If you do not shush, I will drop my very heavy books on your very thick head [PRIVATE]

This is the best thing that could've happened,
Any longer, and I wouldn't have made it,
It's not a war, no, it's not a rapture,
I'm just a person, but you can't take it...

Devon Bryson was sitting in a rather dark corner of the library, his head bent over a large, heavy book. It was titled "Swordmastery", and included many pictures and diagrams, which helped due to his dyslexia. He'd been there for about an hour already, but he wasn't worried about someone else coming in and wanting the book. Very few ever actually came into the Library.
The bronze haired boy was nodding his head ever so slightly, listening to music from his iPod through the buds of his earphones. He was lucky: Max hadn't been able to take the iPod that morning, cause she'd been too slow waking up. In fact, when he had left, she'd still been snoring, the iPod on her bedside table.
The music was on shuffle, and right now it was one of his sisters favourite songs, actually quite old, but that didn't change anything for her. She loved the oldies and the new songs. He didn't care what he was listening to, as long as he actually had his iPod.

The British teenager was wearing a muted color plaid shirt, which had a couple stains on the arms. Because of this, he had the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His shirt was hanging open, showing the grey t-shirt he was wearing underneath, which was (thankfully) clean. He had dark blue jeans on, which had more pockets than he could count, and were also rolled up near the ends. His shoes were a plain old pair of runners.
Devon had a rucksack at his feet, one of those things which he carried for the sake of carrying it. It came in handy, as he would tell you, when you needed to put something away.
His hair was its usual windswept self, bronze streaked with gold, and absently he ran his fingers through it, making it even more messy than usual.

After a few moments, he looked up, and then shut the book with a heavy thud.
Should be an acceptable time to go get food now. Maybe I could come back later.
Only he would contemplate when he could come back and read more of the book on swordfighting.
Standing up, he shouldered the rucksack and hefted the weight of the book, trying to think where he had even gotten it in the first place. He couldn't well leave it there could he.
The buds of his earphones still in his ears, he turned and started to walk down the shelves of books, his eyes on the book in his arms, not looking in front of him.

Turning left, he turned a couple more times without incident. Devon was hoping he was near the right shelf at this point, and looked up just in time to-
Walk straight into a person carrying quiet a lot of large, heavy books.
Jumping back as the books fell, he was barely able to hold onto his own, and then shocked, he bent quickly to try help pick them up.
'I-I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking where I-I was going...'

This is the best thing that could've happened,
Any longer, and I wouldn't have made it,
It's not a war, no, it's not a rapture,
I'm just a person, but you can't take it...

The girl in front of him cursed, and he winced when someone shushed her (and probably him, coming o think about it).
Some people... no one else rushes to help her. Just shushes her... that's rudeness at its finest...
There were five really thick, really old books, and each of them had fallen. All cause of him. He'd been paying no attention to where he was going, instead trusting that in a library there was very little damage his clumsiness could cause. Evidently, he was wrong, because now a poor girl had just been walked into, and had the books she had been carrying knocked out of her grasp. He deduced the person he'd walked into was a girl, cause of her voice.

'Still, I'm really sorry. I'm not very... coordinated... on a good day. I should have been watching where I was going,' Devon replied in his crisp British accent, the girls hiss bothering him slightly.
Well you just knocked the books she was carrying. Not likely that she was going to be all happy and breezy.
He could hear some people laughing behind him, but he ignored them as he picked up a couple of the books. One of them had a completely detached spine, and he frowned, picking it up to study the damage.
'I can pay for this if they want money for damages. I have enough drachmas... '
And I can borrow from Maxime too, he added silently, looking up to the girl for the first time since he'd walked into her.

She was really pretty. Much prettier than he'd been prepared for. Her hair was a unique reddish color, lots of streaks going through it. Devon noticed how she was smaller than he was, more petite looking (He wouldn't say it, due to how size is often a wrong thing to judge on, but she seemed delicate to him. Of course, that had already been proved wrong, as she'd been able to hold up five very heavy books on her own. Until obviously, he'd knocked them.) She was different to other girls he'd seen. Not just cause of hair color, but because she gave off a different feeling than them.
'W-well, yes, of course I'll watch next time... lesson learned, as they say,' he said softly, smiling crookedly despite being rather nervous all of a sudden.

This is the best thing that could've happened,
Any longer, and I wouldn't have made it,
It's not a war, no, it's not a rapture,
I'm just a person, but you can't take it...

