It was a cold Monday morning. Beckett walked down the hallways of Keaton, on his way to the dance studio for his first period class. Along the way, Sasha and Jenna hurried to catch up with him.
"Hey Beckett! Beckett? Hello? Earth to Beckett!" Jenna called at him.
However, Beckett wasn't paying attention. He was looking around for Vanessa.
"Sorry. Hey guys, what's up?" Beckett finally replied, still searching the hallway for Vanessa.
"I could ask you the same thing, man." Sasha said.
"Is something wrong?" Jenna chimed in.
Beckett sighed. "Have you seen Vanessa?"
Sasha and Jenna shared amused glances.
"Relax, Bradstreet, she's probably in the dance studio with Carly, already. After all, those two are joined at the hip!" Jenna answered nonchalantly.
The trio made their way into the studio and started warming up for class. They were later greeted by Carly. The bell rang as a few remaining students filtered into the room.
"Where's Vanessa? It's not like her to be late." Carly said, while stretching.
"She'll show up."
As the class period continued, there was no sign of Vanessa. When the bell finally rang at the end of class, Carly, Beckett, Sasha and Jenna remained in the studio.
"Strange. I'll call her." Carly said while digging through her back for her phone. The call went straight to voicemail. Carly tried several more times, each call going straight to voicemail.
"She probably just has her phone turned off. Who are we kidding, she probably slept in." Carly said. She tried her best to hide the fact that she was nervous. This was definitely out of character for Vanessa, after all. The rest of the group stared at the phone, blank-faced.
Carly's phone began ringing, loudly. The dancers jumped, startled.
"Answer it!" Sasha yelled.
Beckett reached for the phone and put it on speaker.
"Vanessa?" Beckett asked.
"Carly? Oh, Beckett! I need help. Now. This is bad, very bad. I've- oh no. Please, no! Help!" Vanessa said frantically, in between sobs. The call immediately cut off.
The group was silent, looking as if they'd seen a ghost. Tears began streaming down Jenna's face and Beckett held his face in his hands.
"I think I'm going to be sick." Carly said, pale.