Know who sent the text yet as if it wasn't super totally obvious? Anyway, we're going to get a glimpse of Firkle's "stalker" today. And perhaps some background drama with one of his friends.

Chapter 4 – Secret Stalker Admirer

The first thing I did when my friends and I got to Pete and Michael's dorm room was check to make sure my homework was still dry. I had worked really hard on it and it would suck if it had gotten drenched. Luckily, my shoulder bag had kept all my stuff dry. For that I was thankful.

"Here Firkle," Pete said, handing me a thick black robe, "You can use our shower to warm yourself up while Michael and I dry your clothes. We would lend you some of ours, but I think everything we own would be too big for you."

"Yeah, it probably would," I admitted. Puberty had not been kind to me. While Pete and Michael were giants, I was still terribly short. Not midget short, about 5'4" but compared to Michael who was like six feet tall, I felt even smaller. Plus, my voice was fairly high pitched compared to the other guys in my class. At least Pete was 5'9". Still pretty tall.

After Pete showed me how to work the shower (I was so thankful they had one of the rooms with their own shower instead of a public one!) he and the other two gave me some privacy.

I slipped out of my wet clothes and left them where the others could grab them before stepping into the shower. I was thankful for the warm water that poured over me. I sighed with pleasure as the heat washed away the cold. I couldn't remember the last time I had an actual warm shower. The heating at my house was crap, so even if I did get to the shower first at best the water would be luke-warm.

While I was in there, I decided to take a proper shower, with soap and shampoo and everything. I'm sure Pete and Michael wouldn't mind. When I was finished, I dried myself off before wrapping myself off in the robe Pete had provided me with.

My friends were waiting for me in the main room when I came out. The three of them were smoking as usual. I walked over to them and they looked up.

"Hey," Henrietta greeted, "How was your shower?"

"Relaxing," I admitted, "Way better than the one I have at home."

"Feeling better now?" Michael asked as I sat down with them. He offered me a cigarette.

"Much," I replied, "Thanks." I took the cigarette and the lighter from him and lit it. I took a grateful lungful of smoke and blew it out into the air. It swirled around for a bit before disappearing.

"We put your clothes in the dryer, by the way," Pete told me, "They should be done soon." I gave him a grateful smile.

"Thanks guys," I said, "I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Speaking of which," Henrietta put in, "About that text…"

"I didn't send it," I told her immediately, "Like I said, I dropped my phone when those losers grabbed me."

"Wait, so if you didn't send us that text, who did?" Pete wondered, "Because it definitely came from your phone. We got a group text from your number."

"Someone took my phone?" I concluded. While I was glad that they called my friends for help, I was annoyed they impersonated me and took my phone.

"Maybe it was your stalker," Michael theorized, "They do seem to like getting you out of jams. And this seems like something they would do."

"Ugh, I need to find out who this person is," I decided, "It's creepy the way they keep leaving me love notes and candy all the time. And I swear sometimes I'll be walking down an empty hallway and I get the feeling that someone is following me. But when I turn around no one is there."

"Strange," Henrietta commented, "And creepy. So, how do you plan to catch your stalker?" I felt myself deflate a little.

"I don't know," I admitted, "I would try to catch them in the act, but I would have to think of a way to set them up first."

"We could help you do that," Pete offered, "How about next weekend when we have the time? The four of us can get together and work on a way to catch your stalker."

"Hey, that could be something," I hissed diabolically.

…

When I opened my locker the next day at school, I was surprised to find my phone sitting inside along with a note. I quickly checked my phone to make sure it was ok and hadn't been tampered with before putting it in my bag. Then I read the note.

"Sorry about taking your phone," it read, "But I saw you get taken by the football team and I wanted to help you. Don't worry, I only texted your friends and didn't do anything else to your phone or look at anything else. I hope those bullies didn't hurt you too badly!

"P.S. You should probably change your password. 'Gothchild12' is kind of obvious."

I felt myself growing extremely annoyed as I read the stupid note before crumbling it up. I stormed over to the garbage and threw it away before going over to my locker and slamming it closed. I was so annoyed, I hadn't even noticed that Ike had been standing there watching the whole thing until I turned around.

"Uh, hey Firkle," he greeted me, "What's up with you?"

"Nothing much," I replied, trying to force myself to calm down, "I just got my phone back from my stalker and I was just throwing a note away from them."

Ike cocked his head at me in confusion. "Stalker?" he repeated.

"Yeah. Someone has been following me around, leaving me notes, and giving me candy, and other shit like that," I told him.

"Oh," Ike said. He turned his head slightly and muttered under his voice, "Most people would call that a secret admirer, but ok."

"So, listen, due to… circumstances I'm a little behind on my homework for this week," I said, preferring not to tell him about the football team, "Can you come over after school and help me with it?"

I didn't want to ask him for help, but those dick-swingers had put me behind again and I had no choice. Fortunately, Ike looked like he was more than willing to help.

