Survival Of The Fittest

((Continued from Enjoy the Movie))

Nick walked cheerily into the library. He flung open the heavy library door, causing it to bang against the side of the building. Nick walked up to a very irate looking librarian.

"Hi, I'm here for-"

The librarian narrowed her eyes at him, put a finger up to her mouth and pointed to a little sign on the desk that read "Please be courteous of others. Keep noise to a minimum."

Nick lowered himself to her level and put a finger up to his mouth as well. He set his bag carefully on the ground next to the desk.

"Sorry," he said much more quietly. "I'm here to pick up a book that's been checked out for a while. You guys said it was due back by today and if I wanted it then I could-"

"Name?" the librarian asked, cutting him off.

"Nick LeMonde…."

She clacked away for a few seconds on the library computer, then ducked down to the shelves below the desk. Nick leaned over the shelf to watch her go through the books, almost tipping all the way to the other side of the desk. When she popped back up he fell backwards off the desk, but caught himself on a library cart. He tried as best he could to get his school card out of his wallet with his thick fingers and after a few tries, slipped it out and put it on the desk. The woman scanned it, stamped the book and handed it over to him.

"You have two weeks. After that it's a dime a day in late fees not counting weekends and holidays."

Nick thanked her and waved, though she didn't return either. He threw his wallet back in his bag and hauled it back up. Nick walked to the study area, pulled out a chair and sat at one of the long wooden tables to look over his book.

((Josie Vernon continued from I Know Where The Summer Goes))

Josie Vernon walked into the library with her purple backpack flung over one shoulder. She glanced around the large room as if she had never seen the place before, and in all honesty, she probably hadn't. Giving a deep sigh, the girl took a few steps into the library and peered around for somewhere to work... She saw computers, plush arm chairs, and rows after rows of bookshelves, but where could she just find a normal table and a chair? A library had to have one of those, right?

Although Josie hated to admit it, she was actually going to do some homework today. Or, to be precise, a project for English class. It was one of those things that she was forced to do, or in other words, if she didn't complete the project, she would absolutely and positively fail English... And she couldn't graduate without a passing grade in English! Josie would not allow herself to become a Super Senior. ...Not without a fight, anyway.

Awkwardly looking over at the librarian, Josie managed a slight, yet creepy, smile at the woman and gestured around the library with her hand. "Ah.. yeah, hi. I was wondering if you have any... tables? ...To work at?" she asked, fidgeting with her lip piercings. The librarian gave Josie a look that could accurately be described as, 'You've been here for nearly four years, and you don't know where the tables are?' and then gestured to the right.

Josie turned slightly pink, thanked the librarian, and headed back there. There were a lot of large tables to work at with a lot of space. She would definitely get her English project done if she started now! The red-headed girl sat down in a chair a few seats down from a boy that she didn't recognize. He was reading and probably wouldn't bother her. Propping her backpack on top of the table, Josie began to dig through it in search of her project supplies.

Nick was busy flipping through his book, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. He had asked for it for Christmas and even started reading it over winter break, but he left it in Chicago while his family was on vacation, probably in the hotel room too. No matter how hard he tried, he always managed to leave something behind whenever he stayed in a hotel. He hadn't had the time to read it since winter, what with SAT prep on the weekends and his classes during the week, but now that school was nearly over he could finally go back to reading what he wanted to read. There was nothing more boring in the world to him than Pride and Prejudice or Little Women. The school always wanted them to read novels and things. Nick was snapped out of his thoughts by some movement in the periphery of his vision. He instinctively turned to look at who it was, turned back to his book for a split second, and then looked back at her.

"Wow!" he exclaimed.

The librarian cleared her throat loudly at his outburst and Nick covered his mouth.

((Alex Jackson continued from Splashdown! ))

"No thanks, my brother is picking me up later," Alex called over her shoulder as she walked into the library. She looked contrite as the librarian shushed her. "Sorry," she muttered in an overloud voice. Alex still wore the loose t-shirt and shorts from the shortened field hockey practice, though she'd abandoned the cleats and shin guards. Alex had decided to come to the library and get a head start on her homework, while she waited for Roman. Of course today of all days I let him have the car, she thought, a small sigh escaping her lips. Not really in the mood to be by herself, she noticed that Nick and Josie had claimed tables relatively close to each other. Tucking a strand of purple hair behind her ear, she made her way over to the table.

