“Yo Reilly,” Terrell called as he walked up behind Connor. “How’d it go with Tracy?”
Connor shrugged as he threw his dirty towel into the locker room’s laundry basket. “About the same as last year. A month at UCLA and she wants to see other people this year, too.”
Terrell laughed. “That didn’t work out so bad for you last year, did it? When’s she going to figure out college chicks love athletes and you’re probably doing as much business up here as she is down there?”
“No, I get where she’s coming from. I mean, at 19, who wants to be tied to a guy who’s 350 miles away?”
“You know what this means, right?” the tall, slender African-American sprinter asked. “You’re going with me to Full Moon on the Quad.”
“Where seniors kiss freshman and sophomores like us sit and watch,” Connor said sarcastically.
“How they going to know you’re a sophomore if you don’t tell them?”
Connor shrugged. “Okay. Sure. I’ll be there. Make sure you don’t hook up with any skanks.”
“Man, I’m so horny lately, I’d make out with that fat T.A. from our IHUM class.”
Connor smiled. “Then I’ll definitely be there to make sure you don’t hook up with any skanks. Because if you go home with Andrea the Ho, you’ll never forgive yourself.”
“Alright. My dorm at five, get plastered by six, making out with chicks on the Quad by seven. Oh, and Craig’s coming.”
Connor rolled his eyes. “That guy gets on my nerves.”
“Yeah, but he lives on the row, so his place is a lot closer to the Quad than ours.”
Connor smiled. “Yeah, I guess that’s a plan.”
**
“Are you Dawn?” Emily asked the brunette girl dragged her baggage into the small room in Wilbur Hall. “Here, let me help with those. I didn’t think you were coming.”
“Thanks,” Dawn said to the perky blonde as she grabbed Dawn’s bags. “I had some family problems and had to stay behind in Rome a few more days.”
“You’re Italian?” Emily asked excitedly.
Dawn looked at Emily oddly. “Do I sound Italian?”
“Still,” Emily said, throwing Dawn’s bag onto her bed. “You live in Rome? That must be exciting!”
“Any city’s exciting until you do laundry there,” Dawn said with a grin as she threw her other bag on the bed.
“I’m Emily, by the way. My older brother goes here, too. We’re from Buckhead. It’s this part of Atlanta. Kind of boring.”
“Boring would be a nice change for me,” Dawn said.
“Then I guess you’re not going tonight, then, huh?”
“Going where? They don’t have frat parties on Wednesdays, do they?”
“No,” Emily laughed. “Full Moon on the Quad. Everyone’s talking about it. It’s this tradition where, on the first full moon of the year, freshman and seniors go to the Quad and kiss each other.”
“Sounds like a great way to get Mono,” Dawn smirked.
“Or meet guys,” Emily shot back.
“Guys who are interested in making out for a night and taking off?”
“Come on, Dawn,” Emily laughed. “It’s not like full on intercourse. It’s a kiss.”
Dawn felt like shuddering. The last time she kissed a strange guy at night, or kissed a guy at all, was when she made out with a vampire in his car. “Fine,” Dawn said, throwing her hands up. “You win. I’ll do kissy, kissy on the quad.”
“You’ll do what?” a voice in the doorway came. Dawn and Emily turned to see Buffy with the remainder of the luggage.
“Joke, Buffy,” Dawn said. “Eavesdrop much?”
“I’m walking down the hall with the bulk of your crap,” Buffy said. “And I hear you say you’ll do kissy kissy on the quad. What the hell am I supposed to think?”
Dawn rolled her eyes. “You’re supposed to think ‘Gee, after a year under my oppressive heel in Rome where I could go clubbing with the Immortal but Dawn couldn’t so much as look at a boy, my little sister is finally going to get some.’”
Buffy dropped the bags on the floor and glowered at Dawn. “Use a condom,” she said in a dead-pan voice. “And remember you’re having dinner with me, Will, and Kennedy tomorrow night.”
Dawn smiled uncomfortably. “I’ll remember.”
***
“Heard you’re coming tonight,” Craig whispered as Connor tried to listen to Professor Mungal’s lecture.
