Catch Me

Chapter Seven: Stick Up For Yourself

Chapter Seven: Stick Up For Yourself

Haleigh considered the offer, weighing the pros and cons. Sure, it was probable that Zander was just being nice in offering to walk her back to her dorm. Or he could be trying lure her somewhere else and cut her into a million pieces. There were endless possible places where he could hide the body. Why was she overthinking this?

"I promise I wasn't following you." He chuckles again, while reassuring Haleigh that she would be safe.

"Fine." She finally agreed, letting out a small sigh. "But if you kill me I'm going to be real upset about it." This earned Haleigh another small laugh from Zander.

"I won't kill you." He smirked, then picked up his bass again and started walking with Haleigh in the direction of her dorm room. The walk was quiet at first, the sound of gravel crunching beneath their feet, along with the cars off in the distance were the only sounds that could be heard.

"Does your roommate do this often?" Zander asked referring to Sam who had currently taken over the dorm room with her boyfriend, Charles. Haleigh shuttered at the reminder of what was happening behind those closed doors.

"Every once in a while." Haleigh said quietly. She had her gazed fixated on her feet as she walked side by side with Zander. She concentrated on the sound the gravel made as they walked.

"That's not right. Doesn't her boy friend have his own dorm?" Zander asked, unaware who Sam's boyfriend was.

"He's president of Kappa Sigma. He has his own room." The annoyance in Haleigh's voice was prominent. She let out another sigh, mostly because her asthma was acting up again and she was having a difficult time breathing.

"That's annoying. Why wouldn't they go to his room?" Haleigh shrugged at this question. She had been asking herself this for about a month now, but had come to terms with the fact that it was just going to keep happening. "Have you said anything to her about it?"

"I'm not really a confrontational person... It makes me nervous." Haleigh wondered why it was so easy to admit this to a complete stranger.

"You have to stick up for yourself." Zander insisted. "You can't just sit back and let it happen. If it bothers you let her know. What are you going to do when snow falls, sit out here in the bellow zero temperatures?" Haleigh knew Zander had a point. She kept meaning to talk to Sam about the late night visits from Charles, but it was never the right time. Sam and Haleigh had to live together for the rest of the school year. It would be really uncomfortable if Haleigh offended Sam by bringing this up to her, and then Sam hated her for the rest of her life. She just couldn't bring herself to say anything.

"Easier said than done." Haleigh sighed once more as the pair climbed the front stairs of Haleigh's dorm building. "What if I say something wrong and she ends up hating me?"

"Then she's not someone you want in your life anyways."

Just moments before, Haleigh had been thinking this guy was the biggest creep she had ever met. Now she was talking to him with ease. Telling him her fears, and listening to his advice. It was a bizarre feeling.

"I have to live with her for the rest of the year."

"So? My roommates don't even talk to me." He shrugged.

"You have roommates? I didn't think you were a student." Haleigh pointed out.

"I'm not. I live right down the street, over the bagel shop. With a couple guys I went to high school with. We used to be real close, then when I joined The Wailing Donkeyz we kind of drifted apart." Zander began explaining. "It's fine though, my band is like my family now." Haleigh listened intently to Zander's story. The two had come to a stop and Haleigh sat on the top step of her dorm building. Zander leaned his bass case against a stone pillar and took a seat next to Haleigh.

"Don't you have to get to work?" Haleigh point out that it was now passed five o'clock.

"Eh, I can be a little late." He smirked as he looked into Haleigh's piercing blue eyes. Haleigh focused for just a second, and was paralyzed once more by Zander's golden brown eyes. It was as if they were peering into her soul. She quickly snapped back into focus and turned away from Zander. Silence washed over the two of them as they peered out over the sleeping campus.It wasn't an awkward silence, it was as if they were cherishing the moment of peace before the rest of the world awoke.

In front of them, just above the tree line, the morning sun was beginning to turn the sky a deep shade of orange. Though it was still dark around them. A couple minutes passed before Zander got to his feet.

"Well, I'll see you around?" He asked the beautiful girl who still sat on the top step. She looked exhausted. Her hair was starting to escape the hair elastic, and was sticking up in some places. She had a smudge of eyeliner that ran down her cheek, and her oversized t-shirt drooped down in the front, just a little. Yet she still looked gorgeous as the porch lamp shone above her. Haleigh nodded in a response to Zander who smiled widely before picking his bass back up and turning to walk away.

Haleigh was left alone for the third time that night, unsure if it was safe to go back inside yet or not.