Page 156 of Vacancy

I pressed a hand to my chest and turned back to Alec. “Absolutely normal,” I repeated.

“Yeah…” he muttered, cringing as he scratched the back of his neck and glanced around warily. “Except it feels like we’re being freaking watched.”

“That’s just the paranoia,” I promised, not letting him in on the fact that I was experiencing it too.

“Well, whatever it is, I don’t like it.”

I patted his arm as we approached Hill Hall. “I know. I owe you so big for this. I oweallof you. But I have to be here. I have a test at ten and a news report to give right now that Icannotmiss. It took me a lot of work to steal Blaire’s beat from her.”

“I can film you from the house,” Alec coaxed as he followed me into the journalism building.

That actually enticed me. He was truly a master at filming and editing.

When I sent him a glance, tempted, he lifted his eyebrows and nodded back, silently adding,You know you want to.

Jostling myself back to reality, I slashed my hands adamantly as we entered the Journalism building. “No. No… I’m here. I’m doing this. Besides, I could’ve been completely wrong about the intruder being Thalia’s killer anyway. It was probably just some random burglar who…”

“Who didn’t steal anything,” Alec tossed out too logically for my taste as he jabbed holes all over my theory. “And searched the brownstone until he found onlyyou.”

Gah, I really had been targeted, no matter how much I tried to convince myself otherwise. I could claim that I’d misheard Thalia or misunderstood her all I wanted, but whoever had tried to pull me out from under my bed had been there for me, end of story.

When I shuddered and hugged myself harder as we stepped onto the stairs, Alec touched my arm. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

But it was a scary situation, no matter what he said.

I looked up at him and actually opened my mouth to request that we head back to the house. Except we’d already made it to the second level and were approaching the main door to the broadcasting room, where one of my professors poked his head out the door and barked, “Vargas! There you are. Get in here. We have problems.”

Alec and I exchanged a cringe. Too late now; this day was starting whether I was ready or not.

“The cameraman decided to go with the volleyball team to their next out-of-town game, at the last minute,” my professor announced irritably, probably wishing he wasn’t also the head producer of the campus broadcast station. “So we’re going to have to make do without him. And can you manage your own face? The makeup artist dropped out of school yesterday.”

I nodded as I entered the fray of college staff students rushing around everywhere in a frenzy, preparing for the next news report. Ready to dive in and join them, I swung my book bag off my shoulder and sat it by my desk as I glanced at Alec who’d curiously followed me inside.

“I can handle my own makeup, no problem,” I told the professor before motioning toward Alec. “And it just so happens that I have a film production major with me today if you need someone to run the camera.”

* * *

And that washow I made it through my first hour of the day without a hitch.

Alec had a blast directing everyone around to shift lighting and reorganize the studio floor for the best fit, and by the time he was done, my professor was begging him to change his degree and come work in the journalism department.

“As if I’d really take him up on that,” he told me with a scoff as he walked me from Hill Hall and toward the history department, where we were supposed to meet Keene. “Do you know how much more movie producers make thannewscameramen? Seriously.”

I smiled, glad his mind was successfully distracted away from my situation. Now, if onlymymind would latch onto something else, too. It still felt as if someone was following us and watching our every move.

When my phone buzzed, I brightened, hoping it was some good news from Waverly. But even better, it was Damien.

How’d first hour go? Did Younger stay close like he was supposed to?

I smiled, my attention diverted at last.

Everything’s fine. Alec was awesome. Stop worrying so much.

Up ahead, Keene appeared, and he lifted a hand to wave as he approached.

“Everything good?” he asked when we all walked close enough to meet.

“It was…amazing,” Alec gushed. “I filmed Oaklynn giving another report, but at the studio this time, and holy shit, it was like I was the top director or something. I said,move that, and people actually moved shit. It was such a rush.”

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