Chloe laughed. It was nice to finally enjoy an evening. Jake looked like he was having a good time too. They walked toward the next hole and Jake set about finding the perfect shot. Chloe took the opportunity to look around the golf course, mentally comparing it to the ones she had been to in the Midwest. It had a lot of the same attributes a waterfalls and windmills and sand traps and then there were the odd arrangement of hills to lure your ball into pits, which were a nightmare. Here, though, there were palm trees. Those were missing in the Midwest.

Chloe started. She was almost positive that someone had just ducked behind the bushes. Was someone watching her and Jake play miniature golf? Chloe tried to look closer, but the bushes were so dense that she couldn't be sure if someone was there or not.

Chloe looked at Jake. Should she mention this to him? Chloe looked back toward the bushes. Was it Kate spying on them because she was jealous of her and Jake's friendship regardless of their recent breakup relationship status? Or, was it someone more sinister, like the person who had written the menacing notes to her? Or, was it n.o.body at all? Was she starting to get paranoid?

Chloe was unsure of what to do. She didn't want to tell Jake, only to find out it was Kate stalking them. The whole point of their playing mini-golf was to help him get his mind off Kate and finding out that she was following them would only serve to enrage him. And, if it were n.o.body at all, that would be even worse.

"It's your turn," Jake said, surprising Chloe.

Chloe reluctantly turned away from looking at the far off hedges and walked over to the green, setting her pink ball on the tee area. Chloe looked down at the ball, trying to concentrate. It was as if she could feel the eyes boring into her back. She couldn't be imagining that feeling, could she?

Chloe looked up at Jake, who grinned at her, "The pressure getting to you?"

"No," Chloe forced herself to smile and laugh.

She looked back down at the ball at her feet and swung the golf club. Chloe watched as the ball veered straight for the hole and then veered off to the side.

"You missed!" Jake said in joking glee.

"Yeah," Chloe said, already distracted and looking off at the distant hedges.

"What are you looking for?" Jake said, walking up next to her and following her gaze.

Chloe turned to look at him, tearing her eyes away from the hedge, trying to make her actions seem nonchalant, "I just thought I saw someone I knew."

"Who?" Jake said, curiously, looking over toward the hedge again.

Chloe had to think quickly, "Uh...that girl who sits in front of us in Biology."

Jake turned to her suddenly, eyebrows raised. "It was Grey, wasn't it?"

Chloe thought for a moment and then lied, "Yes. I'm sorry. I thought I saw him."

"Really?" Jake looked suddenly concerned, "Maybe we should go. I really don't think he's a good person to be around right now."

Chloe seized the opportunity to protect Jake, "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea."

Jake turned to her and smiled, "You really think so?"

Chloe gritted her teeth and lied, "Yes."

They walked back through the miniature golf course and quickly returned their equipment, depositing the miniature golf clubs and their b.a.l.l.s on the checkout desk without waiting for anyone to claim them. As they walked out to the parking lot, Chloe looked back curiously to see if anyone was following them. n.o.body looked familiar. Regardless, she still felt like there were unseen eyes, desperately watching them, as they drove off.

Chapter 13: The Followed Girl.

Chloe was glad to be at the mall with Emma. There was nothing like hanging out with a girlfriend, trying on clothes, to make you feel normal.

Chloe looked at the dress she had tried on again in the mirror. It was a dark red dress, with spaghetti straps that clung in the right places and fell down to just above her knees. It looked great on her. Chloe twirled around in the mirror, watching her reflection. It was the perfect dress and she had found it in the first fifteen minutes of their shopping extravaganza. It was even in her price range.

Emma was not having the same kind of luck, "What do you think of this one?"

Emma came out of her changing room, holding out the bottom of the dress to make the skirt flair. It was a black dress with a plunging V-neck in a funky style that was more vampy, than Emma-like.

"It makes you look like Elvira," Chloe giggled.

Emma laughed, "Yeah, I thought it would be fun to try on."

"Definitely," Chloe said, looking at herself one last time in the mirror.

"That dress looks great on you," Emma said, finally noticing Chloe's dress. "That's the one!"

Chloe smiled, "Yeah, I think so too."

"I can't believe you found a dress in the first half hour! It'll probably take me hours to find mine," Emma said, throwing up her hands in mock disgust.

Chloe giggled, "Oh, don't worry, I have no problem shopping for hours. Maybe I can find two perfect dresses! And, fill out some job applications while I'm at it!"

"At least if you work at the mall, you can get us mall discounts," Emma laughed.

"That would be pretty cool," Chloe said as she walked back into the dressing room, peeling off the dress and putting back on the clothes she had worn to school.

She walked out of the dressing room with her perfect dress over her arm and walked up to the checkout line. There were three people in front of her waiting for the sole cashier to ring up their clothes.

Chloe waited patiently, listening to the soft overhead rock music that was playing in the background.

"I need to talk to you," a female voice said at her shoulder.

Chloe turned and came face to face with Kate. She felt her heart sink. The evening had been going so well. She didn't want to talk to Kate, but there was no way to get out of it with Kate standing there confronting her.

"Okay, let's talk," Chloe said, reluctantly.

"Not here," Kate said, looking around the store.

"Why not?" Chloe asked as the cashier took the next customer.

"I just want to talk to you alone," Kate snapped.

"Okay," Chloe said, calmly. "Let me pay for this dress first. I'll meet you over by the pretzel place in the food court."

Kate thought about this for a moment, "Okay."

Kate turned and left and Chloe felt a brief sense of relief. She didn't really want to go talk to Kate in the food court, but she didn't see how she had much choice. Chloe could flake out and get Emma and leave the mall. It wasn't a final solution, though. Kate would find her eventually, even if it was at school, and have it out with her. It would be better to do it sooner, rather than later. Chloe just wanted it all to be done with and over.

