Chapter Text
Lynn glared down at her phone in disgust. Another text message dripping with false concern. She should just block the number. She would if she could. But she couldn’t.
Instead she shoved the phone back into her pocket and shoved the mountain of books into the car. Really, she shouldn’t have picked up so many. But Jasper’s Library system was embarrassingly limited. Her car and apartment might hate her for it, but she’d manage.
The school library was lackluster if Lynn ever measured one. Though in fairness, Jasper wasn’t a large town and it’s inhabitants weren’t exactly rich. Franklin Memorial was the only High School in town, with limited options for more well to do families. There were a few high earners, based on the car models driven by bored teens, but otherwise, it was self contained and solidly in the middle class earning category. At least, that was Lynn’s guess. Still embarrassing that so little effort had been poured into the school library.
Then again, she shouldn’t complain. If the school board hadn’t been desperate enough to hire a new graduate fresh off her courses, then she’d have been stuck back home. And that sounded like a horrible place to be. Jasper wasn’t exciting, but it was stable. And stable was exactly what she needed right now.
Lynn took in the extra books she’d picked up and added them to the donations bin to log in later when classes were underway. If the kids were half as bored as she suspected, there would likely be one or two bookworms looking to get their next fix before class started.
She was almost disappointed until a young boy popped by. Apparently Franklin Memorial had some younger students. He barely looked thirteen, and that was generous. Then again, kids were wildly changing around the first few years of high school.
“Oh!” He looked surprised to see her. “Are you the new Librarian?”
“Yup.” She smiled back at him. “Lynn Chambers.” She held out a hand, which he shook.
“I’m Raf,” He offered. “I thought Mrs. Dodds had another week?”
“She does, technically.” Lynn chucked. “But she’s got paid time off. So, she decided to take that and just not work her last week or so.”
“Oh…” He looked a bit crestfallen. “I was hoping to tell her goodbye before she left…”
“She’ll be back for a final day,” She reassured. “Next Monday.”
“Oh good.” He breathed. “Not that I’m not glad to meet you!” He added quickly.
“It’s alright,” Lynn reassured. “It’s kinda crummy when you don’t get to say goodbye to people. I get it.”
“Yeah…” Raf nodded. “I hate that…”
Lynn could sense the leading in that statement. Oh he was a lonely kid. She had a soft spot for kids like that. But it was too soon to ask him about that.
“Well, I’m not Mrs. Dodds, but can I help you find something?” She offered. A good lead away from the hard stuff.
“Oh, yeah!” He passed her his school card. “I was hoping to get some more books on C++.”
“Let’s see what we can’t scrounge up then,” Lynn agreed. She had to bite back her surprise at the subject. Then again, it added a few of her theories about the student. A quick check over his student profile only cemented them. He was twelve. Apparently they couldn’t find an excuse to hold him back with his age group. And judging by his hold history, he had a keen interest in programming and technology. She moved through the system.
“Looks like some of those holds came in,” She checked the back cabinet, producing a set of books. “Here you go.”
“Great!” He brightened. “Thanks!”
“You’re welcome,” She offered a smile back. “Also, if you have any good projects you’re working on, I’d love to see them.”
“Huh?” He looked up in surprise. “Oh...um…”
“Only if you want,” Lynn added. “I’m hoping to gauge what students are interested in so I can find more material when acquisitions start.”
“Oh, okay,” He nodded sheepishly. “Thanks.”
“You bet.”
The bell rang, giving a warning to students to get to class.
“I’d better go,” Raf took up his books. “It was nice to meet you Mrs. Chambers!”
Lynn fought a wince as he took off. Well. That was a new one. And she sincerely hoped she wouldn’t get it too often.
‘ He was just being polite, ’ She chastised herself. ‘ No need to get so freaked out. ’
And all things considered, having Raf as her first student was a welcome way to kick things off. Hopefully the other students would be manageable.
Lynn wondered if she was allowed to regret her life choices so soon. Probably not. Yet here she was, second guessing herself. They had announced her arrival in the morning announcements over the loudspeaker. A polite welcome. Or declaring open season. Hard to tell. Either way, Lynn wished they hadn't have done it.
Following the end of class several students filed in to ask about her and look for books. Supposedly . Lynn found her patience suddenly low when she realized the Blonde and Redhead students asking about a popular YA series were only acting as decoys. In the stacks, a ginger boy was stuffing his pack with several classic volumes. Easily replaceable, but judging by the haphazard way he was going about it, he had little interest in reading them.
