Okay so this may seem like a Famanda, but looks can be deceiving. Just read...

1/28/13

Finn's P.O.V

I didn't know what exactly happened. She might have gotten sidetracked. Or forgotten. Maybe there was an emergency with Jess. I sighed. I knew none of that was really a great option. Anyways, for the past ten minutes I'd been waiting out by the school garden for Amanda, where we always meet, at the same time we always meet, waiting to take her to the Frozen Marble, where we always eat on Friday's.

So that pretty much rules out the forgotten thing. And if something came up she probably would have called. I was being stood up and I guess I had to live with it.

After a few more minutes, I decided to call it quits and call her when I got home to make sure everything was alright. The drive home was lonely and quiet, the passenger seat being unoccupied; this was a new for me in a while.

When I got home, I said hi to my mom, who looked surprised that I was home so early, as she was also accustomed to my Friday schedule. My sister didn't seem to even notice, since she was locked in her own little world, listening to One Direction, that seems to play on loop every single day for her.

Once in the privacy and tranquility of my own room, I threw my stuff next to my desk and hopped onto the bed. I pulled out my phone and called Nash's place. What a pity they don't have their own cell phones.

"Hello?" I heard from the other line, though it wasn't a very familiar voice.

"Hi, this is Finn Whitman. Is -"

"Like, OMG, hi, Finn. It's Jeannie. Remember me?" Oh for the love of all things good and pure.

"Oh, yeah. Hey. Um, I was just calling to see if Amanda was there by any chance."

"Actually-Jess, wait a minute. I'm on the ph-" Suddenly, I couldn't hear anything but muffled whispers not lacking harsh tones.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Finn, it's Jess."

"Thanks for picking up the phone. Any more of talking to her and…well, you get my point. Is Amanda there? She wasn't there afterschool and I figured she must have gone back to Nash's."

There was a pause. "Wait, so Amanda's not with you?"

"No. Why, she's not there?"

"That would be a negative. Oh, great. This isn't good." I almost think I heard her hyperventilating over the phone.

"Jess? Jess, are you okay? What's wrong?"

"Amanda's been acting real weird lately. Like right after dinner she goes out on a walk then doesn't come back until late at night. Then she spends the next few hours until like one in the morning doing homework. I had a feeling something was up but I didn't think it was anything worth worrying about."

I sat up, all the information that she just spewed out at me sinking in. "What are you suggesting, exactly?"

"Well, hm, Finn, let me guess" She snapped, but from her voice I could tell she was fighting back tears. "A teenager, at an age where hormones are out of whack and we can be moody as heck, spends more time than necessary out alone every day and suddenly disappears. She's beyond upset about something. There were some fairlies at the old orphanage that did this before and they weren't found for days, maybe weeks."

"You don't think she might have…done something to hurt herself, do you?"

"I'm not going to discard it as an option. All I know for sure right now is that we'd better find her. We're in the middle of winter, it's fifty-something degrees out and her jacket's here."

"I'll start looking. Call the others and ask if they've seen her."

…

My mind was a mess of whizzing thoughts and questions looming around. Just getting the keys into the ignition caused trouble because my brain refused to process what I was doing at the moment.

The temperature had plummeted since the beginning of the day, now at a staggering 48 degrees. It wasn't the easiest thing in the world to look through my fogged windshield and I nearly had to turn my heater on all the way. I just really hoped that Amanda was okay and we were just overreacting to nothing.

First place to check that popped into my mind was the park. She loved to go there, especially during cold weather because she said it reminded her of when she was back up north. I parked the car real quick and stepped out.

To begin with, I was calm. At a slight stride, I made my way around the paths, looking this way and that. After a while, however, I started to get anxious at the setting sun, a sure since it was growing later than I would have hoped. I cupped my hands around my mouth and called out her name.

Squirrels scattered at the sudden noise, dashing up their trees to safety. Overhead, birds cried out to each other, as if warning them of the human below. There weren't many people in the park on such a cold day so I didn't have to worry about looking like a complete idiot. Beneath my feet, crisp leaves of reds and yellows galore crunched, recently fallen. Bare branches jerking in the wind made a distinct sound, setting a serene mood over the grounds.

