M // Preciously Fancy
1622 Words
A FEW WEEKS had gone by. It was lunch hour, and I couldn’t help but go to the library. I just wanted to relax and find something good to read in there.
I couldn’t help but inside and take notice of my surroundings. It was simply beautiful. The inside was quite large, with its woodsy architecture and maple smelling air. There were books stacked along these dark brown shelves, all of them were ranging from classics to romance. I walked over to one of the shelves, placing my fingers onto the books, feeling the spines from my fingertips.
“You must really like feeling these books, huh?” That voice. I could easily tell who it was.
“Marquis!” I whipped around to see him, only for me to hit my head a bit. “OW!”
“. . .You okay?”
“Yeah! I’m fine, I am good to go!” I replied, covering my head with my hand.
“Are you sure? Here, let me check to see if you’re bleeding.” Marquis grabbed my hand and gently took it off my head to see if anything, marks or a cut, was on it.
“Well?”
He smiled. “You’re good to go! Sorry if I was being-”
“Touchy?” I questioned.
“Yeah, yeah that! I couldn’t help myself, you know? I just wanted to see if you were okay and everything, you know?” Marquis flubbed his words a bit, and I couldn’t help but chuckle.
“You know,” I explain, “for you being part of the Bad Gentlemen’s Club and all, you seem to be the nicest person in that club.”
“Yeah, but we all have problems in that club. I’m glad you’re going to help us out Bartleby.”
“No problem, really.” I replied back. “By the way…”
“Yeah?”
“Your book?”
Marquis took notice of the book that was in his hands and looked over to see it. He then turned back to look at me. “Yeah, and?”
“Well,” I couldn’t help but shrug, “it’s Jane Austen.”
“So? It’s Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen!” Marquis exclaimed. “Have you read this work by her?”
I shook my head. “Nope. I’ve read Pride and Prejudice as well as Emma. I really enjoyed Emma the most. The relationship and development between George Knightley and Emma Woodhouse is simply stunning.”
“I know right! I enjoyed it too!” Marquis clutched the book tightly and close to his hands, giggling a little bit like that of an excited schoolgirl.
“But,” I began, “guys liking Jane Austen? Marquis, you’re great and all, but what if the other Bad Gentlemen find out? How would they react?”
Marquis went silent. He moved close and whispered, “Meet me after school.”
I agreed with him as the sound of the bell rang off, getting us to go to our next class.
●●●
After school came by quickly. I took notice of Marquis in the library once more, as I walked up to him and saw him standing by one of the shelves, it was a shelf dedicated to all the classic literary novels.
“Why the hell did you bring me over here for?” I asked.
Again, Marquis didn’t say anything to me at all. He just pointed to a book. “Which book is this? And who’s the author.”
“That’s i-”
“By last name, if you will.” Marquis looked at me with a slight grin, and I just huffed. I walked over to where the book was, glanced at it for a brief moment, then looked back up at Marquis.
“Kerouac. On The Road.”
He pointed at the next book, I saw it, then looked at Marquis.
“Shelley. Frankenstein.”
The cycle that started to happen between us began again.
“Dickens. Great Expectations.”
And again.
“Alcott. Little Women.”
And again.
“Hawthorne. Scarlet Letter.”
And again.
“Kafka. The Metamorphosis.”
We went through the whole shelf, doing the cycle the Marquis and I had come up with together onto each classic book, me saying the author's surname and their book name.
“Why are we doing this Marquis?” I questioned. “I need to know.”
“I’ll tell you.” Marquis pulled out a chair for himself, and I did the same for myself. The two of us sat down in our respective chairs and I placed my hand onto my cheek, waiting for his response.
“So? What is it?”
“It’s what you said to me earlier today. The Jane Austen thing and-”
I interrupted, “You made me go through the classic shelves and say their titles and authors all because of Jane Austen? That’s why?”
“Well, if I remember correctly, you did say that guys like Jane Austen is a bad thing and-”
“I didn’t really say anything of the sort though.” I retorted back. “All I did was say how would the Bad Gentlemen’s Club react to you reading it.”
Marquis chuckled. “Tell me, Bartleby, have you ever read Northanger Abbey?”
“No. No I haven’t.” I replied.
“Okay then, tell me this,” Marquis explained, “when you think of the word ‘gothic’, which classic author pops up into your mind?”
Instant response. “Easy!” I replied. “The Brontes. Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights are both examples of gothic literature! Mary Shelley too, but that’s for another time.”
“Anyway,” Marquis continued, “Northanger Abbey is a book that Austen wrote in 1803, but it wasn’t out until after her death in 1817. It parodies and satires gothic literature. The story follows a woman named Catherine Morland and she stays with this family in Bath. But anyway, she ends up meeting Henry Tinley and is invited to stay at his estate, Northanger Abbey. I don’t want to spoil anything else, but the story gets pretty interesting.”
“I’ll check it out from you one of these days.” I got up from where I was sitting and began to make by way towards the front of the library entrance, Marquis followed me from behind.
“Anything else you wanted to ask me?”
“Yeah, I do.” I replied.
Marquis moved past me and opened the door. His eyes looked towards mine. “What would that be exactly?”
I covered my mouth, preventing myself from chuckling. Marquis was definitely acting like a gentlemen to me right now. A kind gentlemen though.
“Well, what do you like about Jane Austen. Her works, I mean.”
Marquis came out of the library, and we were both inside the hallway. The two of us decided to walk and talk our way on out.
“I find them quite fancy.” Marquis stated. “Her works are quite near and dear to me almost, I’ve read them since my 9th year here at Crossburrow Academy. I mainly kept it secret though, but here I am now, telling you about it three years later. Honestly, it feels good to get it out and tell it to someone I can trust. Austen’s works can be described as, hmm, I’d say preciously fancy!” He smiled.
“Preciously fancy huh? Not bad of a way to describe her works! I guess.” I replied, a bit confused by what he meant.
“Anyway, I should get going. You know, homework and stuff. I’ll see you sometime again soon alright?” Marquis said this while I nodded my head, agreeing with what he said.
“That’s fine!”
“Good! See you!” Before I could say anything to Marquis, he ran past me in the hallway. And I just watched him go.
●●●
Fifteen minutes had passed, and I was still wandering in the hallway.
“s**t!” I said to myself. “I should really get going right now.”
I kept walking in the hallway, making turns left and right just to get out of the school. But then, I heard a voice.
“Mmm...mmm….”
At first, I thought it was just someone eating their food and enjoying it. But the more closer I got to the sound, I heard something that caught me completely offguard: Moaning. It was soft and s****l.
I looked up to see the classroom I was outside of and listened in closely. This must be it.
I peeked in to see Ezekiah, making out with some girl, obviously the girl is a student here at the academy because of their uniform.
“Hey!” I shouted, quickly covering my mouth as I ducked back to the front. Talk about embarrassing.
“Hey…”
I turned to see Ezekiah and said girl with his arm around her neck. His dark green eyes felt like they pierced through me, in a bad way.
Ezekiah’s voice got low. “Were you interrupting?”
Shit. I got caught.
- Writer
