Here There Be Dragons

Obsession

James' hair was the first thing I noticed about her; there are few people with hair longer than mine on this campus (mine covers my entire back and stops just above my bottom).  James' hair is exactly the same blonde as mind and reaches below her bottom.  I was intrigued by this girl who sat in the back of the classroom, but I have trouble making friends and didn't know how to start up a conversation with someone who didn't see to have friends in the class.  I really didn't consider Eric or Ava my friends, and I wasn't friends with anyone else on campus except for my roommate - and we didn't talk very much.  

One day, while I was waiting for Eric to sit next to me and ask for a pencil, James walked past me and something caught my eye: her backpack; specifically: a face on her backpack: Dean Winchester.  I bit my lip to hold in as scream of excitement.  I didn't know if anyone on this campus would have watched the TV show Supernatural.  I was so glad to see a fellow fan that I couldn't help saying something.  I twisted around in my chair with raised eyebrows and a playful grin, "I really like your backpack."

James' face was confused for a minute, then she looked down at Dean's face, and looked up with a light shining in her eyes.  She grinned and said in a surprised voice, "Thanks!"
I glanced down, "I just watched that episode two weeks ago!"
Her eyes widened, "You're just starting!"
"Season 3!" I said half-defensively.
"Out of 12 - almost 13!"
Before I could respond, Eric walked in and groaned, "Guess what?"
I looked at him a little more exhausted with him than usual, "Pencil?"
He grinned, "It's like you read my mind."

The music classroom overlooks a large pond called Catfish Pond.  A walking trail encircles the pond and dips into the woods.  There is an offshoot of the trail that leads to Silver Lake which has a small beach.  It looks like the set of the Supernatural episode Dead In The Water (Season 1 Episode 3).  I had only walked the trail during orientation week when there was a bonfire at Silver Lake.

Skip forward a week.  James and I now have spent time in each other's rooms getting to know each other.  We have walked the Catfish Pond loop about two times at dusk getting back to campus property before dark.  We have exchanged phone numbers and our conversations are basically limited to Supernatural gifs and hello's.  Then James texts me after dark, "Would you like to walk around Catfish Pond with me?"
I was a little hesitant.  Dad had warned me, "Don't go walking at night if you can help it.  The only time you should go walking at night is if you are getting to your dorm from class."  I responded to James' text, "It's dark?"
"Yah.  You wanna come?"
"Give me two minutes."
And so began a tradition of walks in the dark of night around Catfish Pond with no flashlights just because we can.  It is beautiful.  James has unlimited data, so she pulls up YouTube, creates a playlist, and we walk through the woods.  Most of the time, we go out to Silver Lake and sit on the beach to talk about random things.  Our relationship has really grown stronger.  She eventually convinced me to get a Snapchat and now we have a 23 day streak.  Life is good.

You are asking at this point, "Why is this entitled 'Obsession?'  It's more like "A Long List of Randomness."  I'm just getting to that par.  Why are you always so impatient? (Actually, I'm the one putting words into your mouth, so I'm being impatient with myself.)  Anyway, here's the obsession part.

James and I had been sitting next to each other for a long time at this point.

Midterms are upon us; the test for this particular class spanned two class periods.  It was 9:00 in the morning on a Friday, and I had been sick since Wednesday.  Part one of the test was happening that day.  A number of classmates and I were waiting for the class before us to finish so we can take our seats in the classroom.  I was talking with Owen and my voice crackled like radio static and fizzled out.  Owen stared at me, "Did you just lose your voice?"
I meant to say, "I hope not! Our singing exam is on Monday!" But nothing came out except the crackle.
I resorted to whispers with a sinking heart.  I hurried down the hall to re-fill my water bottle before class.  The doors opened and our class quickly populated the room.  James went in and sat down.  I finished filling my water bottle and walked into the classroom to find James heatedly arguing with Eric.
Eric had moved out of his typical chair and was slouched in the only seat left open beside James.  I blanked for a second and moved over slowly to the seat in which I belong.  James was at a loss staring angrily at Eric.  "Look. She always sits here.  You can't just take her seat!"

