Chp.31

"Hey." Sophie says, grinning ear to ear, standing in front of the library entrance, her arms folded in a sense of pride.

"What have you done?" I say, raising an eyebrow skeptically. But I know what she's done and by the looks of it, she knows that too.

Her expression shifts a little into a frown but the grin never leaves. "What do you mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean." I respond.

"Of course, I do." She smiles slyly now.

I gulp, before saying, "Are they…?"

"Yes, they're all inside waiting for you." She finishes.

I scowl. "Waiting for me? Why are they waiting for me?"

"Cause you're a part of this as much as you are."

I nod. Of course, I am. Of course, this is happening. How did I not see this day coming? Did I actually expect that I'll be the only one to know all this? To figure it all out?

"I never thought this would happen." I admit more to myself than her.

She shrugs to that. Not sure what to say to that.

"By the way," I try to get her attention with something else, "How did you get all of them to come here?"

She smirks, "Unlike you, I intend to talk and have an understanding between others."

I roll my eyes, "If you say so."

"Alright, enough talking." She says, clapping her hands together, "Let's go inside."

I gave something between a nod and an uncertain shrug, but follow her in anyway.

I refuse to look at them. Maybe it's because I'm nervous, but either way, I keep looking down at my hands fidgeting in my lap.

I've no idea how Sophie did it, but everyone's here.Even Ander. He's glaring at me, the eye in which I punched him, a lot better than before, with his arms crossed. Josh sitting awkwardly next to him, eyes shifting left to right. Alexa's got her face scrunched up, deliberately drawing long frustrated breaths to remind us how she doesn't want to be here. The only one who's looking forward to this is Sophie, if you ask me.

"So are you going to tell us why we're here or am I supposed to hit someone in the face?" Ander growls

"Umm…Why will you hit someone in the face?" Josh asks, nervously.

"Cause I want to!" Ander shouts, completely forgetting we're in a library, "And if you don't shut up, you traitor, than you'll be the one I'll punch!"

"What?" Josh looks taken aback, "Why're you calling me a traitor?"

"You know very well why I'm calling you a traitor!" Ander replies, grounding his teeth.

I feel like I should tell Josh why Ander's mad at him, but before I could even open my mouth, Ander gives me a look of death, eyes bloodshot, "Don't you dare get involved in this!"

I look at Sophie for help, but all she does is give me a warning stare, as if she wants them to argue. I think a little. Wait…wait. Oh, now I get it. Of course she wants them to argue you idiot, obviously. What she wants is for them to take their anger out so they can cool down before we tell them���well, the thing.

But Alexa's the only one who doesn't get it as she says, "Both of you, lower your voices. The librarian's staring at us."

But she's ignored. Not surprised.

Josh, on the other hand, is scowling in deep thought, then finally realizing what Ander's accusing him off, "Are you talking about the other day in that park? That day when Lukas punched you in the eye?"

Ander flushes with embarrassment, Alexa snorting with laughter, "Really?" She sniggers, "You got beaten up by Lukas? I'm so gonna write about this in my blog."

"You won't do anything like that." Ander rages.

"You can't stop me." Alexa smirks.

"You think it won't be easy to hack into a loner nerd's blog?" Ander scoffs.

"I'm not a loner. Or a nerd." Alexa hisses, pushing up her glasses closer to her eyes.

Josh blurts, "You don't know how to hack."

I look at them all with amusement. It's nice to not be the talking one for once.

Ander holds his breath for, "Yeah. I don't know. But Marcus does. I think…I…hope."

"Hey!" A kid from school yells out, "I'm trying to study here!"

"Give me a bloody break, Logan!" Ander calls back, angrily, "Even the librarian knows you only come here to play your stupid video games!"

"Whatever." Logan, the gamer-kid, grumbles.

There's a long silence, no one looking at the others. Until finally, Sophie has the guts to begin,

"So, you're probably wondering why you're here." She says.

"Yeah, no shit." Ander rolls his eyes.

"Also," Alexa adds, "We're wondering what's he doing here?" She gives me the stink-eye to which I only respond by an I-don't-care sigh.

Josh nods, licking is teeth.

"Hey," Ander says, eagerly, raising the palms of his hands, "I'm just here for the free pizza, she promised."

I look at Sophie, an eyebrow raised.

So that's how she got them to come.

"You'll get it," Sophie replies, calmly, "But first-"

"Just so you know, I hate every second of this." Alexa interrupts.

"Sure but will you please just listen to-" She tries again.

"I'm not supposed to be here with you guys." Josh mumbles, "Hell, I'm going to get grounded if my mom finds out."

"Josh, this will only take a few minutes if you all-" I can see the frustration appearing in her eyes.

"Such a baby." Ander laughs.

"You're afraid of your mom, Joshua?" Alexa coos, smugly.

"No." Josh face matches the color of his hair, "All I'm saying is…"

"That you'll get a good old spanking from your mama." Alexa taunts.

"Yeah, I bet that-"

But before Ander could say anything, Sophie yells,

"We're all in danger!"

And there you have it.

The truth, being revealed to, now, three dumbstruck-looking teens.

So…

It's been quiet. They're all still staring at Sophie. And it's getting weirder and weirder. I sigh, knowing I have to take over. Knowing that if I don't say anything, this may never end.

Damn.

"What the hell are you saying?" Ander says, too confused to react.

"What…?" Alexa half-whispers.

I look at Josh. But he's frozen. Like not scared…but like he…I don't know. But his reaction is different. Knowing.

I sigh, "We're all in danger..."

"Danger? What danger?" Ander pushes, now clenches his fists, deciding that he should be angry about this.

Alexa starts hissing again, "You guys going to explain what's happening?"

Sophie bites her lips, nodding.

"This is going to take a while…" I say. "Let's go to the café down the square. I'll pay."

Because if they stay in this library, They'll definitely start screaming and raging. And library just isn't the space for that.