Broken Ice

hoping for a miracle

Sadie's POV

Cassidy and I went home before dark and we walked inside. Her mom made three bowls of mac and cheese.

One for Cassidy...

One for her...

And one for Cassidy's dad...

It was awkward.

"Here, you can have mine." Cassidy said.

"No, it's ok. Don't worry about it. I'm not that hungry. But can I go take a shower?" I asked.

"Yeah, of course! Rest up for tomorrow." She said with a grin.

I smiled back at her. I turned the shower on and I was about to get in until I realized there were no clean towels.

I was about to open Cassidy's door to ask for some, but I heard arguing.

"Cassidy, are you kidding me?" Her mom asked.

"What?" She responded, angrily.

"No. I'm putting an end to this. How much money did you spend on her today?"

"Not much..."

"Not much? How much did her hair cost? That must have taken a small fortune to get that ridiculous purple out!" She yelled.

"No, it didn't! I took her to Aunt Rachel!"

"Cassidy! You're joking, right?" Her dad asked.

I didn't realize she took me to a family members hair place. No wonder she didn't pay.

"No..." She uttered.

"My sister can't afford that bullshit!" Her dad yelled. "Just because she didn't make you pay doesn't mean it didn't come from somewhere! She had to do that from her own bank account!"

"I said I'd pay her back eventually! When I get the money..."

"Cassidy, this is it. The hair, the clothes, the skates. It's too much. She can't stay here. Stop trying to make something out of her! She isn't your sister!"

"She's better! Just wait!" Cassidy yelled back to her mom. Her sweet voice was gone. It was pure anger and hatred.

"Don't raise your voice at me, young lady. I will not be talked to like that!"

"You aren't even giving her a chance!" She pleaded.

"I don't need to. It'll take years to make that kind of money with whatever you plan on doing with her. I didn't even want your sister getting wrapped up in this!"

"Well she did and there's nothing we can do about it!" Cassidy continued.

"That's it. If you're so grown up and you think you can talk to me like that, you're not welcomed to stay here. Get her and yourself out of this house!" She yelled.

I stopped listening. All of this arguing was over me?

I quickly ran to the shower. Hopefully things would die down by the time I got out.

Please. Who am I kidding.

I was hoping for a miracle.

I wanted to take a long shower, but after the conversation I heard, I wanted to know more details and I don't need to be the reason their water bill is so high.

I dried my hair with a towel and put more comfortable clothes on.

I walked in her room and Cassidy was moving stuff around.

"Hey! Sadie, umm... I gotta talk to you." She uttered.

Uh oh. Here it comes. I noticed the suitcase in the corner. No, no, no! She's sending me off! Dammit! No!

I felt tears already starting to form in my eyes.

"What's up?" I asked, trying to compose myself.

"So we won't be staying here anymore. We're gonna go somewhere else."

We?

"What do you mean?" I asked, genuinely confused.

"Just... something happened. We're not welcome here anymore." She said sweetly.

I rolled my eyes. "You got kicked out?"

She groaned. "Yeah." She said in a normal voice. "Sorry. I forgot you're fourteen. Not four. We're gonna just spend the night in my car, but trust me. I can make this work. I promise."

I don't know if I trusted her. But hey, what's the worst that could happen?

Darrel's POV

Days and days went by. Still no trace of Sadie.

Mom and dad haven't suspected anything, though, which is good.

We were all eating dinner on a late night and there was a knock on the door.

"Well, who could that be?" Mom asked. "It's almost nine o' clock." She said.

"I'll get it." Dad said standing up and making his way to the door.

Part of me hoped it was Sadie. Just to know she was ok. But the other part of me wished it wasn't. Not because I don't want to see her, but because it was dad answering the door with mom right behind him.

He opened the door and it were two girls. Probably the same age as Soda or Sadie.

"Can I help you girls?" Mom asked, sweetly.

"Cut the act. Where's Sadie?" The one with curly hair asked.

Mom stepped back with a shocked look on her face. "Excuse me?" She asked.

"You heard me. Where's Sadie? We know she was here. And we know you have something to do with the fact we haven't seen her in forever."

"Hahaha. I think you two must have the wrong house. I'll handle this." I said, coming up behind them.

"No, no, no. I will not be talked to like that by some teenage girl who thinks she's so cool and then pushed to the side. What are you talking about?" Mom demanded.

The girl with slightly pink hair rolled her eyes. Even in the dark I could see it. Soda came up next to me. "Sadie had been staying with us for the past four-ish months. My parents came home and it wasn't safe for her to be there so I had to tell her to find somewhere else. She said she'd make her way here. Did she not?" She asked quickly.

"I don't believe she did." Dad said. Mom and dad both turned around to look at us. "Did she?"

Pony, Soda and I all gave them nervous looks. Dad repeated himself. "Ok, fine. She did." I said.

"Darry!" Soda scolded.

"But she isn't here anymore. I figured she went back to hang out with you guys. Or wherever she was staying before. Did she not?" I asked pushing past mom and dad, letting my nerves take over.

"She hasn't been back. All she said was she'd be back the next night. Well, it's been weeks. I don't know where else she could have gone if she wasn't with us." The curly haired girl said.

I took a breath.

If Sadie wasn't here, and she wasn't with her friends...

Where else could she be?