Come with me

You need some time to sort all of this out, and this is not the place for it. With the cheerleader still on her knees in front of you, the two of you are starting to draw curious looks from students who are passing by.

“What is your name?” you ask her.

“Jana.”

“OK, look Jana, I don’t know what’s going on with you — or me, for that matter — but we need to go somewhere else. Could you come with me?”

Still with a blank, transfixed expression and voice, Jana responds, “Whatever you wish.” She gets to her feet and starts to follow you. Only then do you notice that she has left her backpack behind her. You go back and retrieve it, and as you spin around, you almost collide with her again. She is taking your instructions to come with you quite literally and is standing close enough that you can feel her body heat.

“Um... this way,” you mutter, again feeling your usual awkwardness creeping back into your demeanor.

As you begin to walk toward your dorm, you try to make sense of everything, but it is too unsettling having Jana walking so uncomfortably close behind you. “Why don’t you walk beside me?” you say to her. Immediately, the cheerleader is at your side, still much closer than you are used to being around anyone, but less awkward in appearance. You can’t help but think that if Zack were in your shoes, he’d be soaking this up.

Zack! You were planning on taking Jana back to your room, but you hadn’t factored Zack into the equation. If he is there, he’s going to want to know what you’re doing with the captain of the cheerleaders. If you try to explain what happened at the medical school, he may not believe you.

You pull out your phone and check your text messages from Zack. Most of them contain his code phrases to let you know he brought a girl back to his room. “Drilling for oil,” “Eating at the Y,” “Sipping the sweet nectar of the velvety canyon,” were just a few of his creative ways of letting you know he was getting some action and that you should give him some privacy. You consider whether you should check to see if he is in the room.