I swallowed.  The classroom was noisy; he wasn't going to hear my whisper.  "Eric! Please move! There's science behind sitting in the same seat when you take a test helping you remember stuff better!"
James and Eric looked at me funny as I whispered.  Then James seamlessly picked it up, "She's sick, Eric.  Give her her seat!"
Eric slouched deeper into the chair and crossed his arms.
Sick me holds back tears.  My legs were feeling weak so I sat down in the nearest open seat shaking with anger.  Any soft spot in my heart for Eric was gone at that instant.
I couldn't look at Eric in any of the remaining classes we took together that day for fear of becoming more angry.  I don't know how James could sit next to him.  I think I would have reached over and flipped his desk in the middle of the test. (And I'm not exaggerating this time.)

James had a meeting with the teacher later that day.  The teacher recommended that she sit on the other side of the room for reasons unrelated to the events of that morning.  James asked me to move with her, but I wasn't convinced. "You could get away from Eric!"
"Don't say his name, it makes me angrier."
"How are you going to learn seated next to ERIC then?"
"JAMES," I whispered angrily. "Stop it."
"See? You should move with me."
"I'm making no promises one way or another."

That night, we went for our walk.  It was cold now, but we needed some space away from people so we could talk about our private lives.  We sat down on a rock at Silver Lake and talked for an hour.  About half-way through the hour, I was talking about how angry I still was at Eric and James started making funny noises to try to make me laugh.  It worked and we both relaxed.  When I was thoroughly chilled, we began walking back towards campus.  About three-quarters of the way back, we started seeing a flashlight behind us and we hurried up a little bit so we wouldn't have to talk to other people.  They caught up with us anyway.

An all-too familiar voice called out, "James! You were making some weird noises out there tonight!"
I turned around in shock to see Eric and another person striding out of the woods towards us.  My first instinct was to reach out and grab onto something – James being the nearest thing to hold onto. My last complete though that I remember for the next ten minutes was, "Don't grab James' hand, you're going to squeeze and she needs those to play guitar." I latched onto James' wrist and basically blanked out.

James has since told me she and Eric held a small conversation in which he revealed that he had heard her make noises in the woods and repeated a specific noise that James had made at Silver Lake  to her.

How long had he and his friend been listening!? What did they hear!?

I was horrified when I 'woke up' again, I let go of James and started speed-walking back into the woods. I am an angry walker and I walked. James left Eric and his friend and sped after me. We walked all the way back around Catfish Pond before I started to feel fatigued. 

 When we told James' suite-mate, she was concerned and angry and wanted to call the campus police. We decided not to.

A few days later, Ava and I were talking and the whole story came out. It turns out Ava was on the verge of a relationship with Eric at the beginning of the semester, but he told her he was not ready for a relationship yet. Ava was horrified that he had done that and said of all the bad stories she had heard about him (and there were many) this was the worst. Later, Ava came to me and told me she had seen a counselor about Eric's actions and they warned her to keep her distance. I have taken that as my advice as well and have spoken to him only as he responds to something I say to James.

This episode doesn't seem like such a big deal when it's actually typed out, but reliving it as I typed it out has shaken me once again. I am still angry and nervous that this may create more problems in the years ahead.

I did okay on the test and was feeling better by Part 2 where I had to sing, so everything went okay there. James and I now sit on the other side of the classroom from Eric and avoid him at all costs. Ava still sits near him, but says she won't pursue a relationship. She and I have become good friends through this episode – and that is the only good thing about it.

I don't know what moral you want to take away from this story. You could choose that walking in the woods at night is dangerous. That's probably true, but it is the most relaxing thing I do now.
 You could choose that college is a hive of predators stalking your every move. This may be true to a certain point.
 However, I would point you to the moral being don't lead a guy on if you aren't willing to be stalked by him.
 And get to class on time for crying out loud so no one takes your seat.