Sunday morning came and Carlos had not returned home. Logan had tried calling him. James had tried calling him. He didn't answer. They didn't know if anything was wrong with him.
"I'm worried sick," James said to Fallon as he picked her up at her dorm. She had been waiting in the lobby and now they were going to take her car to the church. James was nervous. This was his first time attending a worship service at a church. "None of us have heard from Carlos since Thursday."
"What happened?" Fallon asked as she sat down in the driver's seat.
James looked down at the floor as he buckled his seatbelt.
"It's my fault. We went to a party and I got, um, drunk, and um, kind of got in a fight with him, and now he won't come home or answer our phone calls." James looked at Fallon. "Hey, if you don't want me to go to church because I'm some evil bad sinner who gets drunk and in fights with friends I'll understand." He reached for the door handle, but Fallon made to stop him.
"We're all sinners, James. We've all done things we're not proud of. Church isn't for the perfect. If it was there'd be no one there."
"I'm not good enough. I'm a bad person." He looked at the miniscule amount of traffic on the road, which was just one other car going in the opposite direction.
"God loves you no matter what you've done. And fighting with your best friend is hardly anything new. Neither is getting drunk. Let's pray." Fallon took her right hand off the steering wheel and took hold of James's left. "Heavenly Father—"
James took his hand out of Fallon's grasp. For one thing, he wasn't sure he should be holding another girl's hand, a girl that wasn't Lucy, and another, he felt quite awkward bringing up his situation before God. He'd never talked to God before. What made anyone think God would listen to him now?
"It's okay, James. God wants you to talk to him. Well, you don't have to do the talking. I will." She reached for his hand again, but he pulled away.
"OK, well, I'm going to pray silently. Grab the wheel while I close my eyes." Fallon glanced at James as he appeared panic stricken. "I'm just kidding. I am going to pray, but I'm going to concentrate on the road."
While James was at church Kendall was enjoying the nice warm California sunshine by the Palm Woods pool with Jo, Camille, Lucy, and Katie when his phone rang. He made a funny face when he saw the caller was Carlos's girlfriend.
"Calm down, Alexa." When he answered she began talking at a mile a minute and he couldn't understand a word she said.
She took a deep breath. "I've been trying to get in touch with Carlos for the past few days. He won't answer the phone or return my calls. This isn't like him at all. I'm hoping you know what's up with him."
"Actually, I'm in LA visiting Jo so I don't know what's up with him, but I can contact James and Logan and find out."
"Thanks so much. I'm worried. Carlos and I don't go a day without speaking and now it's been…three days."
"She's worried about Carlos," Kendall said to the girls when he hung up with Alexa. "They haven't spoken in a few days and he won't return her calls." He dialed James's number which went straight to voice mail. "And James's phone is off." He dialed Logan's number. "Answer, Logan, answer."
"Kendall?"
"Hey, Logan. Where is Carlos and why is James's phone off?"
"I don't know where Carlos is and James is at church."
"Church? James? Our James? James Diamond?" Kendall looked at the girls. "James is at church right now."
"James? Our James? James Diamond?" Katie repeated.
"You remember the Bible he found last week when your mom and sister were here?"
"No." Kendall had been too caught up in Jo to pay attention to the goings-on of his friends.
"It had an ID in there and one thing led to another and that girl, Valerie or Fashion or some unusual name, invited him to church."
"Woah, James is at church with a girl?"
"What?!" Lucy screeched. Kendall put his hand up to get her to be quiet.
"He claims it's a platonic relationship so don't say anything to Lucy."
"Too late. She's sitting right here listening to every word I say."
"Oops."
"We can deal with that later. I just got a frantic phone call from Alexa that she hasn't been able to get in touch with Carlos for a few days which is so unlike him because they talk every day."
"Yeah, about that. Carlos's new friends invited us to a party and James got drunk and in a fight with Carlos. He hasn't been home since."
"Woah. OK, look, I wasn't planning on flying back until tomorrow but it looks like I need to get there right away."
"It's fine, Kendall. We have everything under control."
"Doesn't sound like it. Carlos is missing." He hung up and turned to Jo. "I know I planned on staying the rest of the day, but I need to get back to Aspen. Carlos and James got in a fight at a party Thursday and Carlos hasn't been home since."
"Is there anything we can do?" Jo asked.
"Come with me? No, I can't ask you to do that."
"And unfortunately, I can't take you up on that."
"I can!" Katie said.
"Baby Sister, you have school."
"Hold on, what's this about James attending church with a girl?" Lucy asked.
"That's not important right now."
"It is to me," Lucy huffed.
"Then you talk to James about it. I only know as much as you do." Kendall fiddled with his phone. "All right, there's a flight leaving in three hours. I should make it if I leave now. I just need to tell Mom and then be on my way. Jo, can you and Katie do me a favor? There's some boxes in my room I planned on having shipped to the cabin. They're all ready to go, but now it looks like I won't have time to do it myself. Do you mind sending those for me? Camille, you and Lucy can help, too, if you want. Can one of you call Alexa and relay the information about Carlos?" Kendall was already on his way toward the lobby and elevators to say goodbye to his mom.