I sat down in a back booth and ordered a bowl of red chowder. I was a bit nerv

ous – confrontation has never been my strong suit – but something about the quality of this event had brought out my ruthless side. Under normal circumstances I would have been tongue tied around a girl like her. Now I was in charge, and there was nothing that could change that.

She entered the shop about 5 minutes after the final bell would have rung – I had cut all my afternoon classes too. I was amused to think that she must have hurried indeed to get here so soon after school had let out.

She looked around the shop, but most of the tables were empty. It was primarily a lunch and dinner place, and I knew it would be pretty empty for at least two hours.

She finally spotted me, and I held my camera up and winked. I could not tell if she recognized me, but I doubt it. She'd done such a good job of ignoring me, I doubted she was even sure that I went to her school.

She strode up purposefully and sat down angrily in my booth, facing me.

"Are you the guy who left those pictures?" Her voice was a furious whipser, but there was a lot of fear there. The anger was clearly intended to give her courage and perhaps bully me into giving in. No chance…

I smiled. "Photography is my life, 'Annie.' Of course, I don't usually take those kinds of pictures…"

"Sure!" she spat. "I'll bet you creep all night long spying on people like that, you pervert!"

"I'm a pervert? Maybe you better look at those snapshots again."

"Oh, fuck off!" Her voice was a high, nervous squeak.

"Take care, now, Annie. You don't want to get on my bad side, now DO YOU?" I pointed my finger at her and stared her down.