“Can’t talk now,” Connor whispered back. “Learning about fluids engineering.”
“But you’re coming?”
“Yeah.”
“Cool,” Craig whispered. “This is going to be off the hook! But this doesn’t mean I’ve forgiven you for not going out for the football team.”
Craig Pierce was the starting quarterback of Stanford’s football team. Like Connor, he was only a sophomore. Yet he was already being called Stanford’s best quarterback since John Elway. The praise would have inflated his ego, but that would have been impossible. Craig was a tall, handsome, well built man with blonde hair. He came from a wealthy Georgia family that had made their money from plantations back when slavery was still legal. Most of their money was now in real estate. As if his money, looks, and athletic ability weren’t enough, Craig was also smart.
Unlike other athletes who turned to softer majors like Communications, Urban Studies, and Cultural & Social Anthropology, Craig was on track to declare Mechanical Engineering as a major. Through study groups, he met Connor, a fellow athlete who was also in engineering. After seeing Connor’s speed and agility as a runner, he spent the summer begging Connor to try out as a walk on for wide receiver.
“I’m telling you, you should still try to get on as an injured reserve,” Craig pressed on. “Terrell says you can do the 40 in under 4. That’s amazing.”
Connor smiled, internally thinking he could do the 40 yard dash in a hell of a lot less than 4 seconds. “Football’s too high profile for me,” he whispered back.
“That’s the point. If you were an ace receiver, you could be nailing chick three at a time.”
Mungal dismissed the class and Connor quickly snagged his books and headed for the door. He was sick of Craig in general and his pitching a football career in particular.
“What’s your problem with this anyway?” Craig asked, as he followed Connor out. “Why don’t you at least think--?
“Alyson!” Connor called. While Connor would have called out to any familiar face at that time, he would have taken the opportunity to talk to Alyson any time. Alyson Inoue was the 21-year old junior of his dreams. Half Japanese, half Dutch, she was born and raised in Hawaii. She had long, beautiful black hair that seemed to shine more than her beautiful green eyes.
“Still with the older chicks?” Craig mumbled, following Connor over. “You gotta get ‘em young, dumb, and naïve.”
When Alyson turned to see Connor, he could see her eyes were red and puffy. “Oh. Hey Connor.”
“What’s wrong?” Connor said. She’d been crying. He could still smell the salty tears she’d wiped from her face moments again.
“Um . . . you know how those mountain lions from the foothills have been going into Palo Alto?”
“Yeah?”
“Last night, one of them came onto campus and . . . it mauled Michelle McDermott by Lake Lagunita,” Alyson said as tears once more burst out.
Connor hugged Alyson supportively. “Oh my god. Is she alright?”
“She’s dead,” Alyson wept.
Connor pulled Alyson tighter.
“We were roommates our freshman year,” Alyson began crying. “And I always wanted to call or e-mail. Get together again, you know? Just to see her. And now . . . now I can’t!”
“It’s okay, Alyson,” Connor said. “I mean, whether you had or you hadn’t . . . that wouldn’t have-”
“Is campus security doing anything?” Craig asked.
Connor rolled his eyes. Craig was always thinking of himself.
“They’re going to patrol campus tonight,” Alyson said, regaining some composure. “They’re nocturnal, so . . .”
“Want me to walk you back to your dorm?” Connor asked Alyson.
“No, it’s okay. I’m going to my Tech and National Security class. Rumor has it Perry’s actually teaching it today.”
“I can walk you there,” Connor said.
“No, it’s okay,” Alyson said. She pulled away from Connor and walked off to her class.
“Can I walk you home,” Craig repeated mockingly.
“Shut up,” Connor said jokingly.
“You know what would totally make Alyson go for you?” Craig started. “Being a football player.”
“Jesus Christ, Craig! A girl we know gets killed and that’s all you can think about?!”
****
“Okay, Emily,” Dawn said as she came back from her last class of the day. “Ready to . . . Em?”
Dawn looked around the room. It was dusk and the campus was already growing dark. Emily must have gone ahead to the quad, planning to meet Dawn there. This sat okay with Dawn. Despite the fact that she’d rushed back from class to keep Emily from waiting too long, Dawn now had time for a shower and change of clothes.
