Mallory Pike was home for the first weekend since she'd left for college. She'd finally chosen Northwestern for their excellent writing program, and now she simply had to decide between creative writing and journalism. As much as she missed home, Chicago's big city life was appealing to her, and now she really enjoyed it there.
Sitting on the edge of her sister's bed, Mallory looked around the room that at one time had been hers. She and Vanessa had shared this room less than a year ago. Now, when she was home, her parents had her sleeping on a couch in the rec room. Sixteen year old Vanessa had the room to herself now, and had completely remodeled. The corner where Mallory's books had been now contained notebooks full of Vanessa's poems. Mallory's bed was gone, and a state of the art entertainment center that Vanessa had bought herself now sat in its place. The Pikes weren't rich by any means, and once the kids hit sixteen, they had to get jobs and make their own money. So far, none of them had a problem with it, but Nick was next, so they'd see.
Suddenly, Vanessa walked into the room and stopped in surprise.
"Mal! You're home!" Vanessa cried, and hugged her sister tightly. Mallory smiled and stepped back, holding her sister at arm's length.
"Oh, good, I'm so glad to see you've barely changed. Except your hair! What did you do to your hair?" Vanessa laughed and tossed her newly highlighted and cropped mane. It used to be long and fluffy and brown. Now it was sleek and straight, with blond streaks through it and fell only to the tops of her shoulders.
"I wanted a change. Do you like it?" Mallory ran a finger through the new style, and nodded slowly.
"Yeah, yeah I do. At least you didn't do anything stupid, like when I dyed my hair bleach blond when we were in California." Vanessa dropped her mouth open in shock.
"You did?" They both started giggling as Mallory walked to the hall closet and pulled out a photo album. Flipping through her memories, Mallory finally found the pictures of her and the rest of the BSC in California. While Vanessa stared at it and laughed, Mallory got suddenly nostalgic. She'd been in sixth grade then with Jessi, while the others had been in eighth. She hadn't seen her best friend since their high school graduation six months before. Jessi had gone to a prestigious ballet school for the summer. They'd kept in touch with letters, e-mail, and calls, but that's all. The other girls she'd barely seen in the last two years since they left Stoneybrook. Occasionally she'd seen Kristy around town, and that was the extent.
"Mal? Have you even been listening?" Mallory glanced up startled.
"What?"
"Mallory, you haven't heard the first word I've said, have you?" Mallory smiled at her younger sister. Time certainly had made her sassy.
"I'm sorry, sweetie, I got distracted. What were you talking about?"
"I was saying since you were staring at Kristy so hard, you should probably know that Karen Brewer dropped out of school." Mallory looked up in shock.
"She did? When?" Mallory was suddenly interested. It had been a long time since she'd seen Karen, and her parents had just divorced. She hadn't been handling it well back then.
"A couple of days ago. She came in, withdrew, and walked out. No one's seen her since." She was startled by this fact. Karen had always been a bright, happy little girl. She'd even skipped a grade when Kristy had first met her. The fact that she'd dropped out of school showed that things had hit rock bottom.
"What do her parents think?" She asked Vanessa, trying not to sound as panicked as she felt.
"No one knows, like I said, no one's seen her. I would think they're worried sick." Vanessa said quietly, leaning against the wall.
"No one as in not even her family?" Vanessa nodded, and Mallory ran for the phone to dial Kristy's number.