AN/ I'M BACK! Finally... Hope you haven't forgotten the story. I don't know if you've noticed but from now on every other chapter will be from Kim's point of view and all the chapters in between will be from Jack's point of view.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Kickin it.

Chapter 9

Searching

Kim's pov.

"But he was staying at your house tonight, right?" I could hear her getting more anxious. "He sent me a text yesterday evening, saying that he was going to, since you two had so much to work on on your project." A wave of fear went through me as realization hit me… I took a deep breath before saying "He hasn't been staying at my place and none of us have seen him all day…"

"What do you mean you haven't seen him?" Mrs Brewer spoke louder and faster than before and it sounded as if she was going to panic. I couldn't blame her, the same feelings were going through me as well but I'd tried to hold it together though. I didn't know what to answer her. I had meant exactly what I said. "…but he hasn't been at home either…" She said, close to tears now.

Feeling that I needed to do something that could calm both me and her down, I spoke.

"Look, the last time I saw him was yesterday. Right here at the mall." I tried to sound hopeful. "Maybe he's still around here somewhere or someone must have seen him."

There was a moment of silence before I heard her take a deep breath. "I'll try to call him one last time…" she said. "…and if he doesn't answer I'm going to call the police and report him missing."

"Ok good." I said. "We'll go and search for him here at the mall. I'll call you back if we find him or anything else that could help us."

"Okay, thank you." She hung up before I had the chance to say goodbye probably to anxious to wait any longer to call him.

I looked up at the rest of the guys that had been standing around me trying to hear as much as possible of our conversation.

"What's going on?" Rudy asked concerned. I think he knew the answer, he just couldn't believe that it was true and neither could I.

"Jack's gone." The words were hard to for me to say.

"What do you mean gone?" Milton asked.

"I mean no one has seen or heard from him since yesterday." I retorted.

"This is bad…" Rudy said shaking his head.

"Yeah…" Jerry said. "Now I can't give him the no…"

"Sup guys?" Austin greeted in his normal cheerful tone as he entered to dojo.

We all turned and looked at him. No one had to say anything while our faces clearly showed that something was wrong. Austin's smile disappeared and was replaced by a worried frown.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"Jack's gone." Eddie answered. My heart ached a little by the mention of those words.

"Oh…" Austin looked surprised and almost frightened at first, but quickly changed, probably trying to maintain his cool and relaxed image. "What are you going to do about it?"

I raised my eyebrows. That was a stupid question to ask.

"We're gonna go and look for him." Rudy said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, which it actually was.

"Oh…ok" Austin nodded.

"We don't have time to stick around here any longer." Milton threw his hands in the air as to making a point. "I say we split up."

"Good idea." Rudy said. "Jerry and Eddie come with me. Kim you'll go with Milton… and Austin you can help too."
Austin had an anxious expression on his face and there was a moment of hesitation before he answered.

"Yes, of course." He put on a smile, but neither the smile nor the words were convincing. I was disappointed of him by that. Did he really have to think it over before answering? I mean if anyone asked me to help finding a missing person, I wouldn't give it a second thought. Was it because he didn't like Jack (which I've figured out he didn't) or was it something else?
I looked at Austin trying to make out what was hiding behind his faked smile. It sure was something I just couldn't put my finger on it.

"Great! Let's go then." Rudy said as he gestured for us to come with him.

Outside Rudy, Eddie and Jerry made it to the other side of the mall and I was left with Milton and Austin.

I was thankful to be with Milton. His brain is almost like a secret weapon and he will probably pick up things that the rest of us would overlook.

"Ok, so when was the last time anyone saw him." He asked.

"Yesterday around two o'clock, right here in the courtyard." I replayed. "I went into the dojo and Jack and Austin were waiting outside..." I had turned towards Austin at the same time as I mentioned his name.

Austin looked a bit nervous at first. Weird…

"What?" He raised an eyebrow.

"You were the last one who saw him." I said. "Could you tell us more specific what happened when I was gone."

