Chapter 7- Taunting Evil Guy

[] A M E L I A []

A loud sneeze escaped my lips as I slowly tried getting up from my desk. Just as I was attempting this, there was a knock at my door. I stared at it in confusion, wondering who would knock at this hour.

I slowly trudged to the door and opened it. On the other side of the door stood Fatima. She was a Somalian girl who was housed in the dorm next to mine. I stared at her in surprise and she smiled at me. We had only met briefly a few times when we were either coming into the dorm or leaving, but never had she knocked on my door.

"Hi Amelia," she said with a wave.

I gave her a small smile back. Suddenly, she thrust something toward me. I looked down in surprise, and saw that it was a strip of tablets. I stared at it in confusion, then back up to her face.

"Take it. They're anti-allergy tablets. Super helpful in this area. Trust me, cough syrup won't help your sickness," she said with a smile.

I took the medicine from her hesitantly.

"Thank you, Fatima. And, uh, sorry about all the coughing. I know it must be super loud," I said.

"Hey, why are you apologizing for something like that?" Fatima said with a laugh. "We all get sick."

She smiled at me and after a small chat and a 'take care Amelia,' she was leaving the dorm, probably for her Friday morning class. I watched the space after her as she left, then looked down at the simple strip of tablets. Surprisingly, I smiled.

By nightfall, I had taken a nap, left to get soup for dinner, and was finally back in my dorm to sleep. I had to say, the medicine did make me feel better.

After getting in bed, I finally let my mind drift off into thinking of the things I had been avoiding since yesterday.

I thought of him.

I was so anxious after seeing him again that my body nearly gave up on me. I felt sick and feverish all night and day, and I just wanted to forget about the fact that I saw him yesterday.

My body just couldn't handle the fact that he was here. For so long, I had tried to stay away from everything that reminded me of the past. But sadly, he was the past. He was connected to it, was a part of it. And now he was here.

He was here and there was nothing I could do about it.

But he couldn't be. Maybe I had misheard it. Maybe I had misperceived it. He simply could not be here.

Because if he was here, then that means all the demons that I've worked so hard to supress, are not far off either.

* * *

The next morning, I felt much better. My horrible sneezes were gone and I wasn't as sore as I was yesterday. Therefore, I slowly got out of bed and started getting ready for the day.

Since I had missed my Sociology class on Thursday, I was meeting up with Andre to catch up on notes today. I was caught up in every other class since the professors posted detailed notes, but the Sociology professor didn't. If he had, I might not have asked Andre for help. I was a little lost in English but there was no way I was going to ask anyone for help, especially Leo. I'd just have to suck it up and hope that the lesson from yesterday wouldn't be too crucial.

I slowly headed to my bathroom and did my routine. When I was finished getting ready, I headed to the cafeteria. On my way out, I left a thank you note on Fatima's door for yesterday's help.

Once at the cafeteria, I grabbed breakfast and headed to the library. Once I got there, I picked a table and sat down. It was quiet since it was Saturday morning, with only a few people milling about. I ate quietly and downed a pill afterwards. Then, I decided to go over some notes before Andre came.

Nearly twenty minutes later, I saw Andre walking down the hallway towards me. He waved once he saw me and I gave a small wave back. He loudly pulled out the chair across from me and sat down.

"How are you feeling now, Amelia?" he asked as soon as he sat down.

"Better now," I said, honestly.

"That's good!" he said happily.

After that, the two of us got down to studying. Andre gave me his notebook and explained the notes while I wrote away. It had been nearly an hour in and we had went through more than half of the notes when suddenly, a loud noise disrupted the silence of the library.

Startled, I jumped at the sound of the noise and turned to see what had caused it. Surprisingly, I saw Leo standing at the foot of our table. The noise was his backpack, which he had dropped on the table. I stared at him with my mouth slightly agape. However, his attention was on Andre, who was staring at him with the same expression as I did.

"What the hell dude!? You nearly gave me a heart attack!" Andre exclaimed.

I felt angry eyes on us from all over the room, and after taking a quick peak, I realized that everyone was indeed staring at us. I shrunk away from the stares and looked back to Leo, who was now taking a seat beside Andre.

How he managed to do all that without acknowledging me was commendable really.

"It was your turn to buy breakfast," he grumbled to Andre.

Andre rolled his eyes at him.

"How did you find me?" Andre asked instead.

"Jamal," Leo grumbled in reply.

He started getting in his normal posture, with his arms crossed in front of him on the desk, and his head resting on top of it.

While Leo was getting ready to sleep on the desk, Andre turned to me with an apologetic grin. I gave him a small smile back, but truthfully, I was just uncomfortable. People had not stopped staring and quite frankly, I didn't want to be around Leo again.

Subconsciously, I looked over to his resting form. The more he started to lull himself to sleep, the more the creases between his forehead cleared up.

I was suddenly reminded of Thursday night. My hands on his denim jacket, his arms around my waist, and my shaking form.

How?

Just how did I manage to be a complete wreck in front of him?

Leo. Leo out of all people.

The guy who I wanted to stay away from.

Then I thought of him. The other guy who I was running away from.

I didn't know what was worse. That he was here, or that Leo undeliberately saved me from him.

"Dude, we'll probably be a while studying. Just go get breakfast," Andre said, breaking me out of my reverie.

I finally looked away from Leo, and brought my attention back to my notebook.

"Just so you can get out of paying. No thanks, I'll wait," Leo grumbled.

Annoyed with his sudden determination to stay here, I decided to end the situation myself. I just didn't want to be around this guy, and I hope he understood that. I wasn't trying to intrude on their breakfast plans either. If I had known they had such a thing, I never would've called Andre out so early.

"It's okay, you guys should go eat, we can study later," I said to Andre.