If at all possible, Devon thought she became even prettier when she smiled. Granted, it was only a small smile, but nonetheless it was counted under the same heading.
I followed her gaze back to the broken book and sighed, touching the cover gingerly.
For a moment, he wondered what she meant when she said he didn't need to pay for anything, and his eyebrows furrowed as he tried to think what she was getting at. His smile grew wider however when he got it, and Devon shook his head, disbelieving.
'Imagine what a proper librarian would say. "What do you think your doing?! You can't put superglue onto a book this old!"'

Dev shifted around slightly, to block the view of anyone behind him to the girl. As she said, last thing they needed was someone noticing. Now there was no chance anyone would actually see, unless they were watching through the books to their left and right.
He held out the book to her, and awkwardly looked down when their hands brushed.
Maxime would have a field day if she happened to see. Imagine it. She'd find this whole situation hilarious.
When he looked up again, she was trying to fix the cover back onto the pages, with a neutral sort of expression on her face.
'Do you just happen to carry superglue around with you then?' he asked, amused.

This is the best thing that could've happened,
Any longer, and I wouldn't have made it,
It's not a war, no, it's not a rapture,
I'm just a person, but you can't take it...

Devon laughed with her, and while she inspected the book, he checked the others, making sure that they weren't falling apart either. They were all holding up better than the one without the cover attached, and he stacked them carefully.

'You know, I had superglue in my bag just yesterday, but seeing as though I hadn't destroyed any books yet, I thought it would be safe to leave it back in the Cabin,' he smiled that crooked smile again, 'In honesty, I carry a lot of things in my rucksack, but superglue isn't something I've ever had a need for.'
Dev watched as she moved the cover around, finding the situation hilarious. She hadn't struck him as the type to do that from first glance, but here she was, putting the book into the pile in such a way that no one would notice.
'Good as new,' he whispered back.

He stood, picking up the book which he had practically forgotten after what had happened.
When he did, like the gentleman he was, he reached out and took the top few books from the wobbly pile, balancing them on top of his own. He wasn't going to have her carry all the books on her own, just in case they fell again.
He returned her warm smile, and shrugged.
'Least I could do after walking into you. By the way, I'm Devon. Devon Bryson.'

This is the best thing that could've happened,
Any longer, and I wouldn't have made it,
It's not a war, no, it's not a rapture,
I'm just a person, but you can't take it...

Devon was never one to make a load of noise in the Library. He was naturally quiet, the opposite of Max, who could only be described as loud. If he dropped a book off a shelf or something, he always apologized about it constantly, and made a swift exit. He hated when people would glance over at him, tell him to keep it down or to shush. But now, it didn't bother him that he and Taylor were getting dirty looks and some evil eyes. He was perfectly capable of ignoring them, because she was such great company. And she was. Dev might have only known her for ten minutes, but she was someone who he wouldn't mind spending more time with.
Which sounds like you're hoping to spend more time with her Devon. Don't run before you can walk.

He knew she'd been about to protest, and shook his head.
'Don't have to. But will. Its my good deed of the day, helping you carry these extremely large and heavy books to the shelves which they belong.'
He'd even forgotten about the earbuds which were still giving off a sound. Oops. They must have fallen out of his ears when he'd walked into the girl, and using one hand, he balanced the books as carefully as possible, hoping that for once he wouldn't be a complete clutz and drop what he was holding. Pulling the iPod from his jeans pocket, he brought the screen back to life and paused the music, before stuffing it back into his pocket with the earbuds. It was running low on battery, of course. Max obviously hadn't remembered to charge it, leaving it to him instead.
Thanks Maxie. Owe you one.

'You're very welcome. And thanks. I think my Mum was fond of Devon, in England, so yeah.'
He was trying not to ramble, really he was, but he had a weakness for it when he was nervous. And he was nervous. Dev wasn't one of those guys who'd had hundreds of girlfriends. He knew some of those type of guys, but he wasn't one. He may have had four girlfriends in his whole life, and two of them he wouldn't even count, given how they'd each been when he was in Primary School.
And now you ramble in your head. Very good Devon, very good.
He came back to earth in time for the girl (Now known as Taylor Brooks), introduced herself.
'Pleasure to meet you Taylor. May I compliment your name without sounding like a complete fool? If so, then your name is very beautiful. And yeah,' he smiled again, looking down to where his book was at the bottom of the pile, 'I've been one of those unlucky souls who have to put the books away which have been left on tables. Its left me with a built in but-books-back-after-use mode. I'm taking you've got that duty today? Unless you just love reading really heavy books.'

