Free Stitch by Samantha Durante

near the library.  On her way she passed a group of three female students and handed them each a flyer with a perfunctory, “Party Saturday.”  She remembered Lizzie’s admonition to invite “…lots of boys.  Cute boys,” and felt a small pang of guilt.  Oh well.  Was it her fault that all of the cute boys were apparently in class during her only flyering opportunity?
    Reaching the bulletin board, she dropped the strap of her backpack from one shoulder and swung the bag forward to where she could reach the front pockets, withdrawing the stapler and tape from the larger compartment.  She righted her backpack and held a flyer against the bulletin board, securing it in place with the stapler.  Taking a quick glance around to make sure no one was looking, Alessa reshuffled some of the other printouts on the board to slightly obscure the flyer she’d just posted.  The fewer people who showed up to this party the better.
    Alessa headed toward a lamppost about ten yards past the bulletin board.  She taped a flyer at eye level, then crossed the cobblestone path toward a camera pole another ten yards away.  Alessa worked her way in a loop around the quad, crisscrossing the path as she encountered any surface she could stick a flyer to.  There were only a handful of other students out and she made sure to give flyers to them as well.
    At last Alessa was down to one final printout.  She surveyed the quad and was satisfied with the job she’d done.  A little too satisfied, in fact – her subtle attempts at sabotage stood no chance against the barrage of colorful papers waving in the brisk fall breeze as far as the eye could see.  It actually looked rather festive with all that pink, yellow, and blue.
    Alessa turned to the mounted camera beside her, staring quizzically into the lens as she approached the base.  She wondered if anyone was actually watching.  There had to be thousands of hours of footage logged across the absurd number of cameras on campus – too much to actually review in its entirety.  She decided the university was probably just storing all the recordings in a vault somewhere in case one was ever needed for another lawsuit.  Once again, Alessa mused that the whole practice really seemed unnecessary.  Unnecessary and unnerving.
    Reaching the camera mount, Alessa tore off an inch of tape and held her only remaining flyer against the pole.  She pressed the tape down and was about to release a satisfied sigh when she heard a deep male voice behind her.
    “Excuse me, miss.  This is a violation of university policy.  I’m going to have to ask you to remove that.”
    Alessa swore under her breath.  She’d never heard of anyone actually getting in trouble for flyering.  Of course she had to be the first.  She prepared her best perplexed face – she had decided her best option was to feign ignorance – and turned around to face her accuser.
    She was surprised to find not the burly university official she was expecting, but a student.  In fact, he was what Lizzie Green would have called, “a cute boy,” which Alessa thought was probably an understatement.  He was tall and dark and – oh, she hated to say it – handsome, with neat black hair and deep brown eyes.  He flashed a mischievous white smile which glowed against his tan skin.
    He introduced himself in a slightly higher octave than before.  “Nikhil.  Sorry to scare you.  I couldn’t help myself.” He gestured at the expanse of the quad, the multicolored papers seemingly adorning every available surface.  “Is this all your handiwork?”
    Alessa laughed sheepishly.  Was this attractive guy really flirting with her?  It’d been a while since that had happened – she flushed as she tried to think of something clever to say in response.  “Yeah, that was all me.”  Fantastic.
    Nikhil smiled nonetheless.  “So, will you be at this party –” he paused expectantly, motioning towards her with his hand.
    Alessa