Molly Stevenson skipped along the street, book in hand, humming her favourite song. This afternoon was another meeting of her book club. She loved book club, not just because she was the one to start it all up, but also because of the different personalities it attracted, which were far and few between. This month’s group only had four members, including her. But she loved it nonetheless.

  Molly swung open the door of the small green building they were using to hold their meetings, to notice that the rest of the group were already there, waiting for her.

  “Wow, look at that” said the dark-skinned girl with an iPad on her lap.

  This was Tyra Nolan. Tyra was Molly’s best friend. She had been since their first year of high school, so their friendship already spanned five years. You would never guess them to be best friends, though, as Tyra was a popular girl and one of the cheerleaders and Molly...wasn’t.

  “Teach is late” added the blonde boy next to Tyra.

  Dash Benson. The jock of the school. All the girls in their school wanted to be with him and all the guys wanted to be him. Molly had no idea how she had managed to convince him to join book club, and he never told anyone either.

  “Five minutes exactly” said the boy with glasses at the end of the row of seats, looking at his watch.

  This was Simon Hadfield. He was into all sorts of geeky things, so it was pretty clear why he joined book club.

  “I’m sorry, guys!” Molly apologised, “I just finished rereading the book on the way here, and I lost track of time!”

  “You literally reread it yesterday, girl” Tyra stated.

  “And the day before that” Dash added.

  “Hey, good books always call for rereading!” Molly defended herself.

  At the argument, Simon gave an annoyed cough.

  “Do you think we could start the meeting now?” he asked.

  “Oh. Yeah, of course,” Molly said, laying the book down on her lap, and adjusting her glasses, “Obviously, we all read it. And I’d love to know what you thought of it, but this is more about what I asked you to do today. To pick out something within it that represents your greatest fear, or played on it. We’ll start with Simon”

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  At this, Simon adjusted his own glasses as he began speaking, “Well, I for one loved the entire plotline of the story. Setting it in a fantasy world ruled by tiny dragons was a remarkable choice. As for the greatest fear it peaked in me; I’d have to say the pixies. The way they portrayed them to be so scary and menacing yet tiny made me realise why I don’t like Chihuahuas very much”

  “I loved the main character above all,” Dash began saying, “She was so strong and fit and brave, and strong. Like a superhero...but normal. The fear it hit in me was the part where she was all alone in that cave, where she was separated from her sidekick. Because, everywhere I go, no matter if it’s school, or my social life, I’m part of a team. Even here I’m part of a team, in a way. So it scares me to think about being alone. With no team to help me out”

  “I loved the book,” Tyra said, “but obviously not as much as you, Molly. As for the fear, it didn’t really evoke a fear per sei, but it made me realise that I can’t deal with the illogical. Don’t get me wrong, like I said, I loved it, great story, great writing, and I know it’s fantasy, but I found it hard to immerse myself in a fantasy world. Because, you know, dragons aren’t real, pixies aren’t real, and no one would ever go to that extreme to complete a mundane task, in reality”

  “That’s completely fair, Ty,” Molly said, “And those are all great fears it evoked. In fact, so great, it’s given me an idea of what to do at next week’s meeting”

  “What about you?” Dash asked her.

  “Me?” Molly asked.

  “Yeah, you never told us what fear it evoked out of you” he said.

  “You clearly liked the book, because you reread it over three times, so it had to have evoked some fear out of you” Simon added.

  “Well...I mean...” Molly trailed.

  Of course it evoked a fear out of her. But she didn’t want to tell them. Everything it evoked out of them was so deep and emotional, hers couldn’t compare to that. She was the leader of the group, she felt all her answers had to surpass theirs, to demonstrate her knowledge and be a role model to them.

  “Well?” Tyra asked.

  “No,” Molly replied, “It didn’t play on any of my fears”

  Her three friends side-glanced each other, but before any of them could say anything else, Molly continued on.

  “So! Like I said, idea for next week’s meeting!” she said, “We’re going to try and work on beating the fears it brought out in you! And I’m going to make how we do it a surprise, so in conclusion be prepared to face whatever you brought up today next week”

  “Time for frappes?” Tyra asked.

  “For sure” Molly said, smiling at her best friend as everyone got up and walked out of the building.

  “I actually have practice today, so I’m going to skip on the frappes today” Dash said.

  “Alright, see you next week, then” Molly said.

  “More frappes for me!” Tyra called out as Dash ran in the opposite direction to them.

  The remaining three friends made their way down the street, past a small alleyway, to the malt shop Molly had all her groups gather after book club meetings for socialisation, strictly no book talk. Before catching up with the group, she stopped and looked down the alleyway, thinking she caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of her eye. But the alleyway was empty, so she shrugged it off and kept walking.