Here Comes Trouble (2 page)

I shook my head to return to reality, jogged
a few steps to catch up with Melissa and Carly.

“He has a reputation for being a player,”
Carly was saying, as if trying to make Melissa feel better. She
stopped walking suddenly, grabbed both Melissa and my wrists to
stop us too. “See that girl over there?”

I followed her gaze and saw a leggy blonde
wearing a short, flowered dress standing in a group of girls. Her
skin was lightly sun kissed and her straight hair was held back
neatly with a headband. She looked exotic somehow, like she had a
European heritage. My first and foremost thought was that she was
absolutely beautiful.

“She was caught giving him a blowjob in a
residence bathroom stall last night,” Carly said.

What?
All the air left my chest in a
whoosh as a jumble of emotions ran through me. She’d been caught
sucking his dick. In a bathroom stall. Last night.

I’d never even had sex before. The idea of
giving a guy a blowjob in a public space seemed so foreign and
dangerous. How had they done it? Had he been sitting on the toilet
seat and she’d been on the concrete before him? Had someone seen
her under the stall door when they walked into the bathroom? And
what had they looked like when they’d been caught? Had he looked
embarrassed like I imagined she had, or had he simply smiled that
smirk of his and took in stride?

As I stared at the girl, she turned her head
and glanced at us, smiled prettily before turning back to her
friends. The act appeared cool and uncaring, but I saw what was
hidden in her eyes: she knew we’d heard and had been talking about
her.

We started walking toward Quad again.

“What do you mean she got caught?” Melissa
whispered even though there was no way the girl could hear us
anymore.

“I heard it at the party last night.” Carly
whispered back conspiratorially. “I don’t know how he got caught,
but supposedly some of his friends were watching over the stall the
entire time.”

Alexis shuddered, feeling dirty just hearing
the story. “And what, now everyone knows about and talks about her,
but his reputation is still good?”

Carly shrugged. “Pretty much.”

I gritted my teeth. There went any thoughts
of Ian being a potential love interest. The idea had been stupid
and far-fetched anyway. He probably had tons of willing
participants beating down his door to sleep with him, or blow him
in a public bathroom. Gross.

“It wasn’t one of his students then,”
Melissa continued. “Otherwise he’d have been fired.”

“No, he isn’t her RC. She doesn’t live in
our building. I don’t even know her name. They just called her
Blowjob Girl.”

We stopped at the edge of campus, where a
field ran into trees and up into the gentle slope of a small
mountain. Ian lithely jumped onto a rock and his fellow RCs
gathered around him.

“We will be playing the animal game,” he
announced, grinning out over the crowd. He was completely at ease
with himself, even looked like he enjoyed being the center of
attention.

“It's based on the food chain. If you were
given a blue piece of fabric, you are at the top of the food chain
and are a predator. If you were given a piece of green fabric, you
are in the middle of the food chain and are an omnivore. And sadly,
if you ended up with orange, you are at the bottom of the food
chain as a herbivore. Carnivores can eat omnivores and herbivores,
omnivores can eat herbivores, and herbivores can run for their
lives.” He grinned wickedly, his bright green eyes landing on
me.

“You got orange,” Carly said, looking at my
arm wrap. “Bummer.”

I sighed. Bottom of the totem pole—that
sounded about right. Both Melissa and Carly had the green
fabric.

“Hey, wasn’t Ian holding a
blue
piece
when he called your name?” Melissa asked, suddenly brightening.
“Looks like he switched when he saw you.”

There was a cruel gleam in her eye, like she
was implying he’d tried to screw me over. It was true; I remembered
him holding up the blue fabric.

“It was probably a mistake. And it’s just a
game anyway.”

Ian pulled another RC onto the rock beside
him, held her around the waist to keep her up. Her cheeks turned a
bit pink as she smiled at him before facing the crowd.

“The object of the game is to survive. If
you get tagged, you die. Most of us RCs will be carnivores but two
of us will be viruses so that carnivores can die off too. The
boundaries include the field, the mountain and the two roads on
either side of the forest.”

“Now we’ll let the herbivores enter the
forest first, followed by the omnivores and then the carnivores,”
Ian said. “Play nice and be safe. Good luck, everyone!” His voice
boomed and nervous excitement filled the air.

