Sometimes, Chloe Ketchum felt like the only sixteen years old teen standing on this planet who had some common sense.

Honestly, she couldn't relate to people her age. She couldn't relate to their desire to have sex with strangers, drive unsafely, drink until passing out, do drugs - Mollies or whatever. She couldn't see the fun in putting your life in danger or giving yourself sexually transmitted diseases.

Chloe was an avid dancer. She loved dancing, high heels, practicing yoga with her mother, makeup tutorials and baking. Anything else can go straight to the trash bi-

"Holy shit!"

Chloe shoved to the side when she saw a trash bin coming toward her. It was empty but still! "Hey!"

"Loosen up, sis!" The huge crowd laughing was hiding her big brother, but she could hear him shout. "It's Friday night!"

Chloe sighed heavily and sat on the chair. Did her parents have to leave her with her Kevin? Did they really trust him when he said he wasn't going to be throwing any parties? Kevin breathes parties! Just because he was eighteen doesn't mean he's changed from the high schooler he was.

Since sleeping wasn't the option, Chloe thought she could hide in her father's study until this torture is over. She could always hope that her parents would get home early than expected and find their house full of hormonal college freshmen, but Kevin was too lucky for that to happen.

"Would your sister date me, Kev?"

"Who knows? Ask her out!"

"You're saying all that beauty doesn't have a boyfriend?"

Yes, her father's study is really the best refuge at the moment.

The door was open.

Chloe and Kevin closed the door. She was sure. Well, they didn't lock it, but usually, they didn't need to.

"Hey!" Chloe opened the door wide. "Stop it right there!"

"Aah!" A guy was standing against the wall got so startled he dropped the book he was reading.

"What are you doing in my dad's office?" Chloe snapped. "Get out!"

"No no! It's not what you think! I didn't touch anything!" The guy assured.

Chloe got inside quickly. She looked over her father's desk. Everything looked in order. Her dad always locked the drawers before going on business trips so she didn't have to worry about confidential paperwork or money.

She looked at the guy. "This is my father's study! Get out! You're not allowed here!"

"I-I know..." He chuckled nervously.

"I'm not trying to be funny."

"I know - that reaction - it wasn't because you were funny."

"Okay, good." Chloe gestured to the door. "Get out."

The guy wasn't reacting.

"What are you waiting for?" She was starting to get angry. "I'm telling you to leave my dad's study!"

"Uh, eh, I'm - I'm Martin." He extended his hand for Chloe. "I know you - I mean, I saw you when you came to see Kevin in campus..."

Chloe blinked. "Are you for real right now?"

He stepped to the back when she tried to reach for his arm to drag him out.

"I don't want to go out there." Martin did his nervous chuckle again. "I'm not here for that..."

Well, the guy didn't look like he was having fun partying. He wasn't smelling like alcohol and his eyeballs looked... normal. He wasn't under any drugs. He seemed to be okay.

Chloe looked at the ground - the book he dropped earlier. She picked it up.

Martin smiled nervously. "Uh..."

Chloe put the book back in her father's library. She turned around. "This is my father's library. You can't touch this."

"I'm sorry, couldn't help it..." He rubbed his hands together, the large hems of his hoodie hiding his palms.

She turned to look him up and down. "What were you doing here exactly?"

Martin licked his lips. "It's hard for me to lie to a pretty girl like you..."

"Oh, no, don't even go there."

"Can you blame me for trying?"

"Yeah. You shouldn't try." Chloe nodded. "Now, if you excuse me, you need to f*ck off."

"So," Martin smiled in a way Chloe didn't like. "Is your name after Chloris?"

Chloe's eyes shot wide.

"Like, they didn't want to name you Chloris because it really sounds like Clorox, so they went with Chloe - Chloe is a really pretty name too - pretty like you..."

Chloe crossed her arms over her chest. "Stop. It."

Martin shrugged. "I couldn't find the part for Kevin's-"

"That's not included." Chloe smiled. She wasn't even sure why. "There are no hints about his name on the books."

"Right." Martin chuckled.

"Of course there is a story, but I don't need to tell you about it." Chloe stood against her father's desk. "And Chloris is like Clorox, but that's not why mom and dad didn't pick it. Grandma told them it's like cholera."

"That's even worse." He laughed a little. "But it's a really beautiful name - sadly."

