How had I not noticed it before this?

"I'm surprised you didn't look around for it first, considering how short you are."

I said the first thing that came to my mind: "I'm not that short!"

Nolan shrugged, an offhand smirk on his face as he took the book from me. Effortlessly, he pushed it in between the other books on the shelf that I couldn't reach.

"Don't get all huffy just because you're short."

"I'm not huffy because I'm short—and like I said, I'm not that short!"

His eyebrows rose. "Are you sensitive about your height? It's okay that you're short. You just have to learn to use other things to make the best of it."

"You're doing this on purpose," I whispered, following him back. "Don't rub it in."

"Who's rubbing it in? I have to make use of what I have, too," he said, looking back over his shoulder at me.

"Please, tell me all about your tall person woes." I examined the row of books crammed in the trolley.

"If I don't watch where I'm going, sometimes my head brushes against low-hanging tree leaves."

"Does that really happen?" I said, fascinated.

"Frequently." He handed me several books he had just stacked together. "These should all be on the lower shelves in the history section."

"Thanks... You seem really familiar with where everything is," I said, watching him gather up a bunch of books in his own arms.

"I'm here almost every day."

As he walked away towards another bookshelf, I found myself gaping at him. I never pegged him for a bookworm.

Thanks to Nolan's help, the time we spent reshelving the books was greatly shortened. He worked faster than I thought he would, considering how sluggishly he always seemed to move.

"Don't tell me you're also a student helper," I said when we were done with the return trolley. "Because while that would explain this amazing efficiency, it would raise more questions."

He scoffed. "Do I look like I'd make a good student helper?"

I was impressed by his self-awareness.

"Purely judging by capabilities and not by looks, I'd say yes," I said, ignoring the flat stare he sent my way. "What? Is there some sort of a cookie cutter list of how a librarian should look like that I don't know about?"

Nolan responded by turning his back on me and reorganizing the books on the bookshelf. I withheld a laugh, aware of Ms. Johnson's gaze on us from all the way over at her counter.

We systematically combed through each one with unspoken teamwork, with him focusing on the higher shelves while I went through the lower ones.

At the end of the two hours—although I was surprised, because it hadn't felt like that much time had passed—Mr. Jameson came back. He seemed surprised that we had completely cleared the trolley and had done a significant amount of reshelving.

He walked down the different sections and performed a quick check of our work before dismissing us.

"Chelsea, you've always done consistently well in my classes," Mr. Jameson said, turning from Nolan to look at me. "I hope that today's incident was just a one-off; I'd hate to think that someone's been rubbing off on you."

"Again, I'm so sorry, Mr. Jameson! I promise I will never fall asleep in your class ever again," I said, hoping my sincerity would shine through my voice. "I just hadn't slept well the day before. I'll make sure to sleep earlier from now on!"

His frown dissolved into a comforting smile. "It's good to hear that. It's inevitable for people to make mistakes; what's important is how we take steps to ensure we don't make the same ones again."

I could barely believe it; I got to see another rare smile from him, and it was when barely anyone else was around! This smile was all mine to stare at.

It took all I had not to grin dopily at him like an idiot. "Of course!"

I left the library with Nolan, who kept the door open for me since he was walking ahead of me.

I wanted to gush about Mr. Jameson's smile to him, but I had a feeling Nolan, as a guy who was completely indifferent to people as a whole, would not be interested. I'd have to save that for when I saw Ashley later, or, better yet, Melissa if I managed to find her.

Deciding instead to pick up where we left off in the library, I asked him, "Hey, so why are you so familiar with where so many of the books are? You clearly aren't a helper."

"Didn't you hear him? I'm a bad influence," Nolan said, snorting. "Don't talk to me."

"What? Who? Wait, do you mean Mr. Jameson? He didn't say that!" I protested, speeding up to keep up with his suddenly increased pace.

"He implied as much." His voice was cool and even.

When I peered up at him, however, I noticed a certain tenseness in his face. Nolan seldom looked neutral; he was either bored or in a bad mood. As it was at the moment, his facial expression looked like it was deliberately schooled into flat nonchalance.

"Stop staring at me," he said.

Whoops, I was probably being too obvious.

"Hey, I'm pretty sure he was only referring to you sleeping in his class," I said, deliberately averting my eyes from him. "Which he has every right to say as a teacher, by the way, since you really shouldn't be doing that."

When he didn't reply, I pressed on, "Anyway, your grades are so good, and you never give him trouble—apart from not paying attention. I'm sure he didn't mean it that way, so don't be upset."

He snorted. "I'm not upset."

Yeah, right. I believed that as much as I believed Ryan would bring home a girlfriend this Christmas.

Instead of confronting him, I clapped my hands together. "Great! I was worried you'd get the wrong idea about him. Now that I know that isn't the case, are you going to answer my previous question?"

He eyed me with clear wariness. "What?"

"Why are you here every day? I thought the astronomy club was your only commitment."

I didn't comment on how his strides slowed back down.

"It's not a commitment," he said, fishing out a black cap from his bag and putting it on. "I just come here during lunch periods. Sometimes after classes when we still aren't allowed to be back in our rooms."

"Wait, so you don't eat during lunch?" No wonder I had never seen him in the cafeteria. "Don't you get hungry?"

He cast me a sharp sideway glance. "Do all short people love asking questions as much as you do?"

Heat surged up my neck and flooded my cheeks. "Hey, you didn't have to go there!"

"Neither did you."

"Since when is lunch a sensitive question?"

"I don't see why you're so sensitive about being short. It's a fact."

"You'll never understand my problems! Nobody likes being short!"

Nolan snickered. "As if short people are the only ones who have problems."

