Disclaimer: I am not writing this as my own. All characters and ideas belong to Laurie faria Stolarz
Jacob POV
I probably should have asked Stacy or PJ where the grocery store was. I'm starting to think I need to ask someone for directions before I get myself lost. I decided to go into the next store to ask where it was. The store happened to be a candy shop. When I walked into the shop there were no customers at the front counter so I asked the man behind it for directions.
"Excuse me sir, can you please point me in the direction of the grocery store?"
"Sure. Go down the street, take a right, and it's the second store across the street."
"Thank you sir"
"Your welcome."
I turned and walked out onto the sidewalk when I felt the sense that someone was watching me. I turned my head quick to look behind me but no one was there. I sighed and turned back around and continued my walk to the grocery store.
Ever since I came to Boston I've had this strange feeling that someone was watching me. I think I'm just being paranoid. I mean I did go through a lot around here. I found out about five months ago that the camp was shut down. Mason and Rain were arrested for false imprisonment and burglary. The campers my age and younger were put into foster homes until they could get on their own feet in the real world. Brick, or Trevor, doesn't live far from the college. We still talk and are really good friends. He's the only person that truly understands what I went through and I'm grateful he was there at the camp with me. Even though the camp did the things they did, I still feel grateful for them and I think Stacy does too.
Stacy is really the only reason I came here to Beacon. I knew we were connected the moment I saw her the day that she saved me. When I went to Colorado with my parents as Jacob LeBlanc instead of Shell I felt like something was missing. That something was Stacy. I invited her to Colorado for spring break so we could get to know each other again. As we spent time together, I started remembering things. I remembered our white candle spell, the crystal cluster rock I gave her, and the first time I told her I loved her. I didn't want to lose that connection with her so I decided to move to Boston and go to Beacon University with her. That way we could continue our relationship and also be able to connect with our spells. Stacy and Trevor are the only other people besides my uncle that I know that practice WICCA.
I turned the corner and looked for the grocery store that was across the street. I spotted it and crossed the street. I walked in and grabbed a basket and continued toward the snack aisle. I was looking for chips when my phone rang. It was Stacy.
"Hey," I said.
"Hey what are you up to?"
"Nothing. I'm just at the grocery store picking up some things for me and PJ's room."
"Oh, well, did you have trouble finding the store?"
"No it was easy to find." I didn't want her worrying about me wandering around town by myself.
"Oh okay. I was wondering if you would want to come with me, Amber, Janie, and PJ to dinner tonight? You know a little outing before classes start tomorrow."
"Uh, I don't know Stacy. Wouldn't it be kind of weird with me being there?"
"No. Jacob they were your friends before, I don't see why it would be weird now. Come on. It'll be fun and relaxing and a step towards normal."
There it was again. That feeling. I looked around me but just like always no one. I forgot I was even on the phone until I heard Stacy on the other end of the phone.
"Jacob! Are you there? Jacob!"
"Uh, I'm sorry. What did you say?"
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah I'm fine." I really didn't want her to worry about me being paranoid either.
"Okay…So what do you say?"
"You know what, I'll come. Maybe doing something normal will help the situation."
"Great! I'm not sure about the time so ask PJ when you get home. Amber left him in charge of reservations for some reason."
"Okay I will. I'll see you later Stacy."
"Okay Bye."
"Bye."
I hung up and continued down the snack aisle wondering how tonight will go. It's not like I don't like Amber or Janie or PJ. I mean I'm rooming with PJ and Amber's his girlfriend and Janie is Stacy and Amber's friend. It just that it's really weird being around people that you know you used to know and you want to be normal and act like everything is normal but its just like I said… weird.
I got a couple of items and headed towards the front of the store to check out. After I checked out I walked out the store and started walking back the way I came.
I made it back to our dorm about 10 minutes later. It was easy to bring the heavy bag to our room because we were on the ground floor. When I opened the door PJ had a towel wrapped around his head and a robe on.
"PJ! What are you doing?" I said.
"Oh! Hey man! I just wanted to change my look before classes start tomorrow."
"What? Are you going walk around campus with a towel and a robe on?"
"No man! Check it out!"
PJ took the towel off his head and revealed lime green hair with black tips. I sat the bag of groceries I had on the floor and took a step closer for a better look. From the things I remember about PJ, him changing his hair color is definitely at the top of the list.
"Well, if you ever walk down the street at night you won't have to worry about getting hit by a car. They'll see you a mile a way."
"So I take it you like?"
"Yeah I do"
"Cool beans man! Oh I made dinner reservations at Anthony's at 7:00."
I was looking at PJ listening to what he was saying when out of the corner of my eye I could have sworn I saw someone looking in the window. I ran over to the window and opened it and looked out. Like always no one was there. Just the normal people hanging out on the lawn.
"Hey man you okay?"
"Yeah I just thought I saw somebody looking in here."
"Oh don't worry it's probably a little honey looking at my hot bod."
This paranoia is starting to get the best of me.
"So did you hear what I said?"
"Yeah 7:00."
"Yeah but we need to meet our women at 6:45 at the door of their building."
"Okay, I'm going to take a shower."
I grabbed my shower supplies and went into the bathroom and took a hot shower. While I was in the shower I was praying and hoping this paranoia would stop soon.
When I got out of the shower we still had an hour before we had to meet the girls. I ended up sitting on my bed and lighting a lemongrass incense. I just sat back and breathed in the scent hoping it would calm me down. PJ was to busy talking to himself while pulling every item of clothing he owned out of his closet. I stayed that way for about 30 minutes until I decided it was time to start getting ready. I opened my closet and decided that I would wear jeans and a blue button down shirt. PJ, after asking me three times how his outfits looked, decided he was wearing orange pants with a yellow shirt. It may be colorful but it's typical PJ.
We left our dorm and started walking towards the girl's dorm. It only takes about ten minutes to walk to their dorm. On the way PJ talked about Amber and about their relationship which has gone back since they were in high school. They're just connected. Just like me and Stacy. For the first time ever we arrived five minutes early, but to our surprise the girls were already standing outside waiting for us except for Stacy.
"Wow! We expected to wait on you guys for about ten minutes," said PJ.
"Why?," Amber said.
"Because me being a masculine male expected you my lovely to think we would be late because we are men."
"Yeah that's exactly what we thought," said Janie.
"Where's Stacy?" I said.
"She forgot her purse so she ran back up to the room to get it," said Janie.
"Why don't you start breathing heavily until Stacy comes down," said Amber, "You to PJ."
"Why?" I said.
"Oh you'll see blue eyes," said Amber and she and Janie snickered.
Just then the door opened and standing in the doorway was Stacy. She looked breathtakingly beautiful. I mean to me Stacy has always been beautiful but tonight something was different. She was glowing. She started to walk towards me with a huge smile on her face.
"Damn!" said PJ, "I know I told you to tell her to dress up but…damn! Girl you look stacylicious!"
Janie leaned into Amber and said, "Was that the comment?"
"Yep," was what she said.
"Stacy. You look…amazing!" I said.
She came closer and looked me in the eyes and said, "Thanks."
I smiled and took her hand in my mine and started walking towards Janie's car. Amber, Janie, and PJ followed behind us talking about something. I wasn't paying attention to their conversation because I was to busy staring at Stacy. I told her again that she looked beautiful. She then reached up and gave me a quick kiss on the lips. In that moment the worry I had about the paranoia faded away and all that was left was Stacy.