"It's okay Ame-" Andre was about to say.

I shook my head at him, already starting to pack my things.

"It's alright. We've been studying for a while now anyway," I said.

Andre was about to open his mouth to speak, but before he could, Leo lazily sat up in his chair to face at me.

"I'm waiting here, aren't I? No need to play the sweet little girl all the time," he finally muttered.

I stared at him, thinking of ways to just never see him again, but something in his eye caught my attention. It was like he was trying to make me angry. To test me. To get me to react.

But little did he know, that I would never.

I was sick of playing. I was sick of trying. I wasn't going to again.

I finally looked away from his steely gaze, and turned to Andre who was staring at his best friend as if he was mental.

"Bye Andre."

Before Andre could say anything, I got up to leave. When he saw that I was actually leaving, Andre got up as well.

"Well, see you on Monday little one. And get lots of rest," he said.

I nodded to him and with one last look at Leo, I left.

* * *

[] L E O []

As soon as she left, Andre slumped in his chair.

"So... are you going to tell me what the hell that was, or do I have to guess?" Andre said.

I grumbled under my breath.

"What was that?" Andre asked, cupping his ear mockingly towards me.

I let out a sigh.

"I said I didn't think she would leave."

Andre glared at me.

"Well Leo, that's what normal humans do. They leave if you're being an ass to them," Andre said, packing up his own things.

I thought about what he said, then shook my head.

"No... normal humans fight back," I murmured.

"Huh?"

I looked up to see that he was staring at me expectantly and I shook my head at him. We both finally left for breakfast and Jamal joined us as well. The seat beside Jamal stayed vacant the entire time, and for once, I felt guilty.

* * *

[] A M E L I A []

Monday rolled around quicker than I had expected. I spent the last bit of the weekend resting, and finally, I was back to normal. As I headed into Sociology, I took my usual spot beside Andre and exchanged greetings. He asked if I was feeling better or not and I answered truthfully.

"Hey, why haven't you been joining us for lunch? Did we bore you already?" Andre asked out of the blue.

I turned scarlet at his question, surprised that he caught on. I was hoping I can just keep putting it off. I faced him with a small grimace, which I hoped could pull off as a smile.

"I've just been trying to catch up on work," I partly lied.

Andre nodded at my question. I looked away from him quickly and began pulling out my stuff. Then thinking better of it, I turned to face Andre again.

"I think I should stop Andre. I hate intruding and I've told you enough times already that you don't have to apologise for the ball incident. It's really okay."

I took a deep breath after my mini monologue, as Andre stared at me open-mouthed.

"Amelia, do you think so lowly of me?"

I pulled at my sleeves anxiously.

'How could I put this without hurting Andre?'

"No, but I'm not blind Andre. I can see that Leo would rather not have me around, and that's okay with me."

With that, Andre could only stare at me with his mouth agape.

* * *

Bzzz...

I suddenly jolted and rushed to turn my buzzing alarm off. It was a good thing that the library was almost empty, otherwise this would have been quite embarrassing. I had set the alarm in the first place because I had to leave the library before it got too dark outside. I was so engrossed in my textbook that I didn't realize that I was here for nearly 3 hours straight.

I took a peak outside out of instinct, and my heart fell to my stomach as I realized that I had set the alarm too late. It was already dark outside.

I sighed in annoyance and quickly got up. I packed up my things as fast as I could and started making my outside. I sighed in relief as I realized that street lights illuminated most of the place. However, in order to get to my dorm, I had to pass by the alleyway I had run into last time. That was the one place where there were no lights.

Normally, I wouldn't be too shaken up about this. However, I had been on edge ever since I saw him roaming the campus. If I ran into him, I don't know what I would do.

I took one last look around and left the shelter of the library. It was a quiet night, one of those where not even one person could be seen from miles away. Goosebumps covered my arms and I started walking as fast as I could, making sure to stay alert.

I was almost halfway to the alleyway, when suddenly, a figure came out of nowhere, and stopped in front of me. I gasped and stepped back with the surprise.

It wasn't him.

It wasn't him.

It couldn't be him.

I forced myself to get my breathing under control and took a few steps back. However, he suddenly spoke, leaving me grounded in fear.

"Amelia Harrison," he said, emphasizing each syllable.

His voice.

It was his voice.

A gasp escaped my lips and I brought my hand to cover my mouth in shock. I shook my head. It couldn't be him.

It couldn't.

"You thought I wouldn't catch you?" he said maliciously.

Ever so slowly, he pulled down his hood, revealing exactly who I feared it would be. The street light behind him casted a glow around him, making it hard for me to see who it was at first.

But then, I saw him.

His dark hair, his straight jawline, and the vicious glint in his eyes.

A small whimper escaped my lips and I took a step back, trying to get away from him as fast as I could. However, luck wasn't on my side.

My foot got caught on my lace and suddenly, I was tripping backwards. I didn't feel the gravel underneath me, didn't feel the chill of the night, nor did I feel the pain in my legs. All I felt, all I saw, was defined with the figure that stood before me.

It all came rushing back in a wave.

I felt like I was going to hurl. I felt like I was going to faint. I felt like I was going to break.

I shook my head in denial.

"It can't be. It can't be real," I whispered to myself.

Tears flew freely down my cheeks and I was shaking horribly, all the while, trying to whisper convincing words to myself.

Suddenly, a maniacal laugh escaped his lips. In one fluent moment, he was bent down in front of me.

A whimper escaped my lips and I crawled back. He let out a chuckle and slowly brought out his hand to push a strand of hair out of my face. I closed my eyes in defeat, as his hand trailed along the length of my hair.

"Poor, poor, Amelia. Poor and so, so pathetic," he whispered. "Don't worry. I won't do anything. Not for now at least."