The Terror Next Door (Based on a True Story)

11)Stalker

"I want you to want me" by Gary Jules
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"You awake?" Dylan Rhodes chuckled, nudging Sophia with his pencil. The teenage girl blinked rapidly, partially wondering if she had fallen asleep with her eyes open. The final bell had rang for the day, but she was struggling to find willpower to leave her desk.

"Yeah."

"You didn't look awake. Judging by the circles under your eyes, you don't look like you've slept in a week."

"Looks are deceiving."

Dylan smirked at her unintentional sassiness. He was, sadly, correct. Sophia couldn't remember the last time she had gotten a decent night of sleep. It had been a week since the prowling in the attic, but nothing could be proven in regards to her theory someone had been walking above her bedroom. It didn't matter that nothing else had occurred since that one evening, Sophia's mind was still rattled by the encounter. She couldn't even turn off the lights in her room at night without checking her closets and underneath her and Annie's individual beds. Feeling it was Blake who had been inside her house had left her paranoid.

Dylan frowned as Sophia looked away from him. The boy had been in her History class since the start of term but she had never actually spoken to him. He was simply the cute guy the majority of her female classmates watched with dreamy expressions. Given he was quite attractive, Sophia didn't bother ever glancing his way. A boy as cute as Dylan no doubt held the ability to ask out any of the girls who drooled over him. Why should Sophia waste her time even looking his way? "So...How are you?"

She could have snorted. "You comment how awful I look and then you want to know how I am?" she chuckled.

"I never said you looked awful. I just made a comment how you don't look like you've been sleeping," he noted, slowly sliding in the empty space at Sophia's Biology table.

"I haven't been," Sophia muttered, rubbing her eyes wearily. She didn't bother adding eyeliner anymore. The dark circles that started to form under her eyes from the lack of sleep made liner stand out much more than it had previously.

"Wanna talk about it?"

No, she did not want to talk about it. Nothing could really be said regarding what she was going through. She couldn't exactly tell anyone; her own father didn't seem to believe her. There was Alex, but given the lovable goofball was always joking around of being suspicious of everyone all the time, no one believed her either. Sophia was now feeling frightened things were only going to get worse before they got better. "Is there something you need, Dylan?"

He smiled broadly. "So you know me!" Sophia raised a single brow to watch him. Dylan merely shrugged. "I wasn't aware the prettiest girl in school actually knew me." Sophia nearly looked behind her to see who he was referring to until she stupidly realized he was referencing her. A blush lit her cheeks as she plucked up her bag to leave. "That being said," Dylan winked. "Wanna grab ice-cream sometime?

"Don't you have a girlfriend?" Sophia blurted out. It was no secret Dylan was the object of affection for Jamie Ziegler, the school gossip. Or, perhaps, Dylan wasn't as taken as Jamie would like everyone to believe. She regretted her question as soon as it left her.

"No, otherwise I wouldn't be asking you out," he specified as he slowly walked in order for her to walk even with him. Sophia walked to her locker, thankful the school had painted over the locker to hide away the word left on it. The last thing she wanted to do was explain her hypothesis on how the word got on her locker.

"You don't even know me."

"Exactly. Which is why I'm hoping ice can be broken over ice-cream..." he paused before wincing at his own words. "Actually, that sounded pretty lame. Scratch that!" Dylan shook his head as Sophia gathered her needed supplies from her locker. She started on her way as her classmate walked beside her. "You're really not being supportive over my awful way of asking you on a date," he joked.

Sophia chuckled. "Dylan, I'm flattered, but I'm kinda busy lately."

"Ah, it's another guy," he guessed, the young man's facial expression deflating.

"No, I'm not seeing anyone, I've just been crazy busy with dance lately and I don't have a lot of free nights during the week."

Dylan's face lit up hopefully. "Well that's fine, we can work around your busy schedule. For a second I thought you were dating that guy you share lockers with."

Sophia paused midstride at his comment, soon frowning. Her head snapped over at Dylan, hoping she misheard. "Wait, what ...?"

"You know, that guy you share lockers with."

"What are you saying??"

Dylan raised an eyebrow. "You know, the guy who has the same locker combination as you?" he said, motioning with his hands as if for her to finally understand what it was he was implying. "I thought maybe you guys were dating or something."

"I don't share my locker with anyone, no one has my combination," said Sophia with wide eyes. No one at home even knew her combination, mostly because no one cared to know it. No guy in school should have possession of her locker combination.

Dylan frowned. "That's weird, then. I see the guy by your locker so that's why I assumed you were taken."

Sophia had a suddenly fearful feeling she knew exactly what boy would be creepy enough to trifle through her locker without her consent. It was the same boy who she felt strongly had been walking around her attic that one night. "If I showed you the guy, could you identify him??"

"Er, Yeah? Why do you ask...?"

Before she could even answer, Sophia grabbed Dylan by the arm and quickly led him outside as the bell for the smaller campus started to ring loudly indicating school was ending. Given there was a five-minute window between the classes ending, Sophia and Dylan could wait outside as students from each campus started coming and going. Some went to their lockers while others started to head out to their parents cars that had arrived to pick them up. Sophia had her eyes exclusively on Mrs. Bradshaws pricey number of a vehicle. "What are we waiting for...?"

"-Watch that car," Sophia interjected, her eyes unblinking as she watched the scene unfold. As the two of them looked on at the snazzy red sports car, Blake Bradshaw soon wandered out of the school and towards the car along with his older brother.

"That's the guy who was in your locker," Dylan noted, nodding as Sophia pulled him down so they could avoid being seen. The teenager noticed Sophia's frightened expression for he frowned tremendously. "What's wrong?"

Dylan couldn't possibly begin to understand why it was this development panicked Sophia. This wasn't merely someone randomly going through her locker; this was a much bigger problem. She swallowed a lump in her throat as she voiced her terrified thoughts aloud. "That's my neighbor; I think he's stalking me."