Part 15 (1/2)

Chloe felt her fear return and rapidly texted: Who is this?

She didn't put the phone back down this time. She waited, almost frozen, staring at the phone for the response.

Who is this? Came the reply a moment later.

Chloe rapidly texted back, her fingers flying over the keys on her cell phone: This is Chloe. Emma's friend. Where is she?

Chloe was left waiting again. She wondered if she should call Emma's phone. She was hoping that this was a younger brother or sister who had stolen Emma's phone for their amus.e.m.e.nt.

The reply came a moment later: I found this phone last night.

Chloe felt a chill run down her spine. Where was Emma and how had she lost her cell phone?

Chloe didn't bother texting back. She scrolled through her contacts and called Emma's cell phone.

It rang once, twice, and on the third ring a male voice answered, ”h.e.l.lo?”

”Hi! My name is Chloe. I just texted you about the phone you're using. It's my friend Emma's and I'm trying to find her. I wanted to know where you found the phone and if I can come get it from you,” Chloe found herself rambling.

”I found it on the street outside PV High last night. I was leaving school late and it was on the ground outside. I put it in my bag and forgot about it until it just started buzzing when you texted,” he said.

”Who is this?” Chloe asked.

”Rob Lowrey,” He said a moment later.

”You go to PV High then?” Chloe asked.

”Yeah,” Rob said. ”I'm a freshman.”

”Can I meet you after school and get the phone back?” Chloe asked.

”Sure,” Rob said. ”Where should I meet you?”

”On the steps at the front of the school,” Chloe said and glanced down at the blue striped s.h.i.+rt she was wearing, ”I have strawberry blonde hair and I'm wearing a blue striped s.h.i.+rt and jeans.”

”Okay,” Rob said. ”I'll see you then.”

”Wait. And, you're sure you didn't see anyone drop it? There was nothing next to it?” Chloe asked.

”Nope. It was just the phone. I was going to turn it into lost and found today.”

”Okay, see you after school then,” Chloe said and hung up the phone.

How had Emma lost her phone and why hadn't she called trying to track it down? Chloe was really worried about Emma, but she wasn't sure what to do about it. She had no phone number for Emma's house and she didn't know any of Emma's other friends. She wasn't sure what to do except wait and see if Emma showed up. Maybe her cell phone would hold some clues as to her whereabouts. If anything, maybe there was a home number on it that she could call to see if Emma had stayed home sick. Chloe wondered if the main office would tell her that information. Somehow she thought it was probably confidential, but it might be worth a try. She decided she would make her second trip to the school office that day after lunch.

The school administrator at the front desk refused to tell her if Emma had called in sick. She said that if Emma had wanted her to know, she would call her. Chloe nodded and walked to her next hour cla.s.s, lost in thought about Emma. She was worried that worse things than her locker getting filled with rotting meat and maggots had happened in the last twenty-four hours.

In Biology cla.s.s, Jake was waiting for her anxiously as she entered the cla.s.sroom. He practically jumped out of his seat when he saw her.

”What happened to your locker?” he asked, as Chloe walked up to him.

”Someone played a joke,” Chloe wanted to shrug it off.

”A joke with maggots?” Jake said, trying to keep his voice down. ”I think I finally agree with Grey. Someone is after you.”

”I know,” Chloe said nonchalantly.

”And, it doesn't bother you?” Jake asked.

”I'm going to find out who it is before they get to me,” Chloe said.

”They already have gotten to you! The car accident a couple days ago and the maggots in your locker today! What more do you need them to do? We need to go to the police!” Jake was adamant.

”I already talked to the police about the maggots,” Chloe volunteered, ”And I asked them about the car thing from Wednesday night and they had nothing to tell me. They just don't seem to be putting that much effort into it. If I want to save myself, I need to figure out who's doing this before they get to me.”

”Do you still think it's Kate?” Jake asked, suddenly, too calmly.

”I don't know,” Chloe said honestly. ”It could be, but there are a lot of other people it could be too. If anyone knows Kate, it would be you.”

Jake nodded, ”I have a hard time believing she'd throw a vat of rotten meat into your locker. She can't even stand spiders. I don't know how she'd be able to stomach putting meat with maggots in anyone's locker.”

Chloe tried not to think about the meat in her locker. Just thinking about the smell and disgustingness of it was enough to make her feel sick. She wasn't sure she'd ever be able to use her locker again. She'd be afraid that the smell would linger and stick to her things or that the maggots would somehow reappear and infest the rest of her things. It just gave her the shudders. Actually, becoming a vegetarian suddenly sounded like a good idea too.

”Well, there's nothing to do but wait and see,” Chloe said.

”Are you still planning on going to the football game tonight?” Jake asked.

Chloe paused, thinking. She and Emma had planned on going to the football game together, but now she wasn't sure what she was going to do. Did she really want to go to the game alone? Jake would be playing and Chloe wasn't sure where Grey would be and without Emma, Chloe would be completely friendless at the game.

”I don't know,” Chloe said.

”I'd like you to come,” Jake said, earnestly. ”But only if you think you'll be safe and I understand if you don't want to go to the dance with me. Maybe we should talk to my mom. Maybe you should lay low for a couple of days. I don't want anything to happen to you. Maybe they'll figure out a way to break open the case and everything will be okay.”

”That's a lot of maybes,” Chloe smiled. ”I wish it would be that easy for me. Are you ready for the game tonight?”

”Yeah,” Jake smiled. ”I think we'll win actually.”

”Awesome,” Chloe smiled back. ”You know, what? I'll definitely be there.”

”Are you going with Emma?” Jake asked.

Chloe paused, wondering if she should tell Jake about Emma's mysterious disappearance. She was holding out hope that Emma was sick and had just randomly dropped her phone on the way to the car and for some reason hadn't noticed its disappearance yet, ”Emma is out sick today, I think, so I'm guessing she's not going to the game tonight.”