I sighed, trying to make oxygen's regular routine follow through well. The cold had settled in my lungs at my yelling and I found it increasingly hard to continue shouting. I thought it useless to linger there if she obviously wasn't present in the estate.

Jogging back to my car to drive to the next decided location, I realized the sky was a brilliant fresco of pinks and purples, deep and light, either cascading or separating into swirls around the now virtually entirely vanished sun. The sunset would have been a gorgeous sight on any other day but now it seemed infinitely disheartening as it was a sign of how late it was becoming.

Next destination.

…

By now the first of the night's star were peeking out in their minor luminosity through the sheet of darkness blanketed atop the earth. My phone began to ring a familiar song and I answered it immediately knowing it was Jess.

"Any news?"

"Not yet. The others said that they looked too but they haven't found her. Do you think the O.T.'s got her?"

I sighed miserably. "I don't know. That's a possibility, but if she's been acting temperamental lately, I'd say that wasn't the case."

"Charlie said that she and Amanda were texting the other day. Apparently, she misses the snow and everything. You know, from Maine. That's gotta be something. But I don't get why that might have made her so upset. I mean, I get that she's homesick but it's not like things were so much better up there either."

"Hm. I don't know. It's getting real cold out. You should go home, get indoors. Tell the others too."

"No. No, I'm not going back until I know Amanda's safe. If you're staying out, I am too."

"Jess, you're support is incredible and Amanda will be so grateful for all the effort but please don't stay outside. You'll freeze."

"But, Finn, she's my sister."

"And you'd be a better one to her if you weren't an icicle. Please."

"Okay, fine, but don't stay out too late either."

"I won't. Bye."

She sighed. "Bye."

Philby's P.O.V

I was wholly reluctant to go indoors as Jess had ordered us. I knew how much it must have been hurting her that we hadn't found her sister yet. And Amanda was my sister too and telling me to stop looking for her wasn't a very tempting request. But I did so anyways after deciding I really didn't want to argue with Jess at that moment.

However, getting to sleep was a different story. No matter what I did, fatigue stayed just beyond my reach, tantalizing me with its promise of the unconscious world. So, I just laid there awake on my bed, without any real expectation of what tomorrow would bring.

My train of thought stayed on one rail: Amanda. I tried to remember any time that she might have mentioned something, anything that would be a clue right now. Every little detail, I was going over it. From the little trinkets she liked to keep on her night table to the way she recently seemed so interested in staring into space at our meetings.

Charlene had hinted towards a vague nostalgia. By now, I would have assumed that locked in place as reason of withdrawal. It just became a matter of where she might have run off to.

Subconscious mind was taking control and I wasn't the most sentient I could have been at the point that I jolted up with remembrance.

Instantly, I jumped off my bed, sitting down in the chair by my desk and began to call the others. There was no doubting the sluggish voices over the phone, still probably only collecting half of my speech, were hesitant at my idea. It's not like it would have been any of our first choices but we were taking any proposal at this point.

Immediately after hanging up, I was grabbing my keys and out the door. On the cold January night, everything seemed so quiet, with barely any passing cars and deserved pathways. The lights of lampposts flickered, giving off the impression they'd give out soon. Hopefully they'd last 'til morning.

As I turned into the abandoned area, maneuvering around trees, bare-branched and twilight-infected, I knew that this was right. With the vision of a snowless season to behold, instead of the usual cheerful appearance on Christmas cards, the scenery had a lugubrious animosity that was utterly intriguing and could perhaps be seen on the cover of a dystopian novel.

Branches snapped beneath my feet as I came to sit along the river bank, hardened with the recent chill. The river itself wasn't a long way across; really not much longer than a few yards out. A dull, dark blue waved along, a thin layer of water over the murky floor of mud below.

"It's not cold enough." She muttered, breaking the silence. Her knees were brought up with her arms enfolded around them to hold them to her chest so as to lean her head upon them.

I nodded. So much for winters in Florida. I never did understand why people fly to warmer areas during Christmas. "We don't really have the climate for skating down here, do we?" She shook her head, miserably. "Up north, did you go a lot?"

"Me and Jess, yeah." Even in the short excuse for a sentence, her voice noticeably cracked. I noted her eyes growing watery.

