Chapter 6

Riker POV

"Uhhh… Well I should probably clean up that lightbulb before my parents get home, otherwise I'll be in big trouble!" I said, breaking the awkward silence.

"I'll help," said Kat, standing up.

After we cleaned up the glass, we sat back down at the kitchen table.

"So what do you want to do now?" Kat asked.

"Well we still have a few hours before everyone else comes back, so… ummm… I don't know… What do you want to do?"

Kat got up suddenly and went into the living room. She came running back in a few seconds later, freaking out.

"Have you seen my iPhone!?" Kat asked.

"What? No, why?"

"I need it in case one of my parents needs to call me about something!"

"Wait, why couldn't they just call Cody?"

"Ugh, he's a guy! They can't trust him!"

"Wait, why is this so important?"

"Riker, they're my parents!"

"You're acting like this is life or death! I'm just confused!"

"Look, I can't tell you anything! But we need to find my phone!"

"Kat-"

"Come on! We need to find it! Stop standing around!"

I watched Kat fling pillows off the couch, desperately searching for her phone. Tears were streaming down her face as she collapsed on the ground, sobbing. I knelt down next to her, and pulled her into my arms.

"Kat?" I asked softly.

"Kat, please. Tell me what this is about," I pleaded.

"You remember when Cody and I went outside earlier to talk?"

I could just barely understand her. Her voice was so scratchy.

"Yeah?"

"Well, he took my phone. He's been completely brainwashed by my dad! He's gone absolutely mental! He's convinced that my mom and I did something, caused the divorce, and…"

"What? Kat, go on, please!"

"He said once he cracked my password, he was going to erase everything! That's where all my pictures are of mom, dad, me, Cody… I can't lose them!"

"They're not on your laptop?"

"No! I just got my laptop a few days ago. My old one crashed, and my mom is paying for some guy to try to retrieve everything. It had all my pictures! But if he can't, and Cody erases everything, I'll have nothing left! Even if my parents split up, I still want to remember what my life was like before."

"Wait, so why are you looking for your phone? Doesn't Cody have it?"

"No. After he took it from me, I saw him hide it in his bag. When he went upstairs to Ross's room, I stole it back. But now I don't know where it is!"

"Where do you last remember putting it?"

"In my back pocket."

"When?"

"When I stole it back from Cody."

"Was it still in your pocket when you took a shower?"

Kat rummaged through her bags for a minute, still not finding her phone.

"If he stole it back and erased everything, I'm going to kill him!" Kat shouted angrily.

"Are you sure he would really do that? You and him seem pretty close."

"We were. But I guess not anymore…"

"Well where was Cody today? Like I mean where around the house? What rooms? Maybe he found it and hid it somewhere. We could look."

"Uh… He was is Ross's room, the bathroom, living room, and kitchen, and then he left for the carnival."

"Ok, I'll check Ross's room and the bathroom, you check the kitchen and living room."

After spending about an hour searching, neither of us had found Kat's iPhone, and I could tell she was on the verge of losing it completely.

"What am I going to do!?" Kat cried.

"Wait! Didn't he go outside?"

"When?"

"When he, Ross, Rocky, and Ellington played football. Remember?"

"YES! We have to go check!"

Kat and I ran out the back door, accidentally slamming it behind us.

"Wait, we should probably get flashlights. I can't see anything out here," I said.

I walked back to the back door, and tried twisting the doorknob, but couldn't. Locked. Great.

"H-hey Kat?"

"Yeah?"

"Uh, we're locked out…"

"We're what!?"

"Yeah, I forgot. The door locks behind us."

"Well isn't there a spare key for the front door?"

I gasped.

"No! Not anymore! I never put it back from the other night!"

"So we're stuck out here!?"

"I guess so…"

"UGH! Do you have your car keys?"

"No, they're inside…"

"UGHHH!"

"I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking!"

"No phone, no house, no warmth! What's next!?" Kat shouted, pacing around my yard.

I realized this was a bit of a bad situation. We were both wearing short sleeved shirts and shorts, and the temperature was dropping. We had just entered spring, so it was still pretty cold at night. This wasn't good…

I walked around to the front of the house and sat on the front steps. Kat followed and sat next to me.

"What am I going to do!?" Kat asked, crying again.

"We'll figure that out when they come home," I said.

"My life is just falling apart right before my eyes…"

As I put my arm around Kat, she turned to lay her head in my lap, shivering. I gently ran my fingers through her hair as she cried.