"You guys don't mind if I sit do you," she said this time using the whisper that was appropriate in the library.

Josie finally located her white poster board and markers when she heard the boy sitting nearest her say 'Wow.' She glanced over at him but wasn't entirely sure what he was saying it to... Was he saying it about the clearly fascinating book he was reading? Josie didn't want to sound self-centered or anything, but he could have possibly been saying it about her. She wasn't so strange in appearance, was she? Josie glanced down at her clothing and internally realized that she was quite strange looking... for today, at least. She looked like a scenester's closet puked on her.

Promising that she would keep her attitude to a minimum, Josie was about to say something to the boy, but the librarian cleared her throat, and Nick covered his mouth. Josie couldn't help but giggle slightly and turn away. She uncapped one of her markers and began writing, "MACBETH" on top of her poster board. He was probably just exclaiming about his book.. Why pester him about it? She wouldn't want him to rant on about books, heaven's no! It had been nearly hell to finish Macbeth in a timely manner... Bleh, talk about stuffy.

At the sound of another female's voice, Josie looked up and examined Alex with interest. She had seen the girl around before, but they weren't particularly close... Josie really did adore her hair, though. Purple! How attention-graping! She couldn't help but feel jealous. Giving the girl a thoughtful smile, she motioned towards the table. "Nope, go ahead," she whispered. "Just.. doing a project. And he," Josie paused and tilted her head in Nick's direction, "is reading an absolutely fascinating book." "I'm not usually this talkative.."

((edit: I just realized that Alex has streaks, not just purple hair. Sorry 'bout that. I'll fix it in a bit.))

"Sure, go ahead. The more the merrier," he said, sweeping his hand over the table. Nick put his chin on his hand and tilted his head towards the newcomer.

"You're on sports teams aren't you?" he asked Alex. "I go to almost all of the games. Let me guess.....swim team?"

His eyes shifted back to the other girl. She was writing something on her poster board, the staple of school projects.

"Oh, it really is an interesting book," he said smiling and pushing it around with his index finger. "It's really cool, it's all about different societies that collapsed, like the Mayans and the Greenland Norse, and Haiti and examines patterns that caused them to collapse. You know, stuff like environmental changes, climate changes, hostile neighbors, loss of trading partners…."

He flipped the pages of his book around a little before setting it down on the table.

"This is a really colorful table," he observed while looking at the two girls. "I'm Nick, by the way. My name's Nick LeMonde. Nice to meet you guys.

His eyes slowly traveled to the poster board and soon his body slowly leaned as if the power of his eyes was tipping his whole body.

"Whatcha working on?"

"Sure, go ahead. The more the merrier," he said, sweeping his hand over the table. Nick put his chin on his hand and tilted his head towards the newcomer.

Alex offered them both a wide smile and slid her backpack onto the table as she sat.

"You're on sports teams aren't you?" he asked Alex. "I go to almost all of the games. Let me guess.....swim team?"

Alex opened her mouth to gently correct Nick, diving was slightly different then swimming. However before he got that far he turned his attention to Josie and started explaining his book to her. Alex made a face at the explanation. Who read stuff like that for fun? It sounded like something her dad would be fascinated by. Nick then set his book to the side and skipped to another track.

"This is a really colorful table," he observed while looking at the two girls. "I'm Nick, by the way. My name's Nick LeMonde. Nice to meet you guys.

Alex smiled again and shook her head. What did he mean by colorful? Well, I guess Josie and I together do call a lot of attention to ourselves. Although the red is really bright, but Josie makes it work. Alex thought and gave a small shrug.

"Yeah Nick, we know. You wrestle right? I haven't made it to many matches. They always seem to schedule them when I have practice," she said then gestured down to her uniform. "I had field hockey today, but I also dive."

She pulled out her copy of Hamlet as Nick leaned over the table to see what Josie was up too. "I had to read that last year," Alex commented on the giant MACBETH that she'd written. "If you need any help, with whatever, let me know."

(Jessica Pentangeli continued from People Watching.)