"No, I'm glad my name is not Chloris." She shrugged. "I love it, but I don't want it to be my name."

"She's a goddess." Martin was starting to get at ease. "Had a flowery breath, was beautiful too - like you."

"I'm not going to date you."

"I just - I can try, right?"

Chloe sighed heavily. She looked down, smiling to herself.

"I came here for the library." He gestured to Ash's books. "I came looking for this."

"You could have asked instead of sneaking in." She looked up. "And you need to pick - either the library, either hitting on me. I'm going to be dealing with you depending on your goal here."

Martin rubbed his hands. "You never left my mind since the day I saw you at campus."

"Choose."

"But I really want to check the books out." He put his hand on the books. "I love your father's books."

Chloe cocked her head. She sat on her father's dark wooden desk. "Do you?"

"Read what I could find." Martin sat on the ground and looked at the large library set against the wall, stuffed with books. "They're hard to find."

"You came to this party so you can actually check my father's books and library?"

"To see you too, but you don't want to hear any of that, so..."

"No, I don't." Chloe said. "I wouldn't go with any guy from Kevin's circle. You're all just deprived college guys."

Martin smiled. "We're not all like that, you know."

"Sure. That's why all of you are following my Instagram."

"Look, you really are a good dancer - you're really talented! And - and you have this - this..." Martin tilted his head as he held his hands up, drawing in the air what seemed like hips for Chloe. "Well, you dance, so..."

Sometimes, Chloe felt perplex about her body. She wasn't sure if she should feel great about taking after her aunt Bridget or not, especially that, at sixteen, she was already the same cup size as her mother (and she still had a long way to go according to Bridget herself).

"I'm not a pervert, I swear." He frowned. "I'm just saying you have a beautiful body."

Chloe got off the desk. "I'm not dating you and you still need to get the hell out of my dad's study."

"No, wait!" Martin got up. "I need the third book."

"What?"

"I need the third book of your father's last novel." Martin gulped. "I-I don't have it."

"Quit lying. It was just one whole book."

"No! There is this other edition - it's actually separated into three small books." Martin explained. "I couldn't find the third part."

"You're a pain in the ass, you know that?"

"I get often told that."

"Where do you want me to find it in this maze?" Chloe gestured to her father's library. "My dad has been collecting for this library since the age of nine! Do you have an idea how old is he now?"

"We can look together. It's kind of romantic, too."

Chloe walked toward the door and gestured outside. "Get out, asshole."

"It could be like a date in the library." Martin nodded, hands in his pants' pockets.

"No. Get out."

"Look, I stopped at the college part - I want to know what happens next!"

Chloe laughed. She couldn't help it. "Oh, God, I just..."

Martin smiled.

"What happens next?" Chloe got back inside. "You want to know what happens next?"

"Yes."

"Okay." Chloe turned to look at the library. "My dad must have the first edition - the copy that has the three parts."

"I'm fine with that."

Chloe scanned with her eyes. She and Martin seemed to reach for the same book at the same time.

"Don't do that." Chloe slapped his hand away.

"I'm sorry. It's just a romantic library cliché I've been dying to try."

"I don't care, okay?" She looked him in the eye. "Don't touch me and don't stand too close."

"Sure." He pulled away from Chloe and started looking for the book. "Is there a perimeter I have to respect?"

"Just stay there." Chloe was checking the low shelves. "Check the top shelves."

"Is your father a giant?" Martin was getting on his toes to reach the top shelves. "These are so high."

"No. He and Kevin are the same height." Chloe passed her finger through the books, checking the titles.

"Kevin is a giant..." Martin mumbled.

"Or maybe you're just too short." She threw at him.

"I'm average - not too short." He glanced at her. "Or do you only go out with giant guys?"

"I don't go out with anyone. I don't feel the need to." She snapped. "And stop trying to start a conversation."

"That's not what I was trying to do. I wanted to know if you're really single. I find it hard to believe you're not seeing anyone."

Chloe groaned. She grabbed a book and threw it at Martin, who caught it.

"Oh."

She walked toward him and pointed at his chest. "You've got your book now, you thirsty animal - now leave this study!"

Martin looked at the cover. It was The Last Book. He opened it.

"Nuh uh, you're not reading it here. Get the hell out." She pushed him.

"Can I keep it, then?"

"What? No!" Chloe slapped his arm. "That's my father's copy! You're not taking it anywhere!"