1 Hour Later…

Riker POV

Kat was now sitting in my lap. I had my arms around her, trying to keep us both warm. Kat got up suddenly.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm going to try to break into your house."

"You're what!? Kat wait!"

Kat turned to the door and twisted the doorknob, while pulling hard. She flew backwards into me, and we both fell down the front steps. Kat landed on top of me, elbowing me hard in the ribs.

"OW!" I shouted.

"The freaking door was unlocked!" Kat shouted, standing up.

I just looked at her, still from the ground. I didn't even know what to say.

"The front door unlocked, and you didn't even know!? It shouldn't have been! We could've gotten murdered or something!"

I couldn't believe it. She was mad I had left the door unlocked. Sure it was an accident, but now we could go inside! She should be happy I accidentally left it unlocked! She was just unbelievable!

I got up and walked inside after Kat, leaning over, still in pain. I LOCKED THE DOOR, and then sat down next to Kat on the couch. She had her arms crossed and was staring straight ahead, avoiding my eyes.

"Kat-"

"Don't even. I just want to go to bed."

"It's barely 8:30!"

"I don't care Riker! I've had an exhausting day, and I WANT TO GO TO BED!"

I got up and went into the kitchen. I didn't know how much more of her I could take. I hated how she switched between two different people.

I tried to calm myself down, and not let my anger get the better of me. But my ribs still really hurt, and that wasn't helping… I pulled my shirt up and saw a big purple bruise forming, so I got up and got some ice for it. I walked back into the living room where Kat was laying on top of her sleeping bag, crying again. I went and sat down next to her.

"Kat, it'll be fine. We'll get your phone back," I said.

Kat sat up and looked at me.

"What happened?" She asked, pointing to my stomach.

"You elbowed me when we fell. It still really hurts," I said.

"Sorry…"

"It wasn't really your fault."

"What do you mean!? I caused us both to fall!"

"Well yeah, but you didn't know the door was unlocked."

"You're going to keep going on and on until I finally agree it wasn't my fault aren't you?"

Was it that obvious?

"Uh, yeah…"

Kat laughed.

"You're ridiculous."

"I just don't want you to feel bad!"

Kat laughed again.

"Why? It was my fault, and now you're hurt because of me."

"Kat, I'm fine. It's not really a big deal. Come on, let's watch a movie. You need a break from everything."

"Ok."

I turned on the TV, and put on Netflix. I picked a random movie, sat down in my sleeping bag next to Kat, and leaned against the couch.

Later…

Kat POV

About halfway through the movie, Riker did that stupid fake yawn thing and put his arm around my shoulder.

"Really Riker?"

"What?" Riker asked, playing dumb.

"You know what, stupid," I said, grabbing the hand on my shoulder.

"I don't know what you're talking about," said Riker, trying not to smile.

I rolled my eyes.

"Whatever."

We both had gone back to watching the movie, but were interrupted a few minutes later by everyone coming back home… Except Cody…

"Hey! We're back!" Rocky shouted, turning on the lights.

Riker paused the movie and we looked toward them.

"Oh, sorry. Were we interrupting something?" Rocky asked.

"No!" I shouted, surprised.

"Oh, well ok."

"Where's Cody?" I asked.

"Oh… Uh… Your dad came for him. He's uh… In Florida…"

"WHAT!?"

"Yeah, but he's coming back next week to pack everything up. I'm so sorry Kat. There wasn't much we could do. Oh, and he wanted me to give you this," said Rocky handing me my phone.

"Rocky, do you think I could sleep in your room again tonight?" I asked.

"Yeah, sure."

Riker POV

I could tell Kat was trying to keep it together. I helped her grab her stuff, and we walked upstairs to mine and Rocky's room together. I flopped down on my bed, and turned to Kat.

"I'm sorry about Cody," I said.

"Nah, maybe it's good he's not here. I mean, I love him, but maybe we needed a break from each other. I just wish my mom was back. I just want to be home again, not that I don't like being at your house. I just wish I could be home, you know?"

"Yeah. I totally understand what you mean. If you ever want to talk about anything, I'm here."

Kat looked down at her feet.

"Can we just go to bed now?"

"Yeah," I said, turning the light off.

I heard Kat get into Rocky's bed. I closed my eyes, and immediately fell asleep. I was exhausted.

3:30 AM

Riker POV

"Riker! Riker!"

I turned over in bed, looking in the direction of Rocky's bed, but I didn't see anything because the room was pitch black.

"Riker!" Kat whispered again.

"What?"

"I just turned on my phone. Cody erased everything! Everything's gone!"