Heather’s hand left my leg and the spell was broken. She turned and walked halfway across the room while I regained my voice. “Hey,” I said. “Is that it? You’re just going to tease me?”

With her back to me Heather began to draw something on the floor. “If you want more,” she said over the soft *scritch* *scritch* *scritch* of writing. “You will to have to work for it. If you want to spend quality time with me... you should know... I’m very high maintenance.” The scribbling sounds continued as she spoke.

I stood up to see what she was writing but the room was too dark to make anything out. “What are you doing?” I said. Heather ignored me, finishing whatever she was writing before pulling a candle from her bag and setting it on the floor. The dim outline of a chalk circle became visible as I drew closer, spurred by curiosity.

Heather lit the candle, and finally turned to face me. “Setting the mood,” she said.

“I thought we were going to take pictures.”

“We are!” Heather said with a cheerful clap of her hands. “Lighting is important.”

“And that stuff you were writing?”  

“Its for my subject.”

“Your subject?”

Heather rolled her eyes, “You know, the subject we’re supposed to be photographing. Try to keep up.”

“Your subject is chalk circles?”

“No, silly. I want to get a picture of a ghost.”

I started laughing and stopped abruptly. She was serious. “You’re joking right?” I said.

“Does that scare you?”

The room certainly fit the bill for a haunting; it gave me the creeps but I wasn’t about to admit that. “No, its… I mean, that’s kid stuff right?”

Heather shrugged. “Maybe. Do you want to find out?”

“Uhh…”

Heather closed the distance between us. She reached out to ruffle my hair and said, “Aww, you’re not scared are you?”

“N-no.” I said pushing away her hand. My scalp twinged with pain as her hand came away. “Ouch, hey!”

“Oops, it snagged.” Heather said unapologetically, “You should brush better.”

“Whatever can we just get on with whatever this is.”

Without a word Heather turned and moved into the circle, careful to avoid the flickering candle at its center. Then she beckoned me over to join her. I sat across from her, indian style on the dusty floor. Heather stretched out her arms with open palms and commanded,“Take my hands.” I complied, feeling their warmth flood into my fingers. Eyes closed, she began to chant.

I felt a bit stupid sitting in a dark room trying to ‘summon a ghost’ but with the opportunity to scope Heather out from up close was too good to pass up. Her hair was wavy and black, expertly cut to frame her flawless porcelain skin. Like a movie star after hours in makeup not a single imperfection was visible. Long thick lashes rested on upper curve of her slightly flushed cheeks which in turn framed her ever-so-slightly upturned nose. Below that her red lips were full and pert, they twitched as she released a stream of alien syllables.

Beneath the graceful curve of her neck her shoulders were squared, back straight. Perfect posture that thrust her heavy breasts against a flimsy v-neck blouse. Cold air rushed around us and small protrusions revealed nipples that swelled to the width of .38 caliber bullets as I watched. Her cup size was impossible to guess. In relation to her body they seemed around the same size they had been for years, but Heather had grown. The few inches of cleavage her top displayed were only a fraction of her potential. By the flickering light of the candle I could make out the edges of a heavy-duty bra and could even see where her breasts overflowed their cups, pulling the band away from her body a few centimeters. She was definitely a growing girl.

Finally tearing my gaze away from Heather’s chest I followed her taut stomach down to the wide belt which kept her shirt pressed against her abdomen. Without it she might have looked fat, except Heather was nothing if not impeccably dressed. Her attire never left any doubt as to her voluptuousness. Her legs were crossed, knees only inches from the ground and I suspected they would have touched the floor had it not been for the generous ass cushioning her body. An ass that lead to thick, gently tapered thighs that were poured into her pants so tightly the stitching was frayed. The hem of her jeans was pulled up past her immaculate ankles which lead to feet that disappeared into a large pair of black designer pumps.   

Suddenly the room tilted. I tried to reach out to steady myself but Heather’s grip tightened. My vision blurred and I felt queasy and tired, feverish even. “Hey-” I began.

“Drink this,” Heather said releasing my hand to offer me a bottle of water.

“Thanks,” I muttered, still dazed.

“Now, repeat after me…”

***

My eyes opened to a familiar white stucco ceiling. I sat up quickly and immediately regretted it, my head was pounding. I looked around my room in confusion. Had I gotten drunk? My memory was hazy. I remembered meeting Crystal and Heather for study group but after that it was all muddled. I fell back against the bed and realized that I was still fully dressed. In that case whatever I had gotten up to probably wasn’t worth remembering. I closed my eyes, willing the pounding in my head to subside, whatever I’d forgotten would have to wait for at least a couple tylenol. Maybe half a dozen.

***

I woke again and the pounding was still there. This hangover was the worst. Life at Sedgwick didn’t exactly shower me with opportunities to get wasted but I wasn't a newbie either. If I could remember what I’d done I was definitely not doing it again. I stumbled out of bed and clawed open the window to see that it was nighttime. Where was my roommate? It felt like I’d slept for days.

My phone rang.

I began to ransack my room in search of it. I finally found it beneath an old football jersey. “Hello?” I said hoarsely.

“Hey Mike, we missed you in class today.”

“Heather?”

“Duh. Doesn’t your phone show you who calls?”

“Yeah I almost missed the call so I didn’t check.”

“Are you sick? You don’t sound great.”

“Yeah I feel awful, wait you said I missed class.” A bit of panic crept into my voice, “You mean photography?”

“That is the only class we have together.”

“Shit! Shit-Shit-Shit! Are you kidding me?”

“Whoa, calm down there spaz.”

Photography was on monday which meant I had slept through the entire weekend. “Heather,” I said angrily, “I slept for three days.”

“Wow. So… Do you want me to pick up your homework?”

I hesitated. That was an out-of-character offer coming from Heather. Do all girls get that protective instinct when someone is sick? “You would do that?” I asked.

“Sure, no biggie.”

“Wow, uhh... thank you.”

“God, Mike. You don’t have to sound so surprised.”

“Sorry I-” I hesitated, unsure of what to say. “I dunno, I guess I didn’t think you were the nurturing type.”

“Nurturing? Do you have to make this weird?”

“No! I- ugh.”

“Do you want the stuff or not?” Heather asked peevishly.

“Yes! I do. Please. Sorry.”

“Forget it. I’ll be by in a couple hours.”

“Than-” She hung up. I sighed and tossed my phone on the bed. Then I realized my place was a wreck. I couldn’t let Heather think I was a slob so I began furiously cleaning; ignoring the bouts of nausea and dizziness that accompanied moving around. After what felt like an eternity I had the worst of the mess shoved into the closet or sorted into little pockets of clutter that could pass for normal. I felt like death.

Not long after that footsteps approached my suite. I turned in time to see a packet slide underneath the door. The footsteps receded and I stood to follow but a wave of dizziness forced me to steady myself on my chair. When I finally yanked open my door and peered down the hall, Heather was gone.

“Damnit,” I thought out loud. All that cleaning for nothing. I sighed; it was probably better to focus on doing the work I’d missed anyway. Reluctantly I picked up the sheaf of papers and brought them back to my laptop. You’d think that in this day and age they would just send an e-mail.