Charms

Chapter Six

"Looks like Lauren and Georgia aren't as guilty as we thought they were...," I stated.

Another hour had passed and Ashley and I were just sitting in my mostly-purple-and-blue room, trying to think of what else we could do.

"Yeah, but if they didn't do it, then who did?" Ashley asked.

"I don't know, but I have a feeling that whoever did is pretty close to me or my family," I began, "Close enough to know where my grandparents' house is. Close enough to know about that secret compartment. Close enough to know that my grandparents wouldn't be home because they are on vacation."

A look of sudden realization came across Ashley's face. "Annabelle!"

Just as I was about to agree with Ashley and go over to Annabelle and hound her with questions, I realized that Ashley could not be correct. "As grumpy and ignorant as she is, Ash, I really doubt that Annabelle would do something like that to my mom. She needs the money that we pay her."

"Yeah, I guess you're right...," Ashley agreed.

There was a short moment of silence as Ashley and I both got lost in our own thoughts.

"I'll be right back," Ashley announced as she stood up, breaking the silence, "I have to go to the bathroom."

"Ok," I replied.

I watched as Ashley walked out of my room and down the hallway that had white walls and brown, hardwood floors and was filled with family portraits of me, Mom, Dad, Tom, and Rose. I quickly scrambled across my purple carpet and slammed my white door shut. I then scrambled over towards Ashley's white and black checkered backpack and unzipped it.

"It couldn't hurt for me to look, right?" I thought to myself, "Like I said, whoever stole Mom's charm is probably pretty close to me. Ashley is so close to me that she knows where my grandparents house is. Also, a few weeks ago, I told her that my grandparents were going to Mexico for exactly one week. Did Ashley's sleeve really get caught on that hook or did she already know that secret compartment was there? She has been over there quite a few times. Was she really helping me or was she just trying to make herself not look suspicious? Did she sprinkle cookie crumbs inside of the box and smear ketchup on it so that I would think that Lauren and Georgia stole it?"

I peered my head inside of Ashley's backpack. I rummaged through the few books that Ashley decided to take home today. Still, there was no charm. I then noticed that the backpack had a front compartment. I quickly unzipped it to see if there was anything was inside of it. There was. I saw something silver glisten from the light of my bedroom lamp. I grabbed it and pulled it out. I held it up to the light so I could tell what it was. Right there in the center of my palm was a silver, elephant-shaped charm- my mom's charm. According to the Big Books of Charms, if you have an elephant charm, it means that you are calm, peaceful, understanding, and highly intelligent. It also means that you are very strong and can be short-tempered at times.

I closed my hand up. Just as I was about to barge into her bathroom and start questioning Ashley, I decided not to. I do not want to invade her privacy. Also, she might attack, snatch the charm back, and runaway. Since she is much taller, faster, and stronger than me, it would be hard for me to snatch it back. I thought about telling Dad, Tom, Rose, and Annabelle about it, but I would be cursed with bad luck if I were to show it to them and tell them that it's mom's charm. But, if they were to have found it with me, neither of us would be cursed. I thought about walking past them nonchalantly with the charm in my hands so they could see it, but if they were to ask me where I found it, they would immediately hound Ashley if I were to tell them that it was in her backpack. This might also make her snatch the charm from me and runaway.

Squeezing the charm in my hand as tight as possibly as I could so no one could see it, I bolted out of my room and down the hallway. I pulled the white garage door open and dashed past all of my parents' cars and towards my hot pink bike. I quickly kicked the metal kickstand up and wheeled my bike towards the front of our garage with grey walls and concrete floors. I pressed the small, white, round button that was attached to the wall. The huge, old, tan garage door slowly began to go up as it made, loud, weird noises. Not having enough time to wait for it to go all the way up, I ducked my head and wheeled my bike underneath the door. With mom's elephant charm still in my hand, I hopped up on the black, leather seat of my bike and sped down my tan, concrete driveway and into the street. I made a right turn and furiously began to pedal towards my grandparents' house.