Megan walked into history two minutes after the bell rang. She knew Mr. Wilson hated when students were late, but that didn't bother her much anymore. She'd been late to class slightly more often than she'd been on time, and he hadn't seemed to really care – not since she'd made that wish to be popular. Besides, she had more important things on her mind than class at the moment; Jake had vanished after school yesterday, and she hadn't heard from him since. Megan still couldn't believe he could just be gone like that.
As Megan sank into her seat, her thoughts were interrupted by Mr. Wilson.
"You're late, Megan." he told her.
"Sorry." she said halfheartedly.
"Do you have a note?"
"What?" Megan asked blankly. She hadn't needed a note for being late in almost two months.
"Do you have a note?" Mr. Wilson asked again.
"Uh...no..." Megan said slowly. Was he being serious?
"Next time you're late, please go to the office and get a tardy slip."
"Yes, sir."
Mr. Wilson still seemed annoyed, but he turned back to his desk. At least that was over. Megan couldn't figure out why he'd even care; he never had before. He hadn't even cared two days ago when she'd missed the bus. As he started on the lesson, Megan found her mind wandering.
She thought back to yesterday after last period. When Jake had taken off running down the hall, Megan had been shocked to say the least. She'd never seen him look anywhere near that worried before. Usually he was so calm – almost cold. And he never showed that things were going wrong. So when he looked like he was about to have a panic attack in the middle of the hall, Megan knew things must be really bad.
It took her almost no time at all to decide to skip track practice and go right home; she had to know what was going on. And judging from the look on Jake's face, she couldn't afford to wait. She hurried through the hall and down the stairs. She was almost through the doors when she ran straight into Karen.
"Everything ok?" Karen asked when she saw the look on Megan's face.
"Yeah, it's fine." Megan shrugged, trying to put on a decent smile. She was doing her best not to look as worried as she actually was. Of course, Karen wasn't fooled for a second.
"What's wrong?" she asked Megan.
"Nothing, really."
True, Jake was really worried about something having to do with the bottle in her room, but Megan wasn't sure what she could say about that. What she really wanted to do was ask Karen to ditch practice and take her home, but she couldn't come up with a good excuse. At least, not one that would explain why she needed to be home right now.
She was pretty sure that explaining how she really wanted to see if Jake would be there wouldn't exactly be all that convincing. Megan was still trying to come up with some kind of excuse as she fell into step with Karen. Fortunately, Jen texted her, and Megan was spared having to come up with what would only be a transparent lie anyway.
What's wrong with Jake? Jen asked.
No idea. Take me home? Megan typed back.
Meet in the parking lot, came the response.
"I've gotta go." Megan told Karen, looking up.
"Really? No practice?"
"Not today. I have to do something with Jen." Megan told her.
She would have used Jake for an excuse, but she wasn't exactly sure what was going on with him at the moment; she didn't want to draw any more attention to him than was absolutely necessary. Besides, she'd be able to coordinate a lie with Jen on the way over to her house.
"Is everything ok? Seriously, what's going on?" Karen asked. She looked worried.
"I don't know...something about Greg." Megan mumbled. And now she'd have to let Jen know that she'd thrown them under the bus. "Can you make up something for Coach for me?"
"I'll tell her you have a doctor's appointment." Karen nodded.
"Thanks."
At least that was one problem solved. Megan said a quick goodbye before hurrying out to the parking lot to meet up with Jen. As soon as she spotted Jen leaning up against her car in the back, Megan practically ran over.
"What took you so long?" Jen asked when Megan finally got there.
"Sorry – I ran into Karen."
"What'd you tell her?" Jen asked as she unlocked the car doors and got in.
"Well..." Megan started, sliding into the passenger seat. "That you needed to talk to me about Greg."
"Really?" Jen asked, sounding slightly exasperated.
"Well, I didn't want to say that Jake was having some problem he couldn't talk about – at least Greg's normal."
No one would be suspicious of Greg. Too bad the same thing might not be so true about Jake – especially with the way he'd been worried about her moving that bottle. Jen just shrugged, and Megan was glad she didn't argue about it.
"So what did Jake tell you after class?" Jen asked. "What's going on with him?"
"I'm not sure." Megan admitted. "He just told me to move that bottle when I got home."
"Well, that doesn't sound good." Jen said. Maybe it was Megan's imagination, but she thought Jen might have sped up just a little.
"Exactly." Megan agreed. "But that's why I want to get home and find out."
Jen drove as fast as she could back to Megan's house, but it still seemed too slow to Megan. She decided to pass the time by texting her older brother Ben that she wouldn't need a ride home today after all – that practice was canceled. She was pretty sure he didn't buy it, but at least he wouldn't be asking any questions that Megan didn't feel like answering.
Of course, when they got to Megan's house, no one was home. Drew was at soccer, Ben was in class at the local college, and her parents were working late as always. At least it meant that Megan and Jen would have the house to themselves as they tried to figure out what was going on.
Megan tore through the hall as fast as she could, only vaguely aware that Jen was on her heels. She sprinted up the stairs and into her room, looking around frantically. And even with all the worrying she'd managed to do on the way home, she still couldn't believe that Jake really wasn't there. How could he not be here with an explanation?
She'd practically worked herself into a panic over this, and she really wanted him to tell her that it had all been a mistake. She looked over at her desk, deciding that maybe she'd just summon him back from wherever he was. That way, he'd finally tell her what was going on. But when she looked over at her desk, her heart nearly stopped: his bottle was gone.
"What's wrong?" Jen asked, running through the door and nearly crashing into Megan. "Why're you just standing there?"
