The boy found it hard to study, with the thrash metal band playing on the front steps of the library. A sea of gyrating, black-clad, angst-ridden adolescents stretched all the way out into the street, creating a traffic jam for miles in either direction. Waves of greasy black (naturally or otherwise) hair swept from the back of the crowd to the front, sending a light spray of sweat onto the front of the makeshift stage. The speakers were the size of conversion vans. Roar. Boom. Indistinct rumble.

The librarian asked him something over the din. She was wearing a purple blouse with a yellow skirt. Her horned eyeglasses had purple rims, with sparkles. She asked him again. He nodded in the affirmative without ever knowing exactly what she said. Smiling, she walked out the front door. There was a screech from the giant speakers, and then a hushed, stunned silence.

The front door swung open gracefully, and the librarian practically skipped back to the circulation desk, carrying a Flying V guitar with the neck broken in half. The boy smiled. Let her savor the fleeting moment of rock star glory.

With a collective groan of disappointment, the crowd outside dispersed.

A few minutes into the renewed silence, the boy stood and looked around the library, disoriented.

Shit, there's only so much you can read before you have to break something.

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Next: Coda 2 - Party