Drowning in the Bad Boy

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Gabriel

7:57 AM

Where is she? Class starts in five now but she was still nowhere to be seen.

"Gabe, hurry up, we should go," Drew hurried.

What am I waiting for? What am I even doing?

"Just a minute!" I said before dashing at Charlotte's group of friends. I was starting to worry, her brother was already here at school, but she wasn't. What happened to her? Was she sick?

"Hi, uh..." What are their names?

Their conversations faltered. They turned to stare at me as if they had seen a ghost.

"I was wondering..." I continued hesitantly. This is weird, why are they staring at me like this? Do I have something on my face? Usually I wouldn't care what they think, but when it comes to Charlotte friends, I hope I could give them a good impression, so they might say something nice for me to Charlotte.

"What do you want?" The taller brunette said curtly.

"Um, I was wondering have you seen Charlotte? It's almost eight but she isn't here yet..."

"Why do you care?" she cut me off. Good question, because I don't even know. Now I recognised her name was Maya, she had a reputation for being... unfriendly, especially to boys.

So I turned to the quiet blonde girl and asked, "Any idea where she is?"

"She... maybe she's late..." she stuttered.

"As usual. What do you want with her?" Maya interrogated.

I ignored her question and ask instead "Can you give me her number so I can call her?"

The brunette gave me a skeptical look and said," I'll call her."

We waited for a minute or two before Charlotte picked up her phone.

"Char, where are you? You're gonna be late!"

"Again? Where are you now? Are you almost there?"

"Still? ...I'll try...Hello? Char? Hello?"

I realised something was wrong. My body tensed up in alarm.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Char? Are you okay? What happened? Hi??" Maya was still on the phone, but she couldn't seem to reach the other side.

"Something went wrong," announced Maya. My mouth went dry and my hands were shaking of panic. I can't let anything happen to her.

"Where is she?!" I shook Maya furiously.

"Stop! I lost her, she said she's somewhere near Mason Road..."

I ran out of the school before I even knew it. I swear to God, if anyone tries to hurt her, I will rip his head off. I will never forgive myself if anything happens to her.

It didn't take me long to find Mason Road since this was a small town, it was only across the school. It was located on an ascending slope, with stairs leading to a nice neighborhood. There are trees on both sides of the road and a steep slope on the left.

I searched along the roadside and shouted her name for a few times, but there was no response. I have never been more frightened in my life, not even when I was beaten up, wounded alone in the corner of a dark street. I can't let anything happen to her.