Lynn pretended to slide over to the cart to find the books the girls were looking for, positioning herself three steps from the door. Once the ginger made his way towards the exit, she took those three steps.
“The place is still lame.” He complained. “I was hoping you brought new stuff with you.”
“Sorry to hear that,” Lynn replied smoothly. “I’m guessing you won’t need to be checking out those books then?”
He scowled. “What books? These are just my textbooks.”
“Then the Principal won’t find security footage of you stuffing school property in there, will he?”
He glared, unzipping his backpack and shoving the books at her roughly.
“All these are good for is a bonfire.” He declared. “You’re as bad as the old bat.”
“I have to disagree,” She smiled brightly, knowing it’d piss the teen off more. “But thank you for the safe return. If you’d like help with anything else?”
“As if.” He pushed past.
“Charming.” Lynn mused. She glanced at the two girls. “Sorry, ladies. That series is still on the back order list. If you’d like to fill out a formal request, I can see that they get bumped up on my order list.”
“Nah,” The redhead shook her head. “I think we’re good.” They followed their male friend out the door, albeit far calmer.
‘ Trouble. ’ Lynn took the books back into the stacks. ‘ Bored kids usually are. That’s what you signed up for. ’
Shortly after that, other students filed in. It was like they were making a game of it. Who could sneak out with a book on the new Librarian’s watch. A few who got caught checked the books out to save face--which was a small victory. She tried not to delight in their walks of shame out to awaiting friends. After all, keeping kids from outright stealing books wasn't in her job description. Not formally at least.
The end of her day was a relief. She’d managed to keep all the books safely in the system, and even logged in a few more materials she had extra copies of from home. Not her finest first day, but it technically counted as a victory. Right?
Staring at the boxes she had to unpack at home, she wasn’t so sure.
The week fell into a monotonous but some what comfortable rhythm. Raf would pop by in the mornings before the bell to trade out books and request holds. Most were programming related, but he also had a keen interest in Science Fiction and robotics. Occasionally an older student would be with him. A transfer student named Miko Nakadai was the first. She seemed mostly bored.
“We could’ve been hanging out with Bee and Bulk.” She complained to him in the stacks. Lynn guessed Mrs. Dodds hearing wasn’t as sharp as her own if the girl thought that stage whisper was subtle.
“I wanted to pick up a few more books to read with Bumblebee,” Raf explained. “Besides. I heard Vince and his goons were giving Mrs. Lynn trouble.”
“Why would he even come here?” She snorted. “He get grounded for racing?”
“I’m not sure,” The younger student admitted. “But nobody should have to deal with Vince.”
“ Fine .” She groused. “But I am not coming after school. I want to go hang out with the bots, not in some stuffy library.”
Lynn decided to keep the overheard conversation to herself. Touched as she was, she knew how much she’d hated being caught in a private conversation when she was that age. Hell, she still did--though that was a whole other story. Honestly it was enough to know that a few of the kids liked her enough to hang out for a little while. It was sweet of them.
The next time Raf brought a friend, it was a tired looking sixteen year old. He introduced himself as Jack Darby. His time in the stacks was a bit more rewarding for him. He seemed equally interested in mechanics, picking out back issues of car magazines and some basic guides to auto mechanics.
“Raf, I think she’ll be fine,” Jack argued. Either Mrs. Dodds was near deaf, or she wore a fake hearing aid to lull the students into a false sense of security. Either way, Lynn was a little pleased. Apparently that part of her that enjoyed eavesdropping hadn’t died quite yet.
“You know how Vince is,” The younger boy argued.
“Yeah,” Jack admitted. “But Mrs. Chambers is an adult. She works for the school.”
“I’ve heard rumors Vince is planning to do something though.”
“Well then you should tell her. Let her deal with the issue.”
“What if she thinks we’re involved?”
Lynn considered that. She was a bit more lax around Raf and his friends. Though they hadn’t given her any cause for alarm really. They sounded like a couple of students interested in robotics. Possibly the most productive hobby to have in a place like Jasper. If she’d known anything about it, she’d have offered to look into starting up a club for it. But she didn’t. Her skill set was firmly rooted in the liberal arts. Though she wasn’t half bad at putting together furniture, if she did say so herself.
“Mrs. Chambers?” Raf called.
Whoops. She’d lost herself for a moment.
“Sorry, Raf,” She laughed, turning to take his books. “Got lost in my head for a second.”
The boys traded looks.
“Is it because of Vince?” Jack asked.
“Afraid I don’t have everyone’s names down yet, Jack.” Lynn had a guess though.
