just not meant to have my Me Time today, am I?” that was just about all I could get out as the man helped me to my feet.

“Excuse me?”

“Never mind.” I replied slowly. “What the hell happened to the car… the white car… the one that almost killed me…?” I looked around, but did not see any white cars whatsoever, and especially not one that was contemplating my death. Then I remembered. “My sister! Allison! Where is my sister!?”

“Are you okay, Emmaly?” He just looked at me. “Your sister is not here and there is no car. You just suddenly fell backward and I almost didn’t have time to catch you.” He was still staring at me, unblinkingly.

Feeling somewhat like an idiot, I tried to recap what had just happened. It didn’t seem too real, so I just figured that the guy standing beside me was right, and I had imagined the whole thing—even Allie’s deafening scream. But then something caught my attention, “Uhm… I don’t recall ever meeting you… I'm sorry… but I haven’t told you my name.” he looked a little caught off-guard and then sent me an amused smile.

“You dropped this.” He handed me my library card, “I guess that’s where you were headed? The library?”

I looked at the card for a moment, then put it in a pocket in my book bag. “Yes, I was. And better get going. But thanks for helping me with… my, uh, little accident.” I turned to cross the street again, for what I thought to be the second time.

“Hey, Emmaly—“ he was still using my name and that freaked me out even more than the whole déjà vu thing. “—can I buy you some coffee?”

I looked him up and down, shocked by his ability to be so upfront. “I’ll… have to get back to you on that,” I yelled from across the street, finally able to get inside the library.

What the hell just happened to me? I thought as I walked between the towers of books. Was there really no car? Could I really have imagined the entire thing? What about when I heard Allie scream? Did I imagine that, too? And what about that guy… him knowing my name… and having been there at exactly the right time…

The whole thing gave me the creeps.

I don’t think the guy even looked at my card, and then he looked surprised when I mentioned it. It was his eyes… his eyes were gorgeous. They were like nothing I had ever seen before. His eyes were like an eclipse, the moon blocking out the sun. yet the sun still was majestic enough to shine around the darkness. An angel couldn’t have prettier eyes.

I walked slowly down the alley of books reading the titles for something interesting; I mean, I must admit, I am one to judge a book by it’s title and cover. I wasn’t looking for anything in particular, just hoping something would randomly catch my attention and call out my name, “—Emmaly.” My heart jumped and I stared at the row of books that had just called my name, “—Emma.” I heard them call again.

Great. I had just been nearly killed by my imagination, and now books were talking to me. I was crazy.

I approached the books carefully and really starting to think that I had gone completely mad. Wide eyed, and staring at the row of books, I noticed another pair of eyes staring back. Eyes that I could never forget.

I let out a quick sigh and stared this time, more annoyed than frightened. His eyes seemed to give off some sort of glow, I could tell it was because he was laughing at me. Then I could see that he had gotten out of his crouching position and was now walking to my side of the bookshelf. He turned the corner and walked towards me with a friendly grin that spread from ear to ear. It was then that I saw the two Starbucks cups in his hand, I was guessing one for me.

“Hearing voices, are we?” I just stared back, unpleased. He laughed. “Well, I couldn’t take you to coffee, so I figured I would take coffee to you.” He handed me a cup.

“How do you know I’ll even like it?” I smirked. I looked over him, now. He couldn’t be barely older than me, but so much more mature than most guys I knew. Well, mature when he wanted to be, anyway.

He looked from me to the drink in his hand. “It’s a white chocolate mocha. Everyone loves them,” I took the cup. I did actually love white chocolate mochas but I wasn’t about to admit it.

I just left the drink in my hand, not even taking a sip, and going back to browsing books.

“Are you looking for anything special?” he asked.

I continued to look at the books just so that I wouldn’t be drawn to look at his face. “Uhm… not really. Just looking.”

He was quiet for another minute, but I could tell he was still staring at me, I could feel his eyes. “Well what kind of books do you like?”

“Anything and everything,” I removed a book from the shelf, read the first few lines of the back, and replaced it. “I judge books by their covers and titles, so I just pick what looks interesting. What about you?” I finally sipped the hot drink in my hand.

“Well… I like books about life, you know?” I was waiting for him to go on, so I didn’t reply back, and after a moment, he did. “Real life struggles,” he continued. “Stuff like… divorce, abuse, harassment, death… that sort of stuff. It can really teach you a lot.”

His answer made me regret taking a drink. I think he noticed my changed expression, so he changed the subject. “How about movies and music?”

“I hate rap with a passion, but every now and then, there will be one good song. I love rock, all types of grunge, punk, classic, hard, deaf metal, and some country songs, too. I'm a girl of variety.” I was still avoiding his face, running my finger along the spines of the books. “As for movies, I like Phantom Of The Opera, Corpse Bride, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and the Goonies.” I laughed at myself for the last answer I gave.

“You should smile more often,” his response startled me. “You look prettier when you smile.”

I looked up at him for the first time since he gave me the coffee. We were no longer in the same aisle of books that we started in and he was much closer to me, now, looking down at me from no more than five inches from my face. I could feel his warm breath on my lips and the tips of his fingers trace my face. His eclipsed eyes got bigger and closer.

The vibration from my pocket broke his stare from mine. I grabbed my phone and flipped it open. He stepped back from me and put his hands back at his sides.

“Hello?”

“Uhm, Emma… it’s Todd. Something happened.”