Cast & Fall by Janice Hadden

my face. My answer surprised me.
But then again, I thought he was polite, looked cute, and obviously
he had a good sense of humor. Sam and Becca would be so excited. They
had been nagging me about going out on dates. But in this case, I was
really surprised to realize that the desire to go out with someone,
came from me.
    “ I’m
Josh, Josh Bailey,” he extended his hand to shake mine.
    “ Nice
to meet you,” I said.
    “ So
um, can I get your number?” I thought it for a brief second. I
usually never give my number to strangers…ever. But there was
something about him that I felt I could trust. Without hesitation, I
wrote it in a piece of paper and handed it to him. He smiled as he
walked away.
    “ I’ll
call you soon!” he yelled, his voice a little restrained this
time. Still keeping the grin on his face. I waved as he strode toward
the library exit. I checked the time. The time on my cell read 6:05
p.m. No messages or text since the last time, which was about half an
hour ago. I buried my head in my books. I rough draft a good essay,
studied about two chapters on history. I’d been there for two
and a half hours except for occasional bathroom breaks—I’d
been focused, wanting to be ahead since I have a full schedule at
work in the next few days.
    As
I was rustling through the pages of my book, I felt an unusual,
unsettling feeling—a feeling that someone was staring at me,
the kind that you feel, even when your eyes couldn’t see it. I
felt sudden goose bumps and a strange chill in the air. I quickly
scanned my surrounding but didn’t see the origin of my
suspicion. Across another table, sat a group of students that were
intently studying. I turned my eyes, gazing to my left to the several
rows of tables which showed no sign of anything unusual. I went back
to my books, my mind gave no more thought into it. But after a couple
of minutes, the same uncomfortable feeling settled on me again. I
looked up again and raked the crowd slowly this time. As I was
sweeping through my peripheral vision, scanning every face in the
room, is when I saw him.
    Oh
shit! … Tristan
was glaring at me.
    My
heart jumped frantic and flat lined. He was standing between the long
bookcases, gloriously, with stiff, cold eyes. Terrified doesn‘t
begin to cover the gush of fear that pulsed through me.
    Why
is he staring at me for? My
mind tried to look for an immediate logical reason to block the
feeling of panic I felt. I couldn’t come up with anything
concrete, but I knew I couldn’t let him know I was afraid.
    Pushing
my fears and anxiety about seeing him there and armed by my curiosity
about another coincidence, I resuscitated my heart before I casually
got up and cautiously went toward him.
    He
can’t do anything to me here, might as well let him know that I
wasn’t afraid of him— though
the truth was, I was more than terrified. I wasn’t planning on
confronting him. I was planning on passing by his direction to let
him know, I wasn’t intimidated by him. But as I walked toward
the bookcases with my heart about to jump off my chest, about five
feet away, I heard a yell that was directed at me.
    “ Are
you following me?” Tristan’s voice was fuming. His
eyebrows strained with the same agitation as his tone. Confusion
settled on my mind briefly. I was thinking… that
was supposed to be my line .
    “ Excuse
me?” I spitted the words, inflecting each word with
indignation—feeling the need to defend my innocence. The words
pushed through my lips, but not strong enough to affect his
aggression toward me. My eyes narrowed, feeling the heat of his
stare. I was obviously offended by the accusation but tried to
compose myself, after all we were at the library and the last thing I
wanted, was to attract any negative attention, let alone get kicked
out of the school I haven‘t officially attended yet.
    “ Everywhere
I go, you’re there.” His tone was definitely aggressive.
His voice shot higher. I couldn’t escape