Emma walked out of the dressing room and walked up to Chloe empty handed, "Buying that?"

"Yeah," Chloe said. "Actually, do you mind if I meet you in the next store? Kate just came up to me and wants to talk."

Emma's jaw dropped, "Are you serious? Aren't you worried that she'll go all psycho on you again?"

Chloe frowned, "A little, but I think she'll keep at me until I talk to her, so I'd rather get it over with and maybe it won't be so bad."

"Do you want me to go with you?" Emma asked, slowly, obviously unsure about her offer even though she was offering it.

"No, it's okay," Chloe said, moving upward in line. "I don't even want to be there. Why should you be there too? Plus, I think it would annoy her even more and I don't want that. I don't need her to be more psycho than she is already."

"Cool," Emma said, breathing a sigh of relief. "I'll meet you in like fifteen minutes then in the next store."

"Okay," Chloe nodded.

"Okay," Emma said, as she turned to walk out of the store. "Good luck. And, text me if you need some backup."

"Thanks," Chloe said, watching as Emma left her alone.

Minutes later, Chloe was walking through the mall toward the food court. She was going over what she was going to say to Kate in her head, but she really wasn't sure what Kate was going to say to her. Chloe hoped that in the crowded food court, Kate wouldn't make a scene, but she wasn't going to bet on it.

Chloe saw Kate waiting for her in front of the Twisted Pretzel as soon as she walked into the food court. She wanted nothing more than to stop, turn around, and run away, but she forced herself to keep walking toward Kate, step by difficult step. Kate was pacing back and forth in front of the Twisted Pretzel, until she saw Chloe walking toward her.

"Let's sit over here," Kate motioned to a table across the way from the Twisted Pretzel, as soon as Chloe was near enough to hear her.

They walked to the table and sat down in silence.

Chloe looked over at Kate and reluctantly said, "So, what did you want to talk about?"

"Jake," Kate said and stopped.

Chloe nodded and felt frustration building in the pit of her stomach, despite herself. "What about him?"

"I'm sure by now you know that he broke up with me because of you," Kate started.

"It wasn't because of me. It was because of this," Chloe said, motioning at Kate.

"Whatever," Kate dismissed her, "I'm going to get him back and you can't stop me."

Chloe frowned, "Is that what you came here to tell me? If he wants to get back together with you, I won't stop him."

"Uh-huh," Kate said, unbelievingly. "I know you like him. I've seen the way you look at him and I've seen your eyes glaze over when he touches you. You don't mean anything to him. Sure, you were friends when you were little, but that was years ago. He doesn't even know you anymore. He doesn't care about you."

Chloe felt her anger rising to the surface and tried to bite it back, wanting to keep the conversation civilized despite Kate's attempts to antagonize her, "Jake and I are just friends and we are friends, Kate. I'm not going to debate this with you. You either need to talk to him or get over him, but please leave me out of it. I want nothing to do with your relationship as a couple. I should have had nothing to do with it in the first place. This is getting ridiculous. Please, just leave me alone."

Kate looked back at her angrily, "I'll leave you alone when you stop messing with my boyfriend."

"Kate, he's your ex-boyfriend now," Chloe said slowly, as if that would help Kate understand her.

Kate looked at her annoyed. "We'll get back together."

"Okay," Chloe said, not wanting to fight her on that. Maybe Kate and Jake would get back together, but Chloe hoped that Jake would realize how insanely jealous Kate was getting over nothing. It wasn't healthy.

They stared at each other in silence for a moment.

"Ok, I'm going to go now," Chloe said, standing up.

Kate nodded. Chloe turned and walked away, certain that Kate watched her every step until she turned the corner and walked out of sight.

"I can't believe she warned you off of Jake again. Popular girls think they have the rights to every guy and they so don't. If she wasn't completely crazy..." Emma said for the thousandth time, as they were in their fifth store, trying on dresses and clothes.

"Yeah, well she's just going a little extra nuts from the break-up, I think," Chloe said, looking at the green tank top she was trying on in the mirror. She really liked the color.

"Just a little?" Emma said, incredulously, coming out with a dress that finally seemed to suit her. It was a strapless black dress that looked as if it was made for her. It had that funky Emma flair to it.

"Wow, that looks great on you! You found it!" Chloe said.

"Really?" Emma said, looking in the mirror, smiling brightly.

"Totally," Chloe grinned back at her.

Twenty minutes later they were heading out to Emma's car, both of them having bought what they deemed were the perfect dresses. The parking lot was relatively deserted, since it was a weeknight and most people were at home with their families for dinner. It had also gotten cooler outside since they had gone into the mall, Chloe thought. She felt gooseb.u.mps rising on her arms, as a night wind blew across them.

Emma unlocked the car from a distance and both girls jumped into the car quickly.

"It's freezing outside tonight," Emma said, turning on the heat.

Chloe laughed, "In Chicago, we'd be happy for this kind of weather. Hot during the day and cool enough at night so that you could sleep."

"I don't know how you ever dealt with snow," Emma shuddered, turning on the heat even higher.

"Me either," Chloe said, deciding that she definitely liked the California weather better.

They were turning out of the mall, when Chloe noticed that the car behind them had its brights on.

"That's annoying," Chloe said, looking back into the blinding glare of the lights.

"Yeah. I hate it when people do that," Emma said, turning left and at the same time adjusting her rearview mirror so that the bright lights of the car behind her wouldn't glare into her eyes as she drove.

The car with its brights on followed them on the left turn.