{Geoffrey}

Raina's playing hard-to-get again. I know she only does it when she's on to something, but it's frustrating when I can't — or won't — talk business with her. She won't let me touch her, kiss her, even trying to avoid questions is impossible.

Matt finds me brooding in our room when classes get out. He looks a lot better than me, only one eye slightly bruised and a cut above his eye. I almost asked him how, but I have a feeling he wouldn't have answered me anyway.

"What's eating you?" he says, dropping his backpack on the floor and slumping down on the opposite bed. "Have you been here all day?"

"No." I don't bother to sit up. The bruises on my torso won't let me. "Just since my ten-thirty class got out."

"Cut the bull, Geoff. What're you sulking about?" Matt sounds grumpy, which is understandable considering we haven't exactly seen eye-to-eye on a lot of things lately.

"Raina," I answer.

"Again?" When I look over at him, I see him scowling. "You and that girl have more problems than any couple I know. And I don't even have a girlfriend."

"She was on to something," I say with a shrug. "The morning after the frat party. About Ridley."

"There's a lot of things to be on to with that guy." Matt huffs out a breath. "What was it?"

I explain it to him the same way I did with her, and when I finish, he's rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"Huh," he says after a while. "So it's possible he's got somebody in the chem department in his pocket?"

"Yeah." Rid was smart, we all knew that. We'd just had no idea he was off-the-deep-end crazy to boot.

"Raina's got it." Matt winks, and I feel a twinge of jealousy. He has a crush on her, and anybody with eyes can see it. And because of that, he'd never purposefully say something hurtful about her to me. But why couldn't anyone understand that she was my girlfriend and not theirs?

≈

She comes by later that evening, with Ellen in tow. I know she's arrived when Tate, who answers the door, yells "YO GEOFF, YOUR GIRLFRIEND'S HERE!" Then I have to leap out of my chair, massaging my bruises, and hurry out to the front hallway and punch him in the arm to shut him up.

"Want to announce it to the entire school too?" I growl, moving so I block his view of her. "Hey, Raina."

"I brought El too, if that's okay," she says, slightly out of breath. Her cheeks are pink, and she has snow caught in her hair.

I look up at Ellen, who's got an uncomfortable expression on her face. "Hey," I say when our eyes meet.

"Hey." She gives me a small smile, and then looks away.

That gives me the opportunity to lean down and kiss Raina, sliding my fingers into her damp hair. She tastes like the cold air outside, nice and fresh. I only feel her touch my face and kiss me back briefly before she pulls away.

"There's something I should tell you, Geoff. That's why I came."

"What about?"

"I think..." She glances around. "Can we do it somewhere more private, maybe?"

I furrow my brow. "That drastic, huh?"

"Yes, but mostly I think you'll want to hear it minus distractions."

"I know a good place. C'mon."

I take her hand and lead her up the stairs, down the hallway, and then up another flight. At the top is a bay window with a seat in it, and the fact that it's still in pretty good condition means that hardly anyone sits in it. She does, right away, raking a hand through her hair. I sit down across from her, so I won't be tempted to touch her. Although that's harder now than before — all I have to do anymore is look at her or think about her.

"Okay, I'm listening."

She tells me about her escapade today, how she made the trek over to the Chem building to get some possible dirt on Ridley. Turns out he's been hanging out with a professor called Walker, who evidently answers his endless questions about chemical brain inhibitors and lets him get substances no one should be able to. The idea of Ridley actually ingratiating himself to anyone is shocking enough, but this...I wasn't expecting anything like this.

"So you're saying Ridley's been brewing concoctions this whole time, planning something big, and no one but this professor knows about it?" How could that have escaped their notice?

"I don't think he knows, exactly," Raina says, kneading her knuckles under her gloves. "Or if he does, he doesn't care. Either way, Ridley's got something going on. Something none of us will see coming."

"You think?" I ask, but I don't realize there's a barb in that question until she bites her lip and drops her eyes to the ground. "What?"

"It's just weird, don't you think? That the only professor Ridley connects with is the one who doesn't like to talk to anyone? It's like...he knew somehow. He knew that if he said anything to Professor Walker, it's a lot less likely it'll get out."

"You did say Stowe thought they were a lot alike," I say, apologetically. "Maybe that's why."

Raina shudders, visibly. "I don't like it. Gives me the chills."

"Me too, but at least we know what to do now." I think of Walker. There must be some way to get an idea of what he's divulging to Ridley.

"What?" Now it's Raina's turn to furrow her brow.

"First, we gotta have a look at that paper. And second, we gotta get in to see Walker."

≈

I meet Hugo Thomas for the first time a few days later, in my once-a-week freshman class. He's a little chubby, and his hair's so blond it's almost white. Not to mention he's kind of shy, and doesn't really talk much. So it surprises me when he sits down a few seats away, closer than before.

"Are you Geoff Cromwell?" he asks, blinking a couple times fast. It looks like some sort of twitch.

"Funny how everyone seems to know my name before I know theirs." I cross my arms and lean back in my chair.

