AARON
I sigh. There’s this strange tightness in my chest, and it doesn’t feel like should be there; it should be in my stomach. “Okay, I have to say something.”

Louis looks at me. He’s reading a book about the principles of garden cities, though he’s mostly just skipping around and looking at schematics of nonexistent places. “What?”

“Do you remember how you got here?” I ask this question again because I genuinely don’t remember how I got here.

He shrugs. “Not really. But then again, I kinda have this habit of, like, switching into autopilot when I’m walking to class. And then I snap out of it, and I’m at class without realizing it.”

I scratch my shoulder. “But…not even the nice librarian lady at the front. You didn’t say ‘hi’ to her?” I totally peg Louis to say hi to her. I say hi to her. Mrs. Horn’s nice.

Louis shakes his head. “Sorry, bud. I’m unhelpful.”

“No kidding,” I mutters, sitting down on the floor. Despite the metal shelves digging into my back, I lean into it in the hopes that the pain does something for me.

“Hey,” Louis whispers, crawling forward to push me off the metal rack. “You’re going to hurt yourself.”

“Well, maybe I want to.”

LOUIS
“Sorry, are you stupid or something?” He isn’t stupid. He’s smart.

“Not totally, but…” Aaron ruffles his hair. “I…don’t know how to explain it.”

I sit back and close the book. It wasn’t that interesting anyway. “Try.”

His brown eyes look at me for a second, and then he looks away. Aaron laughs and then shakes his head. “I…don’t even know where to start.” He smiles and looks at me again. “It’s such a convoluted idea that I don’t know where to begin with dissecting it.”

I like it when he uses big words.

I sit criss-cross with my hands in my lap. “I’m all ears, dude.”

He grimaces and looks away. “So…are you sure I’m on the set design board…thing?” I nod. “Is there anyone here today, either?”

I get up and look around. The library looks closed. Like everyone’s just packed up their stuff and gone to the auditorium for an assembly, and no one bothered to tell us. But it’s peaceful and quiet and stuff. Honestly, I like it better this way. I can blast my music and read books and all that shit. “No one here.”

Aaron either laughs or sighs. “Great.”

My legs are falling asleep. “…what?”

He wiggles his lips like he’s thinking too hard. “It just…doesn’t make sense to me. This is the research center of the school; it should be busy.” He wipes one eye and steps closer to me. “This is a ridiculous idea, but…do you think this c͉̬̩̟̼̈́̔̎͊̊̀ͅo̶͍̬̞͕͐̏̓ͮͥ͊̚

u̪̲̝̹̙̞̙̕l̍

̥̩͎̣ͨ̽͑̒͌̾d͖͊̋̾̽͐ ͕̜̉̿̍͝

b̯͓̓̓̇̈́͆̍̕è̵̦̑̄ͣ͆͌ͤ ҉͚̬̟̙̳ͅ

a̮͈̒̆ͯͅ

k̦͋̍ͯ̉ͧl̩̼̈́̀̋w̼̥̝̥͎͒͌͛ͯͅ ̆ͨͯ͂́ͤ͢w̯͇͙͎͎͙̟ͤ̌kh͙̻͇̝͒ ̮̥̹̥̪͎ͤ̋q̦ͩ̉ͬ̉̔̅̚͢d̤̫̳ͫͅl̨͖̬̱͎͉̗̈́ͫ̄̓ͅo̼̞̩̗̗͊ͮ̾ͅ ̻̱̺̺̳̮̄̔͛͋u̹̱ͣl̺̹̗̟͈̠̯͐̉̾͗j̨̝̬̩͆ͬ͛͆͌̀k͂w̯̯̼̺̪͌ͣ̕ ͓̰̤̻̯̉͑ͩͪ͌ͮ͗ȓͤ̈́ͤͬq̬͈̙̪͐ͤ͒ͥͧ̔ ̻̫̽̓ͣ̐̏̚w͌k̺̰͓ͨ́̐ͥ͋ͫ͝h̬̫͓̫̭͛ ̳̝̬̟ͣ̌ͨͣͤ͞k̞̹ͫͧ̊h̷͖͚͙͖̉d̡͍̳͈̥̪̠̮̒͑̎̿ͮg͐̿҉͍̱͇̤͕̣ͅ