#Chapter 99: Rain

Ardal “Ardal, your boyfriend’s looking for you.” I spin around to see Meg. Her auburn hair is spilling out of messy braids underneath her yellow umbrella. I bristle immediately. “He knows where I’m at! Or would, if he bothered to listen.” Meg shrugs awkwardly, not expecting my disgruntled response. “He’s in the library,” she says, raising an eyebrow. I huff and start off, cringing as she calls out, “Nice poncho!” Boiling over internally, I stomp halfway across campus tramping through puddles and slick mud in my sneakers as fat rain droplets fall onto my face. I arrive at the library, heave open the heavy door, and attempt to dry my shoes on a drenched mat before I pull down the hood of the black plastic cape. Water is dripping off of it and pooling at my feet. I can’t shake off the water like an umbrella, so in an absurd effort to keep it from continuously dripping, I take a couple of springy jumps onto the mat. Where is he? My sneakers squeak as I march through rows of books