"Sure. He sat down on the bench over there." Austin pointed. "…and I headed over to Reptile World to check out those weird-looking lizards."

"Yeah those lizards always freak me out." Milton shuddered. "It's like their tiny eyes never stop staring at you and that tail that…"

"Guys!" I interrupted. "Can we please stay focused on the case here?"

"Sorry Kim." Milton apologized before looking curiously at Austin.

After a few seconds of awkward silence Austin noticed us waiting for him to continue.

"Oh right… I was standing right about here…" he placed himself outside the window of Reptile World. "…and then Frank came from over there. He stopped and talked."

I saw Milton's eyes almost pop out of his head by the mention of Frank.

"You don't mean Frank from the Black Dragons I hope." He said.

"Yes I'm pretty sure I do." Austin replied.

"WHAT?!" Milton exclaimed. "Do you have any idea…!"

"It's ok Milton." I put my hand on his shoulder in an attempt to calm him down. "What did Frank say?" I turned to Austin again.

"He just wanted to know…" He hesitated "…if I was going to be a part of your dojo since he's seen me hanging out with you guys a lot and he wondered if I was going to be at the tournament. But I told him that I'm only here to visit and I'll soon be going home again." He rambled nervously.

It sounded kind of weird that Frank would bother to care about that, but I didn't ask anything more about it. The only thing that I could focus on was Jack and to find out where he was was the most important thing at that moment.

"What was the last thing you saw of Jack." I asked.

"Like I told you before he just hurried of in that direction without saying a word." Austin said.

We looked at the scene where Jack was last spotted. He had been heading deeper into the mall. That was odd. There was nothing there, that I could think of that he needed to hurry of for. There was no one he knew neither were there any stores that he would care to visit only a couple of bathrooms and a …

That's when it hit me. Jack hadn't been feeling so good when we left Falafel Phil's. He had said that he was alright but he had looked pale and he'd been unusually quiet. How come I hadn't thought of that earlier?

"The bathroom." I said as Milton and Austin gave me weird looks. "That's where he was heading."

We walked in silence. Our hopes of finding Jack somewhere here in the mall were as good as gone. There had been no sign of him anywhere, not even the bathroom which I had been so sure there would be some sort of clue in. I was on the verge of crying as we made yet another search around the mall, looking in places that we've already looked in. The searching had been going on for hours and it was getting dark outside. What if we never find him? I quickly block the thought out of my head. Of course we're gonna find him… I reassured myself.

We stopped as we reached the dojo again meeting the rest of the guys.

"Any luck?" Milton asked.

Rudy just shock his head as my heart sank to the bottom of my chest.

"Look it's starting to get late and his obviously not here anywhere so…" Austin began.

"No, no" I shook my head. "We can't give up now." The lump in my throat grew, making it hard for me to talk.

"Austin's right." Rudy said. "I've talked with Mrs. Brewer for over an hour ago and she has contacted the police, so there's really not much more we can do now. I'm sorry. You should all go home and rest and let the police take over."

"But what if he's still here somewhere and needs our help." I said my voice cracking at the last words, my vision getting blurry from the tears that threatened to fall from my eyes. I did my best to suppress them though; I was not going to cry...

"He's not we've already checked everywhere." Austin reassured. I knew it was true but I just couldn't accept the fact that he was gone. I couldn't speak without breaking down crying so I just gave them a small nod to let them know that I understood the situation.

"Well, see you all in the morning." Milton said as he gave us a weak smile.

"Bye…" Eddie muttered before he and Austin made their way out. They all left with their heads hanging and the usually so cheerful group of boys remained silent. Rudy and I were the last ones to leave.

"Do you want me to drive you home?" He offered.

"No, I'll walk."

"Are you sure." I gave him a nod as a stupid tear fell and made its way down my cheek. I quickly wiped it off.

