It was a sound of desperation. Of soul shattering despair! His voice rose, wobbled, and cracked at the end. "NooooOOOoooooOOOoooooo!" A pair of older boys in blue uniforms had him, one upon each upper arm. What was mortifying, more so then the pitch and whine of his despairing cry, was the fact his toes were dangling a good two inches off the ground. Carried like a naughty preschooler, the boys escorted him to the doors of the Tidal Heights library.
"Please! please! You don't understand! I need those books!" Shin pleaded as he was set with at least a degree of care outside the glass doors. He turned, hands clasped before him as one of the boys dropped his backpack at his feet.
"I'm sorry but the rules are that you either have to be a Tidal student, or with one to be in the library." One of the boys replied with a firmness that Shin knew meant he would not be moved by his words. Shin looked pathetically at the other boy, only to see a similar expression on his face.
"Just...let me photocopy the pages! Just the ones I need! Three hundred to four ninety-two in the first book and eight to one ninety-seven in the second!" Shin begged the two of them. The boys shook their heads in unison and pulled the door closed behind them. Not even a final word or anything! Shin stared at the glass doors. So thin...such a thin barrier between him and the information he so badly needed Shin dropped to his knees. A small tremble of a whimper in his throat as he could see the books just beyond his grasp.
He had scoured the public library and his own school library for the books he needed to finish his report. Yet none of them were informative enough. It was Katches fault of course. Shin was positive that Jack had somehow figured out what his subject was and had borrowed all the books he needed. Never mind the fact he had not seen a single one of the books in the room they shared. He imagined they were all stacked up in Jack's locker until after the day his report was due. He only had two weeks left to finish it! There was not enough time! Not enough time to write, then copy, then correct, then final draft a four page report! Shin had gotten the bright idea that perhaps if he wore a blue jacket and pants he could maybe sneak into the local boys school library to find the information he had needed. The idea had sort of worked he supposed. He'd found two perfect books with all the extensive details that he had been looking for. He had just gotten his notebook out to start copying things when the two older boys had come upon him. Obviously his disguise was not good enough to fool everyone and thus he had been ejected without so much as a courtesy minute to finish his sentence! Shin lifted his hands and pressed his palms to his face. He would not embarrass himself with a bout of crying. Boys did not cry. Kaneko boys did not cry. But what else could he do now!?
Until the commotion arose it had been a peaceful day. Alain had finished his schoolwork earlier and was diligently avoiding the dorms. The room mate he had been assigned was absolutely slovenly and antagonistic. It was causing enough unneeded stress that Alain found himself already out trying out his newly found safe places to smoke in peace (or so he had hoped). He had wanted to try to work on quitting while at this new school but found it impossible with his current living situation. The library was surrounded by small shrubs and trees. It was the perfect place to hide out of view and hopefully far enough away the smoke would not be noticed. So far the handful of times he had tried the spot he had gone unnoticed.