High School. A teen's best friend. Yeah Right.

By Risty Maskell and Silver15

Disclaimer: I wanted to go see Tolkien, see if he'd sell them to me. But then I found out he's dead.

Summary: Righty-o, Chapter 44. You lazy lot of …people. Read the rest of the story and maybe I won't be as mad as you think.

A/N: Most of this chapter is from Billee's point of view. Only the first two paragraphs are Emma speaking.
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I wandered around for ages. All around the gardens, hiding behind trees if I saw anyone. Then I went out onto the road and walked down there for a bit. I saw Jaime leave, but all I didn't take any notice. As far as I was concerned, our friendship was finished. Maybe in time I could forgive her and Billee, but I knew in my heart that our friendship would never be quite the same again.

I didn't want to go to bed. In fact, I didn't want to face any of the others again. So I sat behind some bushes and thought horrible thoughts about all of my former friends.

When I finally went in, long after everyone else was asleep, I realised that Jaime's bed was empty. I didn't think too much about it, I figured that she would be back tomorrow…

(Billee's POV)

Me, Legolas and Boromir were making our way to our dorm when Jake came running up to us.

"Billee" he said, his voice shaking. "I think Jaime's gone. Her horse isn't here. And Emma said that she didn't care where she was"

"Emma's just a bit upset," I told him softly, wishing that it were true. I knew, from experience, that Emma is capable of hating people for a very long time. I didn't think she was going to forgive and forget easily. "As for Jaime" I continued. "I think we had better tell Elrond"

I could see that Elrond was limping as he opened his office door. He gestured for us to come in and limped back to his desk.

"What happened to you?" I couldn't resist asking. Elrond sighed and shook his head.

"Emma kicked me in the shin" he admitted. "Gave me quite a shock. Do you know where she is now?"

"Jake saw her wondering around the gardens," I said quickly. "She'll come back in when she's ready. Elrond?"

"Yes"

"I think Jamie's missing" Jake said, trying to hold back the tears. "Her horse has gone"

Elrond fell silent for a moment. "Are you sure that she hasn't just gone to be by herself for a while?" he asked finally. "She did it last year, remember?"

"I remember sir" I nodded. "Well, it's a possibility I guess"

"Go to bed" he told us. "If she isn't back by tomorrow, we'll have to take some action."

"Okay sir" I sensed that Jake wasn't very happy about this, but I pushed him out of the office anyway. "She'll be back," I told him confidently. "At least, I hope she will" I said quietly to myself.

I was one of the first awake the next morning. Taking care to be quiet, so as not to wake the others, I went out of our room and went to the girl's room. Reesa and Indigo were still fast asleep. Emma's bed was empty, but had obviously been slept in. Jaime's bed hadn't.

Even before breakfast, I woke Legolas and told him what I intended to do. Then we went to see Elrond.

"She still isn't back?" he asked as soon as we entered his office. We shook our heads and he sighed. "Well, I suppose we'll have to send some people out to look for her" he said.

"Hold on sir" Legolas said quickly. "Billee has a plan, if you'd care to hear it"

"Go on then" he looked at me and gave a small smile. "What is it?"

"I think she's gone to Midgewood," I said calmly. "Let me and Legolas go after her. We can ride there in two days"

"I can't let you do that, Billee" Elrond said patiently. "What if something happened to you? Jamie's parents don't seem to be the sort of people I'd want you to meet"

"I can look after myself, sir," I said firmly. "Besides, two young elves aren't likely to draw much attention to themselves if they ask questions"

"I see your point" Elrond said quietly. "And I firmly believe that if I don't give you my permission, you'd only go and do it anyway. Just promise me that you'll be very careful"

"Will do" I smiled at him. "Thanks sir, don't look so worried. We'll be fine"

"I hope so" I heard him mutter as we went out of his office. "I really hope so"

We went back to our dorm and told Baz, Jake and Boromir where we were going. They wanted to come with us, but I pointed out that only me and Legolas actually had permission, that someone needed to stay because of Emma (Boromir, of course) and that although I wasn't being nasty, elves could ride much faster than hobbits and the faster we rode, the sooner we'd find Jaime. They seemed to accept that, although Baz wasn't too happy about it. I think he knew deep down that Jake needed him to stay in any case, so he didn't make a fuss.