Jessica had seen a group of kids gathering around a study table, but she had really paid them no mind. This was nothing unusual of her - whenever she was at the library, her first impulse was to just browse way in the back and to not talk to anyone else unless she really had to. And to be honest, she hadn't expected them to really look over in her direction. It wasn't like she recognized any of them. Not from the distance she was at anyway.

Even if she wanted to go over and talk to them, she probably shouldn't. After all, she had skipped class for the sixth time in a row. Could she get expelled for doing that? She hoped not. Probably detention at the most. Jessica's record was always spotless anyway. Good grades, well, good enough so that her parents wouldn't complain to her constantly to bring them back up. No detentions ever. Hell, and the teachers didn't even hate her guys! At least that's what she thought. So who cares if she missed out on a few days? She would just make up the work, send in a sick note and forge her parents signature. Her dad couldn't write cursive to save his life so it would be easy. So yeah.

She looked over at the table again, the colorful table. Her hand lightly browsed through the books on the shelf. They were, like, the only other kids in here that were talking. All the rest of them had their heads down. It distracted her for only a moment. It only took her a moment to bump into the bookcase she was standing at. Then... half of the books on the shelf seemed to fall out all at once, scattering on the floor in a huge heap. She let out a gasp and then a groan.

"Shit..." she muttered under her breath. Jessica quickly reached down, scrambling at the pile of books that just fell on the ground. Her face was flustered, but who could blame her? She knocked down an entire shelf of books to the floor! Way to be smooth!

Josie looked up at Alex as Nick asked about her being on the swim team. Honestly, Josie didn't know much about sports... She didn't participate in them, and she could count the number of football games she had attended that year on her right hand. Fearing that the conversation would tilt to sports, she looked down at her poster board and began to sketch a picture of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth killing King Duncan together. All in all, it was a badly done sketch, but it was all that Josie could manage. She was definitely no artist.

"Oh Josie, you idiot. Lady Macbeth and Macbeth didn't kill King Duncan together... Macbeth did it! What do I do now...? Perhaps I could explain the heavy symbolism behind my sketch...? If anyone can even tell what it is... It looks like two stick figures stabbing a hurricane..."

Josie looked up as the reading boy began to tell her about his book. She was telling herself to just be nice and act interested in his novel, but she just couldn't bring herself to do so... "Sounds kinda lame," she commented, but it wasn't in a hostile tone. She was trying to sound a little conversational. "Nice to meet you, Nick," Josie said in a slightly forced tone. She wasn't really one to go out and meet people... It was usually Sierra, Josie's best friend, that did the greeting. But here she was, trying to be a social butterfly for once. "I'm Josie Vernon. I'm, uh, working on a Macbeth project. I'm supposed to explain the main symbols of the novel. I decided to make a poster board... Kinda lame, huh?"

Glancing over at Alex as she offered to help Josie, Josie offered a large smile (or as large as she could manage), and nodded slightly. "Yeah, I might need a bit of help... Lady Macbeth didn't kill King Duncan, did she? I can't remember... I forget things as fast as I read them," she said with a short laugh. She was about to ask Alex something else, but her copy of Hamlet caught her eye. Josie never choked on her gum. "Uh... Am I going to have to read that next?!" she asked, her eyes bugging slightly. "I can't! I won't! I-"

The sound of dozens of books falling from the safety of the bookshelf caught Josie off guard, and she jumped slightly in her seat. "What the hell was that?" she whispered, glancing behind her. She realized that a girl had accidentally knocked them over... Wasn't her name Jessica or something? Josie continued to stare at the books for a moment, occasionally glancing up at the girl who caused the small cataclysm. "Should I help or just sit here gawking?" Josie glanced over at the two people she was sitting with, waiting to see what they would do. She didn't really want to actively help the girl... Her motto was more like, "you caused it, you fix it." But if Josie was in Jessica's place, she'd want people to help, right? She wasn't entirely sure.

"Yeah Nick, we know. You wrestle right? I haven't made it to many matches. They always seem to schedule them when I have practice," she said then gestured down to her uniform. "I had field hockey today, but I also dive."

Nick looked as if someone had switched a light on inside him and he beamed with pride. A big grin spread across his face.

