I answered the phone, winded and panting.  I had had to run up three flights of stairs, and mind you, I was planning on ignoring the call.  I was in the middle of running on the treadmill, and being in the zone I didn’t want to be interrupted.  However, after the phone trilled for the fourth time in a row I quickly sped to it, knowing it must be important.  Grabbing for it, my sweaty hand slipping, I noticed the caller I.D.  My mom.  Sighing, I braced myself to be lectured about ignoring her first calls.  I breathed an exhausted, “Hey,” my voice raspy from lack of water.
	“Honey, it’s your mother.  I immediately sensed she was fighting back tears.  “You need to get to the Drew’s house as quickly as possible quickly as possible.  Your father and I are already there.  Angela, do you hear me, as fast as you can.  Take the fastest car.”		
	“You want me to go to Char’s?  Why? The fastest car?  But that’s the… mom what’s going on?  What’s wrong?”
	“We can talk when you get here” My mother’s voice was starting to get weary.  “Just come quickly dear, as fast as you can go.  Fast okay?  I love you, bye.”  She hung up without another word.
	I stood, gripping the phone.  I didn’t move for at least five seconds, but then I snapped into action.  Sprinting down our mahogany stairs, my Pumas made a dull thud with every four steps I jumped at a time.  When I reached the back door I hooked my fingers around the car keys, not wasting a second to find the right ones.  Whipping open the door I bolted to our garage.
	Leaping into the Ferrari, I didn’t have time to marvel at the fact I was touching-let alone driving-a car I had dreamed about since I first saw it.  Shaking my excitement away I floored it, even though Charlotte’s house was only five minutes away with my old used car.  Pulling into Char’s mile long driveway, I sped up more to reach her family’s coveted mansion.  Then I saw the cops.
	My life suddenly went into slow motion.  Millions of things sped through my mind.  Was one of the Drews dead or missing?  Had they been robbed?  Wanting to be closer to the house as fast as possible, I ripped the keys out and jumped over the side of the car.  Scampering through the foot deep snow, I ignored the fact I was in a sweaty short-shorts and a tank top.  Analyzing the amount of cops and how serious 
they looked as I ran; I fell several times when I realized this must be big.  I saw my mom walking out to meet me, and I leaped into her warm Chanel N°5 scented embrace, almost running her over.
	The rest of the day was a blur.  I remember sitting down with Char and mine parents, a policeman hovering in the background, and learning that Char was gone, kidnapped actually.  Charlotte, my best friend since second grade, was gone.  I had fainted right at that point, not even wasting time on not believing them.  Nobody would ever say something so cruel like that, not if they knew how close Char and I were.  Now I was curled up into a tiny ball in my bed, tears streaming down my face.  I had been like this for about four hours now, and I knew that I had to get up.  Rising from my bed, I stared at my reflection in the mirror.
	My usually so-shiny-it-looks-wet black hair was dull and hung limply in knots around my make-up less face.  My huge and always wide green eyes were rimmed with red and puffy, and my clear porcelain skin was so white instead of making me look like a doll, it made me look dead.  I looked awful, but I couldn’t help thinking what Charlotte looked like.  I knew it was worse.
	I got a sharp hunger pain in my stomach, and decided to go get some food.  At a snail’s pace I walked into the kitchen, and blindly pawed at the Godiva chocolates.  Ripping the top off, I noticed one was missing.  I had not eaten any, and my parents hadn’t been home since last night.  In fact they were still at Char’s house, comforting her parents and taking calls for them, as they’ve always been close friends.  I grabbed a knife, remembering that there was a kidnapper on the loose.  Somebody was here.
	Creeping through my house, I peeked into each of our bedrooms and living areas.  My breaths were slow and rattling, and in the silence of my house they couldn’t have been louder.  The knife clenched in my hand, I silently cursed having such a large house as anyone could be anywhere in it.  Even in the situation I was in, I couldn’t help but think about the cartoons where the heart’s beating out of the chest, the ones I always laughed at as a kid.  But right now that was a reality for me; I thought my heart would fly out of my body.  Right when I was about to high tail it out of my house and call the cops, I heard a T.V. and high pitched laugh that sounded like bells.  I froze, dropping the knife on the marble floors and following the sound of the laughter, straight to the room that had been my older sister’s.  My eyes teared up, thinking of my sister who had died in a car crash at age 14, even though I don’t really 
