Class wrapped up early so I dropped by the library to catch up on some reading. I probably could have done it at the house but it was kind of quieter here. Call me a prude I guess. I stepped into one of the private reading rooms, and I immediately remembered that it was the one we’d sent Audrey to for Lauren’s laptop.

I threw my purple canvas messenger bag onto the table along with my purse and took a seat at the far end of the table. As soon as I sat down I started reading through the ‘Communications 102’ textbook and after about fifteen minutes I was bored out of my mind. I wanted to be a news anchor, or some kind of TV personality, but damn, I was sure I’d never use any of this information. I sighed and slapped the book down on the desk, there was no way this was getting done without music, but my stupid iPod was in my purse – on the other end of the table. I stood up, pushing the wooden chair out behind me and trudged to the other side of the table. Just as I reached into my purse to fish it out, I heard my phone beep. A text notification. I sighed and pulled it out.

“Just once…couldn’t leave me alone just once,” I muttered to the phone as I unlocked it and tapped the text message app on the screen. My pink phone background was replaced with the bright white text messaging screen. I frowned. It wasn’t a number I recognized. I tapped it, the message read: Outside. What the hell was that supposed to mean? I turned to the window behind me and glanced out at the courtyard. There were plenty of people, I looked around to each one, none of them seemed of the ordinary. I shrugged; it was probably a prank, or a wrong number. Then, suddenly, I froze. I could see him across the courtyard wearing that stupid letter jacket. Mike Jones. I had a sudden twinge of anger, I sort of wanted to rip his throat out. Why was he even walking around free after what he did, and why was he staring at me from across the courtyard? Why did he even know I was here? Talk about stalkerish.

I grabbed my purse and my bag and stormed out of the room, throwing the messenger bag strap over my shoulder as I made my way down the stairs and through the crowded first floor of the library. I bumped elbows with a few people and muttered ‘Sorry’ as I went past them. I’m sure a few of them didn’t mind coming into physical contact with me. A few moments later I pushed my way through the double doors and stood on the steps of the library, directly across the courtyard from him. He was still staring at me, his arms crossed, like he was in charge of something. He was about to be in charge of my fist in his face. I power walked as quickly as I could in wedges and came up on him like a python about to eat its first meal of the day. I was in no mood.

“How did you get my number?” I demanded. “Why are you following me?”

“What have you been telling my girlfriend?” He asked, staring sharply at me, his arm still crossed.

“What are you even talking about?”

“She doesn’t want to hang out with me as much, what have you been telling her?”

I shoved a finger in his face, a pink acrylic nail centimeters from the bridge of his nose.

“I don’t have any control over your girlfriend, Mike, and I want you to stay away from me.”

Just as quickly as I’d shoved my finger in his face, his hand came up, and his finger wrapped around my wrist, grabbing onto the pressure point. My jaw dropped, but my outrage was quickly replaced by a wince as he squeezed harder, glaring at me, but forming a slight smirk as he watched my knees buckle. I reached with my free hand and tried to dig my nails into his fingers. Nothing. He wouldn’t let go.

“Mike,” I said firmly, trying my best to retain my dignity. “Mike, let go.”

“You listen to me, bitch,” He said evenly. “You’re going to stop telling my girlfriend to stay away from me. She’s mine. You understand that.”
“Mike, dammit, let go,” I said a little louder as the pain began to creep into my wrist and up my arm. I looked around desperately, there was no one near us.

“And as for that little shit? Todd? You keep him away from her too. You’d better enjoy her while you have her, because she’s out of that house by the end of the week.”

I’d had enough. I brought my leg upward and aimed for his shin. Not so gracefully, I brought the corner of my wedge down on the flat of his shin and dragged it across the bone as hard as I could before finally slamming my heel down into the top of his foot. He screamed and his grip on my wrist loosened. I yanked it away and stumbled backward.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” I demanded. He stood a few feet away from me, clutching his leg.

“You heard what I said, bitch,” He growled.

“You’re crazy!” I screamed. “You’re a god damn psycho!”

A few heads turned when I screamed, but no one cared enough to come over. As he turned and walked away, or rather limped, my first instinct was to look at my wrist. It was starting to bruise, I could see the formation of a hand mark. I immediately reached into my purse, pulled out my phone and fumbled until I managed to unlock it and take a picture of my bruised wrist. After that, I pulled up the GPS app to see Audrey’s location. I hadn’t told her, but I’d turned GPS tracking on in her phone. She wasn’t far from me, over near the quad actually. I texted Hailey, she should have been with Audrey.

Are you guys okay?

I wrote in my message. I waited for a response. Nothing, no answer. I swear to god if something happened to her I would never forgive myself.

“Crap,” I muttered. I made a beeline for the quad, it was across the street. Our campus wasn’t too complicated really. My feet pounded heavily against the concrete as every conceivable scenario passed through my mind. I’d been so god damn mean to her and I really hadn’t meant to be. As I reached the edge of the courtyard and finally stood facing the street, my phone beeped. A text, from Hailey.

Yea y?

My phone beeped again, this time it was a reminder. Theater practice. 3 PM. Perfect. I continued my beeline for the quad, looking to my left and right as I crossed the street, fully aware that I was jaywalking. I found them sitting on one of the concrete barriers, Audrey was looking very male, and bored out of her mind. Hailey was texting.

“Yo, Todd,” I used her male name in public still. I’m not sure if she minded. I hoped she couldn’t see the signs of panic and simultaneously relief strewn across my face. “We’ve got theater practice, you ready?”

“Oh,” She said. “Was that today?”

“Yep, grab your stuff, let’s go.”

Hailey looked up from her phone, studying me for a second. Yeah, she was just a pledge, and she hadn’t known me for long, but she was perceptive. I knew that much. I ignored her and looked to Audrey.

“Come on, hurry,” I said.

“I’m coming!” She said, throwing her backpack over her shoulder and walking toward me. Hailey was still staring at me. I seriously hoped that she wasn’t psychic or something.

“Thanks Hailey,” I said. She nodded. I put my hand on Audrey’s back, guiding her toward the school.

“Have you talked to her?” I asked as we pushed toward the building.

“To who?” She said.

“You know who,” I replied, still power walking as fast as I could.

“No,” She said.

“Have you seen her?”

“Yeah.”

“You saw her and didn’t talk to her?”

“Well I didn’t talk to her about…”

“Okay. Friday then.”

“Yeah, Friday.”

I texted Aleah a picture of my wrist with the caption ‘Mike’. This was going to be a long week, and it was only half way over.