Twenty minutes later, Dawn felt like a new woman. Forgoing the jeans and sweatshirt she’d worn during the week, Dawn put on a black mini skirt with a tight white sweater. She felt slightly out of character in these clothes, but this was a new place and Dawn wanted to feel like a new girl. She wanted to feel sexy.
Across campus, Connor was sitting outside Terrell Jackson’s dorm room.
“Terry’s not in there,” Jeff, the guy from across the hall said.
“I’m just waiting.”
“I think he went to the Quad already,” Jeff said.
Connor stood. “Guess I’ll go ahead to Craig’s then.”
“Doubt he’s there,” Jeff chuckled.
“That’s where we were going to go.”
“Yeah, but Terrell and Craig threw down in a big way earlier.”
“What?” Connor said. “What do you mean threw down?”
“They got in a fight. Big time. It was down in the common room. Knocked over a trash can and almost broke a chair.”
“Whoa,” Connor said, whistling. “Guess I better go try to find him.”
Craig’s dorm room was on the way to the Quad. Stopping by, Connor knocked and got no answer there, either. He headed off toward the Quad.
“I like your perfume,” Connor said with a grin to a girl walking several yards ahead of him.
Dawn turned to face Connor. “Mine?”
“Yeah,” Connor said. “Citrusy.”
“Boucheron,” Dawn said, slowing to let the strange boy catch up with her. “I just didn’t realize I was wearing so much.”
“Oh, you’re not. It’s just, you know, I’m downwind and all.”
Dawn licked her thumb and held it up. “No you’re not.”
“Freshman?” Connor asked.
“Why? Are you a senior?”
Connor considered lying for a moment. But with the wind thing, she’d already caught him lying once. “I wish. Sophomore. I was going with my friends, but they ditched me and went ahead.”
“Me too,” Dawn said. Connor had finally caught up to her and they were now walking together. She wondered if this guy was responding to what she was wearing or the attitude her clothes had caused. She felt confident. She felt sexy.
“I’m Dawn,” she said, holding out her hand. “Freshman.”
“Connor,” he said, shaking her hand. He briefly considered kissing it, but thought it too forward. “So, if neither of us gets kissed by midnight, what do you say?”
“You think I won’t get kissed?” Dawn said, feigning offence.
“Okay, if I don’t get kissed by midnight?”
Dawn smiled. “Doubt that’ll be a problem either.”
Connor smiled. Flirting felt nice. Even after Tracy had made her annual see-other-people decision, Connor felt guilty about flirting with or lusting after other women. With Alyson, coming on to her was so nerve wracking. But with Dawn, a pretty girl that he still wasn’t too interested in, flirting came easily.
“Have any idea what major you’ll take?” Connor asked.
“Oh yeah, baby,” Dawn said dully. “Talk sexy to me.”
Connor laughed.
“Comparative Literature,” Dawn said. “You?”
“Biomechanical Engineering.”
“You’re so full of it,” Dawn said. “That’s probably not even a major.”
“It is!” Connor protested with a wide grin.
They arrived at the Quad and looked around. The festivities, also know as the kissing, had already begun.
“Well,” Connor said. “I guess you ought to get on in there. Start with the making out.”
“You’re not coming?”
“Going to try to find my friends. Besides, I’m not a senior or a freshman, so I guess it’s just a cold shower for me tonight.”
Dawn turned to Connor, looking up at him with a slight grin. She rose up on her tiptoes. Leaning forward, she placed her hands on his shoulders for balance and kissed him. Her eyes closed and her tongue slid into his mouth. Connor reflexively closed his eyes and began to massage her tongue with his own. But no sooner had he started then Dawn pulled away.
“That way you know you got at least one kiss tonight,” she said teasingly. “Good night, Connor.” Dawn turned and stepped down into the Quad and the torrent of kissing undergraduates. For the most part, she was just looking for Emily, but the occasional lip lock from a cute senior did not go unappreciated.
