Misfit by Jon Skovron

Author:Jon Skovron
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Amulet Books
Published: 2011-07-31T16:00:00+00:00

After learning how to harness the power of the elements, Jael thought finding a history textbook wouldn’t be that big of a deal. But she stands in the doorway of the used bookstore on U-Dub campus, and she has no idea how she’s going to find this book. There are no neatly organized aisles, no alphabetical order by author. Instead, bookcases are unlabeled and rest at odd angles, some of them close to tipping over, and all of them are crammed full.

She sees a guy stocking shelves, just tossing stuff randomly into the bookcases. It doesn’t seem like he’s being lazy, though. It’s like he’s purposefully being random. He looks like a college student—that scruffy scholar type—a little unshaven, with shoulder-length black hair.

“Excuse me,” she says.

The stack of books in his arms tumbles to the floor.

“Oh, sorry!” she says.

“Um,” he says as he juggles the few books he’s managed to hold on to. “Don’t worry … it’s … let me just …”

She reaches out and takes the books. He smiles at her.

“Thanks,” he says.

“It was my bad anyway,” she says.

He bends down and scoops up the fallen books. “No, no, I’m trying to learn how to be more flexible.”

“Oh yeah?” she says. “I could use a lesson in that.”

“I think a lot of people could,” he says as he takes the last of the books from her and slides them onto a shelf. “So …” Now he seems to look at her for the first time. His eyes are a piercing pale blue, like a desert sky. “Do you need help with something?”

“Uh, yeah,” Jael says. “I can’t seem to figure out how to find anything in this place. I was hoping you might be able to point me in the right direction.”

“Sure, what are you looking for?”

“Uh …” She suddenly feels like the dorky high school kid she is. “My, uh … history textbook.”

He doesn’t seem fazed. Maybe he assumed she’s in high school. That’s almost worse.

“Do you have the title and the edition?” he asks.

“The book’s in my bag …,” she says. Then she realizes that she’ll have to pull it out and show him. She wishes she’d just tried to look for the book herself, but it’s too late now. She pulls the book out and hands it to him.

“Ah,” he says as he stares at the large burn hole.

She’s not sure why she cares what this random guy in a bookstore thinks, but suddenly she’s blushing.

“It was an accident,” she says.

“I kind of assumed that,” he says. Then he grins, like he understands completely. “Come on. Let’s go hunting for books.”

He leads her through the maze of shelves and she’s glad she asked for help after all. It would have taken her hours to find anything. But he takes her directly to the textbook section, cleverly hidden behind the romance section. In just a few minutes, he’s located the correct edition. He pulls it from the shelf, looks at the glossy picture of the bald eagle on the front, and smirks.

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