Crescent Love

Chapter Four

Peering over the rim of my textbook in the corner of the library, I continued to quietly hum the theme tune of mission impossible. I'd even developed a little dance movement with my head, bobbing in sync - I was that good. Up, to the side, to the other side, and then down, disappearing behind the book with the stealth of a ninja.

Just call me the stalking expert - how people got caught doing this, I didn't know. Clearly, I was a natural... A natural bad-ass stalker. I grinned, and my singing got a little louder; my movements a little more abrupt and less discreet. But hell, I was too good at this not to enjoy myself. I was a badass stalking ninja. No, I was the badass stalking ninja. No, I was the most awesome, stealthiest, bad-ass -

Kate released an exasperated sigh and wacked me over the head with her book. 'Hum one more bloody time and I swear I'll beat Mr. Galloway to it and kill you myself,' she hissed, her eyes narrow slits.

Pouting, I cleared my throat. She did have a little point, all that humming had scratched my throat roar, and to be fair, I had been doing it partly to annoy her... Unlike me, she had actually come here to study, worrying endlessly about our approaching exams. She still wasn't completely onboard with the stalking project, despite my attempts at persuading her it was educational; almost a life skill. Well, at least for the stalkers it was...

'Kill joy,' I whispered, my eyes settling on my prey once more.

Me, the predator, and him, my prey... He, my prey, and me, the -

'For the Love of God,' Kate snapped. 'Are you serious right now? The humming was better than the mumblings of a psycho. Ginny, I think you're taking this whole stalking thing a little too serious.' She pointedly glared at my book, and pursed her lips. 'Are you even actually studying?'

'W-well, I was planning on getting to it,' I stammered, my cheeks flushing. What was the point of doing something if you weren't going to go the whole way? I was dedicating myself to stalking, just like she was to studying. Though admittedly, I hadn't quite realised I'd been voicing my thoughts... Maybe I'm dehydrated?

'Sure you were,' she huffed, rolling her eyes.

Sarah lifted her gaze from her laptop, and after glancing warily between the two of us, slowly removed her headphones. 'Who did what?' she asked expectantly. 'Seriously, if neither of you are actually studying I'm going to bang your heads together. I missed lunch with Michael for this.'

'You can eat in here, you know,' I told her, popping a potato chip into my mouth. Spending our lunch break in the library wasn't exactly my cup of tea, either. It was like going against my natural instinct... studying.

Kate smirked and pointed at the "NO FOOD" sign on the wall. 'Actually, you can't.'

My eyebrows jumped. 'Well, that's a little rude, don't you think?'

Sudden movement caught my eye and I ducked my head low behind the book. 'Devil is on the move. I repeat, devil is on the move,' I whispered, gripping Kate's wrist.

'Roger that, Sherlock,' Sarah murmured, grinning from ear to ear. As Kate shot her an accusing glare, she shrugged her shoulders and smiled innocently. 'What? You can't deny it is a little fun.'

'He's our teacher,' Kate reiterated for the fifth time, since taking a seat at the table. 'Besides, stalking is creepy.'

'But oddly quite thrilling,' I added.

Sarah nodded with me, smiling. 'Look, he's going over to the desk... There's something in his hand!'

'Maybe it's a written note intended for someone else,' I hypothesised, my heart hammering in my chest. Something definitely wasn't right about him, and having followed him before school, during the break, and now watching him in the library, my suspicions were only being confirmed. No teacher volunteers to be on library duty - and I had already checked, Mrs. Morris was supposed to be here today, not him, which meant only one thing... He was clearly up to something.