Where the Moon will Shine

Chapter 18

 "Oliver, wait!" I shouted. "Oliver!"

The wallet had to be his, it was right where he was standing. I bent over and picked it up.

I ran towards the direction he left but he must have taken his car because he was nowhere in sight.

I dropped the wallet and cursed under my breath. I noticed that money had fallen out so I picked it up. What I wasn't expecting, though, was how much money there was.

My brow furrowed as I counted five hundred dollars in my hand. I looked inside the wallet out of curiosity and noticed that it was packed to the brim with cash.

My eyes scanned the money and there had to be at least a thousand dollars in his wallet.

"What the hell?" I gasped in shock. I stood there for a moment staring in disbelief.

"Rachel!" I heard my mom yell from all the way inside the kitchen. I cursed again then shoved the money back in the wallet. "Coming," I screamed as loud as I could.

I stuffed the wallet into the pocket of my high-waisted jeans and ran back inside.

I tried to run up the stairs to lock myself in my room when I heard my mother's piercing voice again.

"Rachel? Where's the cheese!" I had forgotten that I was even holding it. She was definitely going to suspect that something was up.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry," my voice quivered and my jaw clenched as I ran back down the stairs. I handed it to her and smiled, hoping that she wouldn't bring up Oliver.

"So, that boy." My mom smirked.

"Just a friend," I lied, knowing I wouldn't be able to escape.

"Pretty cute friend." My mom winked at me, then turned around to add the cheese to her pan.

"What's that supposed to mean," I said a little more aggressively than intended.

"I just mean he's cute. That's all."

Wow. I had never seen my mom so open to the idea of boys. Or rather, a boy...

"Okay Mom, whatever you say." I turned around to head back up the stairs when I heard my mom laughing.

"Oh, and Rachel!"

Ugh. I spun around, hopefully for the last time.

"Yes, mother?" I beamed disingenuously.

"You're still too young for a boyfriend. Now go fold the laundry."

"I told you he's-"

"Now please," my mom cut me off.

I ran up the stairs frustrated. The last thing I wanted to do was chores. I had a concussion! Or, I did... How does my first day of being semi-okay again constitute me having to do chores?

I got upstairs and locked myself in my room. I was not doing anything. Not for a while anway.

I grabbed the wallet from my pocket and debated on whether I should have counted the money. On one hand, it was probably an invasion of privacy. On the other hand... Why was there so much money? I needed to make sure my, kind of, sort of, almost boyfriend, wasn't some type of sketchy drug dealer!

But he wasn't my boyfriend. Not even close. Even if my mom thought he was cute. Not to mention the fact that he had seemed to completely forgot about our kiss!

"Ugh!" I smashed my head into a pillow.

It was just a fluke. A one time thing. It'd never happen again.

But then again... what if it did? I should count it.

Did it matter though? It wouldn't change the fact that there was obviously something very wrong. Or maybe there was a very good explanation. Should I just ask him?

No. I couldn't ask him because that would mean that he knew I was looking through his wallet, which would mean he would think I was some type of stalker girl which would mean he'd want nothing to do with me!

I screamed into my pillow then heard my mom screaming again.

"Rachel!! Did I not just tell you to do the laundry, what on heaven's earth are you doing!?"

"And aren't you supposed to be cooking your extra cheesy dinner?" I shouted back.

Silence.

Oh shit...

"Just kidding, getting on laundry right now!" I ran out of my room and into the laundry room praying that I wouldn't get beat by my mom.

"Hey Rach?" Mom called.

Sweet moon, I'm about to experience death...

"Yeah?" I gritted my teeth and tried to sound enthusiastic.

"If you have a problem with my 'cheesy' dinners," her voice started out soft, "then you can go and cook your own damn food!" she screamed, slamming something.

Good job Rach, you never fail to mess everything up.

And how did everything get so messed up in the first place?

I mean, my life was pretty great, then I met Oliver. But even after I met him, things were still okay. It was all because of Anika. The stupid babysitting job.

If it hadn't been for the storm then I wouldn't have ended up at the neighbors house and I wouldn't have ended up with a concussion.

I wouldn't have wound up here, stuck doing laundry as Mom once again hates me.

Even the Oliver thing was kind of sucking lately. The last thing I wanted in my life was boys. The last thing I wanted was drama and confusion and pain, but for some reason those things seem to follow me around. But why me?

I pulled out the wallet again, glazing my fingers over the money.

"Why," I whispered, on the verge of tears. I chucked the wallet across the room.

"Why!" I shouted, before remembering my mom could probably hear me.

I watched the wallet as it hit off the wall, silently hoping for something to fall out of it. Something to make sense of it all.

"Rachel! Rachel get down here!" My mom screeched.

"No no no... not again." I mumbled frantically. I quickly checked to make sure I didn't look like I was crying and made my way down the stairs.

"Mom, I'm sorry, I was just joking and I just dropped my phone. I wasn't trying to be disrespectful-" I sealed my mouth as soon as I saw my mom's ghastly face, the phone dangling from her hand.

"Mom? Mom what is it?" I felt myself starting to tear up again, I could feel something was wrong.

She was staring at the floor and only looked up at me for a second as she uttered, "Brianna is missing."