Tame My Heart... Or Else

Chapter 28

"I swear I was! One second, she was right next to me, and the next she was gone!" he replied.

"What do you mean?" the girl shook her head in disgust. "I knew I shouldn't have let you take care of her! My parents are going to kill me!"

"She can't have gone far! You know how she hates to be far away from home."

The girl crossed her arms. "Yes, but she's been acting so strangely these past few days! It's like she's a completely different person. She could have gone anywhere!"

"We'll go look after her after school, okay?" the boy said, putting his arms around the girl, trying to comfort her.

"But she'll be too far away by then! She's lost!" the girl said, her voice catching with a sob.

By then I had reached the place in the otherwise empty corridor where they were. I didn't realize that I had frozen, too absorbed in the conversation, until the guy's head snapped up.

"Can I help you?" he asked angrily, and the girl turned around too.

I felt my face colour up. "I'm sorry, I couldn't help but overhear. Who's gone missing?"

The girl studied me for a long moment, but then took a deep breath. "My little sister, Macey. Will here was supposed to be looking after her while my parents were out of town and I was out shopping, even though she insists she's old enough to look after herself. And then Will wasn't paying attention, and she's gone!" the girl wiped the tears out of her eyes and tried to look strong.

"Oh my God." I couldn't help but say. "Is there a search party out yet? Did you call the police?"

She shook her head. "No, I haven't. If we did, my parent would find out for sure. If we can just find her before they come back, then they'll never have to know."

I didn't agree at all. She was risking losing her sister just because she didn't want to get grounded for a few days, but it wasn't my problem. I shouldn't meddle.

"Well, tell me what she looks like, and I'll look out for her." I said, trying to be helpful.

The girl's face brightened drastically. "You would really do that? She's got the same hair colour as me and she has pale blue eyes. She's about my height, even though she's only in ninth grade. She has a birthmark on her neck, too."

"Alright," I said, smiling. "I'll keep a lookout. Is there any reason why she would run away?"

The girl shook her head. "No! She hates being away from home at all! She won't even go to sleepovers!"

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll find her." I said, laying a reassuring hand on her arm. She looked up at me gratefully.

"You're Liza, right?" she asked.

I nodded. "That's me."

"I'm Monica, and this is my useless boyfriend, Will." she introduced with a glare in his direction.

"Hey!" Will exclaimed, looking hurt.

"Nice meeting you. See you around." I said, walking off with a wave as the bell for class rung.

What was going on?

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"You know Ali in my Biology class?" Rosie asked, as we sat down at a picnic table for lunch. It wasn't quite cold enough to drive us inside yet, but we all still wore our thick winter jackets.