"Yeah, I wrestle. We've had a really good season, but man, you field hockey girls have too. You guys are some tough chicks. I talk to some of the swim and dive kids sometimes and I swear that next to us wrestlers you guys have the skimpiest uniforms. It's like they had to make up for all the fabric they used up on the football guys by trying to squeeze us into a square inch of lycra. But yeah, you should totally come to a match if you can. I promise its fun."

She was telling herself to just be nice and act interested in his novel, but she just couldn't bring herself to do so... "Sounds kinda lame"

Nick turned to Josie and put his hand on his book. He swept his hand over the smooth cover almost as if he were petting it.

"Maybe it sounds sort of lame, but I think it's interesting. I guess I can see why other people might think it's boring. My sister thinks everything I read for fun is boring. Over winter break I read a book about the history of the bookshelf. She called me a dork the whole trip 'cause of that, but I thought it was a very informative read."

Nick leaned over again to look at what progress Josie had made with the poster board. He put his hand on the edge of the poster and chuckled slightly.

"Hey, that's pretty good. I….I'm not sure that's how it went down, but I'd be happy to help you too if you need it. It can be a team effort!"

Nick's outburst was met by a "SHHHHHH!" from the librarian. Not seconds later, half the contents of a book shelf went tumbling onto the floor. The librarian sighed and rubbed her temple. Hearing the noise, Nick looked and saw the girl surrounded by fallen literature. He instinctively leapt out of his chair to help her, but he rose too quickly, caught his foot in one of the chair legs, and stumbled. After a few seconds of flailing his arms around he normalized his balance and stood for a split second to make sure he had regained equilibrium. As soon as he was certain he half-walked, half-jogged to the girl and started helping her put the books back up.

"Are you okay?"

Alex nodded and smiled at the compliment and at the description of their uniforms. She nodded her agreement that she'd try to make it to a game.

"Maybe it sounds sort of lame, but I think it's interesting. I guess I can see why other people might think it's boring. My sister thinks everything I read for fun is boring. Over winter break I read a book about the history of the bookshelf. She called me a dork the whole trip 'cause of that, but I thought it was a very informative read."

Alex had to agree with Nick's sister. In fact, she had said some of the same things about Roman's choice of books over break. Although, the teasing was mostly due to the fact that he wanted to waste away his vacation reading, instead of joining her outside.

"Hey, that's pretty good. I….I'm not sure that's how it went down, but I'd be happy to help you too if you need it. It can be a team effort!"

I'm not sure how much her teacher would appreciate a team effort, Alex thought. But maybe what she doesn't know won't hurt her.

Nick's outburst was met by a "SHHHHHH!" from the librarian. Not seconds later, half the contents of a book shelf went tumbling onto the floor. The librarian sighed and rubbed her temple.

Alex offered the librarian a sympathetic smile, and was glad she wasn't the source of her annoyance. She then pushed her chair back on two legs to survey the damage. Between Nick and Jessica they seemed to me making short work of collecting the books. Shrugging, she turned her attention back to Josie answering her earlier question.

"As far as I know, you won't have to read Hamlet. It's usually one Shakespeare play a year. Like I said, I read Macbeth last year and it's Hamlet this year." She leaned over and surveyed Josie's poster again with a thoughtful expression on her face.

"As for your poster, you could make Lady Macbeth lighter and call it, like, her spirit in the room with him. Since you're right, she didn't actually kill Duncan, but she talked Macbeth into it and cleaned up afterwards. Although I'm not sure how that scene is a symbol. Are you going for betrayal?"

Jessica didn't look in the librarian's direction but she knew that the woman saw what had happened, and she fumed in embarrassment. What the hell was wrong with her? She should have been more careful! Jessica kept her head low as she tried to scoop up all the books. Had she taken her time she would have realized that it would be impossible to just pick up all of the books at once. She struggled trying to hold them up and it was around this time that someone came over and asked her if she was alright.

The boy was named... Jessica didn't know. She had never seen him before. They must have not shared the same classes. His voice was very loud too. Jessica hadn't been listening in on the conversation at hand but she remembered that someone had been talking very loudly. That must of been him, Jessica thought. And he was coming over to help her. Right?

No, she didn't need any help. He didn't need to help her.

