2. Attention Seeker

Three days later....

Cassie rolled her eyes at Amy as they walked down the hall. The shapeshifter was gently sniffing the other students as she passed them, especially the boys and making an occasional reference like 'He smells nice or he's hot.'

Cassie could not take much more. "I love your new found confidence but aren't you being a little forward? It's the middle of the day."

"The guys don't seem to mind," responded Amy. "I even got Clyde's phone number."

"Of course they won't mind a gorgeous chick checking them out, but it's making me uncomfortable."

"Awww you think I'm gorgeous?" Amy joked.

Cassie blushed, "You know what I mean."

"Ok, I'm sorry. I will stop," Amy said disappointingly. "Hey, I'm gonna message Blake and get some cigs at lunch. Do you wanna come?"

"What! You don't smoke and neither I!" Cassie was starting to get annoyed with Amy's behaviour. "And what about Clyde? You just got his number?"

"Come on, we both know I'm not gonna call Clyde."

"If you say so." Cassie replied doubtfully.

Amy walked straight from then towards their next class, she resisted the urge to take in anyone else's essence. It was difficult but she succeeded. She suddenly thought of Gwen and how she had only picked up her scent a few times since Monday. She did not know what the girl's studies were or how often she'd see her in her own subjects. Amy still had no clue why she was being drawn to her. There must be something about the girl that no one else was seeing, even though she appeared to be the most boring version of ordinary. She wondered if she should ask Cassie to invite Gwen to the party on Saturday. Maybe she could find out why her animal instincts were so interested in her.

"Why are you in a deep thought for?" Cassie asked after a while.

Amy suddenly realised they were already sat down in a classroom for their next study. She took in the surrounding students, mostly with her nose, typical teenage hormones and odour. Gwen was definitely not anywhere near the area.

"How many will be at yours Saturday night?" Amy asked Cassie.

"Just me and my 4 housemates. You, Meg and less than a dozen others, "Cassie replied. "Oh and the house next door if they invite themselves around again."

"Can I invite more friends?" Amy asked politely.

"Sure as long as they don't act like animals, gotta keep the place clean."

Amy laughed nervously, "No, all proper human beings."

After class Amy and Cassie headed for the cafeteria. It was then that Amy sensed Gwen again nearby. Her smell was coming from in front of them down the hall, possibly in the cafeteria.

"Are you ok?" Cassie asked, "You look nervous about something."

"I'm fine, just hungry. I smell good food." Amy lied innocently.

They reached the cafeteria and Cassie went straight to the serving bar. However, Amy turned in a different direction as the scent led her blindly in the direction of Gwen. She had not even realised that she had left Cassie and became unaware of her surroundings. Even her vision became slightly obscure as she was mainly led by her nose. Suddenly she stopped as the scent became overpowering and a voice spoke to her.

"Can I help you?" The voice asked.

Amy shook her head and adjusted her eyes. Her face was merely a foot away from Gwen's framed glasses, sat pertly on the end of her nose. The looked nervous as she stared back at Amy.

It was a few seconds before Amy spoke. "I... Err... Hi, I'm Amy."

"Ok," Gwen replied worryingly. "I- I'm Gwen. Can I help you?"

Amy stepped back, she noticed students in the nearby vicinity watching her and blushed. She had no idea what to say. Luckily she was saved by Cassie, but not in the way she expected.

"Hi Gwen! How are you settling into college?" Cassie beamed as she approached them both.

"Going great thank you." Gwen replied but she did not take her eyes of Amy until Cassie pulled her into a hug.

"Did you get my letter last night?" Cassie asked.

Amy took a moment to register. "Wait, you two know each other?"

"Kind of." Gwen replied.

"She's our new roomie, a bit quiet though so still a mystery, but I'm wearing her down to talk." Cassie laughed.

"She asks a lot of questions." Gwen responded, still nervous.

"So you live together?" Amy asked.

"Remember a couple of weeks ago, when I said I put out an ad looking for Daniel's replacement?" Said Cassie, Amy nodded. "We got Gwen. Very tidy, no complaints. She's great." Gwen blushed in embarrassment, she did not like attention. She stepped away from Cassie.

Cassie turned her focus on to Amy's actions. "So what were you doing?"

Amy thought for a moment. "Sorry Gwen, I had you confused for someone who owes me money."

