Chapter 1
It was an ordinary day, for the most part. I was sitting in my fifth hour composition class, writing a paper on this short story that we read, when the bell rings. I pack up everything then head to sixth hour physics with Mrs. Sebok. I head down A Hall to meet my best friend, Ashley, before sixth hour. I don't see her anywhere. I walk into her classroom and see our friend Savannah.
"Hey Savannah, have you seen Ashley?" I ask, confused as to where she could possibly be.
"I don't know. She could be running late or something," she says. That's when i head back out to the hall to look for her. When the second bell rings, I walk quickly to my physics classroom and then Mrs. Sebok walks up to me.
"Hi, Austin. Ready to learn physics today?" she asks me, smiling as usual.
"Of course I am! I'm always ready," I say, but don't really look forward to learning about how light is reflected, refracted, absorbed, or diffracted. We have to take notes today. I don't mind - mainly because I love color-coding my notes - but today I can't focus.
"Now class, does anyone know what color of light has the biggest wavelength?" she asks. I know the answer but don't raise my hand. She looks around the room at everyone, then puts her eyes on me. "Austin, do you know the answer?"
"Violet," I say, not looking up.
"Yes! Excellent! That's right, violet does have the biggest wavelength," she says. She then continues on about light. it's almost time for class to end. "Okay everyone, it's 2:17. Please put up your chairs."
I put my chair on the table, pick up my backpack, and head toward the door when Mrs. Sebok stops me.
"Is everything alright, Austin?" she asks, looking concerned.
"Yeah, everything's fine. I just didn't see Ashley before class today and I think I got a little paranoid," I say, looking and her with a slight smile.
"Oh good. So are you two an item or...?" she says, trailing off at the end.
"No. Just friends," I say. I tell people I don't have time for relationships. That's one reason I'm not in one.
"Oh okay. I was just wondering because you two spend quite a lot of time together."
"Yeah, that's mainly due to the fact that I have to show her too many movies from my childhood like Benchwarmers, Austin Powers, Rocky Horror, and those are just a few."
"That's quite a list," she says, then the bell rings, signaling either seventh hour or it's time to go home. I walk out of the classroom when I usually meet up with Savannah and Ashley.
"Savannah, where's Ashley?" I ask her as we head toward C Hall.
"I have no idea. She wasn't in chemistry today, but I saw her in spanish," she said. I already knew Ashley went to spanish. We have the same spanish teacher but she has him first hour and I have him second. My first hour is psychology with the wonderful Mrs. Murphy, which is in the same hall as spanish. Me and Ashley's first hours are three doors away.
I pull out my phone and try texting her but she doesn't answer. Usually she'll see it within a minute of her phone getting it. I go to my locker and see that my friend Emily with her boyfriend. Fantastic.
"Hey Emily, have you seen Ashley after fifth hour?" I ask.
"No, not since this morning," she said, concern in her voice.
"Hm...okay," I said, opening my locker, even though I don't actually need to.
"So how was your day?" Emily asks. She asks me this every day and I always have the same answer, but today is different.
"It was normal...you know, until I couldn't find Ashley anywhere." I said with annoyance in my voice. I couldn't help but feel like something is wrong. I shut my locker and walk silently around C Hall until I see a missed call from my mom. I walk out the front doors but don't see her car anywhere. I look at my phone and see that she's calling me.
"Hey, I'm stuck in traffic. You might have to walk home today," she says.
"Okay, sure," I say back, walking away from the front door. That's when I notice cop cars at the tennis courts. Oh crap, I thought. That's when I ran toward the tennis courts. Ashley had tennis today in gym.