Adam pushed open the heavy library and held it open for Jack. Jack, lacking
any tact or sensitivity, didn't notice this subtle act of chivalry and
marched her way in, without waiting to see if Adam was following.
She selected a table on the far side of the room and dumped her pack onto it. Adam followed and gingerly placed his bag by his chair. He looked across the table. Jack's bag was shuffling around the desk and was coughing up used sweet-wrappers, chewed pencils and anonymous bits of paper. There may or may not have been a Jack rummaging around in it. Then she sighed, shoved the bag onto the ground (on which it spewed even more anonymities) and leant over the table, her hands running through her hair.
"What's wrong?" Asked Adam, who was opening up his folder.
"Oh, nothing. I just...don't know where to start. No, that's not it...I can't be bothered to start."
"You don't go to the library much, do you?"
"Well, no." She said, realising that this had been the first time she had actually stepped into the building. "I don't really hang out here at all. Or at least, not inside. I'm usually at the café 'round the corner."
"Wanna go there, then? 'Could go get a milkshake." Adam suggested, seemingly nonchalant.
"Yeh, 'kay."
Jack hadn't realised that she had just been asked out on a date. In fact, she hardly noticed Adam at all. Her mind was whirling with the things that had happened to her. The murders, which had seemed so real at the time, and which had just turned out to be her imagination; the rumours about her at school; her friends spreading half of them; her parents and their lack of care for her. It was all jumbled up in her head, and during that week she had thought about nothing else. There just wasn't any room. She breezed through the Maths Half-Yearly as if she didn't care. And now, she was being asked to a café by a quite-good-looking, if not skinny, boy - and she barely registered it.
So, leaving their stuff at their desk without fear of it being stolen (after all, this was a library), they headed out the door and around the corner, where Jack stopped dead in her tracks. The window of the café, dubbed "Joey's", was visible from where she stood. And, at the very front of that window, was her old group of friends. Marcella, Rose, Megan, Jessica and Amy where facing the window and laughing at people as they went by. She couldn't face them, not right now. Her gusto had left her.
She grabbed Adam's arm as he went ahead and pointed. Surely he could see them, too. But all he did was gently shrug himself out of her hands, turned, and faced her.
"Do you really care about what they think?"
Jack thought. Well, what did it really matter if they saw her here? Adam was right, who cares what a bunch of phoney Barbie dolls thought of her? Their opinion didn't really count at all.
"Yeh, you're right, but I don't want to sit in that café with them. They'll be laughing like a pack of hyenas and annoying everybody."
"Okay then. Howzabout we sit on that bench, then?" And here he pointed at a park bench under a tree, across the road.
"Sounds good!" Said Jack, her spirit back and her head cleared a little.
Making their way into the shop, they ignored the wolf-whistles and jeers from the group of girls, ordered two strawberry milkshakes, and left. Jack was having a much better time with Adam than she ever had with those girls. They cracked jokes, swapped stories, and eventually the conversation came to Jack's "antics" at school.
"So, why aren't you Little Miss Popular at school anymore?" Adam asked innocently.
"Well..." Jack didn't know where to begin. She looked across at Adam. He looked trustworthy. "Okay. I went into the bathrooms before school, right? And I went into the cubicle. I hear the Loo Monkeys walk out and someone else come in. And then I hear all these... horrible, terrible sounds, and screaming. I fainted...and when I woke up, and got out of the cubicle, I see this girl's...head."
There was a pause. Jack instantly regretted telling Adam this, but all he said was,
"Wow."
"Yeh, and when I go back in there, its all disappeared. The blood, the gore, even the head! I dunno what happened... and now everyone reckons I'm psycho."
"Oh. I thought there had been a catfight."
"You haven't heard the rumours?"
"Yeh, I heard there had been a catfight. I don't get told many rumours, but."
An uncomfortable silence hung between them.
"So, what are you going to do about it?" Adam said calmly, surprising Jack immensely.
"What do you mean? You think I'm telling the truth?"
"Well, that's a bit too imaginative to have been made up, even for you. I reckon what you saw was a haunting."
"A haunting." Jack said, tasting the word in her mouth.
"Yeh, I have a good book about those at home. I could bring it in for you, if you like."
