The taxi dropped her off at the student union, and Susie took a deep breath, extended the handle on her roll-on suitcase, and headed in. She quickly found the check-in line, which was still fairly short. Most of the students would be arriving over the next two days, but Susie had wanted to get settled in as quickly as she could. She could hardly believe it - she was finally at college.

"Name?" the young woman at the check-in desk asked.

"Susan Derkins. D-E-R-K-I-N-S."

The woman flipped through a file, pulling out a thin envelope. "Here you go. You're in Everett Hall, room 119. Your room key and the code to enter the building are in there. Go over to the next desk where they'll take your picture for your ID card. Welcome to the university!"

"Thanks," Susie said. "It's nice to be here."

Her roommate, Kristin, was from Texas. Three generations of her family had all grown up in Texas, and when she finished university, she was going back as well. Susie told her about moving around as her father had moved up the corporate ladder - a couple years here, back when she was just starting elementary school, and then Seattle, Atlanta, St. Louis, New Orleans, and Pittsburgh. Her parents were moving again in another couple weeks, actually, but this time they were retiring to Florida.

"You used to live here?" Kristin asked. "What was it like?"

"Well, I lived on the other side of town. I've considered going back, but...too much work and too much money to take a taxi over there just to see a house I lived in ten years ago. We moved when I was eight. But it was an intense couple years."

"How so?"

"Oh, the boy who lived next door was a real character. He had this stuffed tiger that he talked to, and an incredible imagination. So he used to play this game he called Calvinball, where the only rule was that you couldn't play it the same way twice. Well, that and the masks. You had to wear a mask while playing."

"Why?"

"Don't question the masks."

The first two weeks of school had been a joy. She was learning so much, and it was so great to be surrounded by other people like herself.

She was sitting at lunch with Kristin at a little café off-campus when an unfamiliar voice said, "Susie? Susie Derkins?"

She looked up, surprised to see a tall young man with unruly blonde hair coming toward her, carrying a tray with a broad smile on his face. She didn't recognize him at first, but then the light caught him just right, and she could almost see the six-year-boy inside. "Calvin? Is that you?"

She stood up just in time for him to set his tray on the table and give her a big hug. "How've you been? I haven't seen you in...what, ten years?" he said.

She sat, waving him to a seat at the table. "Something like that. Calvin, this is Kristin, my roommate. Kristin, this is Calvin, the boy I was telling you about from when I used to live here."

He looked at Kristin, concerned. "Uh-oh. That sounds ominous."

Kristin laughed. "Nah. Apparently you were kinda cool but weird."

Calvin sagged in relief. "That's...better than I would have ever expected."

Susie shrugged. "You left an impression on me."

They'd talked for a while; Kristin had had to leave for class, but Susie had a little time off. She'd planned to go to the library, but talking to Calvin felt so natural that the time didn't seem to matter any more. He'd struggled in school until his mother had fought to get him into the gifted program, and even then, had barely survived high school. He'd had a couple disastrous relationships with girls who'd considered him a problem to be fixed. He was studying art at the local community college and working on a webcomic, Awesome Tales of Adventure, based on some of his childhood role-playing.

In exchange, she'd told him of the isolation she'd felt, moving every couple years. Being shunted off with the 'smart girls' but not quite fitting in with them. One boyfriend, who'd loved dating a smart girl but got upset when she was smarter than he was. A hope that college would finally be a place where she could fit in.

His phone started making noise, and he looked at her apologetically. "Sorry, I need to get going if I'm going to make it to class." He was long gone before she'd realized that they had no way of getting in contact with each other.

She'd been at college three weeks before Billy had invited her to the party. He was pledging one of the fraternities, and they were throwing their first big shindig of the year. Kristin had convinced her to go and be more social. She'd had two beers, and then (despite Billy's offers of more beer) had switched to Diet Coke. Billy got back with a second soda for her and a third beer for himself, and was laughing at how naive his parents were; they were teetotalers, and would be furious if the knew he was drinking.

"Hey, Susie," Calvin said, surprising her as Billy bristled at having another man near her.

"Calvin! What are you doing here?" she asked.

"One of the brothers, Rob, was a friend of mine in high school."

The beers she'd had had gone to her head a bit, but not enough to mess up her judgement. The taste of the beer must have thrown off her taste buds, though, because she could still taste the alcohol as she drank her Diet Coke. She drank her soda as she chatted with Calvin and Billy.

She started feeling warm, and found herself leaning on Calvin a bit. He didn't seem to mind, though. He told a story about when they were kids, and it was absolutely the funniest thing she'd ever heard, even if she didn't remember exactly what he'd said. Billy laughed along, more quietly, watching her intently.

She finished her soda, and Billy offered to go get her another. "No, that's okay," she mumbled. "I think I'm not feeling so well."

The look on Calvin's face was a bit puzzled. "Are you okay?" he asked.

She nodded, and the motion was a bad thing. She could feel her insides complaining about something, and urgently. She spotted a trashcan, and ran over to it, barely arriving before spewing the contents of her stomach into it. Calvin came over beside her, with Billy on the other side.

"I'll help her back to her room," Billy said.

"I'll give you a hand," Calvin said.

"No, really, I can get her back," Billy said nervously.

Susie looked up blearily, wondering why they were getting uptight about this. Calvin stared Billy down, then took one of her arms, putting it around his shoulder. "It's okay," Calvin said. "Let's get her back."

Susie woke up in her bed, still in the dress she'd worn to the party. Her head hurt a bit, and she saw two ibuprofen and a glass of water on the desk next to her bed. Calvin was asleep in her desk chair, wrapped in his jacket. Across the room, she saw that Kristin was asleep in her own bed.

She sat up and reached for the water first, and Calvin started awake. "Hey, you okay?" he asked.

"I think so. Tired. Still kind of dizzy. What happened?"

"Billy and I helped you back here after you got sick. Kristen let us in. How much did you have to drink last night?"

She winced, taking a sip of water and washing down the pills. Her throat felt cottony and strange. "Two beers," she said.

Calvin raised an eyebrow. "You weren't acting like you'd had two beers. What else were you drinking?"

"Just Diet Coke. Billy got me two of...them..." She put her head in her hands. "Crap. I thought they tasted funny. I thought it was just the beer."

Calvin nodded. "I guessed as much. He probably spiked them. I know they had vodka downstairs."

She shook her head, then regretted it as the world didn't quite keep up. She looked over at him. "Did you spend the night here?"

He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "I needed to make sure you were safe. Billy kept trying to convince me he didn't need any help getting you back. I got suspicious."

"What did your parents say about you not coming home?"

"I told Mom I was helping a friend who'd been slipped more alcohol than she'd thought. Not sure if Mom believed me or not. Anyway, once you're feeling better, we can work on revenge plans."

"Revenge?"

"What, you aren't going to let him get away with this, are you? I managed to convince Moe to leave me alone, I'm sure we can find something interesting to do to Billy."

Susie picked up her pillow and hugged it to herself. "I can't believe I let this happen. Mom talked to me a bunch of times about making sure I was careful accepting drinks from others."

Calvin shrugged. "He lowered your defenses with the first couple beers. So we make sure he doesn't try this again." He looked behind her on the bed, waving. "Hey, Mr. Bun. Hobbes said to say 'hi' if I saw you."

Susie blushed as she realized what had happened. Mr. Bun lived under her pillow, so when she'd picked it up, he'd been revealed. She put the pillow back. "Okay, what's the plan, then?"