by Lee Strauss
She would meet Jake as planned. But first she better set off to her art history class, otherwise she was going to be late. She grabbed a cream-colored corduroy fall jacket and wrapped a blue and pink scarf around her neck. She slipped into low-heeled brown faux-leather boots and slung the strap of her book bag over her shoulder, preparing to speed-walk all the way to class.
Later on, Teagan ran into Sage on one of the many pedestrian paths. The leaves on the trees that arched overhead had started to turn and the bluish grass was dotted with yellow from the ones that had fallen.
Sage shifted the bundle of books in her arms. She puffed a breath through her lips to blow the dark bangs over her eyes. “Where are you off to?”
“I’m meeting Jake for coffee,” Teagan said. “And to study.”
Sage’s eyebrows bounced. “Jake Wentworth? He’s cute!”
Teagan nibbled her lip. “Yeah, I noticed. But it’s just coffee.”
“Ha! It’s never just coffee. He doesn’t have to sit with you to drink coffee.” Sage poked her arm. “He likes you!”
“He hardly knows me enough to like me. We’re studying together, that’s all.”
Sage winked. “If you say so. Have fun! I can’t wait to hear all about it!”
Teagan bit the inside of her cheek to keep herself from breaking out in a huge idiotic smile.
Jake was already there when she arrived. The Literary Latté wasn’t large and most of the tables were full of students, either hoping to study or just hanging out. Music pumped quietly in the background, and the aggressive sound of the espresso machine went off in intervals. Jake waved her over. “I’m glad you came. I wasn’t sure that you would.”
“I said that I would.”
“You did. What can I get you? Remember, I said my treat.”
“I’d like a London Fog.”
“Tea?”
“That’s okay isn’t it? I know this is a coffee shop.”
“Just giving you a hard time. I’ll be right back.”
Teagan pulled out her books while waiting for Jake to return. She recalled the rape Marlow had mentioned and wished now she’d thought to ask Sage about it. A glance around the space proved that she didn’t know anyone there. She didn’t overhear any talk of an assault. Marlow must’ve been mistaken.
Jake returned with hot drinks in his hands. “A London Fog for the lady,” he said, handing her the drink. She blew on it carefully before taking a sip.
“Yum. Perfect.”
“So, you’re an art major?” he asked.
She nodded. “And you?”
“Economics. Here on a hockey scholarship.”
“I heard that. At the club the other night. That Chet guy is your friend?”
“Nah, not really. We just met when I got here. He’s a dip personality-wise, but he knows his way around the ice.”
“I don’t know anything about hockey.”
“The object of the game is pretty simple. Your team has to get the puck in the net of the opposing team. Each goal is one point. Whoever has the most goals after three periods wins.”
“I imagine the skating thing makes it more difficult.”
“Only if you can’t skate. Do you skate?”
“I’ve done it a few times, but I’m certainly not graceful.”
“There’s a nice outdoor rink nearby that opens up in winter. I’ll take you when it’s cold enough.”
Teagan smiled and nodded and wondered if he’d just asked her on another date. Though winter was still another month away, so maybe not. She flipped through the pages of her textbook and tried to concentrate.
They talked more about Professor Madsen, Jake filling her in on some of what she’d missed by dozing off, and she tried to make sense of it. Her brain worked better with tangible things like clay and paint. When it came to words and theories and deep philosophical concepts, her synapses wanted to shut down.
Teagan just happened to look toward the front of the shop when she saw the strap of a girl’s handbag snag a display case, knocking coffee packages over the floor. She immediately felt sorry for her. How embarrassing.
Jake jumped up to help and Teagan watched as they worked together to restore the display. She would’ve helped too, but the area was tight, and a third person would’ve gotten in the way. The girl had short, blond hair held back with a black headband. Teagan recognized her now, from her art history class. Vanessa something. She felt a strange tug in her gut as she watched Jake help her. Teagan could hear his words of reassurance from where she sat and the girl’s repeated responses of gratitude.
Once everything was cleaned up, Vanessa thanked Jake again before leaving. Jake slid back into his chair.
“That was very kind of you,” Teagan said.
“Oh, that? It was nothing.”
Jake slurped the last of his coffee and checked the time on his phone. “Oh, damn. I gotta go. Coach will kill me if I’m late for practice. I’m sorry. Will you be okay getting back to your dorm? Normally, I would walk you.”
“No, I’m fine. Go. I still have some studying I want to do anyway.”
Jake shoved all his books into his backpack. “I’ll see you in class tomorrow.”
“Sure.”
He left the coffee shop like a thunderstorm. The room seemed quieter and calmer just by his absence and Teagan forced herself to stop thinking of him and to focus on her homework. Her mother was right. Boys were a big distraction from studies.
Teagan worked on an essay for about forty-five minutes before sirens broke through the background clatter. She wondered what that could be about, since she’d never heard sirens on campus before. It was time she left anyway, so she packed up her things.
Before she could leave, a girl Teagan didn’t know blew into the café and screeched to a group of girls at a booth across the room. “You won’t believe this! Someone was just raped in the park behind the library!”