“Tall guy, ginger hair, kind of a jerk?” He prompted. Bingo.
“I do recall a student earlier this week that sounds sort of like that,” She scanned the books for Raf. “but I haven’t seen him since then.”
“Just be careful,” Jack recommended. “He holds grudges pretty bad.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” She passed Raf his books, taking Jack’s. “But I’ve had worse customers.”
The older teen grimaced. “I haven’t. I can’t imagine.”
“Customer service?”
“Yeah…” He sighed. “Over at KO Burgers.”
“Rough time.” Lynn smiled sympathetically. “Try not to let it get you down. Steady work experience does actually look good on the resume for better work in the future.”
“Right. Like I can make that look good on a resume.”
Lynn brightened. “You know!” She reached down into her filing cabinet, pulling out a petition. “If you’d like help with that kind of thing, I could run a workshop for interested students. It’d have to be requested by you guys and approved by the principal, but if it’s something useful to you, I’d be happy to run one.”
“Thanks.” He seemed surprised. “But...you should really worry more about Vince.”
“I appreciate the worry, but I’ll take care of things.” She promised. “Meanwhile,” She shoved the last of the magazines to him. “You two should head to class. Can’t have you getting in trouble over extra library time.”
Lynn waved them off cheerfully, but she could see Raf was still worried. Hard to judge if it was just fear of an older boy twice his size, or something more worrying than a teenager with an attitude. Either way she’d keep an eye out.
Aside from Raf and his friends, there were a few bookworms and study types, though most booked it once the troublemakers showed. Apparently the duel between students and librarian was a known issue among the student body. Lovely.
Lynn documented each incident as they occurred, but wasn’t incredibly surprised at the response. Apparently part of what they paid her for was to put up with nonsense. Wonderful. Well. They couldn’t dock her pay for not doing her due diligence. She suspected Mrs. Dodds would have some interesting stories and advice for her upon her return Monday.
For the end of Friday though, Lynn was able to close up a bit early. She was hopeful to catch up to Raf before heading home, since he’d dropped his ID. Though she knew she’d see him Monday if not. Still, she knew how she hated losing things. It tended to make her feel crazy. So she added it to her stack of books and set out.
Hurrying out to the front of the school she scanned the lot. She caught sight of Jack heading out on a sleek blue bike. She hadn’t thought of him as the motorcycle type. Ah well. Not like she couldn't see the appeal. Miko was vaulting into a large green SUV. That definitely suited her. Then she spotted Raf next to a yellow Muscle car. Interesting.
“Hey, Raf!” She called, startling the boy. “Glad I caught you.”
“Mrs. Chambers?” His face screwed up in concern. “Everything okay?”
“I think I should be asking you that.” She smiled. “You seem to have forgotten something.”
The panic on his face turned to confusion. “Did I?”
“Here,” Lynn passed him the ID. “Didn’t mean to startle you.”
“Thanks!” He looked relieved. “I didn’t realize I’d left it…”
“It happens,” She smiled. “I’ve left plenty of important things behind before,” Her eyes strayed to the driver’s seat. The empty driver’s seat. Odd.
Raf caught her gaze and looked incredibly uncomfortable. “M-my mom popped inside for a sec to talk to my teacher! She’ll be right back!”
“Okay,” Lynn gave him a reassuring smile. “Well, you have a good weekend, okay?”
He relaxed. “I will. You too, Mrs. Chambers.”
She had to fight to keep her face neutral, as she waved and walked back towards the school entrance. She really hated being called that. Almost as much as she worried about Raf’s reaction. What made him so nervous? Was his mother--No. Now she was just projecting. Lynn sighed under the safety of the stone archway, blocking any view of the parking lot. She was going to have to get a therapist. Soon, she decided, opening the front door. Vince went barreling through, knocking the books out of her hands.
‘ Bored teenagers .’ She thought, stopping to scoop up her scattered goods. She poked her head around the stone archway. Vince hopped into his own sporty car--one of the nicer vehicles in the lot, and sped off. Lynn frowned. The bright yellow Camero was gone. But...Raf had said…
Lynn picked up the rest of the books and scowled to herself. That was odd. Very odd. No one could have made it to the lot from the school building without passing her. And aside from Vince, no one had.
‘ You’re doing it again, ’ She chastised herself. ‘Seeing things that aren’t there.’
Lynn gathered her things and headed to the staff parking. She needed to get food, go home, and try not to think about things too much. It was her first week in Jasper. Maybe it had pleasant surprises rather than the ones her gut was screaming about. Maybe the sleepy town would prove her wrong. Maybe.