(no subject)

[hebeimmortalized]

She's . . . probably being really stupid right now. There's no one with her to curb her impulses. She's facing a life-changing moment and there's no one there to tell her Stop, no, this isn't right. She's keenly aware of her heart pumping in her chest, of the blood rushing through her veins. She stares, waiting for something to go wrong.

Waiting for something in her to change.

The library is quiet, and probably no place to be doing this, but she's not sure she dares to at home. Not with Jack and Poison on eggshells, not with Girl there to egg her on — or judge her loudly; she's not sure which she's more afraid of.

The pamphlet stares up at her where it rests on the table between her hands.

So you want to go to college, it says.

This is so stupid.

She looks around surreptitiously, like she's breaking some kind of law just by being here. She's just . . . she just wants a normal life.

Comments

[thatsallthereis]

Gansey had seen this before.

Since beginning his job in the "library" (his job took place anywhere but; however, he was required to log some hours to make it look like he was doing what he was supposedly getting paid to do), many a furtive glance had been cast around the corner of the library entrance. It made sense. What else was there to do in Darrow but get inhabited by third party magic and go to school?

"That pamphlet is very cheesy," Gansey warned, leaning in conspiratorially. "You'd be better off asking questions of a willing party. I'll see if I can find one." His smile indicated that she'd already found him. "I'm Gansey." It was better to talk to this girl rather than sell her on Barton. Some people weren't fit for school: like Ronan. Like Blue. Gansey once had judgement for these types, but it had melted away, like so many other notions of his.

[hebeimmortalized]

"So cheesy," she agrees. She pushes it aside and combs her fingers into her hair. "Gansey? That's . . . not your first name, is it?" She doesn't mean to sound so immediately judgemental: she's a bit cranky, lonely from sitting here and staring at pamphlets that make her feel a little on the dumb side.

[thatsallthereis]

"Correct," Gansey said cheerfully, tucking a hand in one pocket of his chinos. It was a secondary movement now, though it may once have been meticulously practiced. "I prefer just Gansey." There were many reasons for this. Since his name didn't mean anything in Darrow, he was happy to leave it at that.

Her demeanor didn't seem to deter him. He held out a hand and said, "I didn't catch your name."

[hebeimmortalized]

"That makes sense," she says, "since I haven't given it yet." She reaches and grips his hand. "It's Jillie Vincent. Please tell me you have a better pitch than this thing does?" She pulls her hand away from his as soon as they've shaken so she can lift the pamphlet with it. Sure, she could've used the other hand, but.

[thatsallthereis]

Her handshake is desperate, like a person with a lot in her head, but it's also somewhat practiced, skilled. Gansey suspected she came from a family not entirely unlike his own. That did not mean they were alike, but Gansey thought probably everyone was a little alike.

"This is my first term at Barton," Gansey said, propping to half-sit on the edge of a nearby desk. "The wonder hasn't quite warn off yet. That pamphlet reads like the oldest Darrow native wrote it in a fit of boredom.

"Is there something in particular you're looking for? Or would you like some general information?"

[hebeimmortalized]

"Let's start with general," she says, "and we can go from there." She settles to get more comfortable in her seat, though she's willing to get up if he's about to offer her a tour of the campus, or something.

[thatsallthereis]

Gansey nodded. In a way, he was a school historian, but he wasn't keeping track of what they might have thought. He was too young -- many said -- to be doing archival work with no experience, but there he was. That boy who wore colorful clothing and always had a smile and sometimes wore wire-framed glasses that framed his old soul -- wasn't he remarkable? To have taken such a shine to the school's history...

Knowing all that he knew was a cover, of sorts. The superficial research that got to the Good Stuff. No one but he and his professor friend knew that. The way he talked about the history of the hallowed halls, how Gansey can paint it out of ivory when the truth is that no one knows, that was what earned him the access he needed.

"That's all the boring stuff I have to tell you," Gansey said finally, and while he didn't usually go on, he felt the need to with this girl. "Let me show you some of the campus. Which department would you like to visit first?" Maybe if he had an idea of what this girl liked, he could tell her things she would actually find interesting, and not the empty Darrow-from-on-high bullcrap.

[hebeimmortalized]

"The art department," she says with exactly no hesitation. If she does decide to enroll, she's going to want to have at least one art class, whether it's art history or something else. But she wants to see how they handle it here, how they approach it.

[thatsallthereis]

The immediacy of her answer brought a little smile to Gansey's lips. In his life of pursuit, he admired a person who knew what they wanted. Until he'd met Ronan, Gansey hadn't quite felt he belonged anywhere. He was a dotted line on a map, seeking dead Welsh kings while others played in the sprinklers and drove up to mountain ranges to make moves on the girls at neighboring schools. Gansey had spent his time making moves on mountains, playing in libraries, finding something that was not meant to be found. Were he not put to peace by the actions of his friends, he would have felt an aching jealousy.

"One of my very good friends is in the art department," Gansey informed her, standing. "Would you like to see the building? If he's around, I'll introduce you."

[hebeimmortalized]

She nods, pushing up from her seat, as well. She gathers what few papers she has and wrings them in her hands as she follows him out of the library.

"Um, lead the way."