Vanishing With Time

Chapter 3

"Hey Audrielle. Sleep good?" Lilly asked.

"Fine I guess, but now I have to leave early to get to my biology class." I said, yawning. "All because of your stupid boyfriend."

"He's not stupid." She demanded. "He just made a mistake. And he's going to fix it."

"Whatever. Gotta go Lilly or I'm gonna be late. Bye." I gathered my breakfast and backpack and left.

I trudged down the hallway struggling to carry my backpack without the help of my bike. This is going to be a long walk, I thought. The side walk is so uneven and I almost fell twice. It's odd to see so many young kids walking to class at a university. I feel like I forgot about something, something important but I can quite pin point it.

"Hey Audrielle. Ready for the big test today?" Shannon asked.

"Oh... That's what I forgot about. Dang it!" Great.

"Okay... Go to your assigned areas and you test will begin in five minutes. No exceptions." The professor announced.

Okay, I got this. Just remember what you learned. You can do this.

I found my gloves, science goggles, and biology supplies. After I was done gearing up, I glanced to my side and found a boy staring at me, but now he saw me look he turned away. That's odd, has he always been in this class? Well that doesn't matter now.

"Alright, you may begin."

To my surprise I glided easily through the test, even though I did a lot of guessing, but I'm pretty sure I at least passed. So I placed my papers into the file and went back to my seat where I found a note. So like any other person I opened it and this is what it said:

Study buddies?
yes _ no _

I wasn't going to commit to anyone that I didn't know so, I tucked into my backpack, got up and left.

~

While I was walking down the sidewalk Shannon caught up to me and she was really intrigued about something.

"Audrielle! Did you hear?" Shannon exclaimed.

"Hear what?"

"Dean Jamison got the virus. He started flipping out on the school nurse, and she injected him with strong muscle relaxant so he collapsed but he was saying something about that the voices are telling him to find buried treasure under the library."

"I thought he was hiding something." I said while laughing. "So who do you think will take over his place?"

"Oh I don't know. I heard some rumor that that they were considering Professor Joseph Burns."

"You mean Crazy Joe from the psychology building! No way!" I shouted. "Are you serious?"

"Yes, I am! They figured they'd pick a young guy because the virus."

"Oh that makes sense. Do you want to go down to the coffee shop and grab something to drink for an after test treat?"

"Sure." She agreed.

While we were making our way towards the shop, I heard rustling and moaning coming from a near by bush.

"What the hell?" I whispered under my voice.

"What?" Shannon asked.

Then suddenly a man erupted from behind the bush and attacked me. "Ahhhhhhh!" I screamed. "Get him off of me! Do something!" The man was snapping his teeth at me.

"Hold on Audrey! I'm trying to find the shot to tranquilize him." I could tell she was nervous and frustrated trying to get a hold of the guy's arm to inject it into him. Then I heard a short high pitched moan and the man fell limp, so I threw him off of me. "We need to call the cops, before he wakes up because that was the only shot I had, and I don't know how long they last either."

"Just a sec, I want to get a blood sample and a skin sample so I can go back to the science department and study it." I took out a vile and petrie dish for the samples. When I looked at the blood it had an odd color to it. "That's weird. It's has a greenish tint in it. That could mean something. I'm gonna need more samples."

"Okay, but hurry, because I'm calling the cops." Shannon said while fumbling to get her visiphone out.

~

"Thanks girls for letting us know, because you don't know what other damage he would have caused. Did he bite you at all?" The officer asked.

"No, but he was close." I replied.

"Do you want to be checked out at the hospital for precautionary reasons. For infections or other diseases you may have contracted?"

"No, I'm fine." I assured the officer.

"Well alright. But you still have to fill out this form." He said, "just sign here and we're all good to go. Have a nice day ladies." He waved and we waves back, then turned to each other.

"Still up to coffee?" I asked.

"Sure. Let's go."

As we were walking the final block, we were getting weird look as if we just walked out of a grave or something. Then I saw my reflection in a store window and understood why. Shannon's red hair was in a wild mess, as well and mine, and I was covered in dirt and my clothes were torn.

"Do you want to straighten up first?" I asked Shannon.

"Nah. I like how priceless these people's faces look when they see us." She answered back, giggling.

"Alright. Let's take a seat and order then."

"How can I help you lad... bo... kids?" The waitress asked with a friendly but uncertain tone.

"I'll have a hazelnut coffee with two sugars and three creamers." I said.

"I'll try the same."

"Okay, I'll be right back with your order."

Before I could even say anything, "Here you go. Two hazelnut coffees with two sugars and three creamers."

"Thank you." Shannon said to the waiter.

I took a sip, but almost spit it out. Not because it was hot, but because I saw that boy from my biology class from today. I kicked Shannon under the table. "Hey, Shannon, see that boy over there? Isn't he in our biology class?"

"Um, I don't know." She said unsurely.

"I think he is. I saw him staring at me before I took the biology test. Then when I got back to my table I found a note on it." I dug through my backpack searching for the note. "Here take a look at it." I slid the note across the table.

"Study buddies?" Then she continued on. "Do you think the note is from him?" She asked.

"Maybe, but I don't even know who he is." I answered back.

When Shannon and I looked back his way, he caught our glance and started to approach us.

"Uh, what should we do? Do we run or ignore him or..." I was freaking out. I started to sweat, and my palms felt clammy. When he reached our table I froze, wide eyed.

"You're Audrielle right?" He asked nervously.

"Yeah, but who are you?" I asked him back.

"I'm Max. I'm in your biology class. I wasn't quite sure if you ever notice ticked me, so today if finally got the nerve to leave a note on you table, but you didn't answer so I decided to approach you."

"Have you been in my biology class the semester?" I asked Max.

"No, I came at mid semester." He said.

"Why did you want to be my study buddy. I haven't even met you before." I told him with my arms crossed.

"I stay late on at the science building on Friday night and I see you there in the science lab, so I figured we could maybe work together in the lab and get somewhere. You know put two brains together. Two's better than one."

"Oh, I suppose so. Do you want to meet at the science lab tonight? Maybe get to know how each other think and stuff?" I asked him.

"Sure! Sounds great! See you at 7pm sharp." He gathered his things and ran out of the shop.

I turned to Shannon with a shocked look on my face. "Looks like I have a science date."