Seth Greer glares at me from across the room, blocking my path out the door. I try to catch my breath but manage only shallow intakes of air.
“S-sorry,” I stammer. “I was looking for the restroom.” This lie takes up whatever air supply I had, so Seth’s clothing isn’t the only black in the room. My vision tunnels, his menacing hazel eyes at the focus.
He doesn’t reply, but takes a step toward me. Should I call out to Emily? No. I need to get him talking. I’m already in deep; I have to make sure he was the one in the woods with Melody.
“Um, is it”—I point out the hall—“the one across the way?” No answer. Just another step closer. Okay, one more try. Then I’ll resort to screaming and bulldozing past him. “I’m Cass. We’ve met before, in the library?”
“I remember.” His voice is eerily calm. “Did you come by to borrow that book?”
I slap my head like I’m remembering. “Oh, yeah, about the ants.”
“Termites.”
“Right. I’d love to borrow it. I’ve been wanting to learn more about termites.” I cringe at the squeakiness of my voice.
“Oh, it’s not about termites,” he says with a smirk. “Not really.” Another step. “It’s about a teenage serial killer.”
I take a ragged breath. “I can see you’re still into reading.” My hand shakes as I motion to the piles of books.
One step closer. “And you? You’re a writer now. At least, you sure can weave a story.”
He knows. He’s talking about that day, two years ago.
It was the day Seth and I spoke for the third time. Our conversation started in the library again, but this time it continued into Hathaway Hall. His eyes were a hazy green, like a lake you could just float off into. He wore jeans and a plaid shirt, and a cowboy joke danced on the tip of my tongue.
But Melody Davenport called me over, and I had to say bye to Seth before she could embarrass me in front of him.
“I’ve noticed you’ve been getting pretty friendly with that nerdy guy.” Her coy smile made my teeth hurt. “What would Gideon think?”
I had always made a point not to answer the girls’ questions about whether Gideon and I were a couple. If I answered in the affirmative, it would’ve been an outright lie. If I answered in the negative, it would’ve meant that Gideon was single. So I just left it ambiguous, which it sort of was. Still, Melody’s threat hit a nerve.
“That guy?” I asked, tossing a thumb over my shoulder to where Seth stood at his locker. “No way. That guy’s stalking me. He told me he read an entire volleyball guide just so he could learn more about me.”
“Uck. Perv.” Even while fake gagging, Melody was gorgeous. “He probably just wanted to look at pictures of girls in spandex.”
I shrugged. “Probably.”
Melody gasped and nudged me. “He’s totally staring at you.”
I turned around, and Seth’s eyes met mine. He waved and gave a shy grin.
I smiled and then twirled right back around to face Melody. “So scary, right?”
“We should go warn the others.” Melody skipped over to where more volleyball players huddled around a cement planter. That kookaburra cackle reverberated off the lockers in her wake.
It was a lie that got away from me. Then it rolled like a tumbleweed, picking up bits and pieces as each student added to the rumor. If Seth was spotted near the bleachers, it was because he was stalking cheerleaders. If Seth ate in the cafeteria, it was because he was spying on girls.
I don’t know what made Seth decide to give in to the rumors. To be the dark, solitary creeper we said he was. Maybe it was because he couldn’t even pass through the library anymore without hearing the teasing, the whispers.
I know what that’s like.
And I know what it’s like to want to give in.
I felt bad about Seth. I almost apologized, but he didn’t know it was me. Melody was the loudmouth, so he likely credited her for his newfound infamy. I managed to get Maribel High talking about someone else for a change, and no one was the wiser.
But right now, Seth’s bladed glare is unmistakable: he figured it out.
He knows that every problem he’s had in the last two years, every problem his sister has faced, is thanks to me. And I never could’ve done it without Maribel’s sweetheart, Melody Davenport.
I throw one more desperate glance at the bookshelf before turning back to Seth. “Give it to me.”
His eyes narrow. “What are you talking about?”
“My notebook. You have it, and I want it.”
He lifts one dark brow.
“Look, you psycho, I know what you did, and what you’re trying to do to me. You’ll never get away with it.”
“You and Melody always had a knack for name-calling. But I’m confused. You’re in my room, digging through my stuff, and I’m the psycho?”
You and Melody. He sees us as a team. Together, we ruined his life. And now he’s taking the two of us down as a team. The second I leave this place, Seth is going to hand that notebook over to the Oregon State Police.
The only way around this is to give them Seth, to totally slash his credibility before he gets the chance. I didn’t find Melody’s necklace or phone, and I’m not sure how helpful my snapshot of Seth’s yearbook is going to be.
But the creepy photograph he took of Melody is tucked safely inside my back pocket.
The closer he gets, the more I see how his eyes match his clothing again. This time, he’s cloaked in darkness and his eyes, lined by his dark lashes, are piercing, onyx black. The kind of eyes that seek revenge. Time to get out of here.
“Emily is waiting for me,” I say forcefully. “We’re working on a project.”
He steps aside, allowing me to pass. But not without shooting me one last look: a warning. As I exit the room, his soft baritone meets my ears, slicing into my memory with the ease of a steak knife, taking me back to the woods. “Hope you find what you’re looking for.”
The door closes behind me, and then the loud music starts.