________________________________________________

From: Unknown

To: Linnea

You look stunning today

-N

_________________________________________________

From: Unknown

To: Linnea

I'm looking forward to seeing you :)

-N

_________________________________________________

From: Linnea

To: Unknown

Who are you?

_________________________________________________

From: Unknown

To: Linnea

Did you like the roses I got you earlier?

_________________________________________________

From: Linnea

To: Unknown

How did you even get my number?

_________________________________________________

From: Unknown

To: Linnea

They reminded me of you

-N

_________________________________________________

From: Linnea

To: Unknown

Please stop contacting me.

__________________________________________________

From: Unknown

To: Linnea

Is something wrong? You seem to be a tad bit moody.

-N

____________________________________________________

From: Unknown

To: Linnea

Did someone upset you?

-N

_____________________________________________________

From: Unknown

To: Linnea

Are you ignoring me?

-N

______________________________________________________

From: Unknown

To: Linnea

Hello?

-N

______________________________________________________

From: Unknown

To: Linnea

I'm going to call you now.

-N

______________________________________________________

From: Unknown

To: Linnea

Pick up

-N

______________________________________________________

From: Unknown

To: Linnea

Last chance.

-N

______________________________________________________

From: Unknown

To: Linnea

That's it. You crossed the line.

-N

______________________________________________________

I clutch my phone to my chest. My hands are shaking and my palms are sweaty from anxiety.

Did I go too far? Was it wrong of me to ignore all of the messages? I don't know.

For the past two hours, I've been sitting crisscrossed legged on my bed, trying to studying. I've received messages throughout the whole day, starting with the ones I've apparently received when I was asleep.

When I woke up this morning, I decided that this had to stop and every time my phone screen has lit up, indicating I've gotten a new message, I've ignored it. For the past two hours, I've stared at my phone screen every time it lit up and waited for it to turn black again before going back to studying.

I'm starting to worrying now. I just received the last message saying I've crossed the line. Should I be scared? Should I reply? Should I ignore it?

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

All I do know for a fact is that this has to stop. It's not funny or sweet anymore. I'm not feeling flattered because someone is giving me attention. I'm feeling uneasy because the person refuses to leave me alone.

Before I decide on doing something I'll regret later on, I message Tamara and ask if she has time to come over. Lily is studying with some friends from her french class and I don't want to intrude if Tamara can keep me company instead. I just don't want to be alone right now, not after a text like that. I also need help on deciding what I should do about it.

I try my best to ignore all the unread messages as I put in my four digit password and unlock my phone before calling Tamara.

Luckily for me, she picks up almost immediately.

"Hello?"

"Hi, do you have time to come over?" Although I'm trying to sound calm and settled, there's still a hint of nervousness in my voice.

"Yeah, of course. Is everything alright? I'm just about to grab a coffee down at the café then I'll be right up. You want something?"

"Nah, I'm good. And I'm alright. I think. I'm not dying at least."

"Is it... you know, that one again?" she asks in a more hushed voice and I give out a shaky sigh.

"Yeah."

"Can't he or she take a hint and stop? Sweetie, I'll be up in a minute."

I thank her before I hang up and throwing my phone back onto my bed.

What did I ever do to get into this mess?

Realizing that I won't be able to study anymore, I put my things away and grab an apple I bought earlier today. I've almost finished it when there's a light knock on the door and as soon as I open it, Tamara slips through.

"Hey honey, I bought you something anyway. I didn't know what you wanted so I kept it simple and went with a latte." She strides towards my desk and put the two cups down before making herself at home. The bag over her left shoulder ends up on the floor while she plops down on my bed.

"So", Tamara says carefully as she takes off her black high heels and throws them at the door I've closed, "what happened?"

I mindlessly pick up her shoe and put them beside each other. "I just keep getting these messages and well... the last one made me feel kinda uneasy."

Tamara reaches her hand out towards the desk and take a sip of her coffee while keeping her eyes trained on me. "Do you mind showing me the messages?"

