Once Upon a You | A Beauty and the Beast Retelling ✔️

5 | The Sound of Silence (Ross)

"Everybody needs a cheeky snack now and then to get through a late evening library sesh with their pals – right?" Lu treats me with a braced grin and a marooned apple slice.

I shake my head.

Ew. Apples, sure, I could get behind. But dipping them in the peanut butter? That just meant ruining the tasty, juicy fruit.

Still, she is so sweet to offer it to me. It makes me recall a quote: If I were a God, it'd be a whole different story, dropping fruit at will. Let them eat apples.

"It's seven fifty, Ross. You know it's closing time in ten minutes?" Marcus, the security guard at the Cyrenius H Booth library entrance interrupts my train of thought.

We are standing in an imposing marble foyer, and despite my height, I feel tiny. A mere crumb in a giant, pristine oven.

"I, err... I thought you were still open," I say.

"Just come back tomorrow." The guard is about forty, with greasy receding blond hair slicked sharply against his skull and a shadow of stubble around his chin. He looks as if he has this conversation at least a dozen times a day.

"I can't," I say.

"Why not?"

"Please, Sir, Ross just needs to check something super important real quick," Lu puppy eyes him, batting her eyelids.

Always ready to help me out.

"I said..." He takes a step forward. "Just come back tomorrow."

"I can't," I say again. An image of my mom, scared out of her mind, flashes before my eyes. And then my mind goes completely blank.

I practically live in this place, yet there are no exceptions to the rule. Nothing to do here. Seems that an individual cannot defeat the grinding wheel of bureaucracy at its finest.

"I... Let's just go." I grit my teeth and walk outside with Lu. Z-Man is waiting for us by the low stone wall.

"Losers. Didn't think so," he says.

"I tried."

"K, my turn." He struts towards a grassy area where students are gabbing in small groups.

"Z, where are you going?" I call after him.

"Watch and learn, bro. No closing time's gonna stop me." Z-Man pats his wrist watch and walks on.

He is getting more than a few suspicious glances from the mostly white students. His frame, slick neon suit and dark skin put him in stark contrast to everyone else around. I feel my ears get hot as waves of whispering and snickers erupt in his wake. He carries his school rucksack in one hand and his smokes in the other. I lose track of him for a second, and then catch sight of his bouncing Not Giving a Fuck cap making its way back to us through the crowd.

"What was all that about?" Lucy said. "And where's your rucksack?"

Z, now empty handed, walks past us without stopping. "Stay here," he says quietly. "Wait for the right moment. Imma be in the car."

I am half a mind of telling Lu we should go with him. The whole situation is making me more and more uncomfortable.

"No turning back now," she whispers.

She is right. Z had gone and done whatever... It was what he had done and that is that. I have to get going. Besides, learning about shape changing is my best clue for figuring out the rest of the riddle that is Beatrice Laurent.

Eight thirty, she had said.

Less than five minutes later, a commotion erupts from the picnic tables. Students scatter hurriedly away and local police emerge from all directions, faces and bodies tense for a fight.