Chapter 4

“While she’s taking care of that,” Heather began, “let’s head over to the library.”

We detoured back by her dorm room where she ducked in for a minute to come out with a text book. Outside the library, she gave me my instructions.

“So, this library is notoriously strict and my book is very past due. I need you to go in and return it for me and take care of the ‘fine’.” She passed me the book. She made air quotes as she said the word fine which wouldn’t register with me until much later.

I frowned. It was a fucking over due library book. And she hadn’t even been at the school for more than a couple of months so how much could the fine be? I shrugged and went in.

At the front counter was a stern looking woman in her forties with long hair pulled back in a tight pony-tail. She was tall, nearly as tall as I was, and thin with a small chest. She wore an unassuming floor-length floral dress that revealed nothing, much as you’d expect from your librarian. The lenses in her large frame glasses reflected the fluorescent lights above. She wore a name tag pinned to her dress that read “Margarette.”