My alarm went off at 7:30 a.m. the next morning, just like it did every school day. The smell of fresh coffee wafted up from the kitchen. Outside my window, a bird chirped. It seemed that the world would keep on turning, indifferent to my personal crisis.
It was all in my head, I decided, staring up at my bedroom ceiling. I’d just seen a guy who happened to resemble the one from my dream. Nothing strange about that. After all, there must have been hundreds of tall, handsome guys with black hair and green eyes in the world.
I sat up in bed. I could see myself in the mirror over my dresser, and the sight made me wince even more than usual. There were dark circles under my eyes, the result of a night spent tossing and turning more than sleeping.
“Your mind is playing tricks on you,” I told my reflection sternly. “Just forget about it and get on with your day.”
As usual, I didn’t waste much time picking out clothes after my shower. I opened my closet and, after only a moment’s deliberation, pulled out a green cashmere sweater. Emerald green, like a certain pair of eyes… I shook my head. Focus, Andi! I put on the sweater, along with dark blue jeans and my favorite boots (brown suede with little brass buckles on the sides), brushed my hair and went down to the kitchen for breakfast.
By the time I got to school, I had finally managed to push all thoughts of the raven-haired boy from my mind. So it was a bit of a shock when I got to first period and found him sitting in the desk directly behind mine.
I stopped dead in my tracks, my heart pounding.
The boy looked straight at me. Suddenly, I understood what people meant when they described eyes as ‘piercing.’
“Whoa,” Bree whispered in my ear. “Who is that?”
So I wasn’t hallucinating; the boy was really there. He looked exactly the same as he had in my dreams, except… dry, and wearing FUBU. Also his hair was shorter than I remembered and appeared expertly styled in a way that made it look effortlessly mussed. The florescent lights of the classroom brought out the almost-blue highlights in its black waves. But where had he come from? What was he doing in my class? And who was he?
I got no answers that day. Mrs. Phillips didn’t even acknowledge the presence of the new student, nor did he introduce himself. The exact same thing happened when I got to French class. And Bio. And History. And PE.
Bree and I weren’t the only ones to notice him. Over the next couple of days, I heard a dozen variations on the same conversation:
“Have you seen that new transfer student?”
“The tall guy? Really pale, with black hair?”
“Yeah. He is so wicked hot! Did you catch his name?”
“No. Any idea where he’s from?”
“No, but I heard he’s a European model.”
“No way, his parents are diplomats, and totally loaded.”
“They must be!”
Everyone was curious and rumors abounded, but for some reason, no one was able to glean any actual facts on him. At first, the other girls could talk for hours just about how attractive he was. This resulted in a lot of jealous grumbling from the guys. However, the gushing died down as everyone started to realize what I’d known from the start: there was something off about the boy.
The fact that his schedule matched mine so perfectly might have been a coincidence, but that didn’t explain the way he stared at me. Just me. Constantly.
At first, I was oblivious because he always sat behind me. But Vik noticed right away, and he wasted no time in telling me.
“It’s totally creepy,” he said. “You need to be careful, Andi. Don’t let that guy get too close.”
“Vik, you’re overreacting,” said Bree. “It’s not a crime to look at someone.”
My brain agreed with Bree, but my gut was with Vik. There was definitely something unsettling about the boy. And maybe it was just my imagination, but from then on, I swear I could feel his piercing eyes always on me. I began to empathize with animals in the zoo.
~*~*~*~
“Riley Bay!”
Bree said the name as though it were the answer to a riddle she’d been puzzling over for days. As it turned out, it was.
I looked up from my cafeteria lunch (veggie pizza, a bright green apple and chocolate milk) in confusion.
“Huh?”
“Riley Bay,” Bree repeated, plopping onto the bench across from me. “That’s your not-so-secret admirer’s name.”
My heart skipped a beat, but I tried to play it cool. I rolled my eyes. “He’s not my admirer, secret or otherwise. Have you seen the way he glares at me? He’s clearly the exact opposite of an admirer.”
“I wouldn’t say he glares at you. He just stares at you. That could be good or bad.” She smiled slyly. “Maybe he’s just captivated by your beauty.”
I rolled my eyes again. “I sincerely doubt that.”
“No, seriously,” she continued, “I think he might like you, Andi. He may be weird, but he’s still a teenage boy. Maybe he’s just shy.”
I honestly hadn’t considered that possibility, nor did I give it much thought now. It was hard to imagine any guy noticing me in that way, but a guy that gorgeous? No way.
