42 Shes a Doctor? (1/2)
”You play too, Valeria?”, Michael asked, surprised.
”What's wrong with that?”, she replied defensively.
Michael shook his head and raised his hands. ”Nothing! It's just surprising as it's not a hobby too many people our age have. I think it's awesome.”
”Actually, that totally makes sense, considering your princess persona,” Jeremy interjected. ”Oh wait, that's not right - it should be--”
”Jeremy Ben-David, if you finish that sentence I will end you,” Valeria threatened chillingly.
”I wouldn't dream of it,” he said with a grin. Clearly he wasn't nervous.
Michael decided to ignore the final exchange between the two of them, since the subject was unfamiliar to him. His experiences with the System had made him clearly understand that everyone had their secrets. If he didn't want people prying into his, it was only fair that he left others theirs. He opened the door and entered the library, holding it open behind him for his friends.
They continued their back and forth before being shushed by a student who happened to be in the stacks nearby, at which point their back and forth continued in significantly more hushed tones.
Mr. Maddox was standing at the main desk and saw Michael walking in. ”Ah, Mr. Prout. Just in time - I have some students coming in for assistance shortly. Can you keep an eye on the desk for now, and then get back to the periodicals after final period?”
Michael smiled and nodded. ”No problem Mr. Maddox. As for the students - I believe it's my friends here,” he said as he indicated the bickering pair behind him, who finally stopped long enough to greet the librarian.
”Ah! Friends of my young assistant Mr. Prout, are you? Well then - far be it from me to show preferential treatment, but let's go take a look at your work and see where we get, shall we?”, Mr. Maddox said, smiling and extending his hand towards one of the long tables.
Michael excused himself and went to stand behind the desk, helping a few students who had started to line up. As soon as there was a lull, he searched through the library's catalogue for any books on chess, and was quite please to find that there were almost a dozen of them. He started to retrieve them in between stints at the desk and had soon amassed another small pile.
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On his way to retrieve something from his office, Mr. Maddox peered over the side and noticed them. ”And what is the subject of our perusal today, Mr. Prout?”
His voice startled Michael out of his scanning of one of the texts, who looked up sheepishly. ”Chess, sir,” he said apologetically.
”Chess, eh? An excellent subject. A number of fine works have been written on it,” the Librarian commented, nodding sagely.
”Do you play, sir?”, Michael inquired.
”Heavens no. Why do something so vulgar when you could read about it instead?”, the librarian responded as he left, shaking his head in consternation.
Michael gaped at the retreating figure. ”Isn't that the opposite of what people normally say?”
---
Since the two boys had Algebra together the next period, the three of them left the library at the same time, bidding farewell to Mr. Maddox with Michael confirmed that he would be back after school despite it being Friday.
Valeria parted with them at the stairs, since the music room was also on the first floor. When Jeremy and Michael got to their classroom, they once again saw Ms. Blackice's assistant Richard at the front. When the young man saw the two, he signaled to Michael to come up to the front. Jeremy snickered and went to his desk.
”I heard from Doctor Blackice that you'll be competing in the Mathematics competition before the break?”, the red-handed graduate student began. When Michael nodded, he returned the gesture with a satisfied expression. ”Not bad. I was a member of the team in my freshman year, too. She wanted me to pass you these old copies of the material so you could study. Don't let us down!”
Michael accepted them gratefully before realizing what the substitute teacher had said. ”Wait, Ms. Blackice is a doctor?”
Richard smirked. ”Several times over. Pretty impressive, right? You mustn't be too bad if she thinks well of you. She's never wrong. Well , almost never.”
His face turned gloomy for a brief second before recovering. ”Anyway, class will start soon. Let me know if you have any questions, I'll be here for the next couple of weeks, as far as I know.”