"Of course, I can!" he replied eagerly, "I'll meet you at your house after school!"

"Great," I said, "Now go away. I don't want to be seen with you."

Looking just a bit crestfallen, Ike looked down at the floor. "Oh, uh, right," he muttered, "Well then, I guess I'll uh, see you after school, Firkle." Then he slunk away with out looking back. I probably should've felt bad, but I really didn't.

I was about to turn around to go to class when I was suddenly and quite violently shoved against my locker. I had the wind knocked out of me and I gasped with the pain and pressure. That was way too hard to be an accident! I looked to see Filmore a few steps away and knew immediately that he was the one who had pushed me.

"Hey! What's your fucking problem, man?" I snarled at him. Filmore turned and glared at me as I stormed over to him.

"You got a problem?" he growled.

"Yes. You," I hissed, "You really think you can just slam me against the lockers and walk away? What is your deal?"

Even though Filmore was a considerable amount taller than me, I refused to be intimidated by him. Even when he tried to puff out his chest to try to tower over me. He seized the front of my shirt and dragged me forward to glare in my face.

"You want to try starting something, goth fag?" he hissed. I rolled my eyes and dug into my pocket.

"Oh please, you don't scare me," I scoffed, bringing out my pocket knife and pointing it at his neck, "Without the rest of your group of closeted homosexuals, you're nothing more to me than another conformist in a sea full of them. You don't have any power on your own."

I relished the spark of fear that flashed in Filmore's eyes as I dug the point of my knife into his neck. We stood there glaring at each other for another minute until I heard a shout.

"Firkle! Filmore! What are you guys doing?" Ike called rushing towards us.

Filmore released his hold on my shirt and I stumbled backwards slightly. Ike quickly ran forward and caught me before I fell.

"He started it," Filmore accused, folding his arms, "He just started yelling at me."

"No, you started it by slamming me into the lockers for no reason!" I shot back. Filmore glared at me then shifted his gaze to Ike. He opened his mouth to say something, but then decided against it and just walked off.

I waited until he was out of earshot before turning to Ike, who was still holding onto me. "I can't believe you're friends with that guy," I commented. He gave me a baffled look.

"We're not friends!" he claimed, "Where on Earth did you hear that? He just likes to pretend we're friends for whatever reason. I've never liked that guy!"

"Thank goodness," I murmured, "For a while I thought you had lost your senses. Glad to know my tutor isn't completely insane."

For whatever reason, Ike blushed at my words.

…

"What happened to that necklace you always wear?" Ike asked as we finished our homework. I flinched at the memory.

"That douchebag quarterback stole it from me to give to his girlfriend," I growled, "Even though my friends gave it to me and the only reason she wanted it was because it's mine."

Ike stared at me sadly and moved across the bed to press against my side. "Why do those guys torment you so much?" he wondered, "Why don't they leave you alone?"

"Because the universe is giving me payback," I muttered. Ike gave me a confused look.

"Huh? What does that mean?" he questioned. I closed my eyes and sighed.

"I'm pretty sure this is life's way of getting back at me for what I did when I was five," I explained, "When I was five years old there was a time when Henrietta's mom sent her off to a 'camp' for troubled kids for two weeks and when she came back she had turned emo. Which is totally different from being goth, before you ask. And then Michael was also sent to the camp, so Pete and I teamed up with those vamp losers to get our friend back and stop the camp."

I paused at this part, remembering with shame what happened next. "When we found Michael, I betrayed them," I muttered, "I betrayed my friends by pulling a gun on them! And in the end it was all one big fucking joke by some stupid network! Pete and Michael forgave me and they never told Henrietta what happened, but I never forgave myself. And neither has the universe."

Ike pursed his lips and pressed a little harder against me. "Firkle, that's ridiculous," he murmured, "I'm sure the universe isn't punishing you for a mistake you made when you were five years old."

"I am," I replied. Ike sighed and shook his head.

"Pete and Michael forgave you," he pointed out, "You should just forgive yourself and learn to move on."

"I can't," I hissed quietly, "I turned on my friends so easily! If that stupid camp thing hadn't been a giant prank, I wouldn't even have any friends now! Either they would've turned emo and likely have committed suicide, or if they had succeeded in stopping the camp they would've banished me from the group! I never even said I'm sorry!"

I was startled when Ike suddenly wrapped his arms around me, pressing me close to his body. I blinked in surprise at him.

"What are you doing?" I wondered.

"Hugging you," he said, "You're too hard on yourself. You need to learn to let things go. Or you're going to stay miserable your whole life."

I sighed. "Maybe you're right," I mumbled.

"I know I'm right," he grinned, "Can I kiss you again?"

I let out long annoyed sigh. "Fine!" I moaned. Ike smiled then gently pushed me onto my back, kissing me on the way down.

I thought that would be a funny way to end the chapter. The next chapter might actually take a little bit to get up because I don't know what I want to do next. Anyway, be sure to leave a comment!