Page 24 of Kings of the Campus

I contemplate texting Devin or Jace to see what they’re up to when I feel the same prickling sensation again and glance around, furrowing my brow. I swear I catch a glimpse of someone peeking at me from the bathroom corridor, but they’re gone in a flash.

Jumping to my feet, I follow the figure around the corner, but there’s no one there. The hallway is quiet and unless the person disappeared into the bathroom, I have no idea where they went. I’m tempted to check, but I realize I need to leave if I’m going to make it to class on time.

Stifling a groan, I press my fingers to my temples, refusing to let anything distract me from my day, or from how great last night turned out.

With newfound resolve, I ignore the prickling feeling on the back of my neck and head to class, determined to put it all behind me.

As I head to class, fallen leaves crunch underfoot and I wave to a few people as I pass by. The campus is as lively as ever with students rushing to classes and the hum of conversation filling the air. But as I walk through the quad, I feel it again—that nagging sensation, like eyes on the back of my head. I stop and turn around quickly, scanning the area. People are around, but no one looks suspicious. I don’t see anyone who could be watching me. Still, my heart races, and my skin prickles with anxiety.

Shaking it off, I turn and walk into the psych building, dropping my stuff off before heading to the restroom to wash my hands from where some caramel syrup got on them. I arrive back at class, sit down, and pause.

My notebook, which I’d left on the table just moments ago, is now slightly ajar, pages flipped to a random spot in my notes. I freeze, staring at it. Did I do that? I must have. There’s no way someone could have touched my stuff. There are a few students around and no one is acting oddly. They ignore me as I glance around.

I shake my head. My mind’s just playing tricks on me. I’m tired since I barely got any sleep and I’m probably just hallucinating. Right? So I decide to take a nap between classes and see if that helps clear things up.

But later, when I’m sitting down to edit my last podcast at the newspaper office, I realize that something is seriously wrong. The files have been deleted.

My blood turns to ice in my veins. Am I being stalked? Is someone following me? I glance around, eyeing the students who are working around me, quietly tapping away at their laptops or filing articles.

I can’t keep brushing things off anymore. Not with the evidence sitting in front of me. I know for a fact that I’dneverdelete a podcast file without a backup copy and the files are nowhere to be found.

Tears prick at my eyes, and I wonder who is trying to set me up to hurt me. My mind briefly flicks to Max and his cronies. If anyone was going to be stalking and harassing me, it’d be them. After the scandal, I knew I was going to become a target for the men responsible. They’d see me as an intrinsic part of their downfall and probably target me.

But as time wore on and nothing happened, I started to my guard down, feeling safe since they were all in jail. I check now just to make sure and give myself some reassurance.

When I look up county records, I breathe a sigh of relief. Max Byers is still in jail and probably will be for a long, long time.

If it’s not Max or one of his cohorts, then who could it be?

Something painful and sharp twists inside of me just then. It’s not possible but…could it be the boys? Could Alec, Devin, and Jace be the ones behind all this?

Was the truce just a cover to keep messing with me? My stomach rolls and I feel sick wondering if it’s possible they only started messing around with me to distract me from their antics.

With a million thoughts racing through my head, I decide that there’s only one thing to do. I head out, needing to talk to someone that I can trust.

With a gentle knock, I call out for Dr. Ava, hoping she’s still in her office. She beckons me inside and I enter, breathing in the warm scent of the vanilla candle on her desk.

“You look troubled, Miss Collins,” Dr. Ava says, raising one manicured eyebrow. Her English accent is lilting and soft, calming me instantly.

“I…I think that someone might be stalking me,” I admit, looking down at my hands. My red nail polish is chipped on my left pinky.

“Oh goodness, that’s very serious,” she says, leaning toward me and placing one hand on my shoulder. “Tell me what’s going on.”

Everything comes spilling out, though I leave out the sex stuff with the boys and Dr. Ava frowns, pursing her lips.

“If someone is threatening you, I strongly suggest that you take this to the campus police,” she urges. “I would hate for something to happen to you.”

“You’re probably right,” I say, misery filling me. I can’t imagine who might be doing this, and a huge part of me hopes like hell it isn’t the boys, but I can’t be sure.

“Thanks for your help,” I tell her, waving goodbye as I leave. Walking to my car, my head feels more full than ever, but I stop in my tracks when I see a note on my windshield.

Racing over, I grab it and open it up to see the wordsI’m watching youscrawled across it in red marker.

15

JACE

After the party, I expect to hear from Tessa, but she’s been quiet the last few days. I was about to text her and ask if she wanted to hang out when we received an email, summoning Alec and me to the dean’s office.

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