Some interesting innuendos, if I do say so myself. :D

CHAPTER 17 -DAY 11 continued-
André's POV

Sikowitz returned, shaking his head. I had my phone out in an instant, dialing Mr. Vega's number. My hands were shaking wildly and Beck was watching me as Sikowitz hurried over.

Come on, Mr. Vega. Pick up, pick up, pick up, I thought.

"Hello?" the tired voice asked.

"Mr. Vega!" I exclaimed, standing up. Beck raised his eyebrows at me. "I'm so glad to hear your voice, sir!"

"Hold on, is this André?"

"Yes it is, sir," I replied, unable to mixed emotions. I took a deep breath and said, "I'm so sorry to tell you this, Mr. Vega, but we think that your daughter has been kidnapped."

Mr. Vega went silent for a few moments, and I almost repeated myself but he interrupted, sounding very irked.

"What? She has been what?"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Vega," I apologized. "We're trying to find her right now. Just an hour ago, all of us ate out at a restaurant with some of the crewmembers and staff that work for Vegas 777, and Tori went to the bathroom. But she never came back. We sent the girls out to find her, but she wasn't anywhere to be found.

"Then we—Beck, Sikowitz and me—came back to the hotel to look around, but she wasn't here either. We even asked the hotel staff if they might've seen her, and no one has. We have no idea where she is."

"Did you try calling her?" Mr. Vega sounded a little more professional.

"Yessir. We did, and she's not responding."

"Well, this is terrible news. Spread the word about this as much as you can. Good God, this trip is turning out to be a lot more trouble than anyone ever thought, huh? First Trina sneaks over, you kids get ambushed, and now Tori seems to have been kidnapped.

"You know what else, I'll come over to. If she really has been abducted, then we're going to need all the help we can get. Hold on, let me talk to my wife really quick. And just stay calm, André; everything's going to be okay." He hung up.

I stared at Sikowitz and Beck, a huge hole burning in my heart.

"What did he say?" Beck asked.

"He said that we should start spreading the word about Tori gong missing," I replied. "If she really wasn't kidnapped…well, that's okay, because it's better to be safe than sorry."

"Did he say anything else?" Sikowitz inquired.

"Oh, he also said that he wants to come down here and help search for her daughter, if she's really missing."

"This is absolutely crazy, isn't it?" Sikowitz shook his head sadly. "Just a simple trip…now it's more complicated than my grandma's orders at a fast food restaurant!"

I had no idea how to respond to that when my phone started ringing again. I answered it immediately and brought it up to my ear.

"Okay, André, so I talked it over with my wife, and she wants you guys to search for Tori for one more hour, and one more hour only. If you still can't find her or anything, call me back and I'll fly over as soon as possible. I don't want to wait too long, but I also don't want to buy a ticket only to find out that she got locked in a bathroom or something."

"Will do, Mr. Vega," I responded, almost chuckling.

"Okay. Thanks for letting me know, and call me back if anything happens, all right? We'll get this solved eventually." He could probably hear the nervousness in my voice.

"Bye, sir," I said.

"Bye, André."

I put my phone back in my pocket. Beck and Sikowitz both stood up.

"So what's the plan now?" Beck asked.

"We search everywhere within the next hour, and if we can't figure anything else, I'll call Mr. Vega back and he'll come over to help us, since you know, he's a police officer and stuff," I answered.

Just at that moment, Cat, Robbie and Jade marched in through the hotel doors. Beck hurried over to Jade and put his arms around her, she was frowning considerably, while Cat and Robbie seemed to be holding hands, heads bowed towards each other.

"Did you find her?" Cat asked as she approached us. Robbie didn't leave her side, grinning wide.

"No. But I just called her dad, and I've got a plan," I responded. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Jade rolling her eyes in disgust. I ignored her and looked at everyone else.

I pulled my mouth into a forced smile and said, "So who wants to have some 'fun?'"

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

We spent the next hour looking for Tori in the entire hotel. Well, I did anyway.

Jade gave up after ten minutes and fell asleep on one of the couches in the lobby, and it took Beck another fifteen minutes to wake her and get her off her lazy butt. Cat and Robbie just seemed to be playing hide-and-seek with each other on the fourth floor, and Sikowitz spent the entire time searching the candy booths near the poolroom.

I'm pretty sure I was the only one who was serious about finding her, and that made me feel sad deep down. I mean, Tori wasn't that bad to hang around, right?

After I had called Mr. Vega, I trudged up into my room, trying not to let the salty tears fall from my eyes. Robbie and Sikowitz left me alone (especially seeing that Robbie didn't let Cat out of his sight) but I didn't mind at all. I needed it.

Mr. Vega called again and said that he was having trouble getting a plane ticket on such a short notice, despite the fact that he was a police officer and had connections. He said the earliest he could get over would probably be tomorrow morning, maybe after our broadcast.

Wait…our broadcast!

I was on pretty good terms with Mr. Highes, I think, and I'm sure he would let us report the missing person of Tori Vega!