“You must be at least a little curious about him,” Bree prodded. “After all, it’s not every day a girl gets her very own stalker.”
“Just what I always wanted,” I said sarcastically.
The truth was, Bree was more right than she knew. For two nights in a row, I’d lain awake, wondering about this mystery boy. But who could blame me? I wasn’t used to getting attention from boys, except for Vik, and he didn’t count. For that matter, I wasn’t used to getting this kind of attention—silent, but intense—from anyone.
So he had a name: Riley Bay. That didn’t seem right to me. I was expecting something a little more exotic, like Balthasar or Demetrius or Fabio. How could such an unusual person have such an ordinary name?
In my head, I went over the facts I knew about Riley Bay: he was new in town, so new that no one seemed to know anything about him. He was in every single one of my classes. He was extremely, ridiculously good-looking. He was a total jerk.
Okay, so those last two were technically opinions, not facts. But I didn’t see how anyone could dispute them.
“Has he spoken to you yet?” Bree asked. Or at least, I think that’s what she said. It was hard to tell, given that she was talking through a mouthful of corn dog.
I shook my head. “I haven’t heard him talk to anyone yet.”
“Weird,” said Bree.
“What’s weird?” Vik queried, sitting down next to me.
“Nothing,” I said hastily, but at the same time, Bree blurted, “Andi’s mystery man.”
Instantly, Vik’s face darkened. “He hasn’t been bothering you, has he?” he asked me urgently.
I shot Bree a dirty look. Why did she have to go and mention Riley to Vik? Now I was going to have to put up with his overprotective pseudo-brother shtick for the rest of lunch.
“He hasn’t done anything other than glare at me in every class,” I reassured him.
Vik relaxed visibly. “Well, speak up if he does,” he said sternly.
I rolled my eyes. “Sure. Whatever. Can we please change the subject?”
Of course, changing the subject didn’t help me forget about Riley Bay, because the boy himself was sitting on the other side of the cafeteria. And, as always, I could feel his eyes fixed on me.
~*~*~*~
The next day, Bree passed me a note during third period:
‘Craving lobster rolls like u wouldn’t believe. Etta’s 4 lunch?’
Henrietta’s was a little cafe down by the harbor. Naturally, it specialized in seafood. It was the kind of picturesque locale that drew tourists like flies to honey, but on a weekday afternoon in September, it would be relatively empty. Bree was obsessed with the place, which she insisted was the only really good restaurant in the whole town.
I frowned, and not just at Bree’s text speak. Only seniors were allowed to leave campus for lunch. Underclassmen sneaked out all the time, but knowing my luck, we’d be the first students in history to actually get caught and punished. I caught Bree’s eye and shook my head.
Pleeeeeeese? she mouthed.
I sighed deeply. Well, I was getting pretty sick of cafeteria food. I passed the note on to Vik, who nodded enthusiastically.
When the bell rang, I bolted out the door. If we were going to drive to Henrietta’s, eat and get back in time for fourth period, we couldn’t spare a minute. I was halfway down the hall before I realized Vik and Bree weren’t following me. I retraced my steps and found Bree hovering outside the Biology classroom.
“What’s the holdup?” I asked.
“Vik is talking to Ms. Epistola,” she said.
I blinked in surprise. “About what?”
Bree shrugged.
Vik emerged from the classroom a couple minutes later, looking thoughtful.
“What were you talking to the sub about?” I asked.
Vik didn’t look me in the eye when he answered. “I just had a question about the exam next week,” he mumbled, blushing.
I stared at him in amazement. Was it possible Vik was lying to me? How could he do that? Why would he do that? What could he have been discussing with our substitute teacher that he couldn’t share with me?
Before I could interrogate him further, Bree started pulling us both down the hall.
“Come on!” she wailed. “I’m freaking starving!”
Vik looked relieved at the interruption. This raised my suspicions even more, but I decided to let the issue drop for the time being. I had enough on my mind without worrying about Vik.
Ten minutes later, I was parking Bree’s car in front of Henrietta’s while Bree and Vik bickered in the backseat.
“I’m not saying she’s a bad teacher,” Bree said indignantly. “I’m just saying she should dress more professionally.”
“Ms. Epistola is a grown woman. She should dress however she wants,” Vik shot back.
“You just like being able to see her cleavage!”
“Guys!” I hissed. “Cool it! You’re going to attract attention.”
I peered cautiously through the glass door of the restaurant. There were only a handful of patrons inside, but they were clearly locals, not tourists. Which meant that any one of them might recognize us and realize that we were breaking school rules.
