Borrow something from Philip? Did that lady have eyes? He was definitely bigger than me and any clothes he could give me would be too large for me. Maybe she thought that was my style since my green jacket was also too big. It was summer, so I thought I could handle going out without a jacket. Sure, maybe it wasn't so warm to go out in a black tank top but nothing I couldn't handle.

As I opened the bedroom door the next morning something was immediately thrown in my face.

"Dad, we're awake!", Philip called out and his father stopped banging on the frying pans.

I took it off my face and realised it was a maroon hoodie. I glance at Philip and back at the hoodie. Did his mother tell him I needed clothes? Of course she did.

"You can keep it. It was never my colour anyway."

I looked up at him again. That day he was wearing a thin dark green cardigan. He was right, green suited him way better than red. Not just because it complimented his slight tan skin but because then you could actually tell that his eyes were hazel. I definitely haven't noticed that before. 

Getting caught staring at him again was definitely not on my to-do list that day so I swiftly looked away from him and regretfully put on the hoodie without much protest. His hoodie was surprisingly soft and even though it was too big I didn't mind, it kind of looked intentional along with my old high waisted jeans.

School was just like last time, teachers still talking nonsense and Nathalie's hair was perfectly styled into those thick locks. During the lesson I couldn't help but wonder if she took some inspiration from Goldilocks. Even though we didn't talk, like at all, she still found a reason to stare at me more than usual. I was just thankful that I didn't have that stupid club meeting that day, which not only meant I didn't have to endure her cold glances at me but also that school ended sooner. 

At the end of the school day I was packing my bag to leave while everyone was already heading out, well everyone besides one person.

"Are you waiting on someone?", I asked.

"N-No."

Bruce swiftly stood up and started packing up. Seemed like the guy zoned out or something. While packing he pulled out three books from his bag and placed them on his side of the table. One about birds, the other about plants and the third was about mythical creatures. I couldn't help but notice that his fingernails were dirty with dirt, he noticed me noticing and quickly pulled his hands away. All of the books had a round red sticker on the right side corner. 

I tapped on the books and wondered: "Where did you get those? Blondie gave me an assignment and I need to find a topic to write about."

"Blondie?", he gave me a surprised look.

I quickly corrected: "Nathalie."

He lightly nodded his head and thought for a moment before answering me: "From the b-book café. I-I'm going there to-o return them."

"Mind if I tag along?"

He nervously shook his head and as he finished packing we walked together to the book café. My desk mate seemed like the very nervous and shy type. Made me wonder if he stuttered because he was so nervous or for another reason. It wasn't really my place to ask him at the moment so I just stored the question for later, maybe if I got to know him better- Fifi, what's wrong with you? NO FRIENDS. How many times do I need to tell myself this?! 

The way to the book café was just as awkward as you would have imagined. He didn't say anything to me and if I even glanced at him he flinched away. Unlike the silent walks with Philip, where he seemed to be more relaxed than anything, Bruce was visibly uncomfortable. He mostly walked with his head down, making his big glasses sometimes slip off his nose so he had to rejust them. 

It wasn't pretty warm out, but he still wore a sweater over his shirt and his hair. Well, it looked like it hadn't seen a brush in days. At that point I had encountered people like Bruce but never to this extreme. He wasn't just shy, he was... really shy.

We walked into the book café, the front door squeaked so loud you almost didn't need that annoying bell hung over the door. Inside there were bookshelves upon bookshelves full of books and papers. They kind of looked organised but it was an organised chaos. Bruce immediately walked to the front counter and handed in his books before walking with me further into the shop. It was pretty small and after we walked between some bookshelves we arrived at a sitting area. There was a table with some chairs and a small couch with two bean bags next to it. It looked comfortable, that was probably why a familiar face was sitting on one of said beanbags, Philip. With his laptop on his lap he almost didn't notice us.

"Oh, hey.", he smiled.

Just as I was about to greet him back another person that I knew appeared, someone that I wasn't too pleased to see. She had her blond locks tied into a high ponytail. Inside was a bit warmer than outside so she only had a white shirt with short sleeves on and a black skirt, while Philip had his cardigan tied around his waist. She gave me a displeased look before she noticed Bruce and smiled:

"Bruce! Hi, there are some new nature books in the science section."

With the way she talked to him it sounded like she was talking to a small child. High pitched and sweet. She probably thought being nice to him made her seem really nice. Bruce walked off without saying a word, leaving me with the two of them. 

Somehow the tension that was previously there was mostly gone, maybe it just got to that point when Lola was with them. Nathalie stared at me for a moment before she asked:

"What are you doing here?"

Okay, now she wasn't even pretending to be nice. Her cold tone made even Philip glance up from his laptop. She just stared at me as she waited for me to answer. Did I have something on my top or something? Why was she staring at me like that?! It almost felt like she was searching for something. I did give her her notes back so it couldn't have been about that. She wasn't even looking me in the eyes, she was looking at me.

