^^Above, chapter title credit: Song by Joy Division.^^

{Geoffrey}

Seeing Raina's tear-streaked face as she runs out of the room is what makes all my fight drain away. It occurs to me that maybe everything Matt says is true. And that I probably made myself look like the biggest hoser ever.

"So are you two done?" Dwayne, the RA from our floor, keeps a firm hand in the middle of both our chests. "Wanna talk it out alone, or am I gonna have to watch you two like kids?"

"We can work it out ourselves," Matt grumbles, backing away first. "Thanks, Dwayne."

"Don't make me break you two up again," Dwayne says, giving both of us glares. "Or I'll have to get Res Life involved."

We both mumble something that sounds like agreement. Dwayne nods and lowers his hands, and soon enough, we're left alone again.

"So what's your deal, Matt?" I ask, trying to keep my voice under control. "Why'd you have to attack Raina like that?"

He doesn't answer for a second, a muscle twitching in his jaw. Then finally, "I'm jealous, okay?"

"Of what?" I shake my head. "It didn't seem to bother you before—"

"You and Raina seem so happy together. I've only had one girlfriend, and that was way back in junior high. The girls after that just didn't seem to want anything to do with me." Matt shrugs, then winces. "I figured it was just me and not them. So I stopped dating."

"Raina didn't want anything to do with me at first, if that makes you feel better."

"Not really," Matt says, shaking his head and studying the floor hard. "'Cause she does now."

I say nothing in reply. I think of Raina's expression the night she'd overheard my fight with Dad. He'd wounded her with his words, even if he hadn't intended for her to hear them. She'd seemed ready for me to break up with her right there and then. We'd been through some rocky patches, and I have no doubt we're in for some more. Honeymoon phase isn't even in our vocabulary to describe what we have.

"Look, Geoff, I'm really glad you're happy and everything. I just don't want you to forget who you are while you're doing it." Matt still doesn't look at me as he says it. "And if she's smart, Raina won't either."

Then he turns and walks away, leaving me staring after him.

≈

I don't see Raina again for the entire week following the Thanksgiving holiday. Things between Matt and me are tense still, but at least we're talking again. The one I do find in the picture the most often is Ridley. He's waiting for me after class towards the end of the week, wearing the expression he gets when he wants to ask a favor.

"Geoff! Hey, Geoff!" he calls after me when I pass him without looking. Seconds later, I hear his feet pounding up behind me, and then he's right in front of me, blocking my path. "Glad I caught you. There's something I want to ask you."

"Yeah?" I try to keep the suspicious note out of my voice. "What's that?"

"Well...I heard some guys talkin' about how the fraternity's gonna start accepting new members soon, and I was wondering if you'd put in a good word for me with Jake." His eyes are much too bright and eager, like a little kid asking for candy. "It'd mean a lot to my family if I became a brother."

"Pledging doesn't work like that, Rid. You can't just hope Jake'll take you because of one guy's word. You'll have to earn it." I knew that because of Dad, who'd served as the vice-president and then president of the frat when he'd been here. "The initiation, and everything."

"But Geoff," Ridley whines. "He respects you. He likes you, even. You won't do this one little thing for me?"

"Rid—" I start, but out of the corner of my eye, I catch a flash of violet. When I turn that direction, it's gone, but I see something just as intriguing: Felicia, weaving through the knots of students in the quad. "Hold on a second."

I step around him — easy to do since he's half a foot shorter than me, or more, possibly — and hurry after her. Now that we have pretty concrete facts that she's Violet Storm, it might be well worth the effort of getting to know her better.

"Felicia!" I call when I'm close enough. "Wait up!"

She stops right away, turning on the spot to seek me out. Her eyes, flashing a bright purple, land on me. Instantly I feel a pulling sensation, propelling me towards her with no way to stop myself.

"Hello again," she says, her voice silky. "Geoff, right?"

"Yeah." I can't look away from her shimmering eyes, even though I want to. "Hey, so...you don't suppose I could talk to you a little more privately, do you?"

"Sure thing." She runs one hand over the front of my jacket, but even through three layers I can feel it like she touched my bare skin.

I follow her across the quad and towards the Liberal Arts building, a big old brick structure that has the date of the school's establishment on it: 1858. I've only been inside a handful of times, but the creaky old floorboards and the musty smell in the air still creep me out a little bit. But Felicia doesn't seem affected by it, not even stopping until we reach the gallery upstairs, overlooking the sweeping main staircase.

"I really don't think this amount of privacy is necessary—" I start, but she stops me by placing three fingers over my mouth.

"I know about you, Geoff Cromwell," she says, still smooth and silky but with a dangerous undercurrent. "You're a super just like me. I felt it the second I touched you."

"You...you did?" I manage, but the feeling of her body pressing into mine is inhibiting my ability to think clearly.

She smiles, but it's coy and mysterious. "Why do you think we're even here?"

"Yeah, true." It's getting hard to pull my mind on track, especially when she slips her hand under my jacket and grazes her fingers across my pectoral muscle. "So...uh...about what I wanted to ask you."

"If it's about who I work for, I can't tell you." She presses her lips together, a line appearing between her eyebrows. "But he says you're the enemy."