Teagan’s blood cooled, pooling at her knees and she slid into a nearby chair. She grabbed at her chest and swallowed dryly, trying to process what she’d heard. Someone was just raped. So, how did Marlow know? How could he possibly know about something before it happened?
Unless? Teagan could barely cope with the next thought. Unless he had planned to commit the crime himself? Blood rushed from her head and she felt faint at the thought.
Teagan ran home and locked the door to her dorm behind her. She would remove herself from the chat forums and never talk to Marlow again. Oh, God, how she wished now that she’d never given averagegeek99 her name!
7

Marlow
Teagan didn’t show up for our meeting last night. She didn’t respond to any of my messages. I tried to think of what I’d said to turn her off. Maybe she was just sick of my ugly mug or my corny jokes. Maybe she met an IRL guy and no longer had time to mess around with the likes of me.
Fine. Whatever.
It wasn’t like I didn’t have a life. Look at me now, sitting in the guys’ stinky lounge playing video games with other geeks. Zed was with me, as per usual, along with Paul and Steve. We were the only four dudes to not go to some kind of fall event.
Paul shot my guy in the back and shouted, “Oh, yeah, loser!”
“Who are you calling a loser, loser?” I retorted. My virtual guy magically recovered and I lobbied a grenade into Paul’s virtual Jeep. “Kaboom!”
Zed chugged a pop and let out an impressive belch. I catapulted a stained cushion at him from the sagging couch. It might have been orange at one time, but now, I would definitely call it brown. Steve called time-out to take a piss.
I stared outside and saw the sun peeking out from under gray clouds as it slunk lower on the horizon. My legs twitched with nervous energy and I jumped up.
“I’m heading out.”
Zed glanced up with a surprised stare. “Out where?”
“Dunno. Need some vitamin D. I’m as pale as a vamp.”
“You should buy a green smoothie, man,”
he said. Zed swore by his green breakfast smoothies. I just chalked the weird habit up to one of many idiosyncrasies he had.
“Too gross for my sophisticated palate,” I said as I grabbed my hoodie. I shrugged it on as I skipped down the steps, pushing the exterior doors open with a two-handed thrust.
I didn’t know how a girl I’d met online and had only chatted with for a few days could make me so agitated. For an intelligent guy I could be really stupid sometimes. All I knew of her appearance was from her profile pic. Blond hair, friendly eyes, a cute little rosebud mouth.
She was here, somewhere on this campus. I couldn’t stop myself from scouring the grounds. I sat on the top of a short brick wall, balancing myself against the lamppost that jutted skyward. The automatic lamp flickered on, signaling nightfall. Leaves dropped as the cool breeze picked up and floated downward to join the paper litter along the curb. Students milled about, some at a leisurely pace and others with quick determined strides—destinations and deadlines looming.
I sorted through all the female heads looking for blonds.
Blond, blond, another blond. All the pretty faces made my skin tingle. There were a lot of attractive girls around—with every hair color—just none for me, apparently.
I was about to head back when I spotted her. At least, I thought it was her. She wore a short, fall jacket with a scarf around her neck. I leaned forward and squinted. Was it her? She was with a guy.
Of course she was. A jock. That should’ve been enough to keep me from shouting out, but my stupid mouth moved before my brain could check it. “Teagan!”
She stopped and looked in my direction. I shimmied off the wall and strode toward her. “Teagan? It’s me, Marlow.”
She blinked a few times and tilted her head. “Who?”
“Marlow. You know, averagegeek99?”
The guy beside her smirked at my handle. I ignored him and focused on Teagan.
“You are Teagan, right?”
She nodded warily. I opened my palms and waved them as though that would jog her memory.
“Where do I know you from?” she asked.
“The chat forums. We talked this week. A few nights in a row.”
That brought a scowl to the face of the jock. Teagan glanced up at him with wide eyes. She turned to me and said politely, “You have me mistaken for someone else.”
And then the kicker. She grabbed the jock’s hand and walked away leaving me standing in their wake like a complete idiot.
8

Sage
“I just can’t believe it,” Teagan said again for the millionth time. She sat on her bed, a mirror image of mine, with blankets pulled over her soft tummy. She continued, “The thought that someone has been attacked is unfathomable. Not at Detroit University!”
I wrapped my arms around my knees, awash with the same kind of dread and disbelief. The crime was horrifying, and made us all feel so vulnerable. “It wasn’t even that dark yet. It’s just crazy.”
My new friend Nora O’Shea sprawled across the foot of my bed, red hair falling off the edge like a crimson waterfall. She made mew noises. “I cut across that park all the time. There are a lot of trees and bushes.”
“I want to go home to the safety of my pink princess room,” Teagan whined, “and the overprotective embrace of my mother.”
“Teag,” I said. “You can’t let one maniac control where and how you live.” Or your mother, I thought, but didn’t say that aloud.
Her big eyes implored me. “What can we do to protect ourselves?”
I was asking myself the same question. I rubbed my forehead. “Safety in numbers.”
“Carry a whistle,” Nora added. “Though that won’t help if you get jumped from behind.”
