Lost Queen [4] ✓

i never make the same mistake twice, i make it five or six times just to be sure

I called a ton of people to help me look for Stella. But we still couldn't find her. And Stella's parents didn't help that much.

I knocked on Matt Hudson's door, the last place I hadn't looked. The last place she'd be.

When my English teacher answered the door, he gave me an odd look, "Lia? What are you doing here?"

"It's about Stella. I assume you've heard that she's gone missing."

"Yeah, I just saw it on the news."

"Do you know where she is?" I tried to get a good whiff inside the house but all I could smell was the smoke in the fireplace.

"How would I know?"

I sighed and shifted my weight from my right foot to my left, "Because you're close with each other."

"Excuse me?"

"Cut the crap, I know about you two. She told me."

"Told you about what?" Again with the innocent act.

I dropped my voice below a whisper even though I knew no one was listening, "I know you hooked up before you knew you were her teacher."

He sighed and finally gave up.

"Okay," Matt Hudson nodded and met my eyes, "But I don't know where she is."

His heartbeat was steady. He wasn't lying.

"Great. Just fucking great." I muttered, trying to figure out where else she would run.

"But I'll help you look for her," He offered.

"I followed her scent. It stopped at the river behind her house. Do you know where she would go?" There was nothing out there. I didn't care how long it took, I just wanted to find her and make sure she was safe.

"No."

"Why would she run away? Was it school? Did something happen?" She wouldn't just run away like this.

Matt Hudson looked at me, suddenly very somber.

"She didn't tell you?"

I shook my head, now dying to know what she kept from me.

"Her parents just filed for divorce. And her dad's already remarrying in the spring."

"She never told me that," I said angrily, "When did this happen?"

We were supposed to be best friends, weren't we? Why didn't she tell me this?

"About a month ago. She hasn't really been the same since then."

A month ago. . . I'd just switched schools.

And Stella didn't take it well. Neither did Nicole and Taylor, but Stella was the most heart broken. She wanted to transfer with me but I told her Mystic High was only for people who were werewolves or were related to werewolves.

I had to tell her that she had to let me by my own person. That she had to let me go.

"I'm rounding some people up in an hour to go look for her in the woods behind her house. You coming?"