Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade or any characters.

A/n: I've been watching a lot of Veronica Mars lately and this popped into my head.

Chapter One: 48 Hrs

!#

September 22nd.

It's the day my best friend goes missing. I don't know until I'm being pulled out of biology and into the principal's office.

"Mariah?" Mr Johnson asked.

I looked up at him. A police detective is standing behind him. "Yes?"

Mr Johnson re-clasps his hands, obvious that something is wrong. Why else wasn't he ranting about something. "This morning, it was discovered that Hilary Tachibana was missing."

I look up at him. Hilary is missing? What? Since... "When?" I asked him. Hilary Tachibana is my best of fourteen years. And now she was missing.

"Her mother apparently saw her last night before she went to bed. Have you spoken to Hilary?"

Yesterday, after school. 'I'm going to take a trip down the yellow brick road down the rabbit hole' that's what she last said to me, but I'm not telling him. It just makes Hilary sound loony and like she's been smoking pot. "The last time I spoke to her was yesterday. At school. That's it."

"Did she mention anything lately about... running away? Or anything like that?"

I shook my head. Hilary once spent 17 hours missing back in the ninth grade. She decided that she wanted to join the circus, did so and then broke her wrist trying to do a back-flip. "Hilary wouldn't do something like that." I look down at my watch. 11:33. "I'm sure of it."

Mr Johnson looks at me. He's concerned. Hilary Tachibana's best friend. And I don't know anything. "If you think of anything, just come and tell me. Anything." I'm allowed to go and I rush out of his office. There is no way I'm going back to biology. Instead, I'm roaming up towards the north corridor, towards the student car park and the library. My best friend is missing. Missing. What do they mean by missing? Was she kidnapped? Did she runaway? How can she just not be there? I look up at the sound of sneakers hitting the ground. Kai Hiwatari. Late as usual. He was rushing down the hall, his sidekick open in his hand. He looked pale. Like he just thrown up everywhere. He breezes past me. I've never been on his radar as a friend, even though Rei is friends with him. Everyone is nice to me. I guess it's the perks of being the girlfriend of quarterback of the football team. Rei and I have been dating since freshman year. My phone vibrates and it's a message from Rei, asking if I'm coming back to biology. I step outside and breathe in the fresh air. I look over to my left and there is a puddle of vomit. I was right.

$#

I pull up out the front of Hilary's house. Hilary's mom must be home because her car is there. There's another car, I presumed it was her grandfathers and then Hilary's. Silver Mitsubishi lancer, a present from her grandfather for her sixteenth birthday. Her mother hated how her grandfather splashed out on Hilary, but Hilary loved it. I get out my car and walk up to Hilary's. Like usual, it was littered with junk, clothes and her school books. I was hoping to see her handbag or her cell, like it was some kind of really, really bad joke that I was experiencing or I was dreaming. Am I dreaming? Because I can't think this would actually happen in real life. Or maybe Ashton is punking me? I pinch myself. Nope, definitely not a dream and I can't see any camera men anywhere. I walk up the front stoop and knock on the front door.

"Oh, Mariah." Ms Tachibana says as she opens the door. She grabs me and pulls me into a hug.

"I'm so sorry, Ms Tachibana. I came straight away after I heard."

She pulls away, and looks up. "School... you should be in school." Tears well up in her eyes. "Hilary should be in school." She started sobbing.

I awkwardly patted her on the back. What was I meant to say? Yes, Ms Tachibana, normally would be in school, but you see, she likes to blow off fifth period. "I know." She lets me into the house and leeds me into the living room. Hilary's grandfather stares at me. I've met him about twice ever and all I know about him is that he is rich, powerful and down right scary. "Hello." I said, quietly.

"Mariah." He nodded his head.

Ms Tachibana has gone into the kitchen, leaving me alone with him. I sit across from him, on the couch, dropping my bag like a loud thud. This isn't what I was expecting what i'd do today, when I woke up. I thought it would be like any other Wednesday. That i'd go to school, spend my lunch period listening to the boys talk about football, Hilary talking about some conquest that she'd try to snag at the up-coming party, that she'd tell me little clues into her normal psycho babble routine of craziness. But no. It's 12:13 and I'm in her living room, sitting across from her grandfather after learning that, she is in fact, gone.

"Tea?"

I turn around. "Yes, Please." I took the hot mug out of Hilary's mom's hands and set it down. I look down at my hands. "How long has Hilary been missing?" I asked.

Hilary's mom looked down. "I don't know. I went to bed at 10 last night and I woke up at 7 and she was gone." She looked over at Hilary's grandfather. "Her window was open slightly and her cell is gone."

It seemed a little unusual that Hilary still had her cell, if she was running away or had been kidnapped. I know if I ran away, I would take my cell, because of all the fancy technological stuff that could trace your every move. I look up at the stairs. "Could I see her room?" I asked. "Please?"