It was perfect plan. Not to mention that it would safe us a lot of time

After that, I stopped moping and forced myself to go to bed, and hoped that in the morning, Mr. Highes would be willing to help us out.

ANCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

Cat's POV

Robbie giggled as he held my hand and walked me to my room. He wanted to hold off going to his room since André had looked pretty steamed earlier and Robbie didn't want to bother him. He was so considerate sometimes.

"That was fun, Robbie," I smiled as I inserted the key into door slot and pushed it open. "You're so funny."

"Maybe again tomorrow?" he said, his fingers wrapping around mine even when I tried to pull away. I nodded, trying to cover up my smile and he brought me towards hi chest, and I sighed. His breath was hot on my head.

"Iloveyou," he whispered.

"What?" I asked, looking up at him.

"Nothing," he muttered, holding me at arm's length. His cheeks were scarlet, and his eyes shone brightly. "I'll, uh, I'll see you tomorrow. Sleep tight, okay?" He gave me a shy wave and walked back down the hall.

I watched him leave before entering my room, closing the door behind me.

As soon as I turned on the lights, the first thing I noticed was that the carpet had dirty streaks, and some new tears. I took a few more hesitant steps forward, looking into the bathroom.

The counters were wet, the tap still dripping. I hurried over and turned it off. The Jacuzzi cover was ripped, the sounds of jets spurting bubbling hot water echoing louder than normal.

I went back out into the big room, looking at our beds. Clothes were strewn everywhere, and our luggages torn open and objects piled around them.

I almost screamed when I saw Mr. Teddy sitting on my pillow, his head gone, revealing the ragged stitches and stuffing falling out. I fell backwards, crawling away from my toy like it was going to come to life and attack me. I covered my face, waiting for the attack.

Nothing happened.

I peaked through my fingers. Mr. Teddy hadn't moved. I scrambled up, grabbing the wall for support, before fleeing out of my room and down the hall. I wasn't heading towards Robbie and André's though; I didn't want to bother them.

I came to Beck and Jade's door, pounding with all my might.

No one answered, so I hit it harder, until I thought I was going to bruise my hands.

Finally, finally Beck answered, and I almost wished he hadn't. He didn't seem to be wearing any clothes, except for a white Royale towel wrapped around his waist. He was very red in the face, and looked annoyed.

"What do you—oh hi Cat," he stepped aside to let me in. I spotted Jade sitting on one of the beds, her fingers fumbling to button up her shirt. Her face was pale compared to Beck's, who followed me over to her.

"What do you want, Cat?" Jade asked, shaking her head and letting hair fall in front of her eyes.

"Someone trashed my room and killed Mr. Teddy."

"Tori wasn't there though, was she?" Beck asked anxiously. His expression was unreadable, but I could tell that he was thinking about something that I wasn't seeing.

I shook my head.

"Crap, okay, let's go to your room then. I have a really bad feeling about this." Suddenly, he looked down at his body and realized that he wasn't really wearing anything. "Um…Jade can go with you. I was actually uh, just going to take a shower, you know, but I guess it can wait…"

"Yeah, take a shower in my c—" Jade tried to say.

Beck interrupted hastily with, "Yes, babe. Just go, okay? And be careful, please." He leaned and kissed her on the cheek. I wished Robbie would do that to me. Hold on…what? Boy, was I thinking funny today.

"Fine. You'd better not be joking about your room being messed up," Jade grumbled, grabbing my hand and pulling me out into the hall.

"I'm not Jadey!" I protested. "Someone hurt Mr. Teddy!" We came to my room and I opened up the door quickly. Jade let go of my hand and made me stand in the doorway while she went ahead.

"Well, obviously someone came in after Sikowitz did and was looking for something," Jade sniffed, kneeling on the ground and picking up one of my shirts, now in shreds. She looked up and jumped, seeing Mr. Teddy on my pillow. "Holy shi—"

I hurried towards her, holding on to her arm as we looked at my bear together.

"Wow, that's actually pretty cool," she said, shrugging me off and walking towards Mr. Teddy. She picked up his body, and I closed my eyes. "Oh, come on, Cat. You can look. It's okay."

I opened my eyes slowly. She tucked Mr. Teddy beneath the blankets, sort of like you would bury someone.

"Did anything else get stolen?" she asked, sitting on the edge of my bed.

"I didn't get to check," I replied. I approached her and the hidden bear slowly and quickly looked through my luggage. All of my jewelry seemed to be missing, even the new ones I had just bought and the green bracelet Jade had given me for my sixteenth birthday that I always kept with me.

But then I checked my secret compartment that held all of my money.

It was completely gone.

"Oh no!" I screamed, pawing through the entire bag desperately. The money was not in there, and I knew that I hadn't put it anywhere else…or did I? "My money's gone," I said to Jade, almost sobbing.

"How much was it?"

"Three hundred dollars," I sniffed.

Jade leaped up as there was a knock on the door. Our heads turned towards it in sync.

"Who is it?"

"Beck and Sikowitz!"

"Oh geez," Jade groaned, running over to let them in.