"He's gone." Megan said quietly.
"What? How can he just be gone?" Jen asked, as if Megan must have made a mistake.
"The bottle – it's not there." Megan said, staring dejectedly at her desk.
"...You didn't move it or anything?" Jen asked hopefully.
Megan just shook her head.
She stood there in the center of the room, not quite sure what to do. She couldn't believe he could really just disappear like that. How could this have happened? But Jen wasn't just standing around uselessly – she was methodically tearing Megan's room apart.
She started at the bed, pulling off every pillow, flipping back the covers, even checking the space between the bed and the wall – small though it was. Next, she moved to the desk. It was obvious that the bottle wasn't on the desk, so she turned to the drawers. She pulled every one of them out, going through all the old junk Megan had forgotten she'd put in there over the years. Then, she walked over to the closet. But before she started actually going through each individual shelf, she turned back to Megan.
"You gonna help look?" she asked.
"But...it's not here." Megan told her glumly.
Wasn't Jen paying attention? If it wasn't on the corner of her desk, it wasn't in her room at all. Who would really just move it? If someone was going to come in here just for that, they'd obviously just take it with them. So what was the point in looking around the rest of the room for it?
"Yeah, I know – it's not on your desk. But are you really not going to look at all?" Jen asked. "I mean, he's your boyfriend."
"Fake boyfriend." Megan said automatically.
"Whatever." Jen rolled her eyes.
Megan walked stiffly over to the closet to help Jen look. She really didn't like Jen snapping at her like that, but she did kind of have a point. And even though she knew in her heart that Jake wasn't here, she really should look. Besides, what else was she going to do? She couldn't just sit here hoping that the bottle would magically reappear. Jen started going through Megan's shoes, so Megan decided to start at the top. She climbed up on the shelves until she could see the very highest one.
Of course, the bottle wasn't in her closet. It wasn't under her bed, either – or any other place in Megan's room. So, they expanded their search. The first place they looked was Drew's room. Megan was pretty sure that if Drew had taken the bottle, he'd still be in the house, but Jen pointed out again that they should at least look. Same with Ben's room. They even searched Megan's parents' room. Megan had to admit, she felt a little weird about that. What if they came home early and saw her? She knew they both always worked really late, but she figured this would be the one time they showed up – just in time to catch her snooping through their stuff. But she shouldn't have worried; no one came home for hours. Megan and Jen managed to go through the entire house before anyone got home.
"So now what am I supposed to do?" Megan asked, trying not to sound as pathetic as she felt.
"I don't know." Jen admitted. "Somebody must have taken it."
"You think?" Megan snapped. She'd been saying that for hours.
"Yeah, I know..." Jen muttered. It was one of the few times she ever acknowledged that Megan could be right. Too bad Jake had to go missing for that little miracle to happen. "So who do you think took it?"
"How should I know?" Megan asked.
"Well, who knows about Jake?"
"Nobody." Megan told her. "I mean, just me and you."
"Somebody else has to know." Jen told her. "I mean, they broke into your room and took the bottle. You think someone just got really lucky and happened to take it?"
Megan set her jaw but didn't say anything. She had to admit, Jen had a point. Megan knew someone had broken into her room; she just didn't want to think about that. And the fact that they stole the absolute most important thing in there only made it worse. But who could have done it? Who could have known what that bottle really was?
"...Greg?" Megan asked slowly. She tried not to look suspiciously at her friend, but if Greg did know, it could only have been because of Jen.
"I didn't say anything to him." Jen told her a little defensively. "Unless you think Jake told him...?"
"I really doubt it." Megan tried not to snap, but she wasn't sure if she was successful.
One of the things Jake really liked about Greg was the fact that he didn't actually know what Jake was; there was no way he'd ever ruin that.
"It couldn't be Greg anyway." Jen said, as if she just realized something. "He was with us in class, remember?"
"He was, wasn't he?" Megan sighed with relief. At least she wouldn't have to deal with the fact that Greg might know about what Jake really was.
"So who could it be then?"
"I don't know."
So they were back to square one. Megan figured her only chance was going to be waiting to see if he showed up at school. Then she'd be able to actually ask him where he was – and if he was ok with it. Maybe he'd rather have someone else in charge of him anyway. She just hoped he'd be able to convince his new master to let him come to school. Of course, when she mentioned her brilliant plan to Jen, she was less than impressed.
"What if he doesn't show up tomorrow? Or Friday?" Jen asked. "You really going to just wait around and hope you can see him?"
"Well, what else can I do?" Megan asked.
It wasn't like she could just call him. She'd tried that all the way back to her house. Of course, he hadn't answered. If he even had access to his phone anymore, his new master had probably put a stop to his actually using it.
Jen sighed, thinking.
"Well...let's see if he shows up to school tomorrow. If not, we need to figure out a way to start narrowing down our suspects."
Megan really hoped Jake would show up to class on Thursday; it would make this whole thing a lot easier. And who knew – maybe he'd actually be ok with whoever was in charge now. Megan still didn't like the fact that his new master was also a thief, but if they really were treating him ok, Megan might be able to overlook that little fact. She just hoped it wasn't someone she actually knew.
Megan spent the entire first period hoping that Jake would show up. Usually, he beat her to school. But then, he usually started out in her room. But today, his desk was ominously empty. Still, she stared at it, refusing to take her eyes off of his seat. Finally, the bell rang, and she was forced realize that maybe he really wouldn't be coming after all. And when he didn't show up for second period either, Megan finally got out her phone and texted Jen.
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