THE NEXT FEW DAYS moved along slowly for me. And the sole reason was that Zander seemed to be avoiding me. I kept seeing him around campus, but he slipped away before I passed him. In class, he sat as far away from me as possible and avoided my gaze. I couldn't help but assume he had heard about me, the "me" from last year. It was inevitable, I guess, but it like that unexpected sliver under the skin that you couldn't get out. Examining it made it worse and not removing it allowed it to fester. He had been a knight in shining armor the first time I met him, as stupid as that sounded, and I had hoped he was going to be different than everyone else.