Chapter 14

Kaylie's POV

I woke up bright and early to the sound of Lauren and Payson scuttling around the room.

"What are you guys doing?" I said sleepily.

"Checking out this room. It seriously sucks. There's no complimentary water, no towels, no bath robes, no nothing," Lauren complained.

"What did you expect, Lauren? It's a rest house, in a village," Payson said.

"Still, you'd think they'd put something in this room, seeing as the three best female gymnasts are staying in it!" Lauren protested.

"At least there's a bathroom and a shower," I said.

"We should get ready for breakfast or something," Payson said. I nodded and got out of bed. I went into the bathroom and stood in front of the sink. There were three toothbrushes and only one still inside its cover – so I'm guessing that was my brush. I took it out, squeezed some toothpaste onto it and began brushing my teeth. After I was done, I splashed water on my face, not knowing it was cold and I recoiled internally at the touch of it. I got out and saw Payson and Lauren sitting at the edge of the bed.

"I'm done. Let's go find ourselves some breakfast," I announced and we got up and walked out of the room. We went downstairs to the main area and saw Drew, James and Tyler talking to the old lady behind the counter.

"Morning," I exclaimed and the boys turned around, smiling at us. We walked up towards them and they gave us a hug.

"So, how was your sleep?" Tyler asked.

"Ugh, painful. The mattress is really hard," Payson grumbled.

"How's your room?" Drew asked.

"Sucks shit. Nothing in it, at all," Lauren whined.

"Excuse me, ma'am. But is there a convenient store in this village?" I asked the old lady behind the counter politely.

"Yes, there's one a few houses down," she replied with a smile.

"Thank you," I said and turned to Lauren. "See? Problem solved."

"Fine," she shrugged. "But I need food." My stomach grumbled in agreement. All I ate last night was a small salad and one sandwich. I'm starving.

"Me, too. Let's go find some food," James led us out of the rest house.

We arrived at a local café and found a table big enough for the six of us. We ordered some sandwiches and a few glasses of water. I needed to call Austin to tell him where we were and why we've been MIA last night. I took out my phone and began dialing Austin, but there was an error.

"What the hell?" I said. "There's no cell service around."

"What? Are you serious?" Lauren asked. At the same time, a waitress brought out our foods.

"This village isn't rich enough to afford mobile phones and so the telephone company didn't even bother expanding the range here. So we've got no communication to the outside world," the waitress said while settling down our foods.

"What do you mean? Sure you have tourists come by once in a while, right?" Payson questioned.

"No. None at all. We've never had an outsider visit our village. That is until you six came along last night. I'm surprised the cab driver knew where this village was." Huh. That's weird. How did the driver know this place if they have no access to the outside world?

"Do you have a land line that we could use?" Lauren asked.

"Sorry, we've got none. No internet and no phones," she replied.

"So how are we supposed to ask for a taxi to get back to Honolulu?" I asked.

"I'm afraid you won't be able to, unless you walk to Honolulu, which is approximately 50 miles away," she smiled.

"Walk? Are you kidding me?" Lauren exclaimed.

"Not at all. In this village, we walk everywhere," she smiled and went away.

"She seriously expects us to walk 50 miles in heels? She's crazy," Lauren nagged. I noticed we were all still wearing what we wore from yesterday. At least they were comfortable, except for the heels that are now beginning to hurt my feet.

"Better question. How would we even know which way to go?" Payson said. That reminded me. I had a map in my bag. Oh my god! That could be our lifesaver. We could figure where we are!

"Oh my god. I have a map in my bag," I told them. Lauren and Payson were ecstatic but the guys were…scared? Why were they scared? Shouldn't they be happy that we'd be out of here soon? I reached into my bag and took out the map. I laid it on the table. We were looking everywhere in the 50-mile radius to see where Loakai was. We couldn't find it anywhere.

"What? Why isn't this village on the map? Was it under another name?" Lauren asked. I put my hand up and the waitress came towards us.

"Is there anything you need?"

"Yes. We have a map here but we can't find this village anywhere," I told her, pointing towards the map. Her face was shocked. Why is she shocked? What is going on? She looked at Tyler and I saw that his face was pale and his mouth was pulled into a tight line. This is weird. She looked back at me and took a while before answering me.

