Code: 16B

Chapter Fourteen

Fourteen

    After closing the door on my…boyfriend (I still don’t know if it’s official or not, but it felt right to say it, or think it to myself. I mean I could still feel his lips on mine even after the kiss, and it felt good.) I looked around the guest room.

    It was decorated similar to Violet’s room, but instead of posters, the walls were decorated with framed black and white pictures of forests, mountains, beaches, and the Grand Canyon. All the framed photographs were all signed by an artist I’ve never heard of: Ansell Adams. But I could’ve sworn I’ve seen those portraits somewhere.

    Not at school obviously, an artwork like that would immediately get stolen, and hawked off at a pawnshop.

    Not at home, most of the pictures we have are paintings of fruits, or photographs of family members.

    Maybe at someone else’s house? Probable. I think I saw a couple of these portraits at Missy’s house when I was at her party.

    Just thinking about my one, and only best friend sent a wave of sadness through me. I haven’t seen her since yesterday, in fifth period theatre production honors class. I have to make some sort of communication to her.

    When I see my purse on the foot of the bed, part of me was hoping that no one has gone through it. I snag it by the strap, and I immediately went through it, and I sighed with relief when I see my cell phone is still inside, and the battery is still full. Thank goodness I charged it two nights ago.

    Then I remembered what Violet and Garrett told me that any phone call could be traced if I wasn’t careful. Even if I used a cell phone, it could still be traced. But they didn’t say anything about texting. I don’t recall them saying anything about texting before they left for their reconnaissance mission to track Victor and know his routine. But still, I would probably go insane if I don’t have any contact with someone outside the safe house, like someone in my family, or better yet, my BFF.

    Going with my gut, I open my phone to where I see the full keyboard, and began typing:

   What’s up?

    I send it to Missy, and prayed with all my heart and soul that no evil redhead bad guy could somehow trace a person’s text message back to the source. I took a couple of calming, and cleansing breaths as I took a shower, and changed into some pajamas Violet had picked out. They were cute, and there’s nothing wrong with wearing Tinkerbell, right?

    Then, I see my phone light up, and I was glad that I forgot to take it off of vibrate when we left the theater. I quickly, and quietly ran to it, and sure enough, Missy answered.

    Ur not gonna believe what I have 2 tell u.

    Curiosity got the best of me, because it sounded like she really has something exciting to tell me, which is rare. So I typed a quick response.

    What is it?

    I didn’t expect for her to respond so quickly. From what she told me, she’s always been slow when it comes to texting. She would often act like a brutal coach to her thumbs whenever she has to send a text to someone. But when I opened my phone to read the message, not only was I surprised to see a long message, but also what it said scared me.

    Today @ the mall, I met a redhead cutie. And omg! He is SO sexy! And he asked me out, almost right on the spot!!!

    The part that scared me was when she said, redhead cutie. But, still I just had to make sure, so I typed a question.