They insisted on walking to the stables with us though. On the way, we saw Emma sitting under a tree. Although I figured it would be useless, I was determined to try and talk to her.

"Emma!" I called. "Can I talk to you?"

She looked up and glared at me. "Piss off!" she yelled at me. "Haven't you done enough? I hate you, I hate all of you" Before any of us could move, she jumped up and ran off. Boromir started to go after her, but Legolas held his arm.

"Later" he said. "She still seems very upset. This is a hard thing to have to deal with. Just give her a bit of time"

"Or about five hundred years" I muttered under my breath. "How did it come to this?"

Legolas looked at me sadly and I knew that he had heard. However, he could give me no answers. Emma, well to be honest, I didn't believe that she'd get over this in a hurry. She was going off into her own little world, blocking us out. And I was worried about what she might do. And I was worried for Jaime too. I don't know why, but I guess I was scared that she might try and do something stupid too. I know that Jaime's not like that, but even so… 

As we rode away from the school, me on my beloved horse, Starlight, and Legolas on one of the school horses, I voiced my fears to him. Deep down, I guess I wanted him to reassure me that I was worrying about nothing, but of course he couldn't do that. I felt guilty about leaving Emma too, especially when she was in such a state.

As we began to gallop across the fields, my mind began to clear and I suddenly felt free. Riding has that effect on me. I can forget all my problems. Just for a short time, nothing else matters.

We reached Midgewood in the late afternoon. We had a small amount of food, so we sat on a log and shared it between us, all the while wondering what to do next. While we were eating, a few hobbits, both old and young, gathered around us. They seemed incredibility fascinated by both our horses and us. None of them would come too near, but they stood and watched us from a distance, smiling when we looked up.

We asked a few of the hobbits if they had seen Jamie around. They all insisted that they hadn't, so finally I asked where her house was, intending to ask her parents.

I could see that they didn't want to tell me, but finally one of the older ones pointed to a small house, right in the corner. On the outside it looked a right mess and I didn't even want to think what it was like on the inside. We gave them our thanks and slowly walked towards the house.

When we got there, we knocked on the door, but no one answered. Legolas looked through the window and reported that he could see no one. The house seemed deserted.

"I don't think she's here," I said with a sigh. "I guess we should find somewhere to sleep for the night and ride back tomorrow morning"

"I wonder where she could be," Legolas said, glancing back at the house. "You don't think she's gone to Hobbiton?"

"Possibly" I shrugged. "Anyway, she isn't here. It's out of our hands now. We had better just let Elrond take care of it"

As we walked out of town, we heard two hobbit children talking.

"Hey" the first one said. "Did you hear about that accident yesterday?"

For some reason, my heart stopped in my chest and I turned to look at Legolas. He looked pale and I knew that he was thinking what I was thinking.

"Kid" I said, more sharply than I had meant to. "Where did this accident happen?"

"A couple of miles back" one of them said, obviously scared out of his mind. "If you follow the road, there are two cottages. Baradas took her in"

"Thanks" I called as I quickly mounted Starlight. With Legolas behind me, I rode hard; worry clouding my mind again. It only took us about half an hour to reach the cottages, but it seemed like much longer.

We tied the horses to the gatepost and knocked on the first door. It was opened by an older hobbit who smiled warmly at us.

"Hello, and what can I do for you?" the hobbit asked kindly. "It's a bit late for two youngsters to be out, isn't it?"

"Are you Baradas?" Legolas asked. "We are friends of Jamie's"

"Oh" the hobbit held the door open wider. "Than I suppose you had better come in. It might do her good to see some friends"

A/N: Hell, did that make any sense? If it didn't, then I apologize; I'm half asleep at the moment. And sorry about the length, I guess I just got carried away. It's getting really interesting now, isn't it?