In espy, the sundered girl looked at me with helpless eyes, almost as though she were hoping herself venial; her self-compunction breaks my heart. I wanted to tell her she had nothing to be sorry about, I pray I can say enough to make her feel exculpated.

As I scooted toward her, she did not abjure my action, I sign I knew she wasn't objecting to comfort.

Watching her shudder, it suddenly hit me how long she'd been outside without much protection. I laid an arm across her shoulders and drew her towards me, removing my thick jacket and wrapping her in it.

"Did I ever tell you about the time I left England?" She shook her head, leaning into me, small tears running over the rim of her eyes. "I wasn't much older than seven and my dad suddenly came home with the astounding news that he'd gotten a promotion and we were moving to America. My mum thought the idea was bloody brilliant." I chuckled to myself remembering her delighted reaction. "I, on the other hand, was mortified.

"I didn't want to leave my friends, my old school. I was deserting my entire country and I felt like it was the end of the world. Where I'd lived, there was always a lot of snow. During winter-time the only way to describe things was white. When we moved, it was just coming into the beginning of December and you can imagine my disappointment."

"Yeah," she mumbled, "I know how that feels."

"But, it wasn't all that bad. I found that instead of the typical winter activities I did in England, I could make new traditions with my new friends." She was silent, her gaze fixed on the gentle current of the stream. "I know you're homesick. There's no denying it. I just want to know, why now? Is there anything that's been bothering you?"

Her bottom lip quivered and her cheeks turned a flustered pink as she unashamedly sobbed into me. She is so well kept together that I hadn't been expecting this, and her wave of vehement comes crashing down on me without warning.

"I don't know. It's just..." She breathed shakily, her entire body racketing into me. "I HATE how I feel about it and I know it's stupid, but I just miss everything. I left some much in Maine. Everybody I loved was up there. All I had left of what might. Have been my family was up there. And you can fly there for vacation or family reunions or something. I can't. And I...I just have nothing in my life."

"Amanda," my sudden concern for her suddenly could not have gone beyond what it was at the moment. She knows that I'm not showing unctuous emotion. "What provoked this? Why did you just sudden start to worry so much about it?"

She sniffled, lifting her head to wipe away her tears. "There are these girls in my school. They bully me because I don't have a family. I never let it get to me before but I guess it finally did."

I frowned. The cruelty of people could sometimes surprise me. How could somebody be so despicable that they make someone, who must already feel awful about their life, pile on more pain to weigh them down?

"Why didn't you go to Finn about this? Or any of us, for that matter?"

She shrugged, "I didn't want to bug you with something so stupid."

I tilted her head to look at me. "It isn't stupid. If you have a problem, there are people you can talk to. A teacher. A counselor. Your friends." She looked abashed now, her eyes glossed with tears, biting her lip to keep from crying. My mellifluous words seemed to make her unruffled, though. "Promise me, please promise me that you'll come to one of us if you have a problem."

With a whimper of relief, she nodded and limply leaned into me. As she was still shaking like a leaf in a rain storm, I hold her closer to me trying to transfer body heat. This propinquity is nothing more than that of two friends, however.

She's freezing against me. I kiss the top of her head and let her sob, not saying anything. But we both know what the other is saying.

"Amanda!" I hear from behind and the both of us turn. The others all come running, hugging and kissing her (in Finn's case, OBVIOUSLY). They're shooting questions at her from every angle and she just buries herself farther into me. I think it's just for warmth but I could be wrong.

As we all gather our stuff and let the raucous of the night rest into a peaceful tranquility, I look up at the sky and notice that the stars are all there, shining onto us. Amanda was comfortably seated in the passenger seat of Finn's car, with the balminess of the heater on her, when she waves me over.

"Phil, thanks for what you said back there. I really didn't…I didn't know what to do and you made it so clear that I can come to you guys about anything." Staring into her eyes, what before held the sorrow of a broken girl, I now saw something reflecting from within her, with a strong light. Her diaphanous smile is contagious and her vicissitude is enough to make me grin involuntarily.

What did you think? I hope you don't mind that it's Amanda and Philby cuz they're just friends, like seriously. Hope you liked it!