Thursday morning, he still wasn’t in English or French. And come third period, Ms. Epistola, true to her word, was our teacher again. She was still going on about the glory of her ‘Elder Gods.’ Bree kept shaking her head and saying that it didn’t have anything to do with marine biology, but all I could think about was Riley. Well, Riley and Vik. Vik was transfixed by Ms. Epistola in a way that was starting to seem almost religious, like he was bowing piously before some kind of goddess at an altar.

Was she really that beautiful? Oh, who was I kidding, of course she was. Although if it were possible, it seemed that her skirt under the lab coat had gotten even shorter, and her red knit top was so tight! If it hadn’t been for the white coat, there would have been nothing left to the imagination.

When the bell rang for lunch and Ms. Epistola gave her signature sensual wink and sashayed out the door, once again Vik scooted after her like a loyal puppy. Though before he made it into the hall, he stopped and looked back at me. “You’re going to lunch now, right?”

What kind of question was that? “Of course.”

“We need to talk.” With that, he dashed out of the room after our curvaceous substitute.

Uh oh, that couldn’t be good. I wondered what it could be about, then I remembered the look Vik gave me Saturday when Riley pulled me out of the water after Travis had attacked me. The look he had given Riley. Maybe Vik had some insight to Riley’s mysterious disappearance?

“C’mon, um, I think Vik wants to talk to us about something in the cafeteria,” I mumbled to Bree.

“About what?” Apparently she had not heard him.

“I dunno, something! He didn’t say.” I started to hurriedly stumble toward the door. I wondered if she could see right through me. I knew exactly what Bree would say: “Typical Andi Slate. Just can’t stand up for yourself and say what’s on your mind.” And she was right. I just was not the confrontational type, and it never did me any good when I tried. I was nothing like loud and boisterous Bree. The one time I tried to be like her, I’d made an enemy for life in Riley.

“What’s the big hurry?” yelled Bree, still at our desk putting her things away. I hadn’t even realized she wasn’t following me. I was so buried in my own thoughts, so concerned with keeping my head down, I didn’t look where I was going until it was too late, and I slammed right into a wall of rock-hard abs sheathed in a tight, black t-shirt.

Riley.

“Sorry!” I stammered, jumping back. His green eyes were cold, vast and mysterious as the ocean. “Y-you weren’t in class the last few days.”