"I'm looking for a topic to write about. For the article.", I mumbled. A little unsettled by her staring.

Her eyes shimmered for a second as I said the word "article". Yup, that girl was definitely obsessed. She didn't say anything else though. Just turned her head away and continued looking through the books on the shelves. I looked over at Philip and he just shrugged, clearly uninterested in whatever that was. Maybe I should have been too, after all this was Nathalie we're talking about. She was standoffish towards me from the beginning. But somehow that day it felt different. Like she had something against me, not just the idea of me.

I didn't want to waste my time thinking about it too much so I started walking through the shop, just looking at the different sections and books. School books, fiction, fantasy, history. Every book had that red round sticker. Nothing seemed like something you can write an article about though, until I reached the science section where Bruce was reading the back of a book.

"What you got there?", I leaned on the bookshelf.

He flinched away and frantically began looking back and forth at the book and me. He didn't really answer me, he just nervously touched the book in his hands like it was the only thing holding him above water.

"Are you always so nervous?", I blurted out without thinking.

Suddenly his face became really red. At that moment I realised that maybe I should have thought a bit longer about how to phrase my question. What I wanted it to sound like was; Are you nervous because of me? Am I doing something to make you nervous? But now I probably just made him even more nervous and self conscious. Trying to make things better and explaining myself didn't help.

"Uh. I mean, like, you're shaking. I was just wondering if it had something to do with me.", I nervously chuckled.

He just looked down at his shaking hands tightly holding the book before walking away. Okay, I clearly had no idea how to talk to shy people. Note to self; don't mention that they look nervous. I wondered if there was a book on how to talk to people. Before I could think about that awkward interaction I noticed that right next to the science section was the "archives". What did that mean?

I walked over there and it was immediately noticeable that it was different from the other sections. Unlike the rest it didn't have new colourful books or magazines but files and books that looked older than me. I took a random file out, dust immediately fell off it and onto the old carpeted floor. Inside were a few pages of old newspapers and boring reports. I turned the file over and on the back was writing in black sharpie: Sep. 93. Damn, these files were even older than I originally thought.

I opened the file again and read the first newspaper page. It was something about renovating the town, nothing interesting. But what caught my eye was the last paragraph. It talked about how some buildings won't be renovated and would be left abandoned, buildings in The Black Forest. The town was once big enough that it went through the Forest. Could I write something about that? 

The abandoned buildings of the Black Forest. That didn't sound too bad, and it wasn't like I cared enough to look through the other flies to find something different. So I just shrugged and accepted the topic. 

Taking the file with me I went back to the others. Philip was still writing on his laptop while Nathalie was now sitting at a table presumably studying. These two didn't even acknowledge each other. Once again living in their own tiny worlds. Until I showed up. Philip immediately looked up.

"Found something?", he looked down at the file I was holding. Nathalie immediately glanced up after hearing his voice.

"Kind of."

I sat down on the beanbag next to him and showed him the newspaper. As he read it I couldn't help but shake the feeling that someone was watching us. I just tried to ignore it, well I tried ignoring her, because I was pretty sure it was Blondie watching. I waited for him to finish reading.

"Ah, the abandoned buildings. Yeah, they're cool.", he handed me the file back.

"You know where to find some?"

"Yeah, well, I only know of one. I can take you there if you want."

Going into a forest with a guy I barely know? Sounds like fun. I looked over at what he was writing and yup, it was his article. He had already written one and a half pages, more than I have written the entire last school year. Seemed like he was already editing it.

I leaned my head on my hand and wondered:

"When will you be done?"

He shrugged: "Definitely until next week. I only write for like 20 minutes before I have to take a break for the rest of the day."

"Hm."

Once again he surprised me. He definitely didn't seem like the type to write, don't get me wrong, but I would have expected that he could write longer than 20 minutes. He was in the News Club after all, he had to like writing, right? 

Before I could ask I looked up and saw Nathalie. Her face was now more cold and annoyed than ever. She stood up and without looking our way walked away behind a bookshelf. Something was definitely up with her. Usually she would walk gracefully and with meaning, but just then it looked more like she was stomping away, like she was in a bit of panic to get out of there. Blondie was having a bad day I guess.

I looked over at Philip and moved away from him. We were a bit too close for comfort just then. My arm, which I leaned my head on, was centimetres away from his shoulder. Sometimes I wouldn't even notice when I moved closer to someone, to be honest neither did Philip. He didn't even notice when I moved away from him. He just kept typing on his laptop, clueless. He was probably also clueless about Blondie's existential crisis.

After about a minute of him silently writing he stopped to rub his forehead. Yeah, he was definitely frustrated.

"Why are you in The News club?", I wondered.