“Calm down, Andi!” said Bree. “Even if someone notices us, what are they going to do? Call the cops? No one cares that much about some dumb school rule except the vice principal, and he’s not in there.”
Without further ado, she and Vik strolled into the restaurant. All I could do was sigh and follow them. It turned out that Bree was right. No one even spared us a second glance.
“What can I get you kids to drink?” the bored-looking waitress asked.
“Just water for me,” I said.
“Same,” said Vik.
“I’ll have a Pepsi,” said Bree.
The waitress nodded and went back to the kitchen.
Just as I was starting to relax, everything went wrong.
I was sitting with my back to the door, so I didn’t see him walk in. But I knew who it was immediately from the looks on my friends’ faces: looks of surprise and, in Vik’s case, rage.
“That does it,” he growled. “I’m confronting this psycho.”
He started to get up, but Bree grabbed his arm, pulling him back down to his chair.
“Confront him about what?” she challenged. “He’s only guilty of leaving campus for lunch—which we are also doing!”
“You know that’s not it!” Vik snapped. “He’s stalking Andi. This proves it. Why else would he choose this place, on this day?”
“Maybe because it’s the only decent restaurant in town, and he’s been here long enough to get sick of our crappy cafeteria food?”
From behind me, I heard the scrape of a chair being pulled across the wooden floor and knew that Riley had taken a seat nearby. I didn’t have to look to know that he had positioned himself for optimal Andi creeping.
“What can I get you to drink, hon?” I heard the waitress ask him. After a long pause, she added nervously, “Um… some water, maybe?”
“That will suffice,” said Riley. It was the first time I’d actually heard his voice. He had just the hint of an accent that I couldn’t begin to place, and the pitch was deeper than I would have imagined. Somehow… more resonant, like it belonged to a much larger body.
“Hey, Riley!” Bree called. “Come join us!”
Vik and I both looked at her like she’d lost her mind, but it was too late to say anything; Riley was already standing before our table.
“Good afternoon.” He directed this oddly formal greeting to me and only me.
“So you snuck off campus, too, huh?” said Bree. “Well, we won’t tell if you won’t.”
Riley’s eyes flicked to Bree for only a second before returning to my face. “A reasonable agreement.”
After an awkward pause, Bree asked, “So are you going to Jerrid’s pool party on Saturday?”
“Pool party?” Riley repeated slowly, as though he’d never heard the term before.
Underneath the table, I gave Bree a warning kick, but she blathered on, “Yeah! It’s the social event of the season—one last shindig before it gets too cold for swimming.”
Riley turned back to me. “Will you be attending this… pool party?”
“We all will be!” Bree said cheerfully. “Practically the whole school is going.”
“Very well,” said Riley. “I will see you Saturday.” Then, without another word, he turned around and walked out of the restaurant.
Vik, who had been silently fuming the whole time Riley was at our table, burst out angrily, “What the hell, Bree?”
“What?” said Bree. “Is it a crime to make an effort to be friendly to people you inexplicably don’t like?”
I was just as angry as Vik, but not at Bree. Who did Riley Bay think he was, following me to Henrietta’s just to stare at me creepily? And now he was going to ruin Jerrid’s party for me, too?
I rose from the table and started walking toward the door.
“Andi? Where are you going?” Vik called after me, concerned.
“Wait here,” I called back.
I caught up with Riley in the parking lot.
“What the heck is your problem?” I demanded angrily.
Slowly, he turned to face me.
“I beg your pardon?”
The words flowed from my mouth in a furious torrent: “You come here out of the blue, acting like you own the place. Suddenly, you’re in all of my classes, and you’re constantly staring at me, like I’m some kind of sideshow freak. Now you’re following me around outside of school, too? Just to stare at me some more? I repeat, what is your problem?”
Riley’s mouth fell open. It was the first time I’d seen him look anything but one hundred percent composed.
“You insolent wench!” he hissed. “You dare to question me?”
I was so shocked by the venom in his voice that the strangeness of his vocabulary almost didn’t register.
“Insolent wench?” I repeated incredulously. “Who the heck—”
I was cut off mid-sentence by a tremendous crash of thunder. I turned just in time to see a bolt of lightning hit the water in the harbor less than a hundred yards away. It was really weird, considering there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Even weirder, when I turned back, Riley was gone. I don’t mean that he was running away, or driving off. I mean that he had vanished without a trace. I was alone in the parking lot.
I didn’t know how he’d pulled that trick, any more than I knew where he’d come from or why he hated me so much. Only one thing was certain: I now had an enemy, whether I wanted one or not.