I shake my head and pick up my phone before sitting down beside her on my purple sheets.

I go onto my messages and hand her my phone as I've clicked on the chat with my secret admirer.

There's a few second of silence as Tamara reads the messages through but as she's done, she's quieter than usual.

"You'll stay with me for the rest of the day until Lily get's here, alright?" she finally says when I'm starting to think she's forgotten how to speak.

"You think I should be worried?" I ask, uneasiness being crystal clear in my voice.

"I think you should better be safe than sorry." She takes a deep breath before handing g me my phone back.

"The last message was a threat and I don't want you to go out alone today, alright? We know nothing about this person but it's starting to feel like there's a creep rather than an innocent admirer."

The whole thought of being threatened, even though we don't know for sure if there's just empty words or not, worries me. I don't want to get sucked into any drama at all and least of all; a creep who won't leave me alone.

"Alright", I sigh, "I'll be careful. I'll probably not leave this room very much either. I got basketball practice today in two hours but that's all."

Tamara nods. "Good. I'll follow you there and then you'll give me a call wh-"

"Hey", I cut her off with an amused smile, "you don't have to act like a big brother and come and pick me up. Not for such a small thing. It only takes about five minutes to get there. I'll be fine."

Being the stubborn human being she is, Tamara shakes her head. "No. You either call me when you're done, or you'll let someone from the team walk you home."

I roll my eyes at her. It's funny she even remembers that we have an unusual late practice today due to some misunderstanding with the sports hall.

"What if my secret admirer is on the team then?" I ask her half jokingly. To my surprise, her face goes a few shades paler and she looks at me in horror.

"Oh, my... I'll pick you up, alright? I'll even stay the whole practice and-"

I put my hand out to stop her from speaking while I try to stifle a laugh. "Tamara, I wasn't serious."

For some reason, she doesn't seem to find my joke funny at all and she keeps staring at me, now with her brows furrowed. "Maybe you weren't, but I was."

As I keep smiling at her, she gives up.

"I'm just looking out for you, Lin", she says as she hands me the cup of latte she bought even though I didn't ask her to, "and right now, everyone's a suspect."

I take the cup from her hand. It's now medium rather than hot but I drink it anyway. "I know. It's just all... weird."

"Weird is a great word for describing it, yeah", she agrees and smiles.

I grin back at her before switching the subject to something else than my life. There's about an hour and a half before I have to get ready for practice and thanks to Tamara, I don't have to spend it with my textbooks or phone.

Tamara is the perfect friend and distraction and in this case, being a distraction is good. She's been given this wonderful gift which let you keep a conversation flowing without being any awkward or tense at all. Tamara is a talker, she loves rambling about everything and nothing, and at times like this, it's amazing how easy she can get you in a better mood.

We talk non-stop until my practice is about to start since she'd already made it crystal clear that she'd follow me to it. It's not until we're standing outside of the sports hall, with two minutes left before the practice starts, that we say goodbye.

I follow her back with my gaze until she turns around a corner and disappears from my eyesight and then, I put my hand on the door handle and step into the sports hall.

The distinct odor of sweat hits me like a warm cloud as I step inside and I can't help but twist my face in a disgusted grimace.

A dark chuckle from not too far away causes me to jump in surprise and realize that I'm not the only one in the corridor.

"Luke!" I yell, my voice shaking slightly. "You scared me."

He walks up to me from the shadow cast by a wide-open door leading into a changing room.

"I noticed", he says while smiling warmly at me. "Coach told me to go check the entrance door. It's pretty sucky and the door locks itself sometimes but it seems to work perfectly fine right now."

"Yeah, it does." I flash him a smile back and take in his whole feature.

I haven't really talked to Luke that much but just like everyone else I've met on the team, he seems like a pretty nice guy.

He's light brown hair is styled perfectly on his head, although I get a feeling of that it won't' stay like that for long, and his slightly darker eyes are eyeing me just as non-discretely as I am eyeing him.

