Page 38 of Prey

What a mess! What’s going to happen if he saw me at Savile? I’d have to tell him the truth as to why I denied being Petra. Wait. How did he know who I was? I only spoke to Betty. Okay, calm your shit down and focus on the class.

This was another large class. The classes are often large at the beginning of the term before students start to drop out, and some of the students were also in my marine ecology class, so perhaps they would make good study mates. Oh my gosh…he was handsome, like a model on GQ magazine.

In that short interlude, I couldn’t find a single flaw. No zit scar. No hair out of place. No scar. Nothing. How could I possibly be in the presence of a man so gorgeous without making a dick out of myself?

This class was on the first floor, and I found an empty seat by the window to spot my stalker from afar. I was staring out the window when the class started. This tutor also reviewed our curriculum for the term, and by the time the hour was up, I was feeling weighed down with stress.

I had no more classes until midafternoon, so I dragged myself to the Science Library to review my course material and work out a study schedule between my work shifts. I found a table in the marine biology section because bright photographs of schools of fish were a spa to my soul.

Whenever I opened a book and tried to read, I thought of that handsome man, the Savile Manager, who I hope won’t be there tonight. Whenever someone walked past my table, I thought of my stalker weirdo in a mask.

Someone coughed nearby, and I jumped in fright. A student took a book out of the opposite shelf, and I flinched. A girl broke into laughter, and my heart flew out of my chest.

Focus. Focus on study material. I thought once I started class, I’d shove the unimportant stuff to the back of my mind, but they’re festering in my brain like an infectious wound.

Taking a deep breath, I honed every ounce of concentration onto the marine biology assignment due in three weeks, even though we hadn’t started the course material yet.

I managed to read two pages of Marine Biology: An Ecological Approach before I sensed someone standing over me and startled in fright again. Jeez, my heart was getting a workout today.

“Cheetos?”

Her eyes flicked about behind those glasses, dithering as if searching for the right words to say to me. There was intense silence between us, and I opened my mouth to say something when she blurted, “I can’t go to class.” It seemed more like a confession, as if she was holding on to that all day, and it needed to come out in a gush.

“Oh? Why?” I asked curiously as she walked to the chair on the opposite side of the table and lay her hand on the back.

She swallowed and glanced about the library, examining anyone who moved before answering, “I can’t be in a room with people sitting so close to me. I just can’t…” The color ran from her face.

“Yeah, I understand what you mean. I sat beside a guy with bad body odor earlier, but he seemed nice, and I endured.” I smiled,but she didn’t smile back; instead, my comment seemed to go over the top of her.

“I need a study buddy,” she exclaimed, swallowing as if stressed. “Because I can’t attend class so…”

“Right,” still slightly confused. “So, what classes are you ta-”

“Biodiversity,” she cut in, dragging the chair out a couple of inches before stalling. “Do you mind if I sit here?”

“Oh, by all means…” she still had no idea what her name was, and she wasn’t catching the hint that I wanted her to fill me in. No chance, it seemed, as she took her backpack off, dumped it on the table, opened the zipper, and pulled out a stack of books.

Once she was seated and flipping through the course material, I asked, “You don’t like being in a crowded room?”

She made a face as her brow furrowed, still avoiding my eye, which seemed to be her vibe. I didn’t mind. The more she opened up to reveal her weirdness, the more I liked her. “I’d rather be drenched in gasoline and set alight.”

I suppressed a smile because she might misinterpret me laughing at her when it was her dark sense of humor I enjoyed. “Yep. I get it. But…so you won’t go to any class?”

“Nope. Can’t do it.”

“Okay, sure, so…” I shuffled my books and folder to find the Biodiversity course material. “So the tutor only went over the curriculum, and we won’t start…hang on.” I faltered when a thought occurred to me. “How did you know I was in the Biodiversity class.”

She fiddled with the corners of the pages before smoothing them over. She obviously had a dogear phobia, like me. Oh god, she’s my twin. Did my mom split us up when we were kids? No. That’s ridiculous.

Wait. I’m in disguise. Glasses, green contact lenses, and brown hair were a disguise. I had to keep reminding myself of this. Cheetos was similar to Riley the Fake, not Annika the Real.

“I went intending to go in, but…” she shook her head and made a face as if she had struck a broken sewage pipe.

“Too many people?” I assumed.

“Yeah, and I…also hate it when a teacher asks me something in front of the class…” she found it hard to confess this as if her extreme shyness was something to be ashamed of. “Yeah, I can’t speak in front of an audience or more than one person, really.”

“I know it won’t help, but I remember someone close to me once saying that…” I swallowed back the rising emotion because Mr. Kaiser said it to me, and I never forgot it. “Don’t hide your light under a bushel.”

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