Connor walked around, looking for Craig or Terrell. He couldn’t find either, but in the mass of people, that didn’t seem odd. Connor got sick of looking for them. Watching people kiss random strangers made him feel lonely. He briefly considered joining in. Perhaps an hour or so of kissing anonymous girls would make him feel better. But he knew it wouldn’t. He knew who he wanted to see at the moment.
*****
Connor knocked gently on the door. He wanted to make sure he was loud enough that she could hear is she was awake, but not so loud he’d wake her if she was asleep.
“Alyson?” he whispered.
The door opened. Connor briefly felt a combination of excitement and nervousness. Both were replaced by disappointment when he saw it was Alyson’s roommate, Jeanette, who answered.
“Cooper, right?” the roommate asked.
“Connor,” he corrected her.
“So many guys want to get with Alyson, it’s hard to keep track.”
Connor smiled and gave a slight shrug. “Fair enough. She here?”
“No. Went out.”
“Oh. How’s she doing?” Playing the concerned guy so I can hook up with her, he thought. I’m such a jerk. It wasn’t that he didn’t care how she felt. But he was talking to Jeanette only because he wanted to spend more time in Alyson’s doorway.
Jeanette shook her head. “I don’t know. She was in a trance all day, but then headed out for kissing on the quad.”
Connor felt his stomach turn with jealousy. “Maybe I’ll see her there.”
Connor walked from the dorm and strolled down Campus Drive toward his dorm. He couldn’t find his friends, or even a guy he didn’t like this much. He couldn’t find his college crush. His girlfriend was in L.A. Connor hadn’t felt this lonely since . . .
“Cordy,” he whispered quietly. Every time he thought it was gone, it crept back up on him. “Is this who I really am?” he wondered aloud. There were times, even now, that Quar’Toth was all he could remember.
Why Quar’Toth? he asked himself. Why now? Because I’m lonely? No. Because I’m being stalked.
Connor took another two steps before he realized what he’d just thought. He came to a sudden stop and turned around. As soon as he did, the beast stopped creeping and broke into a gallop. Connor could see it wasn’t a mountain lion. But he wasn’t sure what it was until it was nearly on top of him.
Connor turned forward and broke into a run. He was at his top speed within two steps. The sound of the creature, jaws and claws, grew neither louder nor softer. It neither gained nor lost ground. Connor knew he couldn’t lead it back to the dorms, but where could he go?
Connor ran hard toward El Camino Real, the major road east of Stanford. Without breaking stride when he got to the road, Connor leapt, flying over three lanes of traffic and landing on the median. He immediately spun. He regretted that some unsuspecting commuter’s car was about to become a weapon, but Connor couldn’t think of what else to do. It’ didn’t matter. The beast didn’t follow. Either the traffic seemed a threat or it sensed Connor was planning some kind of ambush. It broke its pursuit and headed back toward campus.
Connor pulled out his cell phone and dialed. “Dad!” he said anxiously as he ran along the median toward a crosswalk.
“Connor?” Angel replied, surprised to hear from his son so soon. “How’re your classes going?”
“I need you to tell me everything you know about werewolves!”
“Werewolves?”
“Yeah,” Connor said impatiently. “You date one, you must know about them.”
“Don’t get snotty. Werewolves, well . . . they come out the night of a full moon-”
“Duh.”
“You want to hear this or not?” Angel snapped back. “Plus the night before and after.”
Last night, Connor thought. Michelle.
“What can I kill it with besides silver bullets?” Connor asked. He reached the crosswalk and crossed the street, heading down Palm Drive.
“You can’t kill it! Connor, it’s a human all but three nights a month!”
“Sounds like Tracy,” Connor muttered. “If I can’t kill it, how can I stop it?”
“Catch it.”
“How!”
“Can you get a tranquilizer gun?”
“Sure,” Connor said sarcastically. “The book store sells them. Right between the sweatshirts and the text books. Never mind. I’ll try to knock it out with something. Where do werewolves like to hang out? Swamps? Woods? High rises? What?”
“Well, usually where people are. Particularly where there’s a high amount of pheromones or testosterone.”
Connor’s stomach turned again. “Dad, I have to go.” Connor hung up and pushed himself as hard as he could down Palm Drive, past the oval, and into the Quad.
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