Tracy had often heard her mom saying that when one area of your life was going well, something always happened to make the rest of it fall apart. Today that was turning out to be truer than ever.

Last night had been perfect – Link had taken her home (albeit more than two hours late, much to Edna's vocal displeasure) after their date at the studio, and Tracy had fallen asleep clutching the little heart tightly in her palm. However, when she reached school she knew immediately that something was wrong.

For one thing, Penny wasn't there to meet her in homeroom.

That's odd, Tracy thought to herself. Penny's mom would never let her take a day off school and it's not like Penny to cut class.

Whilst the teacher took the register, Tracy continued to wonder to herself where her best friend was – maybe Link would have heard from Seaweed by the time she saw him at break.

But when she met up with her boy by her locker, he was just as puzzled as she was – Seaweed was also nowhere to be found. Tracy, optimistic as she was, didn't see any reason to worry … she was just annoyed that Penny wasn't there so that she could tell her about last night and Link's gift (which, to Tracy's great delight, had triggered an undisguised open-mouthed stare from a certain Miss Von Tussle).

By lunchtime, Tracy decided that she would have to use the school's telephone to find out where her friend was – as much as she tried to hope for the best, her intuition told her there was more to the situation than she was thinking of. She tried to quieten down her racing heartbeat as she held the receiver to her ear and heard the ringing tone, Link standing anxiously beside her.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Mrs Pingleton? It's Tracy here."

The note of displeasure in Prudy's voice was unmistakable.

"Oh, Tracy. Hello."

"Um… I was just wondering if Penny was at home; we've missed her today at school!"

"Penny is sick today. She has a bug, you know, it's been going around for a while. I'm sure it'll pass soon. I'll tell her you called."

And with that the conversation was over, sealed with a dull 'beep' on the end of the phone line.

Tracy furrowed her eyebrows and hung up. Link looked at her questioningly.

"She said Penny was sick and then just went. It was so weird."

"Did she say when she'd be back?"

"No, she didn't even say what was wrong with her."
Tracy paused momentarily, obviously thinking of what to do next.

"Link, how long do we have left of lunch break?"

He checked his watch, slightly confused.

"Uh, about forty minutes. Why?"

"I want to go and check Penny's house, see if she's there. Something just doesn't seem right at all … would you mind taking me over there?"

He rolled his eyes and smiled.

"Would I mind? Huh, well let's see … Come on Trace, it's me!"

She gave a little giggle.

"I'll meet you in the car, Link; I just need to get some stuff first."

88888

When they arrived at Penny's house, Tracy suddenly realised that Prudy would realise something was up if she saw Link's car waiting outside her window.

"Link, can we drive round the back? If Penny's there she'll be able to let me in at her window like she did that night."

She grinned at the memory as Link did as he was told, as always, and took her round the back.

Climbing up, with as much difficulty as she had had previously, to look into Penny's window, Tracy saw that the bed was empty and neatly made and her suspicions were confirmed. Penny wasn't in that house – since the Miss Hairspray fiasco with Seaweed Penny was only allowed to leave the house for school, and when she was at home she was confined to her bedroom.

But why would Prudy lie? What could have happened that Tracy couldn't know about?

She gestured to Link to let him know that the window was empty and he looked equally confused.

Just before she began the long and troublesome climb down, Tracy saw a paper note half-tucked under Penny's pillow, the front hanging out with the word 'Tracy' written boldly on it.

Wow, this just gets weirder and weirder, Tracy thought.

Unfolding the note, she saw that it read:

Trace,

I really hope you get this! Meet me at Seaweed's place straight after school. Bring Link if you want, I just need to talk to you.

Love ya,

Penny xoxo

A/N Sorry this is quite short, but I'm totally bogged down with school and so on at the moment – hopefully will be able to post more really soon! Also keep the reviews coming, your comments really do mean an awful lot to me and the positive response I've had is part of the reason I've carried on writing. You guys are the best! Peace xoxo