Gen//In The Book Store

[Allison Shaddix]

Allison loved book stores. She loved everything about them. There was just something in that atmosphere that made her feel centered, which was a rare thing. If her family had been the type to make nice running jokes about each other, they might have teasingly said that she would one day sneak away and live in the book store. The way it really happened was that Allison would take every opportunity she could get to bike to the mall and loiter in the book store for as long as she could without being late for mandatory family dinner, at which no one would ask her where she had been all afternoon.
Allison had managed to read her way through a large chunk of the inventory by spending her afternoons and sometimes whole days in the large bookstore in the mall sitting quitely in an overstuffed chair in a corner. The employees learned to not bother her about breaking the binding on their books because she held brand-new books barely open in order to preserve their perfect spine. On a good day, she could read 3 novels without stopping, but she didn't purchase many books. She preferred to spend her personal spending money on high-end fashion accessories and clothing, but she would buy at least one book every two weeks, in an attempt to keep the store from asking her to either buy a book or go to a library. Allison didn't care too much for libraries. They just weren't the same.
Today, a lazy Sunday, Allison had just finished a hefty courtroom drama and was poking around in the Fashion section, looking for something with large pages and lots of pictures. Fashion books of this kind were a guilty pleasure for the bookish Allison. She was holding two and comparing them, trying to pick which one to take back to her favorite maroon chair in the corner, when she glanced up and saw a stranger giving her an odd look. Well, not a stranger. Allison tried to look without looking at the person across the room. "It must be someone from school," she ultimately decided. She put down one of the large books, feeling embarrassed for not recognizing a classmate -not being able to remember names or faces was just another symptom of her shyness- and edged her way towards her chair, trying not to blush.

[Gen Mont]

Gen walked out of her house and slowly walked to the bookstore. In other cases, she would have taken her bike, but it was too hard wearing a dress. Her grandmother had been around the house and had been keeping an eye on Gen that meant she couldn't put on jeans and instead had to walk to the mall in a white knee length dress with black polka dots. The skimmer shoes matched the dress perfectly. It seemed like her grandmother had bought both things together.

As she arrived on the mall, Gen kept her head down and quickly made her way to the bookstore. She knew the way by memory, which was a good thing since the girl never looked up while around other people. She quickly walked into the bookstore and started looking at the books. Her favorite were the romance novels. The thought of a shy girl meeting a cute boy and becoming a couple in less than a week made her have hope that she wouldn't be alone for long.

Biting her lip, she opened her black purse and looked at the money she had. Her grandfather always gave her money, even if she didn't ask for it. He liked spoiling her and Gen liked to be spoiled. Her eyes quickly moved from her purse to another girl in the bookstore. Gen knew that girl from school. She would always smile at the way the girl dressed and the color of her hair. She would sometimes wonder how she would look wearing those clothes and having that hair. But she was too shy to even talk to the girl and ask her about anything she was wearing. Her green eyes kept looking at the girl, just wondering why she dressed like that and why Gen couldn't.

[Allison Shaddix]

Allison stopped at the edge of a bookshelf. She had made a promise to herself that she would try to be more outgoing this year, despite her deep aversion to meeting people. Well, it wasn't that she didn't want to make friends, she just had never learned how. Allison looked back towards her chair in the corner and then at the girl in the polka-dot dress standing across the room. The time to figure out the whole 'make friends' thing was now or never, she supposed.

Allison took a deep breath, and started walking across the room. She reached the end of the bookshelf the girl was looking at. She hugged her fashion book close to her chest like a shield and looked down at her bright pink sneakers. She spoke quietly.
"Hi, I'm Allison. Aren't you in one of my classes at school?"