Nancy Drew and The Hardys go to college

Stalked

Nancy POV
Amanda's back and it seems like everything is back to normal. We have nothing to do but to attend classes, do our assignments and projects, have breaks together and other normal college stuff.
The case seems to have gone cold. There's nothing we can do to find out who those rogues are, and who the victim was. I know like three hundred people with sandy blond hair and blue eyes. How do we identify the victim?
Was he an innocent man? Was he a spy? A police officer? Or was he a rogue himself? No one could know now.
Amanda has grown closer to me too. She spends time with me whenever she can. And honestly, it's pretty nice having a senior friend. She helps me with my studies, especially in photography class.
"Frankly speaking, I'm not all that keen on Chemistry," Amanda admitted. "Mom may be a Chemistry lecturer, but for some reason, I'm not into science..."
"What do you wanna be after you graduate?" I asked.
"Nature photographer," Amanda replied. "I prefer photography."
"That explains why you're always carrying your large camera around," I said, referring to Amanda's missing camera.
"Yeah..." Amanda said, sadly. "Never knew that camera would become evidence for a crime scene."
Shoot... way to go, Nancy. You've officially done the opposite of cheering her up...
I need to try and cheer her up...
"Wanna go for a walk?" I ask. "No where near that forest."
Amanda grinned and closed her book before stuffing it into her backpack. She insisted on buying a new one after... yeah...
We packed up and decided to walk along the cliff side. We took a slow stroll, admiring the scenery next to us. Amanda took her phone out and started talking pictures with it. Honestly, I don't know why she needs a camera when she has a high-resolution camera phone. It could take pristine pictures of the moon too.
"Ooo look!" Amanda suddenly exclaimed. "A bluejay!"
She ran towards the bird and took pictures of it. Hmm memories of when I had to take bird pictures for Red Knott in Moon Lake came to mind. That dude didn't even care about my health when I barely managed to escape that burning shack and only cared about his precious camera!
"A beauty isn't it?" Amanda said, taking pictures from various angles. "I love birds."
"You may be friends with a friend of mine if you met him," I said with a grin. "He's crazy about birds too."
Amanda grinned and looked at the pictures she took while walking.
"This is the first time I managed to snap a picture of a bluejay," Amanda said. "Usually, it flies away before I could get close. The birds here a quite tame."
"Probably because this place is quite untouched," I said with a shrug. "They're just as curious about you as you are about them."
"You taking psychology?" Amanda asked.
"Pretty obvious, huh?" I said with a grin. Amanda nodded with a smile. "Yeah I do."
"You have the vibes," Amanda said while she walked with me. "You can be a good interrogator."
And that's exactly what I plan to do in the future.
We arrive at the cliff and we stare at the abyss in front of us. As breathtaking the view might be, it's still really deadly. One wrong move, and it's down the cliff for us.
Amanda took her phone out again and snapped a shot of the picturesque scenery in front of us.
"The view here is breathtaking," Amanda said, taking a snapshot. "I think we should come here more often."
"Yeah," I agreed, taking my own phone out for a snapshot.
We were taking pictures when there was a slight sound of twigs crunching behind us. I turned my head around to find the source but saw nothing.
"Did you hear that?" I asked Amanda.
"Hear what?" Amanda asked, turning away from her phone to see me. "I didn't hear anything."
"It sounded like someone was walking towards us," I said, still trying to trace the sound. "I heard the sound of twigs crunching."
"Probably some animal," Amanda said. "This place is full of it."
We turned around to walk back to campus. We walked slowly to prolong our walk. I'm so grateful to go to a college in a place like this.
I breath in the fresh, cool autumn air as I walked along the greenery surrounded road with Amanda. I played a song in my head since it would be kinda rude to whip out my earbuds now in front of Amanda.
Amanda suddenly stopped in her tracks and clutched my arm. She looked a little anxious.
"What is it, Amanda?" I asked, taking in her worried face.
"I heard something," Amanda said. "Somebody's following us!"
"What? Where?" I ask, looking around to find traces of our alleged stalker.
Amanda pointed to the trees by the side of the road.
"I saw someone running in there," Amanda said, pointing.
"You're sure?" I said, going toward the spot she pointed at.
"Positive!" Amanda said.
I looked intently at the spot, but I saw nothing.
"Let's go," I said, pulling Amanda's arm. "Whoever it is, they may be gone now."
We continued walking. I stayed focussed on our tracks to see if I could find anyone stalking us. The walk was silent safe for the sound of birds chirping and leaves leaves rustling in the wind.
We continued walking when I heard a twig crunch under the weight of someone's foot.
"Run," I said, grabbing Amanda's arm.
We ran all the way back to campus and crashed in the foyer to regain our breath.
"That was close," Amanda said, trying to regain her breath. "Who was it?"
"I didn't see," I said between gasps. "I heard the sound of someone stepping on a twig."
"I think I caught sight of them," Amanda said thoughtfully. "Only for a brief second, but it was definitely a person."
"What did they look like?" I asked.
"Couldn't see," Amanda said, shaking her head. "I just saw the figure of someone watching us from behind the trees."
I nodded thoughtfully. We got up and went to the cafeteria. We went to the vending machine and bought some drinks. I got myself some canned green tea.
We sat down on one of the circular tables and sipped the refreshing drink. Ned and the guys soon came with Max.
"What happened to you guys?" Ned asked, seeing us. "You guys look as if you ran for your lives!"
"That's exactly what we did," I said, sipping my tea. "Someone was following us."
"What?!" Ned said in shock. "Who was it? What did he look like? Was he tall? Was he short? Was he hot?"
"Who whoa slow down, buddy," Burt said with grin. "Always thinking about some guy stealing your girl."
Ned gave him a backhand.
"I was trying to ask what he looked like so that we could give him a good beating," Ned said with a frown. He turned to us again. "What did he look like?"
"We didn't see," Amanda said. "We heard twigs crunching and I saw someone's figure hidden in the trees and we ran for our lives. I didn't get a good look at them, just saw their shadowed figure."
"Are you sure he was following you?" Max asked. "He may have been a hunter or a photographer just like you?"
"We're not really sure," I said, setting the can on the table. "We just heard the sound of twigs crunching and ran. But wait... I remember feeling like we're being watched when we were at the cliff side too."
"Cliff side?" Dave asked, confused. "What were you guys doing there?"
"We just went there to take a few pictures, that's all," I said with a shrug. "We have been there a few times, and the view there is breathtaking there."
"Stay away from cliffs," Max warned. "Especially when there's a stalker lurking around. Also, don't go out alone again. Make sure that either one of us are with you. Okay?"
The guys snickered when Max said that. He was beginning to trust them more now.