Love for the Librarian

I leave him and head down to the field. Mr. Harman is waiting there. “Hey Riley, I have a few more things to record today. Can you help with timing the runners? I have a clipboard for you.”

“No problem Mr. Harman. Do you have the stop watch?” I hold my hand out for it.

“I knew I forgot something. Wait right here, I’ll go get it from my office.” He dashes off. Pretty fast for an old dude.

Brittney and Rachel decide to come up and bother me first. Brittney pushes my shoulder. “What the hell makes you think you are good enough for Dylan? You know he is going to be running back to me.”

“Whatever you say Brittney. I told Dylan that we are not having a relationship, if he wants you there is nothing stopping him.” She sneers at me.

“You think your hot shit don’t you?” What the hell is this bitch’s problem with me?

“Actually I don’t, maybe that is why he likes me. I am not parading around like I can fuck any dick that comes along.” Brittney slaps me. Before I lunge at her I hear Mr. Harman’s voice.

“What the hell was that? Miss Clark, go to the principal’s office. I’ll be seeing you after school for detention.” He crosses his arms and waits for her to leave. She glares back at me as she leaves.

Dylan comes up to me, he grabs my face and looks at it. “Does it hurt?”

I pull my face away from him. “I’m fine. Your girlfriend just decided to give me a gift.”

“I told you she is not my girlfriend. You are.”

“No I’m not.”

“Only because you are stubborn.” He kisses my face where Brittney slapped it.

Mr. Harman grunts. “I will let that one slide Mr. Matthews, now get lined up.”

Dylan smiles at me and then heads to line up with the class.

Mr. Harman directs the class. “Alright folks, we are running the mile today. With the added bonus of being timed. So everyone line up. I am going to run with you. Riley will be logging your times as you cross the finish line.” He passes me the stopwatch. “Alright when everyone is lined up you call to start. Everyone starts on Riley’s mark.”

I wait for everyone to get in place then call them to start as I start the stopwatch. Then I watch as the class disappears down the wooded path. Our school’s mile path takes you out to the borders of the school’s property. So I won’t see any one for a few minutes. I watch as the time ticks then I see the first runners. Of course Dylan and Kevin are first. They are running neck and neck. Dylan pulls ahead at the last minute and passes about four seconds before Kevin. Dylan smiles at me, then comes up to sit next to me. He gives me a quick kiss. “Victory kiss. Totally allowed.”

“Not if Mr. Harman sees it.” I roll my eyes.

“The man loves me.” He pants out.

I continue to log times as the students come in. Last is Mr. Harman, he went slow to make sure everyone stayed on path. Then he looks at the final time on the watch after I stop it. “Alright, good class. It was a good run. A few of you could have done better, but it is what it is. You have a free period, relax till its time to change. I know it is nearing the end of the year and it is getting harder to keep your attention, just please keep it a little longer.” Mr. Harman takes the clipboard from me and goes to sit on the bench to look over the numbers.

Kevin nudges my leg. “You are so lucky you don’t have to do this.”

“I did all this last year. I wanted P. E. done early. I get credits for helping out. I will say you guys sure have better time than I did.”

Dylan puts his sweaty arm around me. “I like doing physical activity. It makes me feel alive.”

“And sweaty.” I nudged his arm.

“It’s a good sweat.” He smiles at me. “So we are still on for tonight right?”

“Why wouldn’t we? Oh, Katelyn will be joining us.”

Kevin rolls his eyes. “Oh, joy. That will make it so much easier to concentrate.”

“Well you only have yourself to blame for that.” I shoot back.

Dylan looks between the two of us. “You mean Kevin and Katelyn had a thing.” It almost looks like forced ignorance. Like he knew already.

“Over before it started, right Kevin.”

He holds his hands up in protest. “I got it, I screwed it up. It was a bad time for me. I wasn’t looking for anything but fun. I guess I hurt her in the process.”

“You didn’t know you were her first did you?”

Kevin looks shocked. “What? I did not know that. Why the hell didn’t she tell me?”

“You were kind of out the door before she could even catch her breath. What was she supposed to say to you?”

“Fuck, now I feel like a bigger piece of shit.”

“Well, you should. It is important to a girl. You didn’t really even consider it?”

“I just thought she thought she was in love or something. I didn’t figure. Do you think it is too late to make it up to her?”

“Yeah I think that ship has sailed. She saw too much jerk-face.”

“Great, now I am going to have so much fun tonight.” He throws himself down on the ground. “If I didn’t need to get through those finals I would so skip out.”

“Why do you care all of the sudden?” Dylan said flatly.

“I don’t want to be making minimum wage for the rest of my life. I guess it just dawned on me that if I don’t give a shit then that is where I will be. Who better to help me than the girl who has aced everything?

“I didn’t take everything. So I couldn’t have aced everything.” I joke.

“You know what I mean.” He rolls his eyes at me.© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

Mr. Harman interrupts us. “Alright class go change. Riley, I want to talk to you before you head off.”

“Ok Mr. Harman.” Dylan squeezes my shoulders before getting up and leaving with the others.

Mr. Harman waits for the rest of the class to leave then turns to me. “You are being careful right. That boy, he was dating Miss Clark. I know what kind of girl she is. Her boyfriend would have been the same. He seems like a nice enough kid on the surface. I would just hate for you to be stuck here because you got wrapped up in some boy.”

“I am being careful Mr. Harman. I am leaving. I am counting the days at this point. I have a place waiting for me to move into in California. I am gone the week after school.”

“Good girl. I’ll miss you around here. I am glad I got to see you blossom. You are going to be a great woman.”

“Thanks Mr. Harman.” I leave with that pleasant thought in mind. I will be a great woman, I can not get caught up in whatever Dylan is doing. It is nice to be liked though.