Row after row of neatly lined up books with their spines facing outward, color coded with dots, fiction section arranged in alphabetical order, young adults section, children's section with low shelves and floor cushions, comfortable leather armchairs, tables for quiet study. I slowly start gazing down an aisle, looking only at one section. I pick up a book, looking at its bound in red leather, cracked and dry with age, the thin volume smells faintly of pipe tobacco and dust. The pages within are brittle and what remains of the book's original stitching is barely holding it together, I open it to is the first page.

" Are you going to get that or not, you've been standing there for three minutes," Levi asks, in a snotty tone. Levi is the one student who stands out the most, perfect attendance, perfect grades, horrible attitude. No matter how much anyone tries to get close to him, he always has this way of not showing a single emotion of mingling.

" Yes, I am Levi. Do you have a problem with that?" I say in a pretentious voice, looking at him then walking away.

"I was just trying to be nice..." I hear him mumble as I go to the Librarian.

In only a few days I poured myself into the pages. I scoured the book; I skim read the book. I read until I was almost cross-eyed and the words merged into nonsense. I lived each page in breathless rapture, the characters jumped out at me. In such a short time, I fell in love with this book. In the beginning of class, Mr. Ives tells everyone that there is going to be a new student joining us.

The boy that enters has the form of an adult but not the confidence. He moves like he's still taking that tall body for a test drive, not sure if it's his for keeps. When the girls look his way, he returns the glance with a hint of shyness just briefly before turning away. His clothes look like mother is still choosing, or perhaps he's just conservative.

" My name is Joanna, thank you for having me..." he says as we made eye contact from the front of the class. His voice was like nothing I've ever heard before. It sounded like a drum, but deeper, like a tuba, but deeper. It was smooth, like butter, but it could be as rocky as rocky road ice cream. His tone was as deep as the sun at midnight.

" Ally raise your hand... You may have a seat next to Ally, she will share her books with you and help you get you own at the end of the school day." Mr. Ives says as Joanna finds his way to his seat next to me. He looks over at the space between us and slides our desks together.

" I don't know how much you know so here are some flash cards, and here are some notes. You can keep these if you want, I have a copy at home. And... here's a pencil, if you need anything else just ask me okay?" I say handing him a pencil.

" Arigatōgozaimashita..." He says quietly, almost as a whisper, in such an innocent way. He looks like he's frustrated trying to find the right word.

" Thank you... " I say, he looks at me in surprise, and he thanks me in pure English. After class, going to our next, Joanna handed me a letter. I open it, looking at beautiful cursive letters, perfect sentences.

' I'm Joanna, as you notice. Thank you for helping me find the right word, in first hour. I was born in America but when I was very little we moved to japan. I had a few year of learning Japanese, then we move back to the states. It was hard for me to learn English, but as you see I can write fluently, and speak it. It's just sometimes, my brain gives me fits. So, I don't usually say the right thing. So, once again thank you. I hope we can become good friends. '

I smile as I finish reading the letter, I guess he's too shy to say this aloud. A few minutes before class starts, people start making a whole lot of unnecessary noise again. Just as I'm about to put the letter in my bag, Marcus rips it out of my hand, making it wrinkle.

" A love letter from Loverboy huh?" He shouts as everyone eyes came to us, he starts to open the letter, as if it was a secret.

" It's not a love letter, Marcus. So, give it back, I have nothing to hide." I say as I stand up from my seat, once again he waves one of my belongings in the air. He, once again pulls me close to him, sexually. I was done with his crap. When he turned to look at me I connected my hand with his cheek and the classroom went silent. A few minutes passed by and everyone just stood there in silence looking at me as if I did something wrong. They started to whisper in each other's ears. I take the letter from his hand and put it in my bag. " Just leave me alone." I say cutting off the silence, I sit back in my seat, and the teacher walks in.

"Are you okay?" he asks as he takes my hand and places it between his, looking at me.

" I'm fine." I say as a put on a fake smile as my hand throbs, I look at Marcus' read cheek as the teacher tells everyone to sit down. My day continues with no interruptions, at the end of school we both head up to the office. The office was painted gray, and it had only one floor-to-ceiling window, which faced the main road. On the gray desk sat a desktop computer, a notebook lying open, and a stack of papers sitting under a turtle-shaped paperweight. In a corner, the air conditioner was blasting at medium, and there was a swivel chair in the middle of the office.

" Thanks for helping me today I really appreciate it..." Joanna says as he picks up his books, and we head back to the lockers. " May, I ask where you live?" he asks as we leave the school walking the same way.

" Over by the old flooring mill." I answer.

" I do too, I live on pink flamingo." he says as he looks at me.

" Hehe I live on apricot, you live right behind me. What a coincidence." I say with a smile, his mouth twitched, and I was sure he was fighting a smile.

" Do you usually walk home?" he asks.

" Yes, because the buses don't come around our area. I walk home and to school, I don't really mind it, though, I love to watch the trees change." I say picking up a maple leaf. Before I knew it we were already home, we part our ways and I head home. I unlock the door and I head up to my room grabbing an apple from the kitchen, that smelled like alcohol. Walking into my room, I hear a pounding rhythm from mom's room again. She brought another stray from the bar, again. I lock my door, opening the window admiring the stars.