remember her being four at her death.  I clutched the handle, but the door suddenly was yanked open from the inside.  I was then jumped on by a girl I knew.  A girl who all the police were currently looking for.
	“Char!” I shrieked.  “You need to get back home!  People are looking for you, everybody’s freaked.  Your parents are heartbroken!  I was heartbroken!  Wait why-”
	“Settle down, Hun.  Are your parents home?  Never mind.  I’m sure they’re at my place.”  Charlotte was speaking in her usual cool tone, always radiating an I’m better than you and we both know it vibe.  “No weapon?  Guess I’m not surprised.  Kidnappers don’t usually go to their victim’s best friend’s house to steal their favorite flavor of Godiva chocolate.”
	After those words and the smirk on Charlotte’s face, my excitement from finding my “kidnapped” best friend morphed into anger faster than I thought someone even could change emotions.  “Charlotte Rose Drew, tell me what’s going on.  Now.”  Hissing the words at her, I watched as for a split second her cool demeanor was cracked.  She realized I was honestly furious at her.  But then just like that her eyes lost that look of understanding, her attitude returning.
	“Well, Angela Hope Walker, maybe if you would kindly escort me back to the bedroom I was enjoying before you rudely started verbally attacking me, I could explain.”  Charlotte was mocking me, the arched eyebrow and leer on her face were dead giveaways ways, but I still led her back into the bedroom.  Like she would ever tell me what was going on if I didn’t give her what she wanted.
	Leading her back into my sister’s old bedroom, I couldn’t help but soften up a bit at my best friend.  We both plopped down on the king sized bed, Char propping a silk pillow under her.
	Charlotte began her story.  I knew she was about to stall, but after seeing the flat emotionless expression on my face she started.  She said it quickly, no details as usual.  Charlotte was sick of her parents not appreciating her, she felt as if they didn’t care about her.  She said everything nonchalantly, but I could tell this ran deeper than she was letting on.  Although she would never admit it, it seemed to me she didn’t think they loved her.  As if to prove it for a second I saw Char’s eyes tear up, but she sharply inhaled and swallowed, the teary faced expression gone.  I couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.  If Charlotte Drew was crying, then no doubt the world would explode.  But then again, if Char was gone who knows the pain and shock that would hit the people living in it.  
	Snapping me out of my train of thought, Char whispered “So please let me stay here.  For just a week or two?  You know I can be quiet, and your parents never go to the lower bedrooms.  I can even switch rooms every night.  Of course I would obviously have to use all of your clothes and stuff, but it’s not like your parents will notice.  And it’s not like you don’t have enough.”  She giggled, thinking about my huge closet and then looked at me hopefully, knowing she had nowhere else to go.
	“Of course you can.  And this is the only bedroom you should use, nobody goes near it.  It was my sister’s.”
	“Oh, Ang, I’m so sorry.  Maybe –“
	“No, it’s fine.  If we’re doing this it would be safest for you to stay here.  But… two weeks, Char.  I mean it.  And I want to hear your story before you plan on returning.  This has to be believable or we could both get in trouble.”  I bit my nails, knowing how true that statement was.
	“Thank you, Ang!  And I promise that if I get caught I’ll say you didn’t know about this.  But right now I’m starving.  Mmmm, do you have any burgers?”  Nodding yes, I led the way to the kitchen.
	“So ummm, Ang?  Maybe you want to get cleaned up before you eat?”  Char’s eyes were guilty seeing what she had made me look like.  She knew perfection was the most important thing to me.
	Starting to make the burgers I replied, “Can’t, when my parents come home they’d wonder what was going on if I looked good.  Anyways, you’re not looking so fine either.”  Which was a lie by the way, but I was still mad at her for making me so scared and worried.
	“Liar.”  She smirked with a satisfied look on her face because she knew she looked amazing, and I didn’t want to admit it.  But then again she always smirked.  Char was wearing sweats and UGG slippers.  Her wavy brown hair, which most girls spent hours locked in a bathroom with their curling iron to try to even come close to mimicking, was pulled into a purposely messy bun.  Not to mention her glowing tan-even-in-December skin, thick-lashed electric blue eyes, and full pouty lips.  It was 