"Sure." I rushed up to the stairs, and walked along the hallway. As long as I've known Hilary, she had always lived in this house. She lived with her mom. Hilary's dad's never been in her life. I don't even know his name or seen a picture of him. I opened Hilary's door. Still messy and still smelled funky. Hilary was the biggest slob I've ever met. Her bed was unmade, half of the sheets were hanging off. Her clothes were spilling out of her drawers. I wonder if any of them were missing. She had tons of clothes so it would be impossible to tell. I poked around her bedside table. The letter I had written her yesterday was sitting there, open. I lifted it up, re-reading what I had written. Our plans of our prom dresses. The plan to get Hilary a prom date. How I was gunning to go to Sarah Lawrence next fall. How I didn't know how I was going to leave her next fall. I looked underneath the letter. A movie ticket stub. Hilary saw The Town last night at 6:45. Hilary never mentioned going to the movies. Did she go alone? Who would she go with other than me? Tyson? No, they broke up over a year ago now. I wrinkled my nose at the thought of them getting back together. After everything that happened after they broke up? No way. I opened the drawer. Hilary's journal. I grabbed her journal and jammed it into my bag. Along with the movie ticket. Standing back up and walking towards her closet I noticed her notice board. It was full of photos. Photos of Hilary and I growing up. Tears started to form. My best friend was missing. I was beginning to think she was hiding secrets from me.

%

Hilary's journal was in my closet. I hadn't even opened it. I couldn't open it. I had a plan of confronting Tyson. To work if he was the one with Hilary the night before she went missing. The ticket was burning a hole in the back of jeans.

"Mariah!" I turned around. Ray, in his letterman's jacket, was running towards me. "Babe!" He hugged me. "I heard."

I looked up at him. "About Hilary?" I asked. We lived in a semi small town. People were bound to talk.

"Yeah, how you dealing?" He asked as we began to walk down the hall.

I shrugged my shoulders. "The best way I can. I just can't believe she's not here."

"Either can I. Usually she's walking down the hall, winking at some boy or talking about... stuff she usually goes on about." He squeezed my hand. "She'll be back before you know it."

"Kon! Dude!"

Ray turned around. He waved. "I have to go. But I'll call you later?" I nodded. He kissed my forehead and left.

I felt more alone than before. I really didn't have any friends other than Hilary and Ray. Sure, people spoke to me but I was never rarely without Hilary and if Hilary wasn't around, Ray would. I kept walking towards my home-room. I looked up and walking towards me was Kai Hiwatari. He didn't look as pale as yesterday, but he had a worried expression on his face. He stared at me as we walked closer to each other. I looked away. I felt his eyes still on me. I turned around. Kai Hiwatari wasn't late for once.

$%^

I sat on the edge of my bed, staring at my closet. Hilary's journal had been burning a hole in my mind all day long. Hilary had mentioned countless times that she did have a journal and I had always been curious to what she'd write in there. Hilary wasn't exactly a secret keeper and told me everything about her life. Her relationships with boys. Her relationship with her mother. Her thoughts on everything and everyone. Her journal wouldn't be that much more different to what she said right? I bolted up and grabbed it out. I closed my eyes and breathed in. I opened the cover and read the date at the top. January 21st.

I am going down the yellow brick road of loneliness.
Nobody understands what I think.
I feel like I'm all alone in this world.
Not even Mariah would understand.
She's never alone. Ray's always with her or I am.
Mariah is the loveliest person in the world, but I can't explain this to her.
She just wouldn't understand.
She'd think I'm some kind of weirdo.
Some kind of emo kid. Someone who just wants attention.
I don't want attention. I just don't want to be alone.

I stared at the first entry. My best friend couldn't even trust me with her thoughts. What kind of best friend was I if she couldn't? I closed the journal and placed it in my bedside table. I couldn't read anymore. I could barely stomach the first entry. I leaned back on my pillows. I knew Hilary but I had the feeling I really didn't know her. I now was on a mission to find out.

I hadn't confronted Tyson yet to see if he had gone to the movies with Hilary. Luckily he was in the library during study hall. I had told my gym teacher that I was having "troubles" and needed to desperately sit down. I walked into the library, looking for the familiar yellow and red cap and loud noise but I found instead, the cap next to his book bag and him being quiet for once in his life. I dropped down into the seat in front of him. "Hi." I said, giving him a smile as he looked up.

Tyson leaned back in his chair. "What are you doing?" He asked. Tyson and I weren't exactly on good terms. Even while he was dating Hilary. They dated for almost two years until he dumped her on the first day of school last year. He didn't exactly give her a reason but I had the feeling huge had been the demise of their relationship. "Look, I don't know where she is."

"Did I ever said you had something to do with it?" I asked. I reached into my back pocket and grabbed the ticket. "Did you go to the movies with her the night before she disappeared?"

Tyson looked down at the ticket and looked back up. "Yes I did. But she invited me. She said she had something to discuss with me."

Hilary had gone with Tyson to the movies. What the... "What did she have to say?"

"We're not getting back together if that's what your wanting to ask. And what she said, I can't repeat. Her words."

I slammed my hand down on the ticket, sliding off the desk and back into my pocket. "Why can't you?"

"Because she said that there will be a time when you'd come to me and ask me why I was with her and what she said. She said not to ever tell you anything except this, Nevermind."

I looked at him. "Nevermind?"

He raised his hands up. "Don't ask me."

I looked away. Outside it was starting to rain. Kai Hiwatari was just outside the window, on his phone. He still looked worried, you could tell by the way he was pacing and frowning. Did Kai Hiwatari have something to do with Hilary's disappearance? I am going to find out.