A Book Nerd's Guide to Falling in Love

Chapter 5: Magically Missing

This was petty, but sometimes I get annoyed when people, especially those I thought were not smarter than me, gave better solutions for problems. I didn't want to sound arrogant, but I didn't think Finn knew better than me after saying he was more of an internet guy. But his suggestion to start a petition to save the library was actually good.

So, yes, I was annoyed. I was disappointed with myself that I hadn't thought about it first. But I still took his suggestion into consideration. I wasn't that bitter.

When I got home from school, I went straight to my room, opened my laptop, and googled about petitions. It was a good solution to keep the library open for a couple more years, but it wasn't a permanent one.

"How to start a petition," I said as I typed in the words on the search bar and hit enter.

Several results came. Some were step-by-step guides, and most were links to online petition forms. It seemed simple--create a form and have people sign up.

I opened the first link for an online petition and clicked on the 'start a petition' button. I followed all the instructions until everything was complete in only under fifteen minutes. I read through the form three times and changed its title five times before settling with 'Save Littleton Public Library' and then hitting publish.

"Ok, now all I need is--" I read the requirement, "--one hundred fifty signatures in thirty days to become searchable and--what!" I exclaimed. "One hundred thousand in thirty days to get a response from the government? Are you kidding me?"

Suddenly, the petition solution wasn't so easy anymore.

"Ugh! Ok, ok. Calm down, Elsy," I told myself. "Baby steps. One fifty is achievable, right?"

I opened a new tab and typed on the Google search bar, asking, "What is the success rate of petitions?" The top result came, and I read, "Ninety-nine percent fail to get one hundred thousand."

I took a deep breath. Fifteen minutes of my time preparing the petition went down the drain.

"Not the best suggestion after all, Finn," I said without meaning to, and the boy's dimpled smile flashed in my thoughts. I shook my head, shooing away the image. "Nope, you are not distracting me."

I closed the current tab on the browser and returned to the petition form I published. There were no stats yet, but I needed to get it out so people could start signing it.

I clicked on the copy form link button and composed an email--concise and sweet, asking for a signature to save Littleton Public Library--pasting the link to the petition form at the bottom and signing my full name, Alice Watson.

I hit send and spammed everyone in my contact list, hoping the message would reach people's inboxes.

It was for a reasonable cause. People would understand, right?

Then, I opened all my social media accounts--Facebook, Instagram, X, and TikTok--and started messaging everyone I knew. I also went on Discord and shared the link to every channel I was on. A part of me expected to get kicked out of some channels for it. But it would be worth the trouble if it saved the library.

I received some direct messages saying they'd take a look at the form soon, but only three had signed it.

After four hours, I finished my last message. It was already seven in the evening, and I hadn't had dinner yet. My mother had called me several times, but I asked to skip dinner again to complete homework, a little white lie.

I raised my arms in the air and stretched. "Mmhh... I could use a break." I stood from my chair and walked two steps to a bookshelf beside my bed. It consumed the whole wall from floor to ceiling, where all my favorite novels were shelved--hardbound copies, some sleeved, some naked, and all with beautiful spines.