undeniable, Char was the prettiest person in our school, but I personally believed that a lot of her beauty came from her killer confidence.
	As we finished up our burgers, I saw headlights pulling up the driveway.  I didn’t even need to say thing, Char was already rushing to the bedroom with her hands full of Pepsi and Luna Bars.  She had even stuffed a list of things she hoped I could bring to her I my hand, all in the span of about five seconds.  I quickly shoved our dishes into the dishwasher, grabbed the Godiva’s, and ran to my own room.  Throwing half the chocolates out of my window with a pain, I knew that this had to be believable.  Therefore, I had to waste my loved chocolates and look like I was eating my problems away.  Plopping into bed, I tried to forget about what I was doing and how incredibly stupid it was and just sleep.

Char had been at my house for a week and a half.   I brought her what she wanted; my parents wondered why so much food was missing all of the time.  I went back to school, with people going silent every time I walked up to them.  I couldn’t flip to a station on the TV without seeing a picture of Char on the screen, a picture they cropped me out of.  I couldn’t go talk to Char without feeling a pain of something every time she talked.  Was it annoyance maybe?  Hatred?  But I shook those thoughts away, as I’d never associated them with Charlotte before.
	I have to admit, I couldn’t wait for those two weeks to end.  I was sick of being friendless at school, of having to go to the counseling sessions my mom arranged for me.  I was sick of hearing Charlotte be pitied over, while she was laying in a silk covered king size canopy bed eating my favorite foods.  So when I walked into Charlotte’s room after the 14th day to go over the lie of how she would explain her kidnapping, I was more than annoyed to see her look at me with a puppy dog face.
	“Angie…”
	“Hey Char!  Okay.  So I’ve been thinking about your return story.  I think you should say you were really drugged up so that way your story really doesn’t need details, that way –“
	“Angie…”  Char whined again.
	“What, Char?”  I questioned even though I knew what was coming next.
	
	“Well…um…as well as this is working, I think that maybe two more weeks would be really beneficial.  I mean, doesn’t a girl missing for two weeks sound a little sketch.  Like really, two weeks?  It doesn’t happen, Angela.”
	“Two weeks sounds perfectly reasonable to me.  What, you want to stay for longer?  Listen, the police have questioned me several times, Char.  They’re gonna see through me soon!”
	“We all know you’re the best liar, Angela, better than me.  Just one more week?  One more, it’s not hard and you’re not going to crack.”
	“Don’t you understand?  There’s a difference between being able to lie and wanting to lie!  This has gone way too far, Charlotte.  I want you out of here by dinner.  I mean it.”  I exhaled realizing that I had just stood up to Charlotte Drew.
	My pride quickly faded though when I saw the look on Char’s face.  It was a grin, a smile that may look warm and inviting to the untrained bye, but I knew that 
look.  Charlotte was preparing to take me down, and the glint in her eye showed she wouldn’t mind doing it.
	Next I did something I would regret for the rest of my life.  I couldn’t help it; I did exactly what Charlotte wanted.  “How much longer are you staying, Charlotte?”
	“Awww, you’re going to let me stay!  You are the best friend ever!”  Charlotte’s voice was sweeter than Splenda, but just as fake.
	“One week.  One.  Week.  I am dead serious.  And then I’m calling the cops.  Understand?”  My voice was sharper than a dagger.
	“Of course, Angie!  But I wouldn’t think about turning me in, ya know?  Because looks to me like you’re just as guilty as I am,”  Charlotte simpered, her lips pouty and eyes wide.
	My lip turned up in disgust.  I glared at Charlotte and turned on my heel, slamming the door behind me.  I could hear Charlotte’s snicker ringing through the hallway after my dramatic exit.

Charlotte Rose Drew had been missing for one month, two weeks, and four days.  Things were starting to settle down.  Every day there were less cops, reporters, and check-ups to see if your child was still safe and sound where you left them.  There was 

a quiet peace back in our town that nobody had even noticed had left.  A quiet peace that only I seemed to be willing to break.
	I ran into my sister’s old room, sheer determination and tears on my face.  I had just been to a candlelight vigil for Charlotte and had watched all my senior class have tears stream down their own faces.  I had finally seemed to fully realize how much this was hurting everyone.  It was almost like flipping on a light switch.
	“Ang, what’s wrong?”  Charlotte squealed with concern before remembered she had been manipulating me for the past month and a half.  My basically ex-friend face returned back to a look of cool indifference.
	“You’re leaving.  I don’t care about our return story, just go back home.  I can’t do this anymore.  If you’re not gone by five I’m calling the cops.”  And I knew I would be able to call the cops if I had to.  Leaving the room without looking at Charlotte’s face, I sprinted to my room, the weight of the past weeks falling on me and causing me to quickly fall asleep.
	
I woke up at 6:30 to bolt to my sister’s room and hear Char blaring music, not even caring that my parents could come home any second.  With a heavy heart I walked back into my room and started dialing Char’s parent’s number.  Charlotte had become a monster.  Or rather she always had been and I overlooked it and everyone else was too scared to stand up to her.  Even after all I had realized about her, I still couldn’t call the cops on her.
	Breathing deeply, I knew that doing this could ruin my life.  But I still whispered the words, “Mrs. Drew, I know where Charlotte is” with relief.  Waiting for this to finally end and the police, reporters, and disgusted looks from disapproving people to begin couldn’t have felt better. 

p. 7


Missing, 6-8, p. 1