In the Shade of Groves [COMPLETE]

Chapter 15

Songs: O Children by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

One Month Later

It's been one month since prom night and no one has seen or heard from Ross, including myself. Everyone at school keeps looking at me as if at any moment I'll be the next to disappear. I remind people that Ross has gone missing before, though admittedly not this long. His dad waited three days to report his absence to the police; which I think is more telling than Ross' disappearance. Word has spread like wildfire around town about the troubled boy who mysteriously disappeared. Nasty rumors have started about what kind of trouble he must have gotten himself into. People in town and at school are quick to add personal anecdotes of Ross' odd behavior to the fire. Police still haven't found any evidence of what might have happened.

I was the first person the police sought out to ask what happened after prom night. I told them I dropped Ross off in front of his house and that was the last I saw of him. Ross' father says he never came home that night but that this wasn't the first time Ross has run away, so he didn't think to take it seriously. The police weren't too concerned at his lack of reporting it. They knew the kind of reputation Ross had and figured he finally got himself into trouble he couldn't get out of.

My parents were pissed when they found out I actually went to prom with Ross and not Loli and Raven like I said. When Captain Daniel knocked on our door, my mother insisted Ross' father had been mistaken. When he told her other witnesses had seen us together, she could have killed me. She warned me that if Ross reached out to me that I was to report it to the police immediately. Despite my hope that he would, the last time we spoke was the night he disappeared. Even if he did reach out, the last place I would go is the police station. Though I keep saying I've not heard from him, people around town act like I'm harboring a fugitive. Even my own parents give me suspicious stares every time I come home and have on more than one occasion searched my room.

Even though I know Ross isn't home, I still ride my back by his house every day before school. I figure one day he'll come back and be waiting for me. Every school day for a month, I see an empty driveway. I even check the schedules for all of our school's sports tryouts, thinking maybe he wants to give it another go.

Tom has taken this opportunity to remind me that he warned me about what a dangerous kid Ross is. He keeps saying I'm lucky I didn't disappear with him. Whatever kind of trouble Ross got himself into could have easily put me at risk, or so Tom says. I swear if I ever hear the word "trouble" again, I'll run away too.

In first period, even Juniper eyes me suspiciously. I try not to take it too personally. He, and everyone else, act like I'm part of some giant cover-up. I've resorted back to keeping to myself and participating in conversations only when absolutely necessary. I can tell Loli and Raven have noticed my regression but they don't say anything about it. Before Ross disappeared, their parents all but banned them from speaking to me. Now that he's gone and everyone knows about our close friendship, I have become the local pariah much to my mother's dismay. Loli and Raven's parents told them to mind their distance. They still eat lunch with me but they don't go out of their way to do anything else.

The finalized yearbook went to the printers last week so now there's hardly anything for us to do. Everyone mostly uses the period to socialize or take a nap. Except the nervous kid who took club pictures. He still finds reasons to ask me questions, which I mostly brush off. At least none of his questions are about Ross.

Almost everyone in my grade has heard back from colleges and already know where they'll be attending in the fall. I've heard back from none of the three schools I applied to so far. Raven already heard back from Pratt. She got in.

The bell dismissing first period sounds and the whole room shuffles out of the room. I slowly pack my things while Mrs. Hinton clicks her heels over to me and gives me a sad smile.