"You don't want me to read it here and you don't want me to take it to campus...?"

Chloe glared.

"Give the book back."

"No!" Martin hid it behind his back. "I'm dying to read it!" He pointed at Chloe. "Here is a deal: I'm going to give it back to you when you come to campus."

Chloe had a bad feeling about this. "I don't come all the time..." And worse, she couldn't trust Kevin with her dad's book. He was careless about his own books, let alone others'.

"I'm..." Martin smirked a small one. "I'm going to call you once I'm done from it."

"How can I make sure you're going to?"

"By giving me your phone number?"

Chloe grabbed him from the collar of his hoodie without even thinking one second.

-

Chloe was in the living room, watching an eye shadow tutorial on the pad. Her phone started to vibrate on the table but she wasn't reacting to it.

"Hey sweetie, do you have a second?" Misty came in the living room. She was dressed up. "We're going to see the Oaks and I need the face looking decent." She showed her the makeup bag.

"I need to get paid for this." Chloe paused the video and grabbed her mother's makeup bag.

After Misty sat on the couch, she noticed the phone vibrating on the table. "Someone is calling you."

"They'll eventually stop." Chloe started spreading the moisturizing lotion with a brush.

"You can come with us."

"No, thanks." She's added Gary's sons to her list of deprived college guys a long time ago. It was a bad sign when a guy got along very well with her brother.

"Leaf asks about you every time we show up without you. She's a big fan."

"We understand each other, boobs wise." Chloe applied the blush and then a bit of eye-shadow. Misty laughed.

"Hey." Ash came in the living room. "I need to interrupt this. I haven't eaten anything so I can eat at Gary's, so hurry up."

"That was a very important conversation we were having." Chloe narrowed her eyes.

"You have eyeliners in your hands. It can't be more important than food." His eyes landed on Chloe's phone screen. "Who's this Martin who's calling?"

Misty turned to look at Chloe.

"Nobody." Chloe shrugged.

"He's clearly not a nobody. He exists. He's calling you."

"Okay, fine, he's someone." She stuffed the makeup in the bag and gave it to Misty. "But he's not important."

Ash smiled. "That means he is."

"That wasn't an antiphrasis." Chloe assured. Her father read too much between the lines and even under the lines - never the lines themselves.

"Your mom and I both know you'd never give your phone number to a guy if he didn't mean something to you. I mean, I can expect from Kevin to go around and just hit on every girl he meets but you're not like that."

Misty nodded quickly.

Chloe shrugged. "You can't force me to speak."

"I do conferences, Chloe. I could stay here and just tease you endlessly until you speak because that's what I'm really good at, but I'm really hungry and I need to get to Gary's house." Ash chuckled and grabbed his keys from the table. "Come on, Mist."

"I want all the details when I'm back!" Misty pointed at her before she and Ash headed out of the house.

"These parents just want to stuff their noses in everything..." Chloe mumbled. She grabbed her phone and noticed Martin's several calls as well as messages.

She called him.

Sorry I called too many times! I got a bit worried...

"It's a Sunday and I'm home." Chloe rolled her eyes.

How would I know?

"Well, you wouldn't." Chloe sighed. "So, where is the book? It's a matter of time before dad finds out it's missing."

Really? I was thinking of rereading the whole thing! It's just so good...

Martin has been trying to keep this book using all possible ways and she knew that. When she went to campus last weekend with her mom to bring Kevin some supplies, Martin told her he forgot the book in his parents' house. Way before, he said his roommate locked his side of the closet and the book was inside it.

Chloe wasn't stupid.

"Look, idiot," she began. "It's fine. You can let the book go. I'm not going to stop talking to you after you give it back."

Are you honest?

"I am."

I wish I could record this.

"That's so creepy!"

I'm just so happy, you know? This book could reunite us!

"Are you really an adult?" Chloe laughed. This Martin guy was so dreamy.

According to the numbers.

"Okay, brat. I'm coming to campus next weekend so you better get that book ready." Chloe looked down at her pink manicured hand. "And you better book a nice place. I'm fancy. I eat pizza with a fork."

Are you kidding me? I've been saving up for that day since the party!

"You idiot."

This is Chloris the goddess, after all!

Maybe that's what her father meant when he always said that the Greek gods were after their family.

Yeah, maybe.