Chapter Four
Just as the prince was reaching for the beautiful golden-haired princess, he slipped and fell to his doom.
What would a gold-haired girl look like anyways? Why did she have to have gold hair?
The princess cried out in despair, looking down heartbroken as the Prince landed in the clutches of the witch.
In some stories, witches were actually cool.
"My prince!" she cried, "My love!"
She barely knows him. I bet they never had a conversation in their lives.
The witch cast a spell on the prince so he could never return to the castle where the princess was being held. The loves could never be joined again.
Mary sighed, putting the book down. She already had read a million books, just like that one. She knew how it ended. She knew how the climax and falling action were going to be like. No point in reading any more.
She looked over at Gray. He was engulfed in his book, oblivious to her watching him. Mary picked up the book and began to fan herself. It was mid-summer and she felt like she was melting. Oddly enough, she had recently developed a tingly feeling in the pit of her stomach every time Gray walked in. She felt her cheeks turn pink every time he adjusted his hat. She wasn't sure what the feeling was.
Gray was feeling the same way. He got the itchy feeling inside and felt his palms sweat when he approached the library, knowing Mary was waiting for him inside. She looks nice today, he'd think.
One exceptionally hot day, when Gray was reading quietly and Mary was scribbling away in her messy writing, Jack walked in.
Mary and Gray had met him separately for a fleeting moment when he was introducing himself around town. Neither of them thought much of him.
"Hey," he said now, heading for the ranching section (which was quite small) of the library. Mary nodded to him and Gray ignored him.
When Jack had a book in his hands, he went over to Mary, completely confident, and put something on her desk. When she looked up, she noticed it was a small bunch of wild grapes. She lifted her head to look at Jack, who was smiling brightly. She pushed her glasses up her nose.
"What are these for?" she asked. Everyone gave her a gift for a reason.
Jack gave her a cheesy smile and shrugged. "Nothing really. I just wanted to give you something."
Gray tightened his grip on the book he was reading.
"Oh. Well, thank you very much. I do like grapes." Mary stated quietly.
"Cool, then I'll bring you some tomorrow, okay?"
Mary nodded.
"Great! See you then!" he turned to leave, book in hand.
"Wait, you have to check that out—"
The door slammed shut.
Mary and Gray sat in silence before Gray said, jealousy in his tone, "Idiot."
Oh please, Gray thought, He did a better job at charming her than you did. You can barely talk to the girl and he's giving her presents. Presents she likes, too. Damn Jack.