The Trouble With Two Seasons

Chapter 24 : Strangers and Stalkers

Summer made her way to the almost empty parking lot, her book bag weighed her down.

School was over an hour and half ago and she had stayed behind to study for the upcoming biology quiz they had.

Her breath hitched feeling a shadowy presence around her but shook it off.

She was tired, today had been an exhausting day. Her mind was probably playing tricks on her.

She entered her BMW and pulled the door close.

Then, she dumped her bag on the passenger seat after placing her white Stanley cup in the car's cup holder.

The engine softly purred to life and she drove out of the school gates.

Her tummy rumbled, reminding her to get herself fed.

Maybe some coffee would get the adrenaline pumping through her veins again. She made a detour to the nearest coffee shop.

Minutes into the drive, she spotted a black Toyota Corolla tailing her from behind.

The car looked a bit familiar, she had seen it somewhere, in the school's parking lot, perhaps? It had their school's parking sticker.

Probably it was just one of their schoolmates heading towards that direction too, she waved it off.

After all, the coffee place was the most famous in town.

She soon pulled over at the coffee place, grabbed her coffee, then made her way back towards her car.

The Toyota she had spotted earlier was actually packed a few blocks back.

Maybe the person actually was getting coffee too, she thought, watching the car. With each growing look, a very uneasy feeling set in her.

She took a deep breath and strolled the opposite direction, listening to confirm the heavy footsteps falling behind her.

She clutched her coffee in her hands in fear, the heat radiating from the cup burned her hands.

She couldn't be arsed, she had an even more alarming situation at hand.

She quickened her pace as the steps behind her became louder.

There was no mistaking this now, she was being followed.

"Hey, hold up!" A dark voice boomed from behind her.

She took a backward glance at the bulky lad behind her and turned up her speed, walking without actually knowing where she was headed towards.

This enabled her to think until the footsteps soon caught up with her.

A cold hand grabbed her bicep. The person's offending fingers dug into her flesh.

Summer froze at once, peeling his hands off her.

"Don't fucking touch me!" She lashed, glaring at the figure which towered above her.

The boy looked slightly stoned yet awfully familiar. His face was freckled and he wore a baseball cap to contain his red ruffled hair.He was clothed in dark jeans and a black hoodie, the smell of weed reeking from his clothes.

Then it dawned on her where she'd seen that face. It was one of the many faces that scorned at her from the pool party, when the incident with Winter happened. And she could clearly remember seeing him sometime this week in the hallway at school.

"What do you want from me? You've been tailing me for a while now. I'm giving you five minutes to explain yourself, or I'm dialing the cops!" Summer threatened.