“Better get going.” Melissa said smugly.

Half the crowd surged forward, and I moved
with them, pushed into a jog with the others as we crossed the
field and entered the forest. My heart rate picked up as soon as I
entered the tall trees. It was only a game, but I felt nervous,
like I really was a small animal about to be hunted. The morning
air felt cooler in here, the humidity penetrating my lungs. It was
a place I envisioned myself returning alone to walk or sit on a
blanket and read.

My fellow herbivores scattered, some finding
places to hide, others taking off deeper into the forest. I looked
down at myself and sighed. If I’d known hiding in a forest was on
the agenda, I wouldn’t have worn a white shirt. It was going to be
pretty damn hard not to stand out unless I climbed a tree. To my
surprise, someone to my right was doing just that.

I started jogging to the right, not knowing
where it would lead me or what my plan was. Close to the bottom of
the mountain, I found a large, fallen log and jumped behind it. The
ground was lower there, offering me more coverage than I’d
expected. If I pressed my body close to the ground, I could even
peer under the log and see what was coming.

About five minutes passed where nothing
happened. My breathing grew louder as the anticipation grew. There
was no sign of anyone. Had I passed the boundary? Just as I was
about to stand up, I heard a yell and then the thudding of distant
footsteps on the forest floor. Two guys raced past not ten feet
from me. The chaser saw me and did a double-take, and for a moment
I thought he might stop and go for me—easy prey. Luckily, he looked
forward again kept running.

Relieved, I closed my eyes. When I opened
them again, I saw her. A female face was watching me about twenty
feet away. My breath hitched and for a moment, I wondered if she
was another hiding herbivore like me. She looked large-eyed like
me. Just as I was about to offer a smile, she jumped to her feet
and came barreling toward me.

I ran.

I didn’t pay attention to where I was going,
I only ran. I leapt over fallen branches, twisted through trees,
the wind whipping in my ears. The footsteps behind me grew louder,
more forceful, and I pushed harder. But still the footsteps
continued behind me. I was a strong runner, stronger than the
average female—how had I not lost her already? The air seemed to
shift and I could feel someone’s fingers reaching out behind my
neck, stretching out to tag me...

Then I tripped on a root, tumbling in a
somersault along the path and onto the grass, my left shoulder
hitting the ground hard. The person chasing me cried out and then
strong hands rolled me over onto my back. Cursing, I grabbed at my
winded stomach.

Sunlight shining through the tops of the
trees blinded me so that all I could see was a silhouetted face
above me. I tried to push up but a hand on my shoulder held me
down.

“Don’t move, Lex. Are you hurt?”

I tensed. It wasn’t the girl that had
spotted me. It was a guy.

I moved my head slightly and my view
shifted. Now I could see him, that dark hair across his forehead
and those bright green eyes looking down at me and filled with
worry. Ian Crawford was kneeling beside me, one hand on my shoulder
and the other on my left thigh.

“I’m okay,” I said, catching my breath. “I
feel fine, except that I was supposed to be a carnivore.”

“So you picked up on that.” He grinned down
at me, his eyes twinkling. “Why didn’t you call me out?”

“It didn’t really matter until I was getting
chased through the forest. Why did you do it?”

“Because…” His gaze moved from my eyes to my
lips, his eyes darkening. “I wanted to catch you.”

I inhaled harshly, my heartbeat ratcheting
up a few levels. Ian was still looking at my lips. As he did so,
his tongue licked his own bottom lip, wetting it.

I sat up quickly, forcing him to sit back on
his haunches.

“Take it easy for a minute,” he said,
looking up at me from the ground. “That was a bad fall.”

“I’m okay.” I paced around with my hands on
my hips. “It didn’t hurt really.”

A branch cracked loudly and Ian jumped to
his feet. About fifty feet away, a girl was chasing a guy—another
poor herbivore. The guy raced past us but the girl stopped. She was
another RC wearing the telltale red sweatshirt.

“Everything okay?” she asked Ian
breathlessly.

“She tripped. I’m going to take her in and
make sure she’s okay.”

“I’m fine,” I said quickly. “I tripped but
nothing’s hurt.”