This is the best thing that could've happened,
Any longer, and I wouldn't have made it,
It's not a war, no, it's not a rapture,
I'm just a person, but you can't take it...

Evidently, Taylor did not think he sounded like a complete fool as he complimented her name, and so Devon was slightly proud of himself for delivering a nice compliment to a nice girl.
The whole thing where he'd never had a load of girlfriends sort of shaped how he was around girls. He wasn't used to dishing out compliments, or being around a girl who he hadn't been friend-zoned with. He had a few friends, who were of the female variety, and who he found it easy enough to be around. But being around a female who he actually, genuinely liked, was different. He didn't like her in the creepy, "I-wanna-be-your-next-boyfriend-and-father-your-children" way, but she was easy to get along with. She didn't find his humour stupid (Or at the very least, she hadn't said it was yet), and she had a good personality.

He grinned at her dramatic sigh, trying not to laugh.
'I once had to put all the books back with this kid who couldn't even read. I mean, dyslexia, okay, you have difficulty stringing sentences together, etc. But this kid, literally he put every single book in the wrong place. I had to go around after him and find every single book to move it to the right shelf.'
He listened to her, and stayed smiling as he imagined a load of Athena campers coming in tomorrow to find all their books in the wrong places.
When Devon heard it was more of a punishment, he started wondering what on earth she'd done.

It didn't really bother him, that she had been sent to do the duty as a punishment. After all, his few times doing it hadn't been choice. One of them had been a complete accident, where he'd just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. The other had been when he had tried to stop Max from fighting (Again). One thing had led to another, and then Max had been sentenced to kitchen duty, and he'd been sent to Library duty.
Though he did wonder what Taylor could have done to end up working in the Library.

She didn't give him a chance to ask however, and he laughed softly about her question on England, shaking his head.
'No, I'm from Germany. Didn't you know we have similar accents there?' then, he continued without the sarcasm, 'Greenwich, London. Home of the Cutty Sark, Meridon Line and the Royal Observity.'
Then he blushed, and raised an eyebrow.
'Really? "Hot"? Here I had a weapon at my disposal, and all I needed was to speak, and nope, never realized.'

This is the best thing that could've happened,
Any longer, and I wouldn't have made it,
It's not a war, no, it's not a rapture,
I'm just a person, but you can't take it...

'Patience which I very nearly lost,' he laughed, thinking back to the memory.
It was one of his neutral experiences at camp. Okay, so this kid had annoyed the crap out of him, and he'd spent a good bit longer than he'd been sentenced too putting the books where they were supposed to go, but still. He could also understand that the kid was not just dyslexic, but he hadn't been trying. Being in the library was punishment enough in his eyes, and having to put books away too? That just ended any incentive he may have had to actually work.
[cololr=RoyalBlue]'I was sorta worried that if I didn't, we'd be sentenced to another day doing it,'[/color] Devon said, before smiling again, 'I'm sure its not that bad. I mean, until I walked into you, you were probably doing great. Plus? Fourty-Five minutes? You've lasted longer than even the strongest could have. Truthfully, I know a couple people who would collapse crying on the ground after ten minutes.'

The girl at the nearest table spoke up, telling Taylor it was a library, and Dev had to purse his lips to stop the laugh escaping.

It was unsuccessful though, cause he laughed slightly louder than he should have, and ducked his head when the girl looked up again, sending him to evil eye.
Uh oh... oops.
'Oh yeah, I'm always being confused for a Chinese person. Everyone's always like "Hey Devon, that accent sounds so familiar, are you from China?"'

He shook his head, and then in a voice really low, not even a whisper, he leant closer to Taylor, like he was going to say something really serious to her.
'Ssssh, I just got rid of them. I swear there were more this morning than yesterday morning. The library is now my only escape. Its like how a vampire won't go in a church. The books buuuurn.'
The image of him with an army of fangirls was more amusing than anything else that day. In honesty, he wasn't one to attract a load of attention from the opposite gender. Maybe because he was always hiding out somewhere, like the library, or in the Cabin.
'What about you Taylor Brooks? I doubt there's an army of fan girls, but should I be running to hide from the legion of fan boys?'

