Anna walked out the back doors of the school as usual, thinking about that math test she had tomorrow. Usually, she would have met up with Luke to study, especially since math wasn't exactly her strong suit. Too bad that wasn't going to happen this time. It looked like she was on her own for homework questions from now on. Anna walked home, trying not to think about her schoolwork. There was nothing she could do about that at the moment, and all it did was remind her of how spending time with Luke was over.

She waited at the light, idly watching the cars drive by. She really should get a car, she thought. Or at least learn to drive; it was getting to the point where she should have a license at least. Everyone she knew except for Mia could drive; even Fredrick had managed to get a license, so why couldn't she? It was actually starting to make her feel inferior. Besides, how hard could it be?

The light changed and Anna crossed. She walked down the streets, barely paying attention to what was going on around her; she was too focused on her current problems to worry about things like traffic. She was about halfway home when something caught her attention, and Anna stopped dead in her tracks. She stared ahead of her for a minute, barely able to believe it: it was him again. Walking down the street in front of her was Fredrick. But how could he really be here?

He was walking casually down the street, like it was something he did every day. But she would know if he was back, wouldn't she? Anna decided to follow a few yards behind, careful not to get caught; she really wanted to see where he went. Maybe that would help her figure out what he was doing back here.

She still couldn't believe it was actually him – they'd gotten rid of Fredrick almost three years ago. So how was it possible? She had almost managed to convince herself that seeing him the other night had all been in her head. But now, she realized that that couldn't be true; there was no way she'd just imagined it – not with him here again today. And as much as Anna didn't want to be anywhere near him, she knew there was only one way to find out what was really going on – she was going to have to stalk him.

He strolled casually down the sidewalk bordering along the woods. That was funny, Anna thought. When he was here three years ago, he had a car – a nice one, if she remembered correctly. And she was pretty sure he never walked more than a block or two. She wondered what happened to that car of his. Maybe he wanted to keep a lower profile this time. After all, Anna and her friends had already tracked him down and killed him once – well, she thought they'd killed him. But it looked like that might not have been the case after all.

As she followed about a block behind, Anna did her best not to look nervous. She stood up tall, looked straight ahead, and told herself that if he turned around, she'd just have to confront him in the bravest way possible.

She tried to think of her friends – what would Mia or Carmine do? She knew neither of them would look like they'd been caught in a trap; they'd try to look like they were the ones with the upper hand until they knew for sure what they were facing. Besides, Anna really didn't want him to see her cowering behind the bushes; that would only show him that he really could intimidate her. It might have been true, but that didn't mean she had to show it. Besides, she'd come a long way since freshman year, and she'd seen worse than him. And she had plenty of people to help her get rid of him all over again. Still, despite all of her brave thoughts, Anna knew in her heart there was a reason she didn't dare get closer to him.

Anna thought she heard a noise somewhere behind her. It wasn't loud, but then, it didn't have to be for her to hear it. She whirled around and was just in time to see someone dart behind a tree. Anna quickly turned back to where Fredrick had been, but he was gone.

Suppressing a sigh, she turned her attention back to the person behind that tree. She stalked up to it as quickly and as quietly as she could. She couldn't believe he'd ruined her chance like this. Of course, Anna knew exactly who it was – he was quick, but not nearly quick enough. She came up behind him while he was still busy hiding. When she was only a foot or so away, she asked, "What are you doing?"

"Oh! Anna...hi." Zev jumped.

He tried to act casual, but Anna could see she'd surprised him. The look on his face made her feel just a tiny bit better about losing Fredrick.

"What are you doing?" she asked again.

She really didn't like to be followed, especially not by someone who had up until very recently been her friend. And with what Mia had been going through recently, and her own concerns about Luke's welfare still always in the back of her mind, Anna was just about at the limits of what she could tolerate.

"Is there a reason you're following me?" she asked curtly when he didn't respond right away.

"I wasn't following you." he told her, going from surprised to aloof with ease.

"You weren't?" she asked. "It sure seems like it."

"Actually, I'd been on my way home when I saw you." Zev's eyes narrowed. "What were you doing anyway?"

Anna recognized that look – Zev was always suspicious, especially lately. And things had only gotten worse between them since Anna had started avoiding Luke. He barely talked to her in class, and whenever he did say anything, he was really only just short of civil. She got the distinct impression that the only reason he even talked to her at all was because she was Mia's friend. Anna knew exactly why he was acting like that, but it still hurt her feelings.

And now that he didn't particularly like her, Anna figured he wasn't going to be giving her the benefit of the doubt. Suddenly, Anna was worried. She remembered last year when Zev thought Carmine was getting out of control. She wasn't about to have those same problems with him this year; her life was complicated enough without adding things like that into it.

"It's not what you're thinking – I wasn't going to hurt anyone." she told him.

"I didn't think you were." he replied coolly. "Actually, I was just noticing you following that guy – Freddy, right?"

"You know him?" was all Anna could think to say. How could Zev have met him? Fredrick had been a senior when they were only freshmen. And Fredrick wasn't exactly the kind of person who would introduce himself to underclassmen.

"He played football with Conner's brother." Zev reminded her. "Haven't seen him lately though. He going to college around here or something?"

"I don't think so." Anna told him. Then again, she didn't even know he was alive until last week, so what did she know?

"You really don't know?" Zev asked incredulously. "So you're just following him around but not actually talking to him?"

Anna just stared at him. He was incredibly annoyed, but she couldn't figure out exactly why. Sure, her following someone was odd, but not enough to actually get mad about.

"I thought he was a friend of yours." Zev told her.

She really didn't like the way he'd emphasized the word friend. Did he know about what Fredrick was? Or who he was? Was that why he was so annoyed? Or did he think she was as callous as Fredrick? But how could he really know just how bad Fredrick actually was? She knew she hadn't told any of the boys, and she was pretty sure Mia and Carmine hadn't said anything either. She was about to ask him just what was going on, when they were interrupted.

"Everything alright?" Luke asked, coming up behind Zev. When he saw Anna standing there next to Zev, he stopped short for a second "Anna...What are you doing here?"

"I was just walking home..." Anna started, sighing. Why did she have to live so close to Luke and all his friends?

She looked over at Zev. He had his eyes narrowed suspiciously, but he wasn't saying anything. Good – at least that was one thing she didn't have to worry about at the moment. But Luke was still looking at her expectantly.

"Oh, I don't know..." she said finally.

There didn't seem to be an excuse that both of them would believe anyway. And she wasn't exactly anxious to admit she'd been following her old fiancé around. She might not be with Luke at the moment, but she still felt kind of awkward telling him something like that – especially since she was still holding out hope that she might be able to make all of this up to him later anyway. Neither of the boys said anything, and now that there were two of them staring down at her, Anna suddenly felt like this might be an excellent time to leave.

"I've got to go." she told them. Then she turned on her heel, not waiting for either of them to answer.