Sage looks up from her laptop. With raised eyebrows, she asks, “Where are you going looking all spiffy? I haven’t seen you with your hair down or even brushed in…forever.”

“I need to go talk to my adviser. He has been blowing up my phone and email, asking why I haven’t been to my classes. I also need to go talk to Kate about keeping my job.”

“So we are staying?” She asks as she types loudly on the keyboard.

“Isn’t that what we decided last night?”

She shrugs her shoulders. “Yeah, I guess.”

I grab my messenger bag. “Do you want to do something fun tonight? Besides murdering the bad guys?”

She laughs. “Hell yeah! I will call you later.”

I smile inwardly at my plans to get totally wasted tonight. Normally, I have a few drinks but never get drunk. I always try to stay sober so if I do find myself fighting for my life, I won’t be an easy target. Not tonight though. I’m finally going to let loose and have fun.

I make it to the college and hope Marshall will be forgiving. I have a story planned out, but I’m not sure if he will fall for it. I walk into his office and sit down in a metal chair.

Marshall’s understanding expression tells me he is buying into my lame story about losing family members. It’s halfway true. I lost my parents and brother, just not in the way I explained.

“I’m so sorry to hear the news. I will get with financial aid and explain your situation. They may call you in to sign new papers; is that okay?” I nod my head, and he smiles. Placing a sympathetic hand on my shoulder, he adds, “I will also talk with your professors.”

I smile weakly. “Thank you. I really appreciate this.”

“No problem. I’m glad you came and talked to me. I was worried about you.” He rummages through a few papers and then hands me one. “Here is your new schedule. Classes start back on Monday.”

I look at the paper and notice I will be in classes from 8:00am to 12:00pm every day of the week. That leaves the rest of the day to put hours in at the movie store and still have time for fun at night. I smile and thank him again.

On my way out, I run into Liam. He looks shocked to see me. “Well look who decided to come back and make something of her life!”

“Shut up.” I laugh and start to walk away.

“What happened to you? I see Sage at the club sometimes but never you.”

“I work.”

“And Sage doesn’t?”

I roll my eyes. “Her parents left her with a lot of money.” I lie. The truth is she worked damn hard for her money and actually saved a lot more than she originally told me. She is set for a while without a job.

He smiles. “That must be nice. Well, I better get going. Good to see you back!”

“Thanks and good to see you too.” Liam seems like he is not on any drugs today. Good for him.

I’m looking at my schedule as I walk to my car, seeing if I know any of the professors from my last classes and almost trip and fall from not paying attention.

“You should really be watching where you are going. I hear there are crazy killers on the loose looking for girls like you.”

I cringe at the sound of his voice. I fold my paper and place it neatly into my messenger bag. I look up and give Plath a half-assed smile. Ignoring him, I push past him and continue walking.

Following close behind me, he says, “You are not going to welcome me with your pistol today? I’m shocked.”

I shake my head and laugh. I continue walking, trying to ignore him. He’s walking beside me now, and it’s pissing me off.

I stop, turn to look at him, and say, “Whose side are you on?”

“What do you mean?” He asks with a confused expression.

I sigh in frustration. “One minute you want to kill me, the next you want to help me, the next you say you are risking everything by being near me…then you knock over trash cans to help me again?”

He laughs and leans against a random vehicle. “At this moment, I’m on your side.”

Anger fills me like a flood. I want to scream at him, but I don’t. I continue walking to find my car. To my disappointment, he follows. I turn to look at him as I unlock my car and say, “You should really go see my therapist back in Dandux. He may be able to help you with your narcissistic personality traits.”

“I don’t think he could help me. He obviously didn’t help you with your anger issues.”

I hesitate before opening my door. “How do you know about that?”

A half grin plays at the corner of his mouth as he says, “We must know everything about the ones we hunt.” He pulls out something that looks familiar from his pocket. “Here. I believe this is yours.”

My heart speeds up as I see my bouncy ball. It speeds up even faster when I realize the only way he could have gotten it was from my house. I have always had a weird obsession with bouncy balls, and this is my favorite one.

“How did you get this?” I snatch it from his hand and make a fist around it.

“That is classified information.”

“Not fair. You can’t just get something like this and then not tell me how!” I get in my car and motion for him to get in on the passenger side.

He sits down and closes the door. “I can’t stay. I only came to give this to you. I thought it may give you some closure. Felix said he loves you, by the way.”

I try to remain calm and emotionless, but I fail. Tears start streaming down my face, and I punch my steering wheel. “He said that?”

He nods his head and for a moment looks sympathetic. It doesn’t last long, though. Now his face is hard and emotionless again. “I need to go. If they find me with you-”

I cut him off. “So, are we friends or enemies now?”

He doesn’t reply. He hurries out of my car and is gone. I wipe tears from my eyes and lock my doors. I put the bouncy ball in my messenger bag and am thankful, even if he is psychotic and strange, that he did this for me. I pull out of the parking lot and head to talk to Kate.

I WALK INTO the store and wave at Kate who is behind the counter helping a line of customers. I hop over the counter to help her, hoping the extra hand will make her forgiving and hire me back. I open the second register and wave customers over.

Once the rush is over, I smile at Kate. “So . . .”

“You didn’t have to do that, you know.”

I shrug. “I know I didn’t, but you were swamped.”

“Okay, what do you want, Ana?”

Hearing my fake name still takes me aback sometimes. I refrain from correcting her and smile bigger. “Can I have my job back, please? I know I quit, but I had a heart-to-heart with myself, and this is where I need to be right now. And I need money so I don’t starve. You wouldn’t want me to starve, would you? That’d be bad news. Imagine hearing of my slow and horrific death because-”

She bursts into laughter. “Stop your begging! Of course you can have your job back! You just quit last night. I haven’t even had time to look for anyone else. But you can only have it back under one condition.”

“Anything.”

She shoves my apron and name tag at me. “You put in some hours tonight.”

“Of course!” I throw on my apron and adjust my name tag. Before I grab movies to start shelving, I hug Kate. “Thank you.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now get your ass to work.”

As I set a movie back on the shelf, I realize it’s the one when I first met Plath. I catch myself blushing at the thought of him and curse out loud, “What the hell?” I hate myself for allowing that brief moment of attraction to him. I refocus on the movies to be put away and not on mindless things like him.