Chapter Text
His hand ran over countless spines of books, book after book, shelf after shelf.
Arlo could've browsed every section of the bookstore before the infamously late Rei arrived with his sister.
But he stuck by the discounted section, for no reason at all except for curiosity, which rarely trapped him with its persistent grip.
Arlo sighed and crouched to the lowest shelf, tracing the letters of the first book he could find. It was hardcover; with a strange cover and an even stranger title. Rock Bottom.
He figured it was probably another book written by a groveling low-tier who aspired to make a change in the world's system. Those types of people, he was taught, were delusional, and jealous of people born with power. And obviously, people born with power always win— therefore, they are always right.
The book wasn't worth his time. It was probably displayed on the shelves of the store in a last-minute attempt to make more money.
He moved to the next.
Ten minutes later, Rei still didn't show up with his energetic bubble of a sister.
Ten minutes later, Arlo gave up with a sigh and regarded all discounted books as obscure bullshit written by some random low-tier who did not understand the world's hierarchy.
Again, not worth his time.
And five more minutes later, Rei finally shot him a text message explaining every nook and cranny of the traffic, the rain, and how he forgot his wallet at his dormitory. He had dropped by Arlo's school only seconds after the first day of his second year ended, and insisted on inviting him to the local mall to celebrate his "coronation."
Arlo could only scoff at such a thing, since Rei had left the hierarchy in pieces after he had graduated. So much that Arlo being the new King of the school had become such a trivial event that it could not make any significant change within the school's state at all.
Regardless, he agreed to the plan. And that was why Arlo was obliged to respond to the other's atrociously punctuated text message.
Rei : sry there was rain
and u know rain = mroe trafic ughhh 😭😭😭
the red car next ot me has their windows roled down tf
uhhh ok man !!
remi wants boba sooooooooo ill see u at the bookstore ig
then we can head out to woaba
wait i forgto my wallet D: wtf whyyyyyy
gotta double back smh
sry asslo
a
a
a
google maps says theres liek 5 minutes left or smth
see u at 4:30 ig???? im legit crying rn why me lifeeeeeeeeee
oops its green light ttyl
remi says hi btw
Arlo lifted an eyebrow at Rei's message, and began deciphering it. The unsightly grammar had been extremely bothersome at first, but he had gotten more familiar with the acronyms both Rei and Remi used, and the siblings' revolting grammar had been reduced, in his mind, to nothing more but a mere annoyance.
He began typing.
Arlo: It's not like I have anywhere to go.
Satisfied with his succinct reply, he tucked his device into his pocket and went back to browsing the multitude of books the store had to offer.
Books that were worth his time— books in the bestseller section.
For a while, his hands wandered aimlessly across several shelves, before he stopped at a peculiar back cover.
Unordinary.
Simplistic— a washed out red back with a blue spine which had the equally washed out golden letters on it.
He hadn't enough time to flip the book over to see the cover and the author's name, let alone skim the book before another loud buzz from his phone startled him again.
Rei : almost there :D yayyy
Arlo checked the time again. 4:27.
A few minutes later, Rei burst into the store with Remi close behind him.
Startled, Arlo's hand swiped the book across the checkout, not noticing the discount box that flashed across the screen as he paid for it, all in a whirl of confusion.
He didn't pay attention to the other books in the discounted section.
He didn't notice that the book had been displaced from the exact same discounted section that he'd deemed unacceptable at the time.
He didn't notice that, on his receipt, the book was only two dollars instead of the ten dollars it was supposed to be.
And finally, he didn't observe well enough, that the book was called Unordinary, by W. H. Doe.
Unordinary, which would soon cause countless conspiracies and uprisings.
Unordinary, which would soon start a huge surge of vigilante, and the rise of a shadow organization called EMBER...