"Look, I know this is hard for you and we're all worried, but we gotta have faith that Jack will come back." He put a hand on my shoulder. "And after all he's Jack, if anyone can take care of themselves it's him." I smiled a little at that before he continued. "Tomorrow's a new day and we'll continue the search then. No one has given up on finding him, Kim."

"Thanks." I sighed feeling a bit better.

"So are you sure you don't want a ride home?"

"Yes I'm sure." I nodded "It's not that far, but I'll better get going it's getting late."

"Ok, See you." Rudy smiled

"Bye." I said before I turned around and left.

I took one last stroll outside of the mall, just to make sure we hadn't missed anything. As I was alone in the dark, the feeling of hopelessness filled me. How was I supposed to be able to go to school in the morning if Jack wasn't there? Everything there reminded me of him and to just sit there and wait for someone else to find him… That wasn't going to happen…

I took out my cell, searching through my contact list until I got to Jack's. In a last desperate try to reach him I called the number, knowing already that it would be pointless. The signals went on until Jack's voice answered on the other end.

"Hi Jack here, I can't take your call right now, but call later or leave a message after the beep…"

The sound of his voice made the tears starting to form again. I missed him so bad already. It was then and there that I made a promise to myself that I was never ever going to stop searching for him, not for as long as I lived and I would do whatever it took to get him back.

I had almost made it around the whole mall by now. Standing beside the dumpster I dialed his number again just to hear his voice again. It was like the small voice message was the only thing that connected him to me and I needed to hear it. As soon as it started ringing on the other end a very familiar tune came from the dumpster. I instantly recognized it. Just to make sure I hung up and the melody stopped. My heart skipped a beat as I realized that Jack's phone must be in the dumpster, perhaps even Jack… The last thought scared me and horrible images flashed before my eyes. Trying my best to think positive thoughts I called his phone again trying to locate the sound. I climbed up on the side of the dumpster. The smell was disgusting, but I knew what I had to do. I carefully crawled down into the dumpster feeling my way through as the darkness made it almost impossible to see anything at all. As soon as I was safely on the giant pile of trash I used my phone as a torch. It didn't take too long before I found the sack where Jack's phone was in. I kept calling until I could see it. I dug it out from under some wet tissues… I probably don't want to know what was on them… The smell and feel of the sticky trash grossed me out and I was almost on the verge to throw up. I had to constantly remind myself of that Jack was definitely worth this.

After grabbing the phone I quickly made my way out again. Once on the ground I searched Jack's phone for his latest call or text. There were about 35 unanswered calls, I didn't look at them so closely knowing that probably more than half of them were from me.

He hadn't made any calls yesterday, just a few text's and one in particular caught my attention. The text message was sent to his mother around a quarter past two, that's just like ten minutes or something after we left Falafel Phil's and read 'hi, I'm staying at Kim's tonight. We're working on a project and there's a lot to do, it looks like it's gonna be late. I'm offered to sleep on the couch /Love ya Jack.'

I read the text over and over again. I remembered that Mrs. Brewer had mention that Jack was supposed to sleep at my house, but I hadn't paid much attention to it since the fact that he was missing had occupied my thoughts.

The weird part was that we hadn't agreed that he would sleep at my place and there was definitely no project that we were working on. So the question was; why would he lie to his mother about something like that?

It made no sense to me. Not to mention the fact that his phone was in the trash. It's almost as if he wanted to disappear. I couldn't help but feel guilty. I hadn't been so nice to him for the past days and what if he ran away because of me?

No, that probably wasn't it… Maybe he didn't wanna disappear, but someone else did…

The thought made me panic slightly and I hurried of home, to tell…someone about this…and to take a shower…

Hope it was worth waiting for... Ok so now to some questions... What was Jack's phone doing in the dumpster and what's up with the text message?

Is Austin hiding something and if so, what is it?

And we still don't know where Jack's location is...(well I sort of do, but you get it;P...)

What do you think?

Next chapter is almost done and if I get some help and inspiration from you guys I'll probably be able to update tomorrow or on Saturday;)

Thanks for reading, see ya.

/MJ