“If you say anything with enough confidence, it’s true, right?”

“I can get behind that.” She pulled a book down. “There’s always the summaries on the backs. Those are sort of helpful.” She began reading the back of the book she held in an English accent.

“Is the writer of that one British?” I asked.

“I just assume all the writers of classic literature are British.” She shrugged. “But more importantly, I do a killer British accent.”

“You really do.”

“Wow, that sounded vain. I promise I’m not vain.” She bit her lip. “Is that the kind of promise vain people make?”

I let out a single laugh and held out my hand for the book. “I have to get that book now.”

She handed it to me.

“A Tale of Two Cities, by Dickens,” I read off the cover.

“Aha!” She patted the book. “See. It was a safe bet.”

My phone buzzed in my pocket. Saaaavvvveeee me! It was a text from Cooper.

I tucked the two books I now had (one for me, one for Cooper) under my arm and typed back. Just tell your parents you want to leave their party.

Can’t. They’ll be disappointed. You’ve seen their disappointed faces.

You need to go into the army. I hear it makes you a man.

Lacey slid Frankenstein off the shelf and waved at me with it. “It was nice to meet you. I hope you enjoy A Tale of Two Cities.”

“Thanks.” I pointed to her book. “You too.”

She walked away, and I dialed Cooper’s number. He answered. “Hello.”

“I ran out of gas.”

“Abby, why would you do a thing like that? Don’t you pay attention to your gas gauge? It’s that little one right above the steering wheel.”

“Watch it or I’ll hang up right now.”

He laughed. “Of course I’ll come save you, even though I’m right in the middle of my dad’s really cool work party. You should see it, they have live singers and everything.”

“Sounds amazing.”

“What’s this group called again, Dad?”

A deep voice said something I couldn’t understand.

“The Patriotic Quartet. There’s four of them and they walk around the party only singing patriotic songs.”

“I would’ve never guessed that by their name,” I said, heading for the checkout. A few people shot me looks on my way, and I guessed I was being too loud for the library.

“I know.”

“And it’s not even the Fourth of July,” I said, quieter this time.

“Barely two weeks. Imagine how booked they are for that day.”

“Would you rather have to listen to only quartets for the rest of your life or screeching cats?”

“That’s a hard one. But quartets, I think. Unless they can only sing patriotic songs. Then the cats.”

“I’m getting our books now. Are you going to come rescue me and my empty gas tank or not?”

“Abby ran out of gas,” Cooper’s muffled voice said. He was obviously relaying the message to his dad. “I have her on the phone and can ask her exactly where she is. Otherwise we have the Find Your Friend app on each other’s phones.”

His dad must’ve asked what that was, because he said, “It’s like a GPS thing that lets me track her phone. What? Yes, it’s safe. You don’t let strangers track you, just your friends.” Back to me he said, “My dad doesn’t know what Find Your Friend is.”

“I figured.”

“I’ll be right there.”

“My hero,” I said dryly.

“See you in a bit.”

“I’ll be back at my house. No need to use the app.”

“Copy.”

I hung up and handed my books to the librarian.

“These are due in two weeks,” she said with a smile.

“Thanks.”

She used a wand to scan the barcode on the covers. “These are character-building books. They’ll make you think.”

“That’s what I’m hoping for.”

I hoped they built character fast, because it felt like the clock was ticking.

TEN

The next day Cooper and I sat in my room reading our books.

“Was work any better today?” Cooper was lying on the floor. He’d rested Crime and Punishment on his chest and had his hands grasped behind his head. He looked so at ease in my room that it seemed like he should be a permanent fixture there.

From up on my bed, I responded, “Nope. Ticket counter again. Tina got the floor. Tina doesn’t even like the floor.”

“Stupid Tina.”

“I know!” I sighed and turned the page of my book.

Cooper was silent for several long moments, then asked, “Would you rather have to read only that book for the rest of your life or only be able to watch one movie for the rest of your life?”

“That’s hard. I love movies, but I can’t imagine never being able to pick up another book either.”

“I know.”

“I don’t think I can give up movies. I’m visual,” I said.

“I don’t think I can either.” He held up his book. “You want to switch?”

“Switch? I’m on chapter six.” We’d started reading the day before, after he’d “rescued” me. And I was actually enjoying Charles Dickens. The language was hard to get into at first, but I felt like I was starting to understand. It was an interesting story that brought to life some of the things we’d studied in world history about the French Revolution.

“Let’s summarize what we’ve read so far and then switch for the next hour. Double the depth, right?”

I laughed. “Okay.” I Frisbeed the book to him. “Oh. I forgot to tell you I ran into Lacey Barnes at the library yesterday.”

“Zit cream girl?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve never talked to her before. Does she really use that zit cream? Does it help?” He ran his hand over the side of his face, where he must’ve had a blemish. I couldn’t see one. Cooper had nice skin but, like me, broke out on occasion.

“She doesn’t use it. She has perfect skin.”

“Figures,” he said. “What’s she like?”

“Really nice, actually. And not vain at all.”

“What does that mean?”

“You don’t know what vain means?”

“I know what vain means, but why did you bring it up?”

“Nothing. Inside joke.”

“You already have an inside joke with Lacey Barnes?”

I almost said I had been kidding but then realized “Yes, I do.”

“There you go oozing your charm again, Abby.”

I threw a pillow at him and he laughed, then tossed me his book. It landed next to me on the bed. He picked up the book I’d thrown him and reclined back.

“Wait. Summary.” We each summarized what we had read so far and then began reading from the books we now held. I wasn’t sure how much time had passed when my mom knocked on the frame of my open door.

“Have the classics swallowed you both whole or would you like to eat dinner?”