Leroy had spoke to Renee's teachers earlier and found out that she was absent to both their classes. It was lunch time now, and there was still no sign of her. So, Michael was putting on a brave front. He was trying to calm Leroy down, to make him believe that Renee was perfectly fine, but even Michael himself didn't believe that.
"Her dad hasn't called the school yet. He's obviously not worried."
"I know that." Leroy snapped.
"So there isn't any need for us to be worried. He thinks she's fine so she probably is." Michael pleaded.
Leroy turned to glare at his friend. It was a look Michael had never seen before on him. "I don't trust that man."
The long nose groaned. "Under what basis?"
"You saw him Michael. You saw it."
"Saw what?"
"He was cold."
"He was smiling."
"His eyes were cold."
"…but he was smiling."
Leroy only stared Michael down. "Damn it Leroy? What do you want me to do?"
"I don't know." Leroy shut his eyes in despair. "I just don't know."
Michael bit his lip, "Maybe Mr. Woodenmeyer can help us. If we just explain everything to him."
"Yeah, maybe." Leroy agreed reluctantly.
They both turned to go find Mr. Woodenmeyer when Michael accidently bumped straight into a girl.
"Ahck. Sorry!" Michael yelped, helping the girl pick up her fallen items. Her friend was staring with wide eyes at Leroy then pointed quite rudely at him.
"You!"
"Me?" Leroy asked, pointing to himself.
Michael and the girl looked up to see what was going on. "Yes you!" The friend was saying.
"You're the one that Renee tutors, right?"
"Yes." Leroy said slowly.
The girl on the floor piped up. "Have you seen her today?" She picked herself up off the floor.
"No." Michael stated, also getting up. The two girls exchanged a worried look.
"What is it?" Leroy asked.
One of the girls shook her head and laughed sheepishly. "Nothing. Nothing."
The one who fell down looked at Michael. "Look, I'm sorry I bumped into you. And…yeah…we gotta go."
She turned to leave with her friend but Leroy held her back by the arm. "Where is she?" He spat.
The girl gulped, "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Yes you do." Leroy's voice was rising. "Where is she?"
"Leave her alone!" The other girl tried to free her friends arm. "We don't know anything!"
"Don't give me that crap!" Leroy yelled.
A crowd was starting for form and Michael tried to calm Leroy down, nervously. But he had to admit to himself, even he found the girls suspicious. They were obviously hiding something.
"Let me go! Let me go! You creep!" The girl Leroy was holding onto was almost to tears.
Leroy was about to yell right back at her when a toned arm pulled the girl free from him. To the girls horror it was now the fearful Gregory Winston that was holding onto her arm. But, he didn't seem to be taking note of her, his gaze was latched onto Leroy.
"What's going on?" Greg asked.
Leroy was still fuming with anger so Michael answered instead. "Renee's still missing. Those two know something. Won't tell us."
Greg's eyes flickered to Michael's before facing the girl. He narrowed his eyes calmly and said, "Where's Renee?"
The girl broke into tears and Greg, flustered, quickly let go of her arm. "I don't know. I don't know. I don't know." The girl fell to the floor crying.
The friend knelt down to comfort her friend and looked up to glare at Greg. "Look at what you did now." Then she faltered at the sight of Leroy. She shivered and started to tear up as well.
"We really don't know where she is. It's just…Samantha was joking around about getting revenge on her. Like, she was going to have that dealer Josh help her but…we thought it was only a joke." She was really starting to cry now, "We didn't think… we didn't know…"
Leroy turned to Michael, "Who's Samantha?"
Michael took a moment to remember. "That girl from the cafeteria. The one who…got in a fight with Renee. Remember her?"
Leroy nodded and turned to the girls. "And Renee is probably with her?" He asked.
One of the girls nodded. "Where does she live?" The girl looked at Leroy surprise.
"Where does she live?" Leroy repeated.
The girl shook her head. "You can't hurt her. What she did was wrong, but…she wasn't right in mind. You don't know her."
"I don't care about her." Leroy said, "I only want to find Renee. So if she is with this Samantha girl, I want to know where that is." Leroy repeated again, "Where does she live?"
The put on an anxious face but gave up the address. Leroy didn't pause a moment longer, he quickly turned and made his way out the school. Michael and Greg were following close behind. "Do you even remember the address, Leroy?" Michael exclaimed, tired from running.
Leroy stopped and started to stutter, but he really couldn't remember. Michael sighed, "Lucky for you I copied it onto my cell. Unlucky for you, it's real far."
"How far?" Greg asked. Michael jumped; he didn't even realize the guy was there.
"Err…" Michael was still quite nervous around the guy, "Real…far…"
Greg rolled his eyes. "Whatever, we can take my car anyways."
"You have a car?" Michael asked. What he really wanted to ask was: you can drive?
"Not really." Greg said, leading them to the parking lot. "It's actually a friend's, but it's real easy to steal."
"Steal." Michael gulped.
They stopped in front of a bruised old, dark green Ford. Greg stepped back from the driver's door and gave the car a good kick. The door popped right open. "Are you sure this is safe?" Michael asked fearfully.
"Nope." Greg said with a smile. Michael widened his eyes even further.
"Get in from here." He said, pointing through the open door. "The other doors don't open this way. I gotta go and grab something." He started to leave, "Be right back!"
Leroy climbed in the car after pushing Michael and scrunched up his nose. "Urgh. What's that smell?"
"…weed…and smokes…it's weed and smokes." Michael stared at Leroy, horrified. "I wanna get out! This is where they get high during school! I don't wanna be here! No!"
Leroy, sitting in shotgun started laughing at Michaels antics. "You're funny Michael! It's only a bad smell; you don't have to get all crazy!"
Michael was about to scream some more when a knock came to his side of the car window. He saw Greg standing out side of it holding a long wrapped parcel. Greg was motioning for Michael to open the car door so Michael did just that.
"Here." Greg carefully placed the parcel in Michael's lap. "Drop it and I kill you." He warned with a glare. Then firmly shutting the door he made his way to the wheel.
"What is this?" Michael asked, looking down at the parcel.
"My treasure." Greg answered.
Leroy yelped something about that being cool while Michael just stared down in wonder. Then remembering something he looked up hastily. "Are you sure you can drive? I mean…with…you know…"
Greg raised an eyebrow, "If by you know, you mean 'not having a license any more due to reckless driving' then sure." He gave Michael quite the evil smile. "No problem."
Michael's eyes widened out of their sockets. He pushed back farther into the seat, wishing for a seat belt that wasn't broken. Leroy only started to laugh while Greg pulled out of the parking lot at a very hazardous speed.
