Rules for Enduring the Sweenys

Rule #7: Revenge IS Encouraged

“Hey Owen!” Owen woke up to the sound of Eli yelling at him. When he opened his eyes and slowly sat up, he found that he was feeling much better. ‘Thanks to Bella,’ his thoughts admitted reluctantly.

“You okay Eli?” he asked. His younger brother looked frantic. His eyes were wide and he couldn’t stand still.

“Did you drive Dizzy home last night, like I asked? Her parents called, they haven’t seen her at all today!” Eli was shouting, running his hand through his brown curls.

“I couldn’t find her last night. Bella said she saw her walking with Gray,” he replied slowly. Eli’s face was red with rage.

“Why did you let her go? Are you stupid! She could’ve been raped! Oh my god, oh my god!” Owen jumped out of bed and grabbed his little brother’s shoulders.

“Fuckin’ shut up!” he shouted. “Get a hold of your fuckin’ self!”

“What’s wrong?” Bella slid into the doorway out of breath. Eli looked like he’d been crying. “Whoa, hey Eli, you okay?” she asked softly. Owen couldn’t help noticing that she appeared to be feeling better too.

Against his better judgment, Eli told her, “Dizzy didn’t go home last night and nobody knows where she is!” He collapsed onto one of Owen’s plum-colored beanbag chairs. Eli dropped his face into his hands. He couldn’t help being so worried. If something bad happened to her, her parents would never forgive him. More importantly, he would never forgive himself.

Seeing how upset Eli was, Bella abandoned most of her rules (most notably: Never Trust a Sweeny and Feelings Are Forbidden), and dropped to her knees in front of him. She’d never seen Eli look so miserable before (not even when he was drunk or sick). Usually he was far too busy trying to make her life hell to talk to her about anything of any importance. She set a gentle hand on his shoulder.

“Don’t worry Eli,” Bella said soothingly. She didn’t like seeing him that way. She never thought she’d think something like that, but, ‘I like the playful Eli better, no matter how irritating he is.’ “I’ll help you look for her.”

At Bella’s words, Eli lifted his head and wiped his red-rimmed eyes with his sleeve. His dark blue eyes sparkled with receding tears. “Let’s hurry then, what if she’s in trouble?” Eli jumped up and started toward the door, but Owen grabbed his arm and pulled him backwards.

“Eli, it might be best if you stayed here. Bella and I can go out and look for her.”

“What? Why? She’s my-”

“What if she calls or comes here? She’ll want to talk to you. Besides someone has to stay here with Lucy and Danny.” Eli thought for a moment and silently nodded.

“Fine,” he grumbled, knowing he wasn’t gonna win the argument.

Bella and Owen pulled on jackets as they jogged out to Bella’s car. She despised the damn thing, she loathed driving in general. Biking was her preferred method of transportation, but when it was cold outside Thomas and Anna Harken insisted that she drive everywhere.

“Where should we look first?” Bella asked, glancing over at Owen while she pulled down the winding narrow road.

“Park?” Owen suggested.

Bella shrugged, “If she’s not there we can try the kissing bridge.”

They looked all over the town, going so far to search even the poorest areas, though they knew Dizzy Parker would never step foot on the other side of Broadway. She considered even Bella’s suburban neighborhood to be poor.