Stalk Me

“That, and you’ve been out of the public eye for a few years. When was the last time your photo was in a magazine?” Garrett asks me.

“Um, like three years ago. It was a horrible picture. I still had braces.”

“Are there times you go places by yourself?”

“Um, I guess I drive to school by myself and dance class, but that’s about it.”

“You’re supposed to go to the club later tonight,” Tommy reminds me.

“Yeah, but I’m going with Cush.”

Mom and Tommy both look at Garrett.

He says, “I think it’s fine if you’re not alone. Are you picking him up or is he coming here?”

“I was going to pick him up.”

“Let’s have a tail on her just to be safe.”

I drop my shoulders. “Uh, I don’t want some old guy in the club with us.”

“It won’t be some old guy, and he won’t follow you into the club. He’ll sit outside, watch Tommy’s car, and follow you home after you drop off your friend.”

“It’s either that or you don’t go,” Tommy says, sounding way more like a dad than he usually does.

“Fine,” I agree. I don’t want to upset him any more.

James walks back in the room with a stack of papers in his hand. “Abby, I want you to go back over these photos. I’ve compared them with the studio logs from the last incident. I’d feel a whole lot better if we knew who he was.” He spreads the photos in front of Mom. “Have you ever noticed any of these men hanging around? Do any of them look familiar to you?”

Mom looks down at the photos, frowns, and shakes her head. “No, never.” But then she taps a fingernail on one of the photos. “Although this guy looks a little familiar, but I’m not sure why.”

I peek over her shoulder to see what a creeper might look like.

James and Garrett also look over her shoulder.

“He looks familiar to me too,” James says. “I’m pretty sure I’ve seen him around.”

“What about you, Keatyn? Have you ever seen this man anywhere?”

I look at the photo. The guy does look like a creeper. Like the kind of guy that would have nothing better to do than watch Mom’s movies and chat on the internet. He probably lives in his mom’s basement. He’s maybe thirty, wears his light brown hair in a cheap, short haircut and has sort of watery grey eyes. His skin is pale, like he’s never been in the sun, and he has a pencil-thin neck that makes his head look too big for his body.

“Honestly, if I saw him, I don’t think I would give him a second glance, but at the same time, he does sort of look familiar.”

“I want you all to memorize his face. If you ever see him or anyone around that looks like him, you call us immediately. He might look wimpy in the picture, but that doesn’t mean he’s not capable of harm,” Garrett stresses. “The sex scenes have apparently sent him over the edge. That makes him very dangerous.”

I look at the photo again and memorize his face. “Okay,” I say. Then I get the heck out of there.

Friday, May 20th

Possibly a little bit hotter.

7:45pm

Cush and I don’t get to just hang out tonight because Vanessa invited all her candidates to a party.

She told us if we didn’t go, she would give away our lunch seats.

Cush thought we should let her give them away, but I’m not quite ready for that yet. I feel like need to have a plan first.

RiA

I don’t really understand the reasoning behind this party. I get that Vanessa wants to have the right people at her table, but we party with a lot of people on a regular basis. I could rattle off the names of twenty people that are cool, but she has a different approach.

She says she wants to be choosier. Wants people that know how to behave in all social settings. Just because you can dance on a bar doesn’t mean you are worthy.

Which was obviously a slam towards me.

Fine. I like to dance. And it’s not like I’m the only one. There are plenty of girls that get up on the bar and dance with me.

Except for Vanessa.

She can’t dance worth a crap. She doesn’t play any sports. Like, not even your typical country club golf and te

Let’s just say they didn’t teach her anything golf-related and leave it at that.

The invitations that were hand delivered yesterday afternoon stated that formal attire is required. We just had prom; I doubt anyone really wants to get all dressed up again, but since I wasn’t involved in the pla

Vanessa wanted us to shop together for new dresses last night, but Thursday is my night to go dancing.

I lied like I usually do and told Vanessa I had a family thing.

They texted me photos of their dresses, so I wouldn’t wear anything similar, and I assured them I would dress appropriately.

Cush will be here in a few minutes. He’s going to wear one of Tommy’s tuxedos. They’re almost the same size, but Cush is leaner in the way young soccer players are.

I had my hair blown out then curled into soft waves. Depending on what dress I pick, we may pull some of it up.

Kym is flipping through pictures on her iPad, looking at mom’s dress inventory while a makeup artist does my base makeup.

“Oh, I need to show you the photos of Vanessa and RiA

I hand her my phone.

She scrunches her nose up like she just smelled something rotten. “They look like they’re going to prom, not Monte Carlo.”

She drops the phone in my lap and goes back to her iPad.

“Here. Here it is.” She thrusts the iPad in front of me and shows me a gorgeous white, Grecian style Marchesa gown. “This is from their Resort Collection. I bought it for your mom to wear in Ca

“That’s really pretty,” I tell her. The hairstylist pulls a few of the front layers of my hair into a single braid that weaves its way across the back of my head but still leaves my waves intact.

When my hair and makeup are finished, I hear the doorbell ring.

“That should be Cush,” I say.

“I’ll go get him fitted. Is he hot? Of course, he’s hot. Is he eighteen yet? Do I need to worry about dressing him?”

I laugh at Kym. “He’s still seventeen, so you better watch your hands. And yeah, he’s really cute.”

I put on the dress. It has a plunging neckline, a triangular top that twists into ski

Kym comes back in to check on my progress. “That dress is perfect with your tan. Mr. Soccer Cutie is going to be drooling all over you tonight, girl.”

 “No, he won’t. We’re just friends, and honestly, I think I’d rather make Vanessa and RiA

“I think it was Betsey Johnson that said women dress for other women. If we dressed for men, we’d all run around naked.”

“That’s fu

“Besides, you showed me their dresses. They will look young and overdone, and you’ll look stu