This is the best thing that could've happened,
Any longer, and I wouldn't have made it,
It's not a war, no, it's not a rapture,
I'm just a person, but you can't take it...

Devon shifted the weight of his own books, keeping a strong grip holding onto them. It would be just his luck for them to fall. Or for him to drop them. Or for both to happen. Hell, it would be just his luck for them to fall, and then just after he'd picked them up (Embarrassed), for him to drop them again.
Cause that is exactly the thing you would do Dev.

Were Taylor's cheeks getting darker? Or was that just him?
Just as he was thinking about it more though, she bowed her head, half hiding it from view. When she looked back up, her cheeks were as normal as they had been two minutes ago.
He had a half-smile pasted on his face while she threw a look over her shoulder, and then started to lean in.
Now, Devon was not a very very tall person. He was the same height as most other guys his age, although there were those few who were much, much taller, or much, much smaller.
So because Taylor was actually smaller than him, he leaned down a little more, and listened to what she breathed into his ear.

When she was done, his smile grew wider, and he pulled back around the same time she did.
Dev felt his own cheeks get slightly warmer than usual at her wink and smirk, and trying to hide it, leant forward like before to whisper once more, softer.
'So we should be safe as long as we're in here, huh?'

This is the best thing that could've happened,
Any longer, and I wouldn't have made it,
It's not a war, no, it's not a rapture,
I'm just a person, but you can't take it...

Devon smiled, and nodded as well.
'For now is good. As they say, don't worry about tomorrow today. In this case, don't worry about angry fangirls slash fanguys until you see an angry fangirl slash fanguy.'

Slowly, the hotness in his cheeks started to subside, although there was still a distinct pinkness which refused to go away. He was over the sudden embarrassed feeling, or whatever it had been, but there was still something at the back of his mind which was keeping the pinkness there, ready to escalate to full blown red again if the chance came up.

He shifted the weight once more, and nodded to what Taylor said about putting them back.
'Agreeing. It would be terrible if a poor Athena Camper came in looking for a book that we were holding, couldn't find it and had a nervous breakdown.'

Devon was happy to accompany Taylor to the shelves and bring the books back. He was happy to dawdle as much as possible in honesty, now he'd found one person who had a very likable personality. He'd hate to leave now and never see her again.
'So. Where do these extremely old, musty, large - and might I add heavy - books go?' he asked, not sure himself.
The first book on his pile was faced with the front of the cover down, so he couldn't read that, and the spine of it was facing out, so he couldn't well grow his neck out and read it. He was relying on Taylor for knowing what shelf they all went on.

This is the best thing that could've happened,
Any longer, and I wouldn't have made it,
It's not a war, no, it's not a rapture,
I'm just a person, but you can't take it...

'Causing a nervous breakdown would defiantly be one to tell the kids thought,' he pointed out, hiding yet another smile.

Devon understood the fact that Taylor was more than likely a sufferer of dyslexia too, and as soon as he saw the unmistakable english scrawled on the cover of the first book, he looked down at his own armful, figuring that while she was working out exactly what it said, he could be looking at one of his own. It took him a second of moving around, and a very close call where the armful of books nearly hit the floor, but he'd soon turned the top book onto the other side, and saw that like Taylor's, his had a handwritten scrawl across the cover, obviously the name of the book.
It took him a couple moments to actually work it out, because not only was his dyslexia making the words seem all mixed up and stuff, the handwriting was dreadful, and just made the whole situation harder.
'How... to... read... a book,' he mouthed, not really believing it.
How to Read a Book? How. To. Read. A. Book. Oh my gods. How can someone just... oh my gods...
Without thinking anymore about it, he simply looked away from the book. The logic was just... he couldn't go there.

Devon smiled at Taylor, her books obviously as idiotic as his own.
What is the point behind Do-It-Yourself books anyways? In the time it takes you to read the book about how to do something, you could have it done.
'You wouldn't believe what the top one in my pile is. So go on, you tell me the ones you read, and I'll tell you mine,' he laughed, knowing that if her books were as illogical as his own, then he'd be there all day guessing.

