Caught

Chapter 9: Home

As soon as we got to the mall, it was packed with people. There were people on the escalators, people in the stores, and people hanging around near the kodiak.

As we strolled up the escalator, Madison squealed when she saw a light pink dress. Baby doll and brunette walked into the racks then picked something that suits their horrible personality.

I only stayed behind, texting Luke if he had find anything about Madison or Kimberly. He responded tired, saying that he tries to search through countless records to find some dirt on them, but they're nowhere to be found.

"Hey Cole," the brunette called. "Come try this on." She held up a strapless golden glittery dress and matching wedges. "Can I find something else?" I said, picking up a pair of sneakers. The girl looked at them as if they were trash then dragged me into the dressing room.

Annoyed, I took off my clothes and tried the dress on. When I opened the door, the girls squealed. "You look stunning," Madison breathed. "Good," I said. "Now, can we go home?"

"Wait," the baby doll began. "That dress reminds me of a toddler's." She shoved a golden dress with sleeves and made me try them on. "Also," the brunette said with disgust. "She needs some makeup."

Closing the door behind me, I took off the dress I wore and replace the golden dress with sleeves. The brunette appeared out of nowhere and waved her makeup kit like a paintbrush.

"Do I have to?" I said without enthusiasm. "Come on," she begged. "Don't you want to be a normal teenager girl for once?" I sat down on the bench, letting the brunette paint my nails, style my hair, and apply small amounts of makeup.

"You look really attractive," the brunette beamed. I stared at her in disbelief then looked at the mirror. My hair was curled down my back, my flawless legs were showing, and the dress matched perfectly against my skin tone.

If I remove the cat eyeliner, the lip gloss that smelled like raspberries, and the blush, I will look pretty. "Oh my gosh," the baby doll gasped. "You look smoking." I blushed at that comment. Madison squinted her eyebrows and shook her head. "Why do I need to wear gold, anyway?" I asked with a moan.

"Because," the brunette said. "It's the Great Gatsby dance, and you need to wear something more extraordinary." I glared at her then clenched my fists. The girls made me try on a few different golden dresses from strapless to non-strapless, sleeves to no sleeves, and that was all going to change.

I took out the golden long dress with tons of glitter from the clothing rack then walked back into the dressing room. A few minutes later, I came out of the room, feeling proud of myself. "It's a perfect fit," Madison said. "Luke will totally like it." "Shut up," baby doll beamed. "You're dating Luke?"

"Well," I began, folding my clothes. "Technically, he is my best friend and my best boyfriend." "Did you guys do anything romantic?" Madison asked. A smile crept on my lips. "We played tons of chess and watch movies," I continued. "We always picked Mystery movies." "Do you guys have like a cute nickname?" the brunette asked.

"He calls me 'The Woman', because like Irene Adler, I always best him." I explained. "And I always call him my Sherlock." Awww escaped from the girls' mouths, except Madison who was wrinkling her nose. "Who are they?" she asked. "Characters from Sherlock Holmes," I answered. "Our nicknames are usually names off of smart people, but Luke sometimes calls me 'Gorgeous'."

"Did he ask you to prom?" baby doll asked. I shook my head, then changed into my comfortable clothing. After we bought the dresses, we left the mall and waited for the boys to show up. "When are they coming back here?" Madison asked impatiently, glancing at her pink diamond watch.

The girls shrugged then laid back against the seats. I only checked on my phone, seeing if Luke has texted me what he found. He did around six thirty. Along with the forsenics team, Luke typed. We found blood on the phone charm. It was Kimberly's. We think that Madison killed her, but put the body someplace else. For now, just avoid her and keep searching for more evidence.

What about the voodoo doll of Kimberly? I typed back. You and I both know that-" "Hey Nikki," Madison called. "What are you doing?" I shut off phone then slipped it into my pocket. "Just texting Luke about the dress shopping," I lied.

The boys came back from the arcade, looking exhausted and bummed out. They hopped into the car then waited for Madison to drive.

As soon as she started the car, she drove until she halted on a stoplight. I felt something cold in my pocket. As I took it out, I gazed at the small device in my hand: it was Luke's listening device.

Quietly, I stick it under Madison's seat and made sure that no one would notice. "You and Luke are the California's Youngest Detectives," the jock with the blond hair began. "How come you're not going to the FBI Academy?" I thought about it for a moment. "Mostly because I wanted to go to Princeton, and get my Private Investigator license." I said. "Luke wants to go to Harvard and study criminology and forensics."

"But haven't you thought about going to Quantico or something?" I shook my head. To me, the only college that I was going to is Princeton, but if I don't go to Princeton, maybe attending Harvard was a good plan B.

"How was the arcade?" I asked. The boys shrugged. "Pretty lame," the jock with a Mohawk said. "The games sucked." The conversation went on for hours until I told Madison to park besides my house.

"Is this your place?" the brunette asked. "Yeah," I answered. "See you tomorrow." The jocks and cheerleaders waved then drove off.

As I walked to my house, Luke was sitting on my porch, waiting for me to sit down next to him. "Did you bugged them?" Luke asked. I nodded very slowly. He smiled and looked at his laptop.

"Excellent," he said. He kissed my cheek then peered at the screen. There were multicolored lines rising up and down. He gave me another pair of headphones then turned up the volume.

As soon as I put the headphones on, my mind was blown. "Are you seriously friends with that girl?" the brunette asked. "Probably, Madison's out of her mind as usual." baby doll teased. The jocks snickered along with the girls.

"The sooner that she's my friend," Madison replied. "The sooner I'll dump her." "Like Kimberly?" one of the jocks laughed. I raised my eyebrow. "That girl means nothing to me now," she sighed. "After the whole Mr. and Ms. Blair thing, I stopped talking to her completely."

"She keeps coming to my house begging me and begging to apologize, but I told her to stay away or I will call the cops, but she wouldn't listen." Luke stared at me in horror. "What about the Hate List that she keeps talking about?" the brunette asked. "That traitor stole my idea about the list," Madison sneered. "I wouldn't be surprised if she wasn't alive at all."