Page 37 of Prey

Instead, she walked on, disappearing from view, and I suppressed an urge to follow her to see if she resided there. But a girl entrenched in anxiety and doubts would look behind her at the slightest sound to see if someone was following.

Because that’s what I’d do.

An hour later, when my washing was done and I was put through the dryer, I arrived back at my room disappointed that Stalker Freak still hadn’t replied to my message. The pop of purple on my pillow seemed to infiltrate the entire room, and Itook the stem between my fingers and allowed my nose to nestle in the petals, only to find that it had no scent.

Once I started classes and my job, I’d be too busy to care about some stupid loser who had a habit of breaking into my room.

19

II hadn’t heard from my stalker for three days, but there were moments when I felt him nearby, watching from afar and in disguise, like me. He and I had more in common than he knew. It’s an odd feeling when you start to get used to his presence, then the emptiness when you realize he’s not around. He hasn’t messaged me since he broke into my room, and I wondered why he’s so quiet. But out of inflated pride, I refused to contact him. Instead, knowing he was watching, I went about my day with a secret smile.

It took me twenty minutes to travel by foot to my first class, which I was so excited about. Part of the class will be marinebiology theory, and the other part will be practical, such as studying sea creatures kept in an aquarium.

There were about fifty students in this class, and as I was shoved against the wall and squeezed between the crowd as we entered the class, I tried to smile and strike up a conversation but was ignored. Annika wanted to scream, “Hey, I said hello to you. Please acknowledge me. Asshole.”

But good ol’ Riley Laws just took it, like she always did. She’d bite her tongue and allowed the crowd to shove her about until she was the last one inside, and the only seat available was next to a scruffy guy with a pungent, sickly body odor. But at least he said ‘hi’ when I sat down.

Trembling in anticipation, the professor started the class by outlining our course material, including a week-long sea trip to study coral and other small living organisms. My excitement hit peak nerdy high as he talked about our upcoming adventures with a heavy workload that I’ll have to balance out with my new job.

With trembling fingers, I took notes, but my enthusiasm fizzled further into the term's course material and curriculum requirements. It seemed endless, but that was the reality of education.

“What the fuck?” the guy next to me grunted, and I assumed he was as aghast at the workload as I was. But when I glanced up at him, he wasn’t looking at the professor; he was frowning at something out the window.

We’re on the ground floor, and outside the window is a courtyard closed off by classrooms with mowed grass and a picnic table. Leaning casually against the classroom opposite was a guy dressed head to toe in black and wearing a Scream mask. His legs were crossed at the ankles, his hands snug in his sweatpants’ pockets, and his shoulders broad under a black hoodie.

My stalker.

I suppressed a smile, raised my hand, and shot him a small wave. Even though I couldn’t see his face, I knew he was smiling.

“Do you know him?” the guy beside me asked.

“Ah, not really. He likes to run about the place, scaring people,” I explained, hoping he won’t ask any more questions.

The guy grunted and turned back to face the front of the classroom. “You don’t seem that scared.”

“No,” I sighed, glancing at the professor when he cleared his throat loudly. “I’m not.”

It was several seconds later before I looked back at him and was unsurprised that he had disappeared. It was a feeling I got when he was near and an equally distinctive feeling when he was gone again.

The class ended, and once again, I had to maneuver through a crowd of students to reach the door. My next class, the Principals of Biodiversity, was in the same school but on the other side of the block, and I had to go a long way to get there. When I reached the glass double door that led outside into the courtyard where the masked man was, a tall figure reached over my head and opened the door for me. I looked up with a smile to thank him and was floored at how handsome he was.

Chiseled cheekbones, cocoa hair, swept back, twinkling green eyes, clean shaven and tall, definitely over six foot, and oh my... he smelt good.

“Tha…” the word caught in my throat, and I coughed before finishing, “you.”

His dark eyebrows dropped low over narrowed eyes, peering at me curiously. “Petra?”

“Huh?” my cheeks burned. “Um…no.”

I managed to slip away into the courtyard, but he followed me. “From Savile?”

My feet froze, and I glanced back at him, unsure as to what I should say because either way, I was screwed. “Um…”

“I’m the manager there,” he pointed out.

“Oh, really?” my heart beat rapidly, whisking my breath away. “Um…I don’t know if you’ve got the right person.”Stupid. Why did I just say that? Stupid, stupid.

“Right,” he said doubtfully in that smooth voice, just as a group of students surrounded me and headed for the entrance. I took the opportunity to flee, and I didn’t look back until I was in the safety of my classroom, where I could calm my fluttering heart.

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