Charms

Chapter Three

"That's crazy!" Georgia Carson, one of my school friends, cried as she squeezed some ketchup out of her ketchup packet and onto her blue lunch tray for her french fries, "I can't believe that someone would ever do something like that to your mom! She's such a nice lady!"

It was now the next day and I was just eating lunch with Georgia, Lauren Lilly, another one of my good school friends, and Ashley Jackson, my best friend. Last night, after Annabelle dropped me, Dad, Tom, and Rose off at our house, she had to drive all the way to the Charm City boardwalk to get my mom's car and drive it back home. We stayed up all night trying to figure out who would ever say something like that to mom. Neither of us were able to think of anybody. We all went to bed very late that night, which resulted in us all being very exhausted today.

"Yeah, when she's not having a mood swing," I stated.

"So, how are you going to find out who took your mom's charm and return it if you don't even know what it looks like or where it's box is located?" Lauren asked in between taking nibbles of her chocolate chip cookies.

"I don't know."

"Why don't you just go over to your grandparents' house and tell them about what happened?" Ashley suggested, "They should be able to help you find the charm since they know what it looks like and put it back in it's box since they know where it is."

"But, Ash, you know that my grandparents took a trip to Mexico! They won't be back 'till next week!"

"You could always tell them when they return."

"But, if my mom's charm doesn't get returned soon, then the baby's health will be put at risk and their charm might not form correctly!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lauren asked.

"It means that it might come out as the wrong shape, which will give the baby bad luck for their whole entire life! Either that or the baby might not even be born with a charm, which will cause their personality to constantly change!"

"But, what happens if the charm is never returned?" Georgia asked.

"Then, along with my mother, the baby will push up daisies."

"That's horrible!" Ashley, Georgia, and Lauren all exclaimed.

"You know what, Patty? I have an idea," Ashley announced, "Instead of going over to your house today, why don't we walk over to your grandparents' house and we will look for your mom's charm box."

You see, almost every single day, Ashley has to come over to my house while her mom is at work. She works extra long hours and her father walked out on her and Ashley, which means that Ashley has no one to watch her at home. Ashley had to get a job at McDonald's to help her mom out since her job as a waitress at a diner does not earn her that much money. But since she does not feel comfortable being alone, on her days off, she always goes over my house.

"How the heck is that going to help?" I asked, giving Ashley a confused look.

"Well, maybe we'll find some interesting clues that the 'charm remover' left behind," Ashley replied.

"I don't know, Ash..."

"Hey, at least we will know return it once we find it! Plus, it's not like we will get bad luck! All we have to do is not reveal it's exact location to anyone else!"

"Oh, alright..."

"Rriiiiiiiinnnggg!" The school bell rang, indicating the end of our lunch period. Ashley, Georgia, Lauren, and I quickly stood up and threw our trash and remaining food away. Those of us who had bought lunch neatly stacked their trays on top of the small, grey, square-shaped table in the back right corner of the room. We picked up all of our belongings and sped to our lockers so we could get our books for our next couple of classes.