Morph.

Chapter 9

I reach campus at 9.15am. Slightly earlier than expected. As I park my bike inside the bicycle cage, I notice Rachel pulling in to the parking lot.

"Hey Rach! Morning!".

"Morning, Steph! You're early!", she says as she steps out of her car.

"Yeah, decided to be a good student for once.". Good, she hasn't screamed or looked at me funny yet.

"Wanna' grab some coffee before class?", she asks, never failing to have her morning cup of coffee.

"Sure! Sounds good.".

Along the way, we bump into Tobias and Christine. They're not running away as well. Good.

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As we take our seats in the lecture hall, Chris is missing. I begin to worry. What if he's gone to the police? Or some clandestine organization hell bent on kidnapping shapeshifters?

Thomas is showing Daniel something on his phone, both of them giggling. Christine, Rachel and Tobias are chatting about this DJ who's supposed to be spinning at a club nearby this weekend. Rachel seems to know the DJ.

"You coming, Steph?", Tobias asks.

I blink and look at him.

"Huh? Sorry, I spaced out.".

"This Friday night. Vertigo. 9.30pm.", Christine adds.

"Oh, uhm. I might have dinner plans already. Sorry, guys.". I'm in no frame of mind to party right now. Plus, that was sort of a white lie.

"Booooo", Rachel calls out to me. I smile and nudge her on the shoulder - trying to act as normal as possible.

Chris walks in right before the lecture starts. He looks around the hall before his line of sight passes our group, and me. I can tell he's mildly freaking out seeing me in class as he stands by the door just a little too long to be considered normal. He makes his way over. I swallow a lump in my throat. It seems I've chosen a good place to sit today as our entire group separates Chris and I as he takes the outer seat along the row, next to Thomas. Daniel and Thomas are already busy distracting him with their phones. He laughs, fools around and acts normal. I say act because I know it. His gaze locking on to me one too many times during class.

Over lunch, we sit at opposite ends of the table again. We're both silent for most of the time, trying our very best to gel in with the group when we both know that we're eyeing each other. God. Why can't he look at me this often before he had to find out?

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I decide to walk with Thomas and Christine to their cars today, seeing as how Chris has took off with Rachel and Daniel towards theirs. Tobias has once again bailed out on us, blaming his brother and Jiujitsu.

"You need a lift?", Thomas asks.

"Well, uhm. If you can drop me at my dad's diner, that'd be great.".

"I'll see you two tomorrow!", Christine shouts over the noise from her car window as she drives off.

We both wave.

"Your dad's diner. You're gonna' have to point out directions as I don't know where that is.", as he starts his car.

"Sure, it's just around the cor-.."

My phone vibrates. It's a message.

"...it's just around the corner, probably 10 minutes by car. Just give me a minute, need to check my phone."