Taken In by the Pack: Second Chances Read Online Free

professor finally called the class to order.
     
     
    When the class was over, we went to one of our favorite study spots, on the lush grass under a big oak tree in one of the many mini-parks scattered around campus.
     
    Angie handed me her notes from yesterday, and with a grateful smile, I began to copy them.
     
    After I finished the first set, I leaned back on my arms, taking a break, looking out at the campus and the mid-day hustle and bustle. In this corner of campus, I recognized at least half of the people who went past, by sight if not by name.
     
    My gaze focused on one particular person, sitting in front of one of the buildings not far away. It was that same incongruous-seeming man from this morning, with the overgrown sideburns. He seemed to be reading, but it just looked like a paperback rather than any kind of textbook.
     
    For a moment, I had the ridiculous notion that he was following me. But that’s silly , I reassured myself. Why would some random biker-dude be following me from class to class ?
     
    “Hey Ang,” I spoke up after a few moments of watching him.
     
    “Yeah?” She looked up from her book, over to me.
     
    “Do you recognize him? That guy, hanging out in front of the computer building.” I nodded in that direction vaguely.
     
    She looked over, scanning for a moment before settling on who I was talking about. “Oh, him… uhm… no? He seems awfully out of place, doesn’t he?”
     
    I chuckled softly. “Exactly what I was thinking. Glad it isn’t just me.”
     
    It was nice that my feeling was affirmed, though it left me feeling a little uneasy all the same.
     
     
    ❖ ❖ ❖

 
     
    Since our next class wasn’t until two, we took our time, meandering across campus to get lunch. It was a lovely late spring day, just warm enough for the cutoff shorts and tee I was wearing. I tried — and mostly failed — not to think about the strange occurrences of the last two days.
     
    “Been a weird couple of days, hasn’t it?” Angie piped up. I looked over at her, lifting a querying brow.
     
    “You developing telepathy of something, now?” I asked her dryly.
     
    She laughed, shaking her bushy blond hair from side to side. “Nah, just been weird.”
     
    “You don’t know the half of it. Yesterday, after I left, Bryson followed me, and just sat down and had dinner with me without so much as a by-your-leave. Then didn’t really say or do much of anything. It was bizarre.” I didn’t even mention the coffee shop in between; that was just too weird.
     
    All the same, she gaped at me, her steps slowing. “Are you serious? Girl, that ain’t cool.”
     
    “Yeah, no kidding. It was kinda creepy.”
     
    “Just ‘kinda’?” Angie snorted softly, implying that was a vast understatement.
     
     
    It took me an inordinate amount of time to decide what to eat at lunch. I usually just grabbed a salad, but all I could think about when I looked at them was last night at the restaurant.
     
    I finally settled on soup and a half sandwich. We took our trays outside to eat since it was such a pretty day.
     
    While we sat, eating and chatting about nothing in particular, a couple of guys came up. They were friends of Angie’s, or at least the brown-haired one, Josh, was; I hadn’t had the chance to really get to know him, but I knew she’d been crushing on him something awful.
     
    “Hey ladies, how’s it going?” asked Josh, bending in to give Angie a half-hug, which she returned happily.
     
    “Hey, Josh! It’s going okay, how about you guys?”
     
    “Great!” he replied, seeming wholly enthusiastic. It was mildly jolting to realize that not everyone was experiencing the peculiarity I had in the last two days.
     
    “So, listen, we’re gonna be having a bonfire out at Troy’s place Saturday night. You girls want to come join us?”
     
    Angie’s eyes lit up. I’d heard her mention Josh before, she totally had the hots for him. She was no less enthusiastic than he