"God! What is it with these journalism professors?!" Maddy exclaimed. "All of them are the same. It's like they can't sleep at night unless they give students extra assignments. I mean, seriously?! Weekend Assignment?! Even Mrs. Fernandez didn't give us weekend assignments."

Nicole, Maddy, Ryder and Erik were sitting under the Locust tree beside the North Hall. Their classes for the day had just ended and everyone was looking forward to the weekend to relax a little after their first, strenuous week of the year. But it seems relaxation was impossible for them because Mr. Miller had given extra weekend assignments, and Maddy was currently complaining to her friends how her plans for the weekend had gotten spoilt.

Nicole stared off into space, only half listening to her friend. Her mind kept replaying the words written on the note and of the picture of her and Erik. Could it really be that he is back? She thought to herself. But how? There is no way he could have tracked me all the way here, Sarah made sure not to leave any traces.

"Nikki? What do you think?" Ryder asked.

"Um, what?" Nicole stopped plucking the blades of grass. Nicole only plucked grass when she was confused or lost in her own thoughts, it was a nervous habit of hers and this small action didn't escape Maddy's notice.

"Oh god Nikki, why are you so lost these days? What is going on in that head of yours? I can tell you're overthinking about something," Maddy said.

"What, no! I'm not overthinking anything, I just zoned out for a few minutes".

"Yeah, I can see that, you're zoning out a lot this week," Maddy said, looking dubious.

Erik had been unusually quiet in this whole exchange. He was looking at Nicole closely, watching her every move, scanning her face for the slightest of emotions that could betray what was going on in her head. It was obvious she was hiding something, something big enough to make her frown every few minutes and diminish the sparkle in her black orbs and contort her facial features into a look of worry and fear.

Nicole turned to Ryder and said, "What did you ask me?"

"He asked if the four of us should go to lake Mendota and do some water sports. Tomorrow's a Saturday and we have plenty of time to complete the assignment. Besides, I haven't been anywhere outside this campus and Ryder said that lake Mendota is beautiful". It was Erik who replied.

"You could really use the distraction," Maddy said. "It'll help you take your mind off whatever it is that your worried about".

"I'm not worried about anything," Nicole said quietly, looking down at the blade of grass she was twirling between her thumb and index finger.

"Oh yes you are, it's obvious," Maddy replied.

"Fine, yes I'm worried about something, but I'm sure it's nothing. You were right, I'm probably overthinking. And yes, I agree to the watersports plan, we haven't gone jet skiing in ages and like Erik said, he hasn't seen Lake Mendota yet so we can give him a tour. I'll call Mrs. Davis and let her know that I'm not gonna come to the library today, I can always work an extra shift next weekend".

"Okay then, so it's settled. Me and Erik will come and pick you girls up from the campus gates in half an hour, and then we can go to Mendota," Ryder said, rubbing his palms together. He loved watching the sunset at Lake Mendota, it was a beautiful place, specially in the evenings, besides, Mendota held a special place in his heart. He smiled at the memory and looked fondly at Maddy and pulled her closer to him.

The four of them agreed to meet up in thirty minutes and everyone bade their temporary goodbyes. The girls went back to their dorms to change into swimsuits and the boys went back to their apartment. September was the last month Lake Mendota remained open for watersports and it was usually crowded as everyone enjoyed the specialties it offered before the lake closed for the next six months.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

"What?! No! Ryder stop!" Maddy laughed as Ryder picked her up and ran into the water and suddenly let her fall. Maddy emerged back up, livid at her boyfriend and the two of them pretended to fight.

Nicole and Erik watched with amused expressions on their faces as Ryder suddenly disappeared underwater and pulled Maddy down with him. As expected, Lake Mendota was still quite crowded, even at five in the evening, and there was a long queue for the jet skis.

"How long have they been together?" Erik asked.

"Two years, going on three. It was love at first sight for both of them. Maddy had gotten drunk at a party on our first year and she had a terrible headache the next morning. So we went to the coffee shop in front of the campus and Maddy was bringing our coffees when she suddenly bumped into Ryder and spilled hot coffee on him. His expression was hilarious. Anyway, after that they started to meet up more often and eventually they fell in love. I think they had their first kiss here, at Lake Mendota, on one of their dates".

That's beautiful," Erik replied.

"Yeah, it is. Love like theirs is hard to come by".

Erik watched Nicole as she said it. She was dressed in a black, one piece swimsuit that exposed the small of her back and arms and legs. The waning, orange sunlight lit up her skin and made her glow. She looked beautiful. But there was a sad expression on her face. It was the expression a girl gets when she is thinking about a painful memory. But Erik couldn't stare at her for long. Their turn had come.

Nicole rented two jet skis that the four of them would take turns riding. Erik had never ridden a jet ski before and Nicole patiently explained to him how they worked. It was pretty simple. There was a red and green button on the left handle, for start and stop, and the right handle had the accelerator. There was no break. As long as the ski didn't turn too vertical and you were gliding on top of the water, it was easy to drive.

Erik and Ryder decided to do a race, which Erik surprisingly won. He was a natural at jet skiing, Nicole thought, as she watched the two of them speed up. Erik and Ryder were hooting and Maddy was cheering them on, beside her. After that Maddy and Nicole rode around the lake for a while and they ended their evening sitting on the shore of the lake, watching the sun disappear under the horizon.

Ryder had one arm around Maddy's shoulder and they were occasionally kissing and whispering. Nicole and Erik were sitting together, a little apart from the other two, to give them some space. They didn't say anything, but the silence wasn't uncomfortable. It felt right. Erik's hand brushed Nicole's once and she turned her head to stare into those beautiful blue eyes. They were happy and contented.

"Thank you for such a wonderful evening," Erik said. "I can't remember the last time I had so much fun. Russia was mostly cold throughout the year, and my parents were always busy with their professions, and since I don't have any siblings, I was mostly alone. It's been a long time since I felt so free".

Nicole smiled warmly at him. "Your welcome," she replied, and the two of them turned their heads again to watch the sunset.

A man hidden behind some trees watched the sunset with them. He took out his polaroid camera and clicked the picture of the brunette and blonde sitting together at the shore. He looked at the sky in the picture. It was a flaming red. The red reminded him of something else. It reminded him of blood. Her blood.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

Nicole unlocked the door to their room and the two girls entered, chatting and laughing. She kept the keys to their room on her study table and noticed a white envelope on the floor. Someone had slipped it in underneath their door.

She picked up the envelope with trembling hands. She took out the envelope cutter and sliced it open. A note with a polaroid of her and Erik sitting on the shore of Lake Mendota slipped out.

She read the words written on the note. Her eyes went wide and a shocked expression crossed her face on reading the question that was written in bold, blood red ink, exactly like the note before.

"Will you do the same to Erik that you did with Nathan?"

"Who's Nathan?" Maddy asked, reading the note over her shoulder.