It was as he started to follow her that Maxime walked around the corner of the book shelf facing them, and spotting him, rushed over.
She was dressed in a pair of black jeans, with a pair of white converse on. Her top was white, and like all of her recent tops, had a witty bit of humour on it. In this case, the top said a jumble of letter which Devon could not for the life of him understand, but could make out "The". (It did in fact say "And Yet, Despite The Look On My Face, You Are Still Talking." It was very unlikely Maxime herself understood what it said, seeing as though she just didn't have the patience for English books). Max wasn't wearing any jacket, although a jumper was tied around her waist.
Her hair was not its usual straight self, which was actually the first thing he had noticed. It was unbelievably curly, and the look on her face said everything: She had not been intending to leave the Cabin with curly hair.

'I need money,' she announced, not keeping her voice down.
She attracted another death stare from a freckly guy sitting at a table about four meters away, and a "Ssssh" from the same girl as earlier.
Devon shook his head, and she pulled the little sister face which had got her what she wanted so many times before.
'Come on Dev! I need money. Please? My straighteners broke, and now my hair is like this and pleeeeeeeease?' she kept her voice down this time, but Max was fully prepared to scream if it would get her the money she needed.
'Maxime... I just gave you money for a new hairdryer....' he said in a whisper, exasperated.

But Maxime's attention had gone from her hair disaster and the straighteners which she needed (Or more likely, wanted). She had noticed the reddish haired girl just a little in front of Devon, and a smile suddenly brightened her features as she took in the scene.
'Hello girl who I don-'
'Taylor Brooks,' Devon supplied helpfully, hoping that the sooner he could get her away, the sooner he and Taylor could get rid of the heavy books.
'Hello Taylor Brooks, girl who I still do not know but will pretend to know seeing as though I am using your name,' Maxime took a big, dramatic breath, and continued, 'I'm Maxime. Devon's girlfriend.'

This is the best thing that could've happened,
Any longer, and I wouldn't have made it,
It's not a war, no, it's not a rapture,
I'm just a person, but you can't take it...

'I make you wanna jump off a cliff?'
'Most of the time, yes.'
'You break my heart sob sob not.'
She'll be lucky to live through today. Any moment I'll snap and push a shelf down on top of her...
Impossible to do, given how large and heavy the library shelves were, but Devon had fun imagining it anyways. His sister was... difficult would be one word for it, although he could think of seven others which were ruder but described her better.

Maxime's smile only grew wider when Taylor dragged her hand across her face, and Devon had to resist the sudden, strong urge to clap her around the back of her head. He had to keep reminding himself that he was holding a few large books which would make quiet a lot of noise if they were dropped. But then, once he'd reminded himself, he had to fight the idea of just dropping the books on her head instead. It was hard to keep his anger at bay when it came to Max.

He smiled wryly to Taylor, and before Maxime could jump in, he tuned her out completely and addressed the red-head.
'Believe me, sometimes I wish she wasn't my sister. Correction: most of the time. This was her idea of a really funny joke, which it evidently wasn't, and she should never, ever, ever do it again,' he gave his younger (and often more annoying) sister a pointed look, daring her to say something.
Her smile fell ever so slightly, but other than that, it was like he had never spoken.

Devon loved his sister, he really did. She was all he had, and the same went for her, so they had a stronger bond they would have if their mother had raised them for the last three years of their life. But she didn't have a trip switch in her brain which told her to shut her mouth and say nothing. She acted before she thought it through, and it often ended in awkward situations.
It also didn't help that she was very different to him, which meant more than they had different favorite colors and tastes in music. (His favorite color was White "Because it goes with everything" and hers was Turquoise "Cause its like the sea duh". He liked all types of music, while she preferred Pop, Rock and Modern.). They both had very different ideas of jokes, as shown with Maxime's prank. He would never have dreamt of doing that to her, but unfortunately, she had done it to him.
Although there's nothing that can be done now other than try ignore her and hope she goes away.

Max smiled brightly to Taylor in response to her attempt at a smile, and Devon silently hoped she would say nothing at all, which was very unlikely.
'Ya know, that's one of the first things I thought when I saw you both. Why on earth are you both carrying very large, and very heavy looking books? I mean okay, sure, you might like reading, but books like that are not for reading. They look like they should be used as bricks to build a library, not as books to be put on shelves.'
He shook his head, and spoke to Taylor as though Maxime hadn't opened her mouth.
'I am agreeing about the obvious message in your statement, which is that these books must be put away on their shelves. Shall we put them away? You can tell me what the titles were,' he made a weak attempt at his light-hearted tone from earlier, and crooked smile, trying to change the whole atmosphere once more.