The Darkness Within Us

Chapter 4

The next morning I got out of bed and threw on a pair of jeans and a cute cropped hoody. I was getting ready to go and meet up with my university friends for a study group session. I gave myself a last once over, as I added my favourite hoop earrings, a layer of pink lip balm and pulled my hair up into a high pony tail.

I rushed out of the door.

I soon had to rush back in the door, and get my bus pass that was on my bedside table, but after that I was on my way.

I hopped off the bus at the stop outside the library, thanking the driver, and headed towards the library door. I made a beeline for the back of the library where they had large tables for group study sessions.

As soon as Jamie spotted me she did a quiet little squeal and waved at me. Once I reached her side I gave her a quick little hug. Jamie was my best friend in the entire world. She had bright ginger curly locks that reached her waist and gorgeous green eyes. She was one of the kindest people you could ever meet.

I took my seat next to Jamie and greeted the rest of the table.

There was Rachel who had olive skin and silky brown hair to match, Georgia who was the classic pretty girl with platinum blonde hair and big baby blue eyes and Morgan who was very petite and proper with her chocolate brown hair always up in a tight bun. Morgan was a bit quieter than the rest of us and was extremely dedicated to her studying, which was good because she was the one that always managed to bring us back to topic once we began gossiping. I had met the girls the first week of lectures when we all knew no one on the course and needed people to sit next to. We had been friends ever since.

I pulled out my notebook and laptop. "So what topic do you guys want to focus on today?" I asked. Morgan began to make suggestions but Georgia interrupted her.

"Before we start, I've got a few questions for you missy." She smirked at me and I groaned. "What have I done now?" I rolled my eyes at her dramatics.

"Are you dating someone?"

I scrunched my face up in confusion. "No, you know I'm not. Happily single. Plus you know you guys would be the first to know if I was seeing someone."

Georgia leaned back and huffed. "Well that's weird."

I leaned forward, curious. "What's weird?"

All of our eyes were on Georgia waiting for her answer. I saw from the look in her eyes that she enjoyed having a captive audience. She leaned forward and began to speak. "So I was at the campus shop before I came here, grabbing us some snacks." She gestured towards the mini muffins in the middle of the table. "I was just standing in line to pay when this guy came up and asked if I was Georgia. He said he was a 'friend' of yours and he recognised me from a picture you posted. Anyways, he started asking me questions about how you were coping with everything after the attack outside the burger bar a couple months ago, so I assumed he must know you pretty well but when I asked for his name he kind of just avoided the question and started asking me about your love life, if you were dating anyone, that kind of thing. Luckily that's when I was called up to the till and when I turned around he was gone. It was really weird. I assumed maybe it was like some guy you were dating that was just trying to get some intel on you."

A knot of worry formed in the pit of my stomach. Who the hell could that be? "I have no idea who that was... What did he look like?"

"Young, early twenties, dark skin, like at least 6 foot tall." She replied.

My mind spun for a moment before realisation hit me. Corey. It had to be, I couldn't think of anyone else who matched that description and would be interested in my love life. I groaned and put my head in my hands. The others looked at me and exchanged concerned looks with each other.

I spent the next 15 minutes explaining the Corey situation to them. They knew I had a friend from school called Corey but I hadn't told them about the dynamic we had and now with what had happened the night before, it all started to make sense. "I can understand him being upset. I feel awful that I led him on at all but that doesn't mean it's ok that he comes and checks up on me like this. It crosses way to many boundaries."

The girls all nodded in agreement.

"You've got to put your foot down and let him know that that's creepy behaviour and he's lucky you're not kicking him in the balls for disrespecting you that way." Rachel growled. I smiled at this, Rachel was feisty and was too easily lead to violence but I agreed with her sentiment.

"I'll have a talk with him about this at some point, sort all this shit out."

"Good." Georgia said. "Sounds like you need a night out after all of this... Speaking of which, will you come out with us tonight for my birthday?" She gave me a big cheesy grin.

"What?" I said confused. "Your birthday's not for 2 weeks"

"I know, I know. But it's the beginning of my birthday month and that's something to celebrate." She flicked her long hair behind her shoulder.

I felt Jamie's hand on my arm. I looked over to see her giving me puppy dog eyes and pouting. "Please Anna, we miss going out with you."

It was true I hadn't been out with the girls for months and months.

I sighed "Ok I'll come, but only because it's Georgia's birthday month."

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A/N

Hi!

This is a bit of a shorter chapter so I decided that I would upload this one now and another (longer one) tomorrow.

What do you think of Anna should do about Corey? 

If you're enjoying the story so far please let me know by voting or commenting. I really appreciate it and would love to hear any thoughts or feedback you might have!

Lucy x