"Sorry." Another twitch. "My name's Hugo. Hugo Thomas. I was wondering...do you see that girl over there, in the front row?"

I follow his gaze. He's watching a dark-haired girl with olive-toned skin and unusually blue eyes chatting to her friends at the front of the room. She's actually gorgeous, the kind of girl I would ask out any day. But poor Hugo seems about ready to sink into the floor.

"Yeah. What about her?"

"I've been wanting to ask her out," he says, twitching again.

"So you want me to talk to her," I finish. That happened in high school plenty of times, especially around prom season. The shyer guys, like Hugo, knew a girl would talk to someone who looked like me.

"Could you?" Hugo blushes, adding some color to his face. "I just...you know...I don't even know her name, so...it'd be awkward."

I nod slowly as I get up. It's weird doing this again, especially now that I have a girlfriend of my own. I'd be fine if she never found out about this.

When I slide into the seat directly behind her, she doesn't notice me at first. But her friends do, nudging her and whispering, looking in my direction. Eventually she follows, one of her eyebrows going up.

"Hello," she says, her accent distinctly foreign. I can't place it exactly, though.

"Hey...uh..." I glance back at Hugo, and he waves at me, twitching. Then I turn back. "I'm..."

"You're Geoff Cromwell." She smiles, revealing marvelously perfect teeth. "I know."

Not that I expected any less. "So I was wondering...just asking for a friend, you know, but..."

"My name's Aisha," she says, her accent suiting her name. "Rouen. And your friend, was he wondering if I was busy later?"

"Actually, yeah, he was." How carefully had she been listening? "He wanted to ask you out."

"Well, tell your friend, then, that something can be arranged." She leans in, lays her hand on top of mine. I can almost hear Hugo's confidence cracking. "And that I live in Bower Hall, across the way from his dorm."

"Thanks, Aisha." I manage a smile.

"One more thing," she says, before I can get away. "Tell him that the next time he wants to ask me out, he should ask me himself rather than have his friend do it for him."

When I get back to Hugo, he sits up, eager for the news.

"Her name's Aisha Rouen, and she knows," I say, and he seems to shrink into himself. "But says that she's open to a date, and lives in Bower Hall if you're looking for her. And you should ask her yourself next time."

"Oh," he says in a small voice. "She heard everything we said, didn't she?"

I wink. "You bet she did."

After class, though, I run to catch up with him. I'd just thought of something — Ridley's already on to me, Matt, even Raina. But he'd never suspect Hugo.

"Hey Hugo! Wait up!"

He stops in the hallways and swivels back around on his heel. "Huh?"

"I was just curious...what's your major again?"

"Journalism," he answers, looking dubious. "Why?"

"I was wondering if you could follow a lead for me."

"Sure," he says, grinning and blushing when Aisha bumps his shoulder and gives him a wave. "What about?"

"I want to get a hold of a doctoral thesis paper. Do you know Professor Walker, in the chem department?"

Hugo shrugs. "Never had him, but I know how to get the paper."

"Do you?" I almost want to hug him, but that'd probably be weird considering how long we've known each other. Which is about ninety minutes total. "That'd be great."

"Hey, you got me a date, so I'll help you with this paper. Seems fair, doesn't it?"

"Yeah." I give his shoulder a punch, with a grin of my own. "Thanks, man. Really."

I almost make it outside, but I'm so busy pulling my gloves on that I don't notice Ridley until I run straight into him. He grabs my arm, shoving me backward.

"Whoa. Sorry, Rid." I have a feeling I should be apologizing for a lot more than nearly running him over. His expression's murderous.

"You're gonna cost me a whole lot more than just injuries, Geoff." He glowers at me. "Now that you won't back off."

"Back off?" I shake my head. "What do you mean by that?"

"You think I don't know what sh-stuff you're trying to pull? How you think you can hide behind that lug Benson and your loyal puppy-dog Raina? They can't fight all your battles for you, you know."

"I'm not hiding—"

"Yes you are, admit it. I've seen the way she looks at you...she'd get down on her knees and kiss your boots if you asked her to. You're just too wrapped up in yourself to notice."

"No, I'm not." I hate that that's what he think my relationship with Raina is. "We help each other. She may be more like you in socioeconomic status, Ridley, but that doesn't make you the same in any other way."

"Don't you sound fancy," he sneers. "'Socioeconomic status.' Maybe you won't be using all those big words after I'm done with her."

"Don't touch her!" I shout after him, but he keeps walking like he can't hear me. "Ridley!"

But he's gone, like he just disappeared into the crowd. I curse and spin on my heel, knowing I have to find her and warn her. Something's going to happen to her, at Ridley's hands, but the worst part is that I don't know what.

≈

I seek out Ellen first, because she's the only one who sees Raina every day. She's sitting in the campus coffee shop, listening to one of those portable CD players through headphones. I remember Dad getting me one of those for my sixteenth birthday, along with a set of CDs to replace my cassette tapes. It was one of the only things he'd actually given to me without expecting something back.

I tap on the open page of her book to get her attention, and she looks up, eyes wide with surprise.