"I wanted to see how Cat is, seeing that Beck told me…" Sikowitz shut up when he noticed the huge mess. I rubbed my eyes and Jade went to stand back next to me, pressing her body against mine in a comforting hug. "Good Gandhi, what is this mess? It certainly wasn't here when I visited earlier…" His eyes got wide, and he snapped his fingers.

"So Tori—or at least her captors—must've been here, and they were looking for something. Cat's what's missing?" He pointed at me.

"Some of my jewelry, and all of my money," I sniffled into Jade's shoulder.

Sikowitz narrowed his eyes. "Precious and expensive object stolen…oi. We need to report this to the police. Now." He started heading towards the door before looking back at us. "Well, aren't you guys coming?"

Beck shook his head like he was trying to clear his mind and ran after Sikowitz.

"Come on, Cat," Jade said, her voice gentle for once. "We'll get you a new Mr. Teddy later if you want."

"Okay," I choked, not letting go of her as we left the trashed room.

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

Jade's POV

Cat hugged onto my waist like her life depended on it. I didn't mind, at least not too much. Sikowitz had gone to write a note for Robbie and André, telling them that we were going down to the nearest police station with Beck, Cat, him and me. He didn't want to wake them up, especially André, who seemed to be taking it really hard that Tori was missing.

Sikowitz came out of the room quietly, gesturing us to start towards the elevators.

"Okay," he said, "Jade, do you mind going down to the front desk and telling them what's happened to the room? You can bring Cat if she uh, doesn't let go of you."

Well, at least I don't have to go to the police station, I thought.

"Fine," I said, although not too happy about my position.

"All right, Beck and I will go down to the station. We'll file the report for Tori's kidnapping as well as our room having been broken into. Does that sound good, you guys?"

"Absolutely," Beck responded.

Cat just nodded.

"Whatever," I said, rolling my eyes.

"All right, team." Sikowitz put his hand out. Beck smiled and put his own on Sikowitz's. I sighed when I realized what they were doing, and reluctantly put Cat's and mine on theirs. "Go!"

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

Beck's POV

I could tell Jade wasn't exactly thrilled to be left with Cat at the hotel, but I trusted that she would get the job done. She might show that she didn't want to do anything or have anything to do with Tori, but deep, deep, deep down she did care about her, even just a little bit.

It was really late already, and we should've been in bed getting ready for tomorrow's broadcast, but instead we were here inside a taxicab driving towards the police station. Sikowitz was extremely quiet through the entire ride.

When we arrived, at first I though the place was closed because there were no lights coming from the building. Sikowitz bravely (or stupidly) walked up the concrete steps and pounded on the bulletproof door hard.

I waited close to the street, arms crossed against my chest, my breath vaporizing in puffs in front of my face.

The door suddenly opened up, revealing a big man swinging a nightstick.

"Yes?" he asked, looking down at Sikowitz. "I'm sorry sir, but if you're looking for a homeless shelter, well, it's a little farther down the road."

I laughed. Of course Sikowitz would be mistaken for some hobo. Just like Tori had on her first day at Hollywood Arts.

"No, I need to file a report for a missing girl," Sikowitz said, not even smiling for once. I ran up to stand next to him.

"Come right in, then." The man opened up the door wider for us to go through.

We ended up in an arched hallway, dimly lit with blue lights on the ceiling. The man, whose name was Mack, led us down it, his feet stomping loudly. Sikowitz walked next to him, and I was in the back, extremely cautious.

Finally we came to a big room, with only one desk mounted on a podium at the far end and three chairs in front of it. Mack hurried to slip behind it, propping himself up and looking down at us. He was now a full four feet above my head.

"What can I do for you gentleman, then?" he asked, picking up a pen and pulling off the cap with his teeth.

"Well, me and several other teenagers were here on the Vegas 777 program, and we just went to a dinner a few hours ago.

"One of my students went to the bathroom and did not come back. After about twenty minutes, we sent two girls to go and look for her, and she was nowhere to be found.

"Me and the boys came back to the hotel to check her room, which she was not in. But apparently, after I was gone, someone came in and trashed it completely, stealing three hundred dollars and tons of jewelry."

Mack scratched his chin. "The name of the girl, please."

"Tori Vega. We live in Los Angeles, California. I'm a teacher and the teenagers are students at Hollywood Arts High School."

"Very good. I need your name too, sir."

"Erwin Sikowitz."

"Sikowitz? What an interesting last name." Mack was scribbling furiously at his pad of paper.

"Yes, well, it was my great grandfather's," Sikowitz replied matter-of-factly.

"All right then boys." Mack climbed down from the high desk to stand next to us. I didn't realize how tall he was already, towering at least six-two, and he was swinging his bat in his large hands again. "Come with me. I need some more details so we can begin our search for this girl."

I sighed, following both men.

I certainly wouldn't be getting much sleep tonight.

Okay, so that was actually pretty enjoyable to write. And as you can probably tell, we are beginning to reach the end of this story. :'(

Oh, and don't forget to review! :)