Coming Home | Scarlett Johansson's Daughter |

PARENTS

NEW YORK - ALINA'S APARTMENT

The next day, after another long day at dance, Violet and her friends piled into Alina's mom's car, as another sleepover was due this weekend.

Alina's dad, a warm and welcoming doctor, greeted them as they arrived at her apartment building. He was dressed in his scrubs, probably about to leave for a night shift, as he usually did on weekends the girls would stay over.

"Hi, girls!" he called from the kitchen, where he was busy drinking some water. "What do you want for dinner tonight?"

"Papa, can we get some Thai food?" Alina chimed in excitedly. She knew, and so did her friends, that her dad would agree immediately, as he tended to do always. The man, predictively, left them to order the food.

Meanwhile, they made their way upstairs to Alina's room, chatting animatedly about school, their teachers, and the latest gossip.

"So, Kalani, did you finally talk to Ethan about that project?" Alina asked as they settled in, her eyes curious. Kalani had this crush for a while, and they had finally found a reason the girl could ask him about something.

Kalani sighed, rolling her eyes dramatically. "Yeah, I finally mustered up the courage to do it. He said he'd help, but honestly, he's so clueless about history."

Sora laughed, shaking her head. "Typical Ethan. At least you got him on board. I'm still dealing with group drama in English class. It's exhausting." Sora had been placed in an all boys group, and they had refused to chime in for their first group assignment, all except for Robbie, a nice quiet boy who they all knew would one day be in some epic business project.

As they continued discussing school and their various dilemmas, Violet grew increasingly quiet, her mind preoccupied with the weight of the folder Marissa had sent her. About an hour into their conversation, Violet's distant attitude finally caught the other girl's attention. She had been unusually quiet, her thoughts seemingly far away. Even in dance class she had made tiny mistakes that she never usually made.

Alina, noticing her friend looking into the empty wall in the room, gently probed, "Violet, is everything okay?"

Violet blinked and looked back at the group, as if returning from a deep reverie. "Huh? Oh, yeah, everything's fine. I'm just thinking."

Sora leaned in. "What are you thinking about? You seem kind of out of it today."

Violet chewed nervously on her lip as she looked at her group of friends. She hadn't told them anything that had happened in the last week, and at first it was to protect herself, but now, what was even the reason to hide it?

Violet hesitated for a moment before saying something. "Yeah, sorry, guys. It's just... something happened yesterday after school."

"With Marissa, right?" Sora nodded, as if understanding now.

Violet cringed internally, realizing they really didn't know anything.

"Well, sorry, actually something happened last Saturday." She quickly shook her head. "I hid it from you guys because I honestly was trying to convince myself it didn't mean anything." She gave them an apologetic look.

"Vivi, what's really going on?" Whispered Kalani. Sweet, nurturing Kalani, who would always understand when one of them was going through something. Violet now left dumb for even hiding all of this.

"A week ago, Marissa told me that a detective was looking into this case of a missing kid. And that my first social worker seems to be linked to it somehow. So on Monday, I wasn't really sick. I was getting some testing done." She noticed how a wide eyed Alina was about to blurt something out in shock. "°It was because they wanted to get any leads out of the way! So that's why I didn't say anything."