"That bad, huh?" I feel her hand sliding down my rib cage, towards my belt. "Is that why he's using you? Because he knows what effect you have on me?"

She laughs, short and flirtatious, and flicks a finger off my chin. "I don't let anyone use me. You should know that right now. My services come at a price."

"What price is that?" My mind sputters as her palm meets my skin.

"Try me and see," she breathes, before she closes the distance between us and kisses me, full on the mouth. My hands act by themselves, moving to grip her waist. Instantly Raina darts across my mind, and for a second, it's her that I'm kissing.

"Wait." I push her away from me, holding her at arm's length. "Level with me. Did Hammerhead hire you? This has him written all over it."

She pouts. "Geoff, I just said—"

"I knew it." I let go of her and turn away, and now I can think clearly. Of course Hammerhead — or Ridley, as we suspect — would throw in someone who I can't resist. He thinks he knows my type. And he's trying to distract me. But as hard as I wrack my brains, I can't think of why.

"Geoff, I can explain." I hear her approaching, and then she touches my hand. A spark goes through me, like an electric shock.

I jerk my hand away. "Sorry, Felicia. I have to go."

Then I hurry away without looking back. I have to find Matt and Raina. Maybe they have better theories on why Hammerhead's trying to sabotage any chance of happiness I might have.

≈

"She's got your number, that's all I'm saying," Matt says when I tell him.

"Is it?" I cross my arms and stare him down.

"Look, man, she gave me half these bruises," he says, holding up his forearm to emphasize the point. "You think I'm gonna cross her again?"

"At least help me out here. She's got some sort of agreement with Ridley, or else we wouldn't be having this conversation."

"Did you try asking her?" he says for probably the fifth time.

"Yeah, but she wouldn't tell me. All she wanted to do was kiss me, or something. I don't understand her motive."

"Makes you quite the catch, doesn't it?" Matt scowls.

Raina isn't much better. When I find her, sitting alone at a picnic table in the quad, it looks like she's been crying. A lot. Her eyes are red and swollen, and her tear tracks are fresh.

"You okay, Raina?" I ask when I sit down across from her.

"What do you think, Geoff?" she says, her voice rough and struggling to hold in tears.

"I'm sorry that you had to see me fight with Matt." I want to take her hand, but they're curled so tightly I have a feeling she wouldn't let me. "I just—"

"Don't apologize," she says, scrubbing at her cheeks with her sleeve. "It's my fault he's mad at you at all."

"No, he just wanted to goad me—"

"By using my feelings for you!" Her voice cracks, and more tears well in her eyes. "If it hadn't been for me, you'd have probably been here to help him!"

"Raina, listen." I catch her cheek, her tears sliding down underneath my hand. "This isn't your fault. He told me he's jealous of us, that's why he said those things."

She bites her lip, eyes shining. "Does he believe them?"

I shake my head. "I don't think so. He likes you, Raina. I doubt he'd ever deliberately hurt you."

"Okay." She rubs at her eyes, taking a couple shuddering breaths. "I believe you."

"So...off-topic, but...has Ridley said anything to you about...you know...us?"

"Not since before Halloween," she says, closing her fists and jamming them into the pockets of her jacket. "Why?"

"I think this is his doing. Driving a wedge between me and Matt, and between me and you. He wants me isolated for some reason."

"What makes you say that?" All at once her shrewd sense of human nature returns, and the wounded girl disappears inside.

"Attacking me with the Blob, keeping Felicia around, that stuff. Drawing Matt away from me, keeping you in his confidence. I think he's under the impression that you'll all think you owe him something, and that's how he'll get you."

"He knows about you, doesn't he?" she says after a second. "He knows you're a super."

"I...yeah, he does." No use lying to her anymore.

"He's got some kind of grudge against you, that's all I can think of." She runs one hand through her hair, tangling it, then wipes the rest of her tears away. "Other than that, I have no idea."

That doesn't give me much to work with, but I have a feeling she's on the right track. I have to keep trusting her, though. Maybe she'd figure this out faster than we would.

≈

Jake manages to track me down again right before finals week. I can tell he's got some big news, because his cheeks are red and he's panting like he ran all the way here.

"I'm glad I caught you," he says when he can speak. "I talked to my other senior brothers...they think you're great Theta Theta Phi material."

"This isn't because my dad was president of the frat while he was here, is it?" Because, like we all know by now, names carry a lot of weight at this school.

"I mean..." He shrugs. "Kinda, yeah. But mostly it's 'cause I like you, and so do they. The president of the university banned us from doing any hazing, but we'll at least want to see you for an interview, like we do with all our prospective members."

"So you're deciding to treat me fairly, then?" I cross my arms, wondering if this is a trap of some sort. "First time I've heard of a fraternity going to that length."

"'Course we are. You and Benson. But you'd be a shoo-in even without the interview." He grins and claps me on the shoulder. "Can I expect to see you move in come January?"

"Yeah," I say, because I don't see any way to wriggle out of this one. "Sure."

"Great, man. You won't regret it, I promise." He winks at me.

"Looking forward to it," I answer, and with that he hurries off. Only then do I realize I forgot to say anything about Ridley to him. But I don't owe him anything. Not after he tried to take my best friend and my girlfriend away from me.