3

As the taxi parked in front of Catherine Wilson's house, she sighed. She'd spent the summer in London with her family, and wished she never had to leave. She opened the door and stepped outside. She took her suitcase and rolled it up to the front door. Her mother unlocked the door and Catherine went straight up to her room, carrying her suitcase.

Catherine finished unpacking and fell on to her bed. She took out her new lilac HTC Salsa and opened her contacts. She thought about texting Avery or Maria, but then she remembered, in the year-and-a-half that Lucie's been gone, the three of them have drifted apart, barely ever speaking to each other. Avery had taken Lucie's place, and probably completely forgotten about Maria and I, Catherine thought, she probably thinks I'm a loser. Maria, well, she's snatched every leading role in school plays, and is the president of almost every school club.

Catherine decided to go out for fresh air. She ran downstairs, slipped on her pair of burgandy Vans and opened the front door. She walked to the Lilywood mall, it was only a five-minute walk. The smell of designer perfumes and rich food made her feel sick. She walked to Polar, the small cafe where the less-rich Lilywood citezens are normally found having breakfast and lunch.

When she slid in to an empty booth, she picked up a menu. She decided to go for a latte. She was about to stand and go to the counter and order when she heard a familiar voice behind her.

'Catherine?' she turned around to find a familar dark-haired figure standing behind her. It was Andrew, Lucie's brother.

'Uh, hi', she started. What was he doing here? After Lucie disapeared, Catherine had never seen them anywhere, she'd assumed they'd moved away.

'I thought you guys moved away after... you know', Catherine said nervously, she never told anyone this, but she had a huge crush on Andrew.

'We did, but we never sold the house, we're moving back now. Oh and you are Catherine, aren't you? I'm not getting you mixed up with one of the others?'

'Yeah, but call me Cat, everyone does', she gave a tense smile.

They sat together for around thirty minutes, then Catherine had to leave, she walked back home.

It was dark outside now, and Catherine was watching tv in her room. She had a feeling someone was watching her, so she looked out her window. She let out a gasp. There was a figure in a red hoodie standing on the street, looking right at Catherine's house. When the figure saw Catherine staring, they turned and walked away, in the direction of Lucie's house. Red hoodie, red was Lucie's favourite colour, and the figure... they had Lucie's blonde, wavy hair.

Suddenly, her HTC beeped, one new message, the screen said, she opened the new message.

Welcome home Cat, miss me?

xoxo, Lucie

Catherine ran downstairs and opened the front door, Lucie was alive, she was back! Catherine had been gone for a whole summer, and they wouldn't have known about Lucie in London, so there was no way she would've found out if Lucie was back. She just couldn't believe neither Avery nor Maria had called her with the news.

She banged on Lucie's front door.

'Lucie! Lucie!', she screamed. Lucie's mother opened the door, she looked shocked.

'Lucie! She's alive!' Catherine screamed, 'I saw her outside my house!'

'Is this some sort of sick joke?' her mother asked, she looked upset, worried, shocked, a mix of them all.

'What? I saw her, that's why you moved back, because she's alive, right?' Catherine's throat felt sore now.

'I never want to see you again', her mother started, 'I thought you were her friend'. She said coldly before slamming the door in Catherine's face.