"Hey, Geoff," she says, pulling off her headphones. "What's up?"

"Do you think..." I'm asking a lot of favors from a lot of people today. Eventually I'm going to owe them all a big one back. "Could you keep an eye on Raina for me?"

Her brow furrows. "Why? Did something happen?"

"Ridley. He threatened me with doing something to her."

She sighs heavily, running a hand over her face. "Can't he give her a break? I think Rains has been through enough."

I smile at the nickname. "Rains?"

"She calls me El, if that helps." She rolls her eyes. "I don't know, Geoff. She doesn't like it when she feels like she can't do something herself. Poor girl's been on her own for a long time now."

"I don't want her to do this alone." I sit down across from her. "I'm afraid Ridley's going to hurt her. Badly."

"Okay," she says finally, looking away. "And if something does happen, how will I tell you?"

"I'll know," I say, but her lack of reaction to that sentence tells me she knows more than she's letting on. "Thanks, Ellen."

"Don't mention it," she answers, and the way her gaze holds mine finishes that thought. And when I say don't mention it, I mean don't.

≈

The next one I track down is Raina. I thank God she's still here and intact, so at least Ridley hasn't acted on his threat yet. When I see her, I practically run to her and pull her into my arms, not ever wanting to know what it'd feel like if she were taken from me.

"Geoff?" She sounds confused as she pulls away to look at me. "What's wrong?"

Instead of answering I cup her face and kiss her deeply. Her lips are warm despite the bitter cold wind whipping at us, and the snow swirling down all around. She responds for only a second before breaking the kiss, now even more concerned.

"What's happened?" she asks, as I look away. I can't, when she's watching me like that. "Geoff, talk to me, please."

"Come on. Let's get inside first." I take her hand, pulling her into the nearest building. I realize it's the same one Felicia and I had our second conversation in. The air's not much warmer in here, considering how old the building is, but at least it's not windy or snowy.

"Now will you tell me?" she says in a hushed voice.

"Ridley," I answer, and she bites her lip. "He threatened to do something to you, Raina. He wants to hurt me, and he knows he can do it by using you."

"Hurt me? Geoff, he can't—"

"You're not listening." I pace in front of her, running one hand through my hair. "He wants to hurt you, bad. And the only reason he's doing it is because he's mad at me. Ellen said you don't like being watched, but—"

"El?" she says, her voice sharp now. Dammit. "You went to El without telling me?"

"Raina, listen, I don't want you hurt—"

"I'm not a child, Geoff!" Her voice rises. "I don't need to be kept from danger! Any more than I need to be watched!"

"But Raina, this is Ridley we're talking about—" I start, but she cuts through my sentence right away.

"I already know he's bad news, okay?" She rounds on me, eyes shining. "You think I don't know what that is? I've known since my father first touched me at eight years old!"

That puts a damper on the already dark conversation. "Wait, what?"

"Don't feel sorry for me," she snaps, a couple tears escaping. "Dad was never a really touchy-feely guy with Mom, but when he got to me, he was all over it."

"Raina—" Take that, Dad. Now who doesn't know anything about baggage?

"No, Geoff. Don't dig yourself any deeper. You've already told El something you could've told me first. So just don't."

For a second, we face off, both of us breathing hard. She breaks it first, turning away from me and marching towards the door.

"Raina, wait."

At first, I think she's not going to stop, but she does. "What?"

"I only did it because..." Here goes. "I love you."

I hear her take a shaky breath, her hand tightening on the door handle. For a second, I think she's going to say something, or say it back at the very least. But she doesn't. She just bites her lip and yanks the door open with a jerk, disappearing in a flurry of snow and wind. And I'm not sure what's worse: the fact that she didn't reply, or the fact that she didn't seem to take me seriously.

≈

Hugo finally comes back a few days later. I haven't talked to or seen Raina since then, but every time I see Ellen, she shakes her head. Still nothing. He finds me sitting in the library, scribbling aimlessly on an empty page in my notebook. I haven't written a page of notes since I got here an hour ago.

"Hey," he says, nudging me from behind before sitting down. "I got it."

He drops a fat stack of paper in front of me, held together with a massive staple. I take a quick glance at the title: The "Pleasure Chemical": Can blocking dopamine's receptors in the brain change the ways in which humans seek pleasure, reward, and motivation to do good?

"Hell, Raina wasn't kidding," I say, more to myself as I read the title again.

"Raina Hardy?" Hugo says, and I know he's heard me. "You know her?"

"Yeah, I..." I think back to the fight we had the other day. Somehow I don't think that saying she's my girlfriend right now is the right thing to do. "I do."

"I like her," he says, blissfully unaware of my unenthusiastic reception. "She's really smart, and nice, and pretty."

"Yeah." I run my finger over the first page of the paper distractedly. "She is."

"Hey, so—" he starts, but right then I feel a pounding in my head, at the base of my skull. Something bad's happening, I know it. And I have a feeling I know what it is.

"Sorry, Hugo, I have to go." I throw everything into my backpack and get up. "Thanks for the paper."

Then I rush out, hoping I'm not too late.