Anabelle was frustrated, no, even worse.
The young girl’s annoyance, coupled with the bitter sting of failure hung over her head as she watched the one she could only refer to as her enemy leave the library.
Her cheeks were flushed so much with red that one would think she was sick. Her bloated face, caused by the big pout she was making, as well as the watery eyes clearly expressed by the young girl made it evident that she was in a lot of pain.
“My book!” She growled to herself, watching the object she longed for being taken away by another.
She couldn’t even scream out her emotions due to the nature of the building she was in—not unless she was ready to forfeit some of her Class Points.
All the girl could do was sigh.
“Ah, I get it now. Jared took the book you wanted to borrow.” Edward blurted out, stating the obvious.
He had been confused about Anabelle’s strange behavior and was just silently following her while racking his head on what caused his dear friend to chase after Jared the moment he descended the stairs.
Even now, her moist eyes trailed after him until Jared was no longer in sight. After thinking for so long, and remembering Jared held a book in his hand, Edward pieced all the needed data together and arrived at his conclusion.
Anabelle didn’t even know what to tell the dunce of a guy she called her friend. Her swelling emotions might have caused her to say some unsavory words, so she simply ignored his remark and carried her feet toward the counter Jared had just been to moments ago.
Her swift legs swept across the hallway that one would usually transverse with calm, and she desperately kept her eyes fixated on the clerk who was standing, waiting for the next student to attend to.
“Excuse me, sir!” Anabelle called out—not too loud to be labeled as noise, but it wasn’t tranquil either.
It screamed of desperation and anxiety. She was panicking.
“Yes, student. How may I help you?” The man spoke dryly, waiting for the student to burden him with a task that was in line with his job.
“The student that just left now borrowed a book. I want to know how long he will have it!” She gasped, filling her lungs back with air.
Why was she so upset?
It was simply because, in the Lower Class Library, there existed no more than one copy of a book. The implications of that fact meant that the book Jared had just taken say would never be accessible to her until he was done using it.
‘Hopefully, he only took it for a day or two…’ She prayed internally.
The clerk made a puzzled glance at Anabelle for a moment, but after deciphering her intentions, he decided to answer her.
“Two weeks. He’ll be in possession of it for two weeks.”
The flat statement of the man hit Anabelle’s heart like a sledgehammer. It was disheartening, to say the least. She had hoped for the chance of returning in a few days to collect the book, but two weeks was far too long.
“N-no way…”
The clerk rolled his eyes as Anabelle still refused to leave the counter—unwilling to accept his words. There was only one thing he could do now.
The man’s eyes, tired and bored, darted to a compartment in his cubicle and brought out the records that had just been filled by the student who exited—Jared.
‘All I have to do is show her evidence…’ His thoughts trailed.
The man opened the book, flipped the pages, and went to the very last one that wasn’t blank. Placing his finger on the last entry, he turned the book and showed Anabelle.
“See? Right there. Two weeks.”
It was certain!
Anabelle wouldn’t have the book!
“B-but… I need that book!” Her disappointed voice came out, as though trying to plead for some sort of intervention.
‘I miss the part where that’s my problem.’ The clerk wanted to say, but he withheld his opinions and simply watched in silence.
At this point Edward was already beside Anabelle, choosing to have slowly walked through the hallway, rather than risk it and cause commotion around the hall of decorum.
Unlike Anabelle, his body was heavy and made noise if he moved too fast.
“Sorry about the book…” Edward muttered, not knowing what else to say to his dear friend.
On their way to the library, no, even before then, Anabelle had been telling him so much about the book she wanted to borrow from the library.
According to her, she had read all three volumes of the series, and was surprised to have found the fourth volume in the library. Anabelle even beamed when she told Edward about how this volume would allow her to completely grasp her theory on Lewis Griffith, and perhaps shine more light on what she had been missing concerning the holes in some of his treatises.
She was really looking forward to it, too… it was a shame Jared has whisked it away at the last minute.
“I should have just borrowed it when I saw it yesterday, but the line was too long and I had other things to do—I simply skimmed through it and decided to come back to borrow it today instead… what a mistake!”
Wallowing in regret wouldn’t solve anything, Anabelle knew that as much as the second person, but what was she to do?
“Let’s go, Ed…” She mumbled in disappointment as she hung her head and began moving toward the exit of the library.
Edward felt guilty, he really did. He knew it wasn’t Jared’s fault that he was also interested in such a book, but he felt it couldn’t be anything short of bad timing.
‘Ana really wants that book, and Jared took it instead. This could make her hatred for him increase…’
He really loved Ana as a friend, and respected Jared as a person. This situation would cause a serious strain on what he was hoping to be a three-way friendship.
‘Damn… what a mess…’ His thoughts trailed as he moved beside Ana, ensuring he was silent around her.
When she was like this, the only comfort Edward could give her was silence.