Unlike me, Luke is wearing the team's outfit, which consists of a pair of red and white basketball shorts and a matching tank top, while I'm wearing a navy blue t-shirt and leggings.

"Practice starts now", he says as he notices I'm looking away, "c'mon."

I hurry to catch up to him and we walk together towards the basketball court.

For each step I take, one more butterfly appears in the pit of my stomach. I'm nervous, and there's no point in denying that.

This is my first practice and I already know two things; I'm going to be the only girl and the guys are playing on a completely different level than I'm used to.

I've figured out that there was a girl's basketball team once upon a time but it does not exist any longer because of lack of interest. I do recall reading about a volleyball team though but volleyball is not really my cup of tea. All I ended up with when I had it in P.E in high school was sore wrists.

The sound of squeaking shoes and basketballs hitting the floor repeatedly brings me back from my thoughts and I step inside the gym and basketball court behind Luke.

I'm immediately greeted by Mike and Colin who decide to pass me a ball even though my hands are full. I dodge it instead and watch it bounce to the other end of the court as Mike and Colin jog up to me.

"Right on time, I see", Mike says and I smile politely at him.

"Yeah, I don't want to spend more time than necessary with you, now do I?"

At my comment, Mike pretends to be hurt and mutters something that sounds like "I'm so not going to be playing on your team" but we don't have any more time to chit-chat because the coach calls on everyone's attention.

I follow everyone else and sit down on a bench between Colin and Nadir as our coach, a middle-aged man without a single hair on his shaved head, explains what we are going to do the next two hours.

I put my blonde hair in a high ponytail just as everyone stands up to line up for the warm up, which requires that half of us got a ball. Being me, I manage to break my hair tie and because of that, almost everyone has paired up with someone by the time I've managed to tie it together again.

Looking around like deer in the headlight, I see Mike smirk at me as he stands beside Colin. Nadir and Tyler are paired up as well, which means everyone I know is already taken.

People shout at each other and run or walk to their partner while I just stand by the wall and wait and almost, but just almost, hope that someone I know will ditch their partner and be with me instead.

I'm not usually shy but now, with at least twelve bigger and stronger and probably cockier guys around me, I'm a little self-conscious. I remind myself that I'm not the only new teammate though but the other ones seem to have at least one or more friends with them.

"Hey, new girl!" Couch shout at me and I almost jump out of my skin and immediately turn towards him.

"What's your name?" he asks, his tone sounding harsh although he's not even trying.

"Linnea."

"Alright, Linnea", he says and points towards the crowd of guys, "you can pair up with Noah."

Looking more precisely at where he is pointing, I can see Noah, who I at least know who it is, talks to another guy I don't recognize who already has a partner.

Coach shouts at Noah and calls him over and, immediately, he jogs up to us with a ball stuck under his arm.

"You'll pair up with Linnea here", coach says to him as soon as he is close enough to hear and then, without further ado, he tells everyone to line up and do what he says.

For twenty minutes, we're just doing basic basketball exercises which I've done a thousand times before and unlike what I thought, it's not tense or awkward between Noah and I. Or well, that is until coach tells every pair to go to a hoop each and play one against one for awhile.

Noah is both bigger and taller than I and judging by what I've seen so far, he's also a really good player and I'm not sure I'm good enough to stand in his way when he tries to score a goal.

"Ladies first", Noah says as he holds the ball out for me to take. Beads of sweat are visible on his forehead and his once fixed hair stands in all directions.

"You know, you can start if you want to..." I trail off, the nervousness getting the best of me.

"C'mon", he smiles, "I'll go easy on you, I promise."

I scoff at his words and cross my arms in front of my chest, feeling slightly offended. "There's no need for that."

"Alright then", he passes me the ball and I barely manage to unfold my arms before it hits me, "feel free to kick my ass then."

I look up at him through lowered lashes and bite my lip, my sudden confidence boost disappearing into thin air.