"Well…uh…well, you see. Loakai used to be on maps, in the old ones that were around, like, 20 years ago or something. But recently, we were considered to be unimportant so they removed us from the map," she explained, while stuttering in the beginning.

"Oh," Payson managed. "Do you have a copy of the old maps around?"

"Not that I know of, no," she smiled. "Is that all?" I nodded and she walked away.

"That's weird. Do you think she's hiding something?" I asked.

"NO!" Tyler yelled. "I mean, no. She's not. What is there to hide, anyways," Tyler said in a softer tone.

"Okay, but you didn't need to yell at Kaylie, Tyler," Lauren said.

"No, it's okay. Don't worry about it," I said.

"Sorry, Kaylie," Tyler apologized. I smiled at him half-heartedly. I wasn't in the "happy" mood today. Want to know why? I'm stuck, in a village, in the middle of nowhere. Nobody knows we're here. I'm away from my boyfriend and he's probably worried sick. I miss Austin.

Austin's POV

Officer Johnson hadn't called us, which meant he has no leads to where they were. Where are they? Kaylie, where are you, gorgeous?

"Dude, what if they were murdered?" Nicky said.

"What the hell?" I snapped. "Don't say that, seriously."

"I'm just saying. I mean, we don't know where they are and their phones can't be reached. Incidentally, the other guys have disappeared as well. Seems obvious that the guys are with the girls," Nicky explained.

"Yeah, but how does that explain them being murdered?" Max backed me up.

"I'm just saying," Nicky shrugged.

My thoughts drifted back to Kaylie Cruz; the girl that captured my heart. She's a perfect little brunette. The way she used to push me away made we want her even more. I just had to pay attention to her, no matter what. See, I tried to pursue Emily, Payson and at one time, Lauren. But then it all comes back to her. To Kaylie Cruz. Just thinking about her makes me smile. Oh my god, what is happening to me? I'm Mr. Kobalt, Gymnastics' Bad Boy. I don't feel this way about any girl before. But then again, Kaylie Cruz isn't just a girl; she's the girl.

"I love you, Kaylie Cruz," I heard myself whisper.

"I think we all know that by now, Austin," Nicky mocked me. I smirked at his attempt.

"I know, but I'm Mr. Kobalt, I shouldn't-"

"Yes, Austin, we know. You're the king of hook-ups. You shouldn't love a girl. We understand," Max interrupted me.

"I know, but-"

"But you're Austin Tucker," Max interrupted me, again. I glared at him. "Sorry, but we've heard this too many times."

"Austin, you and Kaylie, you're like magnets. See, whatever you do, you always attract each other. Even when you're the same pole, you still attract," Nicky said and I gave him a confused look.

"What?"

"North and North doesn't attract, they repel," Max said.

"Exactly," Nicky explained.

"Okay, that doesn't even make sense, Russo," I smirked.

"No, it does. Listen to me. North and North are supposed to repel, right?" Max and I nodded. "But even when you're North and Kaylie's North, you still attract. Your level of attraction is undeniable."

"Okay?" I said, still confused. "Would you care to explain all that in normal English?"

"Technically, no matter what you do, you attract each other," Nicky sighed.

"When you put it that way, I see what you mean," I nodded my head slowly.

"I know what your problem is," Max said.

"What? I don't have a problem. What are you talking about?" I was surprised. No one's ever said Austin Tucker had a problem.

"No, you do have a problem, Austin," Nicky agreed.

"And may I ask what this problem is?"

"You're in love with Kaylie Cruz," Max and Nicky said simultaneously.

"What? Of course I know that. I love Kaylie. Isn't it obvious?"

"No, Austin. You don't just love Kaylie, you're in love with her," Nicky clarified.

"Yeah. You're in love with her until the point that you could not live without her," Max elucidated.

"Huh," I sighed.

"Austin, I believe you've finally reached the point where you go out and buy her the one thing that all girls love," Nicky said.

"And what is that?" I said, not knowing what the hell Nicky is implying.

"Oh, my god. You are so clueless!" Max said in defeat. I am clueless.

