The 10 Steps To A Boy's Heart

Chapter 2

"So you'll be walking next to me while I talk about Nasa's Hubble Telescope and how it accidentally discovered a possible runaway supermassive black hole that creates a trail of newborn stars." I pin up the printed out CNN Business article onto my room wall which doesn't really look like a wall anymore. Only a sprawling mass of pictures and articles.

My accomplices snort out loud next to me and I glare at Stacy Halloway, who covers her mouth in an attempt to control her giggles.

No great feat can be attempted alone and sadly I have to resort to seeking help from these two goofballs.

"Seriously, I can't decide if this whole thing is borderline stalker-ish or your real calling has been the NYPD all this time." Stacy waves her arms, gesturing at my wall of research.

"Please never mention Law Enforcement. You know much I hate the topic," I seethe, remembering all those useless house visits that never helped anyone in my house.

I block out the memory and cross my arms over each other, admiring my work of art. Pictures and articles strewn about and stuck to a pin board with white strings to correlate them. Two months solely dedicated to everything Zander Wyatt related.

"You have to admit it's pretty impressive." I tell Stacy and Daphne who are currently occupying Elizabeth's empty bed.

I've learnt so much about Zander thanks to all those online forums and campus articles. He attended private schools from the age of six, before joining Daltech University just like his father did before him.

During off peak season he stays off campus in the rich part of town. His mother gave a house tour to Vogue last year and you can see the entire city from their front lawn. There was so much unused space in their compound, you could easily fit my entire flat building inside of it.

Most of the time, Zander stays in the student athlete housing on campus which isn't any less glamourous. Daltech has always been famous for their football teams and a lot of college funding goes into their sports division. Last year a senior corner back was drafted into the NFL and scouts have been coming to our games for years.

Zander used to be a second string player but became first string last semester when the current halfback injured his knee. He isn't even a sports major and I know he's studying political science but he's the fastest halfback Daltech has ever seen.

When he isn't training or attending lectures, he's usually seen lounging on the grass with his friends or attending frat parties. His best friend is Luke Bradshaw, currently the most famous wide receiver in the entire state.

A video of him catching the ball as a slot receiver in his last high school game trended on twitter for weeks. 

He's here on a sports scholarship and the two of them have been roommates since freshman year. Unlike Zander and his playboy ways, Luke dated a senior when he was a freshman and they broke up after she graduated.

He's been single ever since and has a slew of online forums dedicated to him as well but I haven't been bothered to go through them.

I pull up Zander's class schedule and point at the interim period where he needs to walk past the footpath between the old and new campus.

"We need to intercept them here," I point at the gap between lectures and my friends stare at me with wide eyes.

"Do you really want to do this?" Daphne asks. She clears her throat looking like she's trying to form her next few words carefully. "Don't you think this is all a little...extreme?"

I purse my lips and tuck a lock of dark hair behind my ear. "No, I don't. Extreme is breaking someone's heart till they can't sleep. Till they overdose on sleeping pills and now have to under go mandatory counselling and observation. Oh and let's not forget how our friend had to take the entire semester off because of this."