"Yeh, that'd be great!" Jack couldn't believe that, after all that had happened, in the midst of her confusion and loneliness, she had found an ally.
She selected a table on the far side of the room and dumped her pack onto it. Adam followed and gingerly placed his bag by his chair. He looked across the table. Jack's bag was shuffling around the desk and was coughing up used sweet-wrappers, chewed pencils and anonymous bits of paper. There may or may not have been a Jack rummaging around in it. Then she sighed, shoved the bag onto the ground (on which it spewed even more anonymities) and leant over the table, her hands running through her hair.
"What's wrong?" Asked Adam, who was opening up his folder.
"Oh, nothing. I just...don't know where to start. No, that's not it...I can't be bothered to start."
"You don't go to the library much, do you?"
"Well, no." She said, realising that this had been the first time she had actually stepped into the building. "I don't really hang out here at all. Or at least, not inside. I'm usually at the café 'round the corner."
"Wanna go there, then? 'Could go get a milkshake." Adam suggested, seemingly nonchalant.
"Yeh, 'kay."
Jack hadn't realised that she had just been asked out on a date. In fact, she hardly noticed Adam at all. Her mind was whirling with the things that had happened to her. The murders, which had seemed so real at the time, and which had just turned out to be her imagination; the rumours about her at school; her friends spreading half of them; her parents and their lack of care for her. It was all jumbled up in her head, and during that week she had thought about nothing else. There just wasn't any room. She breezed through the Maths Half-Yearly as if she didn't care. And now, she was being asked to a café by a quite-good-looking, if not skinny, boy - and she barely registered it.
So, leaving their stuff at their desk without fear of it being stolen (after all, this was a library), they headed out the door and around the corner, where Jack stopped dead in her tracks. The window of the café, dubbed "Joey's", was visible from where she stood. And, at the very front of that window, was her old group of friends. Marcella, Rose, Megan, Jessica and Amy where facing the window and laughing at people as they went by. She couldn't face them, not right now. Her gusto had left her.
She grabbed Adam's arm as he went ahead and pointed. Surely he could see them, too. But all he did was gently shrug himself out of her hands, turned, and faced her.
"Do you really care about what they think?"
Jack thought. Well, what did it really matter if they saw her here? Adam was right, who cares what a bunch of phoney Barbie dolls thought of her? Their opinion didn't really count at all.
"Yeh, you're right, but I don't want to sit in that café with them. They'll be laughing like a pack of hyenas and annoying everybody."
"Okay then. Howzabout we sit on that bench, then?" And here he pointed at a park bench under a tree, across the road.
"Sounds good!" Said Jack, her spirit back and her head cleared a little.
Making their way into the shop, they ignored the wolf-whistles and jeers from the group of girls, ordered two strawberry milkshakes, and left. Jack was having a much better time with Adam than she ever had with those girls. They cracked jokes, swapped stories, and eventually the conversation came to Jack's "antics" at school.
"So, why aren't you Little Miss Popular at school anymore?" Adam asked innocently.
"Well..." Jack didn't know where to begin. She looked across at Adam. He looked trustworthy. "Okay. I went into the bathrooms before school, right? And I went into the cubicle. I hear the Loo Monkeys walk out and someone else come in. And then I hear all these... horrible, terrible sounds, and screaming. I fainted...and when I woke up, and got out of the cubicle, I see this girl's...head."
There was a pause. Jack instantly regretted telling Adam this, but all he said was,
"Wow."
"Yeh, and when I go back in there, its all disappeared. The blood, the gore, even the head! I dunno what happened... and now everyone reckons I'm psycho."
"Oh. I thought there had been a catfight."
"You haven't heard the rumours?"
"Yeh, I heard there had been a catfight. I don't get told many rumours, but."
An uncomfortable silence hung between them.
"So, what are you going to do about it?" Adam said calmly, surprising Jack immensely.
"What do you mean? You think I'm telling the truth?"
"Well, that's a bit too imaginative to have been made up, even for you. I reckon what you saw was a haunting."
"A haunting." Jack said, tasting the word in her mouth.
"Yeh, I have a good book about those at home. I could bring it in for you, if you like."
"Yeh, that'd be great!" Jack couldn't believe that, after all that had happened, in the midst of her confusion and loneliness, she had found an ally.