Alexus Mitchell sat quietly behind the library information desk hoping no one would come up to her with questions. She desperately wanted to be back sorting and filing the returned books and straightening up the stacks. It was far more peaceful and she didn't have to worry that someone might be making fun of her.
And the poor girl had reason to feel that way. All her life, she had suffered from poor vision and had to wear glasses. Even as a child, before she entered kindergarten, she had to wear large, heavy-framed glasses because the optician had convinced her parents that children shouldn't be trusted with the more stylish, more fragile frames available. With Robert, her older brother, already a playground bruiser, her parents were easily convinced.
But the glasses had been the focus of Alexus' torment, torment far worse than most children endure from their peers. None of it took physical shape, not after Robert made the only boy to push her eat dirt.
However, the resulting verbal abuse - taunting and jeering - lowered the already shy girl's self-esteem to even lower levels. She made few friends and went straight home every day to watch cartoons and old sitcoms while eating junk food. She also buried herself in books - both for school and for her own escapism. But the lack of activity and the snacking, naturally, led her to put on weight. And this added another factor to the ceaseless childhood teasing.
Her parents didn't understand what was wrong with their little girl. But they had no idea of how much their little Alexus was the schoolyard joke. Robert did but couldn't seem to make their parents understand.
So he became the closest thing she had to a friend. He made sure no one hurt his little sister and even tried to stop them from picking on her. But he couldn't be with her all day since he was two grades ahead of her.
In high school, like all students, she was required to take physical education classes. Alexus hated them. Hated having to change clothes and shower with others. Hated having her roly-poly body on display for all to laugh at. Hated being unable to participate without looking awkward and clumsy.
And she still wore thick-framed glasses.
By this time, her parents finally seemed to understand that their love and her brother's love just wasn't enough to overcome the girl's engrained shyness. They tried to help her open up and feel better about herself. She vowed to try.
At her brother's urging, she asked about getting nicer glasses. Her parents agreed and she got an attractive pair of wire-frames with a new type of thin lenses that allowed her to see without the ugly glasses she was used to.
Robert also helped her to lose weight. He was on the varsity football and baseball teams and finally convinced Alexus to run with him every morning before school. At first, she hated running and hated her brother for putting her through the torture. But mostly she hated herself for being so fat.
In a few months, she was able to keep up with Robert easily as the weight melted away. She began to look like what she really was, a lovely young girl. The problem was, even with her new glasses, she couldn't see it.
By her senior year, she was not the outcast she had been. But her friends weren't the socially elite of the school or the jock set. She hung out with a small group that was a mix of average kids. She was still the quiet one.
Her brother, who was attending a nearby college, talked one of his former teammates into asking his sister to the Homecoming Dance. The boy was willing as he had no date and his old girlfriend had apparently dumped him for no reason.
And he thought he'd get some action from the lonely girl.
The night of the dance, Alexus came home in tears, her dress torn at the shoulder. Robert, home for the weekend, heard her sob as she told how her date tried to make her 'put out'.
Robert, who wasn't normally a violent or mean person, made sure his former friend couldn't play football for the balance of the season.
Alexus ended up going to the same college as her brother, a small state school about a hundred and fifty miles from home. She managed to get a private dorm room and then looked for a job to supplement the allowance her parents provided.
The college library was perfect. She loved it. She had access to all the books she could want. And her work kept her from having to deal with other students too much, something she naturally couldn't avoid in classes or the dorm.
She was hired back the next year, and the next. She majored in English Literature and minored in Library Science. The last was a concession to her parents when they questioned what she could do with a degree in English Lit.
And Alexus loved her work. She could see herself becoming a librarian in a big city where she could do the behind-the-scenes work and have access to any book she wanted.
Unfortunately, this day was not one of her happier ones. Several of the other student workers called in sick and she was assigned the information desk. Already she had to deal with the usual inane questions college students ask.
She tried to ignore most of the people going by simply by keeping her eyes glued to the book she was reading. It seemed to help weed out the people who really needed information from those who just wanted to play games.
Alexus glanced up when she heard some voices raised in discussion. She frowned, a library was supposed to be quiet. Even if this was not the library proper but outside the 'quiet zone'. Then she recognized the girls, all from one of the sororities. One was the reigning Homecoming queen, one the captain of the cheerleaders and the other was the student body representative to the school's Board of Regents.
That last one also happened to be in one of Alexus' elective classes: Mythology and the Origin of Heroic Fiction. Her name was Megan Watson. And she always managed to catch Alexus' eye when the shy girl happened to glance her way.
This time was no exception. With a smile and a small wave, Megan acknowledged Alexus' glance. Alexus' hand started to rise to return the gesture but she stopped when it was a few inches over the book in front of her.
Then, to her surprise, Megan dismissed her two friends and walked towards Alexus with a friendly smile on her face.
'Oh god, what does she want?' Alexus thought. This girl, while seeming to be friendly, reminded her of one of the girls in high school who managed to make her life miserable.
"C-c-can I h-h-help...you?" Alexus managed to ask, her eyes locked on the desk in front of her.
* * * * * *
Megan Watson was almost the polar opposite of Alexus Mitchell. She was happy and outgoing. Her childhood was fun and relatively carefree.
In grade school she made several friends, a few of whom she managed to stay close to through the years. She was president of the sixth grade class and a member of the Brownies then the Girl Scouts.
By high school, she had developed into a lovely young girl. She had bright, blue-green eyes and thick blonde hair with a natural wave to it. As she matured, her figure became curvaceous.
Megan liked to play outdoors and rode her bicycle for miles and miles. She also played softball - was even the captain of the junior varsity softball team in high school. She was co-captain of the varsity cheerleader squad. And Megan was either the president or at least an officer in several of the many after-school clubs her high school sponsored.
She wasn't picky about who she dated. She wanted to go out and have fun. If that meant a movie and Steak'n'Shake, great. If it was dinner in a restaurant and dancing that was fine too. She didn't care as long as her date was intelligent, friendly and attentive. And definitely not full of himself. She dated jocks, socials, brains, and even some of the geeks.
Megan always made sure the prospective date knew she was out to have fun and that she would not 'put out'. Here was where her life paralleled Alexus'.
On the night of her senior Homecoming Dance, her date didn't seem to understand that 'no' meant 'no'. As he pawed at her, she slapped him and jumped out of his car. The jerk followed her and she planted her knee solidly in his groin, the pain obviously excruciating judging by his expression and how quickly he fell to the pavement.