“I think we should take a break,” Ian said,
giving me a look I didn’t understand. “I’ll buy you a coffee or hot
chocolate. It’s the least I can do after tripping you.”

The girl rolled her eyes and took off
again.

I bit my lip. “Thanks, but I’d rather play
the game with everyone else.”

His eyebrows shot up like he hadn’t expected
that response. “I’m studying Medicine. Well, premed. It would be
irresponsible of me to let you play again.”

Now I was just annoyed. Sure I wouldn’t
exactly say I’d been having
fun
, but I didn’t need to be
treated like a charity case and dropout either. Plus I somehow
doubted his intentions were honorable.

“Thank you for your recommendation, doctor,
but I’m going to return to the game now. I don’t need special
treatment. Or maybe you’re just looking for an excuse to quit
yourself?”

“Very well, we can follow the rules.” Ian
shrugged, but his jaw was tight. He wiped his hand on his jeans and
then casually inspected his nails. “But I caught you, which
means...you’re dead.”

My mouth fell open. “So what—I’m out of the
game?”

“’Fraid so.” Still looking at his nails.

“Fine.” I stomped away in the direction of
the field. He didn’t call out or follow me, and I didn’t expect him
to. Somehow I resisted the urge to look over my shoulder and see if
he was still there.

When I reached the edge of the field, it
became apparent that more than half of the herbivores had been
caught. They all sat or stood in a group in the spot where we’d
started, their orange fabric wrapped around their heads, waists or
arms. Beside them was a group of omnivores in green. Funny how the
two groups remained segregated even after the game was over.

I spotted Carly and went to her.

“Do we have to stick around?” I demanded,
still fuming.

“I think so.”

“Good.” I stomped past her. “Then I’m
leaving.”

Instead of going back to residence, I
decided to explore campus. The bookstore was amazing—all shiny and
new with multiple floors to explore—and had an immediate calming
effect on me. On the bottom floor, I found nerd heaven: shelves and
shelves of textbooks organized by subject and course number. One of
the classes I was most excited about was A History of Music. It was
a full year course and I still couldn’t believe that it actually
counted toward my degree! How cool was it going to be to learn
about all the artists I loved and admired? I bought the books my
professors had chosen and carried them back to residence, where I
immediately sprawled on my bed to read.

A few hours later, Melissa came home and
told me that following the game, everyone had returned to the Quad
where they served drinks and snacks. I couldn’t help but wonder if
Ian had noticed I wasn’t around. He’d probably find it amusing that
I left in a fit.

“Why did you take off anyway?” Melissa
asked. “Carly said you were in a pissy mood.”

Before I could respond, a guy appeared in
our doorway, startling us both. He had shaggy blonde hair and blue
eyes and was wearing a skateboarding T-shirt. “Hey girls, I’m
Kent.”

“Hey Kent,” Melissa responded quickly. “I’m
Melissa and this is Alexis.”

“Cool. I live on the top floor. Some of us
are going around collecting requests for a liquor run. Gonna be a
party in the lounge tonight.”

“Nice! I want a bottle of Vodka,” Melissa
said and Kent lifted his cell to type in the order. “Anything you
can get with this.” She passed him a wad of bills.

“No prob. And you?” He turned to me
expectantly.

“Um...” I had no idea what to ask for. I
hadn’t gone to many parties in High School. So I pretended to
think. “What do I feel like...”

He smiled kindly. “How about I just get you
one of those 4 packs of coolers girls like? Ten bucks should cover
it.”

“Sounds good.” I pulled a tenner out of my
purse and handed it to him.

“Cool, we’ll bring all the alcohol to the
lounge at 9. See you then.”

But we didn’t need to wait until 9. By 8 the
guys had already cracked their beers and were pumping music so
loudly, we could hear it on the fourth floor. The girls down the
hall started coming out of their rooms and Melissa and Carly grew
antsy to join the party before someone grabbed their drinks. I
knocked on Lena’s door but no one answered, so I followed everyone
down.

The lounge was a modern and very basic
rectangular room with a wall-mounted television on one wall, a
window on the wall beside it, and a kitchen with cabinets that
spanned the other two. The sink was filled with ice and beer and
the unopened alcohol was sitting on the counter.