Instead, she stammered. She had her face turned to him but she was looking all the same down at the books on the floor. "W-What?" She blinked, confused, as though she had already forgotten about the mess on the floor. Then she seemed to remember what had happened and nodded. "O-Oh yeah. J-Just dropped a few books. C-Clumsy I guess."

Josie stared at Nick as if he were an alien as he talked about reading a book about the history of the bookshelf. "...Seriously?" she asked with disbelief, her eyes wide with surprise. "Ya know, I once read a book about the history of wheels. So interesting and informative.. I probably read it three times over," she explained, nodding her head twice. Her expression was dead serious, but she eventually broke a smile and shook her head. "Just kidding. Reading isn't my forte. It's a miracle I actually finished Macbeth.." she said with a soft sigh.

When Nick offered to help and got shushed by the librarian once more, Josie couldn't help but laugh quietly under her breath. "Okay, I'd appreciate all the help that I could get, really. Have you read it?" she asked in a whisper, pulling her copy of the play from her backpack. She turned to ask Nick a question but witnessed him nearly falling to the floor to help that girl with all the fallen books. "Geez, don't get so excited!"

Josie looked over at Alex and listened as she answered Josie's earlier question about reading Hamlet. Her face eased a little and a smile appeared on her face. "Thank God. I wouldn't be able to handle another Shakespeare thing..." She trailed off as Alex began to explain how Josie could fix her little mistake with Lady Macbeth and Macbeth killing Duncan. She agreed with the idea and nodded at Alex. "Oh, good idea. I could color her grey, and she could be, like, a ghost.." Josie started to color Lady Macbeth but paused when Alex explained that she wasn't sure how that scene was a symbol... Josie realized she was right.

"Ohh... Great, I screwed up again. I've already had to buy three new poster boards because I keep messing up! Maybe this scene could symbolize... the downfall of Scotland or something? I dunno, I'm bad with this symbolism crap... Or Betrayal too! Is betrayal a symbol?" Josie glanced down at her project and wrote a few details underneath the picture with a marker. She kept making half-glances back at Jessica and Nick but figured they could handle it themselves, thankfully. Josie didn't have time to kneel down and pick up countless books when she was supposed to be working on her English project.

Nick picked the books up by the armful and started shoving them back in the shelf. Once he had filled out a row he started moving and shuffling the book so that they were in order alphabetically by author.

"Don't worry about it," he said while rearranging the books. "I'm really clumsy too; I nearly broke my foot just getting up out of that chair. Actually, I did break my foot like that once, but that was a desk. Desks can be tricky, especially the ones with the chair attached with that little bar."

He looked at the girl, getting his first good look at her. She was cute. She looked like a nice girl.

"You've got freckles," he observed aloud. Nick turned back to the books. While he was moving them around he pulled one out and looked at the cover.

"Silence of the Hams. A mystery-thriller about a butcher," he read aloud. He put a finger under his chin and read the back. After a few seconds he shoved it into his back pocket. Nick turned towards the girl finally and held out his hand.

"Hi! My name is Nick LeMonde. Glad you didn't get hurt. I was just sitting with Alex and Josie," he said pointing to the table.

"We were gonna help Josie with her poster. You wanna help?"

Alex glanced over to see that Nick had managed to clean up the book mess almost all on his own. Although it also looked like he'd made a new friend, if the bits of conversation that she overheard were anything to go by. She switched her attention back to Josie, who had like no clue about anything English related. Three things of poster board, for an assignment on MacBeth, seemed a little excessive.

"Ohh... Great, I screwed up again. I've already had to buy three new poster boards because I keep messing up! Maybe this scene could symbolize... the downfall of Scotland or something? I dunno, I'm bad with this symbolism crap... Or Betrayal too! Is betrayal a symbol?" Josie glanced down at her project and wrote a few details underneath the picture with a marker.

"Umm, I don't know about all that. A symbol is something that stands for something else. So maybe the blood that Macbeth gets on his hands is a symbol for violence and guilt," Alex paused and stared off for a minute, trying to recall the symbols they'd talked about it class. "Umm maybe the weather. To be honest we focused more on the theme of the play than anything else. Maybe Nick and Jessica will be more help," she said with a smirk on her face.