"It's that thing that is in a little jewelry box and you get down on one knee," Nicky said. Then it all sank in. I'm in love with Kaylie Cruz. I want to marry her. I need to marry her. She was, and still is, my significant other.

"I don't think Kaylie wants to take that humongous step right now. She's still focused on the Olympics, and we should be too," I sighed.

"You fucking idiot," Max said.

"Oy, who are you calling an idiot?" I playfully smirked.

"You're the idiot, Austin. You and Kaylie – wait, why am I explaining this? If you don't see it, then obviously you shouldn't do that just yet. But honestly, you and Kaylie are inseparable," Nicky explained.

"Remember when you and Kaylie broke up because of the douche, Brad Collins?" Max inquired.

"Don't remind me," I shrugged.

"No, listen to me. When you broke up, you became Mr. Kobalt. You even called Sasha a "dude" and you did the whole "See you later, suckers!" thing. Kaylie got in a car accident and we still don't know why. Do you know why?"

"I might know," I mumbled.

"Austin, spill. Now," Nicky ordered me.

"Okay fine. So you know she came over to talk to me right?" They nodded. "Well, I kinda said some things I shouldn't have."

"What did you say?" Max asked.

"I sorta told her that I never wanted to see her again," I sighed and then I felt two punches on my arms. "Dude, what the hell was that for?" I yelled while massaging my arm.

"Why the hell would you say that?"

"I was pissed! I didn't know what else to say. Who knew she'd get into a car accident," I defended myself.

"Well now you know. Anyways, she said "I love you" to you not Brad, when Brad was sitting right there. We were all there. Then on Monday we went to training, and Brad was gone."

"Yeah, that was me, too."

"What did you do, Tucker?" Nicky sighed.

"Remember when Kaylie said "I love you" to me? Well I was outside, just sitting there, waiting for her to wake up and I heard the whole thing," I confessed. "So the next day, I came back to tell Kaylie the truth because I knew Brad would twist it, you know? So I came after visiting hours to tell her and she knew I was telling the truth, because the next day, she broke up with Brad. He left me a note saying that he's leaving Boulder and gymnastics. He's somewhere in Portland right now."

"Now you see what I'm talking about?" Nicky said; I gave him a confused look. "You and Kaylie can't be separated. Even when she was dating another guy, she was still in love with you. You guys got back together and well, do I have to do any more explaining?"

"I guess not, I see what you-" I was interrupted by my ring tone. I took out my phone and looked at the Caller ID. Fuck.

"Who is it? Is it the girls?" Max asked and I simply shook my head.

"No, it's Sasha," I mumbled. I sucked in a deep breath and pressed the Answer button.

"Sasha?"

"Austin, how is the break going? The girls having fun?"

"Uh, yeah. We're having tons of fun. Thanks for the trip."

"Can I talk to Kaylie or Lauren or Payson? One of the girls?"

I looked at Nicky and Max and gave them a helpless look. "Uh, the girls are…uh," I stuttered. Nicky was pointing to the bathroom and it gave me an idea. "They're in the…bathroom right now."

"All three of them?"

"Yeah, all three of them. We're at a restaurant and you know; it's a girl thing. They never go to the bathroom alone."

"Okay, but do you know why the girls' phone can't be contacted?"

"Uh, their phones ran out of battery," I lied.

"All three of them?" Sasha repeated.

"Uh…they forgot to…to…uh…charge their phones," I said and Nicky and Max gave me a what-the-hell look. I shrugged my shoulders at them.

"Oh alright. See you all on Monday then," Sasha said and before I could say anything, he hung up.

"Crap, we have to be back by Monday, I totally forgot," I sighed.

"How are we going to find them in time? We only have four days," Nicky exclaimed.

"It's either we have to hurry up with this investigation or tell Sasha the truth," I suggested.

"Hurry up with the investigation," Nicky and Max said in unison. I nodded in agreement.

"Alright, so what do we do first?" Max asked. We three just looked at each other, all thinking the same thing: no fucking idea.

Author's note: well, we hoped you liked reading this chapter as much as we loved writing it! the only thing left to do is...review! xx