I wanted to kick Nora. She didn’t know Teagan like I did. I could see her trembling from across the room.
“Call before you leave a place, and if you don’t arrive in time, we’ll call for help,” I said, trying to be encouraging.
Teagan flicked a hand toward me. “By then the damage will be done.”
A thick silence descended, and Teagan curled into a tighter ball, yoga pant-covered legs clutching a body pillow. My gaze drifted along the room. Clutter littered Teagan’s side, clothes strewn casually on the floor, makeup scattered across her dresser. In contrast, my side was neat and tidy. My closet and drawers were closed. My makeup was lined up on my dresser in the order I applied them. A poster of Einstein with the quote “Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new,” hung above my bed.
“I met this guy,” Teagan said quietly. “He said something that kind of creeped me out.”
I blinked several times as I processed this and twisted to face her. “You’re online dating?”
She shot me a horrified look. “No! It’s not a dating site. It’s a campus chat room.”
Nora swung her legs around and returned to a sitting position. “What’d he say?”
“Well,” Teagan began, “he told me that there had been a rape and that I should be careful.”
I didn’t get it. “Why does that creep you out?”
“Because he told me about the rape before it happened.”
What? Nora and I chimed in together. “Before?”
I leaned forward and asked, “He predicted the rape? How?”
Teagan shrugged. “Maybe he’s psychic?”
“Or,” Nora began, “he did it. His way of playing with your head.”
Teagan paled. I skittered over to her side of the bed. “What’s his name?”
“Marlow. I don’t know his last name.”
“He’ll be listed in the student directory,” Nora offered.
“Good idea,” Teagan said. She opened her laptop and brought up the student directory. “He said he was a freshman, so that narrows it down.” She scanned the faces and names, and a frown tugged on her lips. “Still, there are hundreds.”
Nora and I waited as Teagan squinted at her screen. I was dying to see what this guy looked like. After all my failed attempts at trying to set Teagan up, she chose to hang out with a guy online.
“That’s him.”
Nora and I jumped up and peered over Teagan’s shoulder. She pointed. “Marlow Henry.”
“In the science program,” I said. “He’s probably in some of my math classes.”
“He’s nerdy-looking,” Nora said.
Teagan pulled her laptop away with barely veiled irritation. “I think he’s kind of cute, but that’s not the point here.”
A pit weighted in my stomach as I settled back onto my own bed. “Have you told anyone?”
“I didn’t see a reason to,” Teagan answered. “Until now. Besides this isn’t proof of anything.”
Nora thumbed through messages on her phone. “People are saying the victim was a freshman. Vanessa Rothman.”
Teagan’s eyes popped open and she shot upright. “No way! She’s in my art history class. I just saw her at The Literary Latté where I was studying with Jake. She’d knocked over a display before she left.”
Teagan covered her mouth with her hand. “Jake helped her clean it up,” she said with a hushed voice. “And followed her out.”
Nora arched a brow. “So, you think Jake Wentworth’s the rapist now?”
“No. I don’t know,” Teagan answered. “But isn’t it weird that Vanessa leaves just before Jake leaves.”
My heart went out to Teagan. She was so freaked out. “I’d call that a coincidence,” I said gently.
Just then Teagan’s phone rang and she yelped when she saw the caller ID.
“Who is it?” I asked.
“You won’t believe it,” she said. “It’s Jake Wentworth.”
Another coincidence?
Her ringtone continued. “Aren’t you going to answer it?” I asked.
Teagan tapped the respond button and put it on speakerphone. “Hello.”
“Hey, Teagan, Jake here. I was just wondering, would you like to grab a
burger and then come hang out at my hockey practice? Lots of people come and you could learn a bit more about the game that way.”
Teagan hesitated then said, “Can you hang on a moment?” She covered the receiver.
I widened my eyes. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, just, do you guys feel like going for a burger and then watching a hockey practice after?”
“You want us to come with you?” I asked. “Why?”
“It feels too much like a date with just the two of us. I’m not ready.”
I smirked. “Chicken. Yeah, sure. We’ll come as your support team, won’t we Nora?”
Nora grinned. “Watching a bunch of hot hockey players sounds like a good way to spend the evening to me.”
9

Teagan
Teagan said yes to Jake but she still felt nervous. What did she really know about this guy? And what did he see in her anyway? There were a lot of prettier girls on campus and more athletic ones, too.
She pushed herself off her bed and fished through the clothes piled on her floor and hanging out of her drawers. She settled on a pair of jeans, sucking in a little to get the button done, and a mint green wool sweater thinking it would be cold in the hockey rink. She tucked a wool cap and scarf into her purse. Her hair was already a mess so she just pulled it into a sloppy updo, slipping the blue streak behind her ear. Teagan examined her image in the mirror critically. She was soft. She had curves. Not athletic or lean in the slightest.
She spun to face Sage and Nora. “What do you think?”
“Makeup,” Sage said.
Right. Teagan quickly put on mascara and lip gloss. She added a stroke of black pencil eyeliner to her lids at the last minute.