"You looked drunk." Replied Gwen.

Amy blushed again. "I promise it won't happen again."

After that the girls sat together eating lunch although Gwen often leaned away from Amy when she felt her getting close. Amy was delighted to learn Gwen was in her next study with Meg and insisted Gwen sat with them despite the girl's polite refusals.

Amy made sure to sit between Gwen and Megan, she was eager to find out more about their new friend. Meg was confused with the new invite but went along with it.

"Is Gwen with us now Amy?" Meg asked.

"Yes, she will be working with us today." Amy smiled.

Meg leaned closer to Gwen, "Nice to meet you officially."

Gwen smiled back at them both, "Nice to meet you properly too."

She pulled out a pencil case and two notebooks from her bag. Amy watching carefully as she watched Gwen pull out a pen and pencil. She laughed inside to herself as she noticed they had a little labels on them with Gwen written across them. Amy turned to Meg.

"Gwen is Cassie's new roommate and friend so she's our friend too."

"Oh right, good to know," Meg replied. "Will you be at the party on Saturday?" She asked Gwen.

"I don't know. I don't really drink and parties aren't my thing."

Meg gave Amy a funny look. Amy was a little puzzled by Gwen; she did not know why she had to be near her. The girl just seemed to be too basic, too ordinary.

"What will you do then?" Meg asked.

"Probably just chill in my room and face time my mum."

Meg glared at Amy while talking to Gwen, "Oh right, sounds like fun." She was also beginning to wonder why Amy had shown an interest in her.

As the lesson progressed, the timid girl tried to ignore Amy's questions, but she was persistent and would not take silence as an answer. Gwen had finally agreed to have a drink with the girls at the party, but insisted she would not be spending too long with them.

Amy agreed to the arrangement and was happy but she was still trying to get the girl to open up about her herself and maybe even ask her or Meg some questions. Amy probed some more with her interrogation. She asked about Gwen's favourite food, favourite movie, favourite song. Anything to try and get her to say something remotely interesting, but nothing seemed to work.

The class ended quickly and Gwen rushed to gather her things back into her bag. "Nice to meet you both," she said hastily and quickly made for the door before Amy had even got her jacket on.

"She was interesting." Meg remarked.

"Do you think so?" Amy replied.

Meg's face turned. "No, she was boring as hell. Wanna tell me what's going on here? Why you're really up in her business?"

"I don't know, I'm just trying to be her friend." Amy sighed.

"Are you into her? Because it's ok."

Amy went red and got defensive. "What? No."

"It's ok if you are. I just want to know in case she's around us a lot more and I have to find something in common to get along with her."

"I just want to get to know Cassie's roommates better. Starting with this one."

"Alright, just don't get weird at the party or you'll scare the poor girl off."

Amy headed for the door, "Don't worry, I won't. She's not as interesting as I thought anyway.

Amy spotted Gwen once more after all the classes had finished that day. They were walking towards each other and Amy realised Gwen still had not spotted her amongst the other students yet. She wanted her attention; wanted Gwen to say something, to help her somehow. She just wanted Gwen's attention, even if she did not know why. Amy reached into her bag and pulled out a couple of textbooks.

When Gwen got near Amy pretended to trip over herself and fell to the floor. She tossed the books to Gwen's feet. The other girl stopped and looked at Amy.

"Are you ok Amy?" wen asked politely.

Amy looked into her yeyes. "I'm fi-" She began but was stopped when she saw Blake reach for the books in front of Gwen before she could.

"What happened Amy? Are you ok? Lemme help you up." Her concerned male friend asked. She grabbed his hand and he pulled her up.

Amy was a little disgruntled by Blake's intervention. "I'm fine Blake, give me my books back." She looked around and saw Gwen already leaving down the corridor.

"That was quite the fall. I will walk you home." Blake said protectively.

"No thank you. I can walk myself, stop being an idiot."

Now Blake was annoyed. "Alright, I was only trying to help. Thanks for the extra cigs." He said as he grabbed a packet poking out of Amy's bag and walked off.

"Jerk." Amy scoffed. She turned and started following Gwen, she could not see her anymore but she picked up on her aroma and followed that. When she got outside she saw her in the car park getting to what looked liked Steve's car.

"I guess that's that then," she sighed. "I will find you tomorrow..."