"Oh, yeah? What other problems you could possibly have apart from accidentally bumping against low-hanging signs? At least you can reach for all the things you need without climbing ladders!" Or using tall friends. I wasn't above pleading Derek or Melissa to help me get stuff that were placed way too high up for me to get.

"Do you know how hard it is to sleep without being noticed during school assemblies when I'm sitting up? I always have to slouch in the chair. It's hard on the back."

Appalled by how casually he complained about it like it was a legitimate issue, I said, "What kind of problem is that? You're not supposed to be napping during school assemblies anyway!"

He stretched his arms above his head and yawned. "Whatever. It's not like I care about anything they have to say during those time-wasters."

"They're not all useless," I said, shaking my head. "Some of them are important announcements or helpful programs!"

"I'm sure the school authorities would be over the moon to hear that at least some people enjoy and want more of them," he said dryly. "Why don't you drop that into the feedback box?"

"I don't want more of them!"

"Could've fooled me. Are you sure they aren't the best thing since sliced bread?"

Okay, now he was definitely mocking me.

"You know what? Maybe I should put that in as a suggestion." I placed my hand under my chin in fake-consideration. "And then you'd be forced to attend even more assemblies!"

"You are—"

Whatever he was about to say was interrupted by Ashley's voice calling out to me. "Chelsea! You're done with detention?"

With her whole arm raised in the air and waving eagerly at me, she was easy to spot in the hallway leading to the dormitory.

I grinned and waved back at her. "Yeah!"

"See you," I heard Nolan say before I turned to see that he was already a good distance away.

"Bye!" I called out.

This time, he tilted his head back to acknowledge me before continuing on his way.

It struck me then that his natural walking pace on his own was so fast.

Had he been slowing down all along to allow me to keep up?

-----------------------------------------------------------

"So, what's Cody up to?" I asked in the most casual tone I could muster.

I was sprawled across my bed, stomach facing down, reviewing the textbook chapter we had just gone through in class today. Ashley was seated in my chair, working on her geography assignment. Well, she had been working on it—up until five minutes ago, when her phone vibrated. She had only just put down her phone after being glued to it for the past few minutes.

Ashley hardly ever used her phone this extensively. She was one of those people who posted maybe once a year on her social media accounts.

"Playing basketball—wait," she said, and I could see the exact moment the lightbulb went off in her head. "W-why are you asking me this sort of question?!"

Ashley spun around in my chair to glare at me accusingly.

"I knew it!" I pounded my fist triumphantly against my bed, where it produced only a vague dissatisfying thud upon making contact. "You were just texting him, weren't you?"

"No! I was just browsing Insta ..." she trailed off when I shook my head at her in disappointment.

Her shoulders sagged and she lowered her head.

"Okay, okay," she said, a pinkish hue spreading across her cheeks. "I'm sorry. You're right, I was. Was it that obvious?"

"You never use your phone this much," I said, grinning when she narrowed her eyes at me. "Plus, don't think I haven't noticed him gravitating towards our table at lunch just to say hi to you."

"He says hi to everyone! It doesn't mean anything," she insisted, folding her arms. "You're thinking too much."

"Yeah, well, you're not thinking enough!" I rolled my eyes. "Come on, the first one he greets at our table is you."

Ashley snorted. "Well, that doesn't mean anything. I greet you before the others."

Enough beating around the bush. It was time to go on offense. "Hey, what do you think about him?"

She swiveled back to face her notes on my desk. "He's pretty nice. I like talking to him."

I cooed at her obvious shyness. "Do you like him?"

"Well, he's pretty cute," she said, then clapped her hand over her mouth. "Ugh! Please don't tell Melissa or Derek I said that!"

"What? Why? It's not like you've never gushed about a guy in front of us."

She covered her eyes this time. "This is different; I never hung out with any of those guys! They were just people I admired from afar, you know? It didn't matter because they would never find out that I thought they were cute."

"But it's not like they would tell him you think he's cute."

"They wouldn't do it on purpose, but if they ever implied it or let it slip..."

"They wouldn't! They're not that careless ..." I paused and considered it for a moment. "I think."

"Let me put it this way: you don't exactly feel good walking around school knowing that Mr. Jameson probably overheard you calling him a fine piece of delicious eye candy, do you?"

"Okay, I get it!" I squealed, covering my ears with my hands. "Stop bringing that up—I never want to hear about this incident again for the rest of my life."

It was her turn to laugh at me. "Then let this matter rest."

"You're no fun," I complained, sighing exaggeratedly.

I rolled onto my back and stared at the ceiling, trying not to drown from the tsunami of embarrassment that had crashed over me. No wonder she was my best friend; she knew just how to shut me up.

Maybe it was a sign that I should give up on prodding the two of them together. They clearly seemed to already show some form of interest in each other.

"Oh, yeah, have you seen my watch? I've been looking for it the past week, but I just can't seem to find it," I said, remembering that I'd been meaning to ask her this since yesterday.

"No, I haven't. Why are you always losing all your things? You just recovered your water bottle the other day from the lost and found," Ashley said, her tone reprimanding. "That's what you get for always keeping it in your pocket. Why can't you wear your watch like a normal person?"

"Grandma Ashley, please just let me off," I begged, sensing her nagging coming.

She looked as if she was about to implode. "Chelsea—"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" I cackled under her furious glare. "Clearly you're too young to be a grandma. I take it back! You're obviously my Aunt Ashley!"

I died under the great storm that was her unprecedented lecture that day.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Question for you guys: Does anyone actually still use Facebook these days? Instagram is the bigger one now, right? Or has everyone abandoned ship for Tiktok? LOL for what it's worth I don't post on any social media platform anymore so I am completely clueless when it comes to stuff like this.