"I'm a little... rusty". I mumble, as if to excuse myself if I'm not as good as him.

He smiles widely at me, showing off his pearl white teeth in the process, and get down in defense. "No need to excuse yourself. I bet you're great."

Still feeling pretty uneasy, I take a deep breath before eyeing the hoop and thinking a move through.

As soon as I take my first step, though, Noah matches my movement like a shadow and with that, a hell of a hard one again one match starts.

We play for about ten minutes before coach tells us to take a water break and the relief I feel as he shouts out the command is indescribable.

I bet my face is red as a tomato and I'm panting ever so non-discreetly.

"Good job", Noah says and high-five me as he walks past me towards the other guys.

I force a smile onto my dry lips before I follow behind him.

Even though the water in the bottle I brought with me is tepid by now, it's the most delicious water I've in weeks.

My throat is dry and burning of thirst and boy let me tell you that it feels amazing to quench it.

"Doing well?" a familiar dark voice from behind asks me all of a sudden and I don't even bother turning around to meet Mike's stare.

"So far so good", I reply and re-fix my ponytail.

"I saw you got your ass kicked by Noah", he continues, as if he wants me to get provoked.

"Then you saw wrong." Technically, he isn't right. I didn't get my ass kicked. Did I lose? Yeah. But did I lose that big? No. Or maybe.

I blame his height.

"Did I?" Mike smirk but I decide to stick my tongue at him and walk off in the direction of the coach. The water break is over soon anyway.

The rest of the practice goes pretty good, though. I manage to steal the ball from Mike a couple of times, which leaves him aggravated and ashamed, and my team ends up winning the match we play at the end.

By the time I've grabbed my stuff and is walking out of the gym, I've completely forgotten about what Tamara told me earlier before I left.

I don't get very far before I hear Mike shout at me though and I slow down in order to let him catch up to me.

"Hey", he says, a bag in his left hand and a basketball in the right. "You walking to your dorm?"

I lick my lips before answering. "Yeah."

"Great. I'll walk with you."

Unlike at practice, Mike doesn't come with any snarky remarks or comments for once but we engage in a real conversation instead.

I ask him if he isn't going to wait for his other friends but he shrugs it off and say that they aren't the ones walking alone in the dark.

For a short while, I think about if Mike can be my stalker. I mean, he is talking to me quite a lot, not that I haven't talked backed, and now he's following me instead of his friends.

The thought is almost alien to me and also bizarre on top of that. It can't be Mike, now can it?

Should I be worried that I'm walking alone with him? Should I text Tamara?

The sudden potential realization cause my heart to beat faster in my chest and Mike is quick to notice my change in mood.

"Are you alright?" he asks. "You seem to be a little pale."

I gulp down the fright and shake my head. "No, I'm fine. Just tired."

I'm almost by my dorm house now. Just another turn and then I'll be able to see it.

"You sure?" he insists as he heaves his bag around his shoulder and uses his now free hand to gently touch my upper arm. "Maybe you wanna sit down on a bench or something?

My heart is now starting to run it's own marathon inside of my chest, pounding harder and harder for each second that pass.

It can't be him. It can't be him.

Or can it?

"I'm sure", I meekly breath out as I glance at the lights from my dorm house in the distance.

"You know", I continue, "I'll be fine from here."

He seems to be a tad bit confused as he looks at me. "Are you sure? I ca-"

"I'm sure", I cut him off. "You told me yourself that your dorm is quite a bit from here. I don't want to hold you up."

"Bu-"

"I'll be fine." My lips are curled upwards and even though every nerve in my body wants to turn on my heel and run, I force myself to stand my ground.

Mike's blue eyes still hold concern but eventually, he shrugs it off. "Alright. I see you later then."

"Yeah", I respond way too quickly and chirpy, "good night."

    "Night." He waves at me before slowly walking away and relief washes over me in an instant. Or well, that is until I've reached my dorm house and walk upstairs to the second floor and hear my phone buzz, indication that I got a new message.