When school started back up in January, Soph came to McQuaid High looking for me. In desperation she started asking random people if they'd seen me.
"No, not since before Christmas."
"He keeps to himself a lot. I don't know. I don't really know him that well. Ask Rob, he probably knows."
"Who's Rob?"
"Guy right there—that's Oliver's best friend."
Sophia walked up to Rob.
"Have you seen Oliver?"
"Oh my gosh you're the hot girl from the coffee shop last summer. Oliver said he'd met you in the park a few times, but I didn't actually believe him."
"You were there that night?"
"Yup. We went together. I sat in back. Remember when he dropped his drawers?"
"How could I forget?"
"He was wearing my pants."
He chuckled.
"Wait, don't tell me. It's Sophia, right?"
"He didn't talk about me?"
"Oh man, he had a huge crush on you."
"We've met in the park a dozen times. He never said anything?"
"He said you had a vibe, but you were dating someone else. He kept making excuses for why it wasn't going anywhere. You were just friends. He kept hoping one day it would turn into more, but he's always been a hopeless romantic. I told him to give it up. There are so many girls in love with him, but he's been hung up over you since that first night."
"It's complicated. Have you seen him?"
"Not since Christmas Eve."
"I texted him the night before Christmas Eve, but he never responded."
"He's not returning my calls either."
"I'm worried. I think something bad happened."
"I don't know how much he told you, but he has what you might call a rocky relationship with his parents."
"He told me everything."
"Every time he gets in a big fight with his dad, he talks of running away from home and going backpacking across Europe or Africa. Maybe he got in an argument and had to leave suddenly."
"He wouldn't have left without saying goodbye."
"He takes it pretty hard. He gets depressed and doesn't want to talk to anybody—even me. We usually give him some space, and a day or two later he's ready to talk."
"It's been two weeks."
"Don't worry about it, if he wants to talk, he'll call when he's ready. Tell you what, if I hear from him, I'll let you know."
"I'd really appreciate that."
She wrote down her phonenumber on a scrap of paper.