You're The Only Friend I Need

Royals

NOVA

"Hello officer. I'm here for Reed Lester, he was at the Alpha Omega house party last night and I've haven't seen him since it was crashed. How much is his bail?" I ask as I reach for purse, my hands shaking thanks to the coffee I had drank to stay up all night. "I'll pay whatever I need to."

"Ma'am, I'm sorry to inform you, but for the third time- he's still not here." The officer replies, only frustrating me more.

"Where else could he be?! I've looked in all the dining halls, his dorm, his ex-girlfriend's apartment, his favorite pizza place, and even the park where he gets all the-" I pause, mid shout. I wasn't about to tell this cop about the drug park on the west side of campus, that would be dumb. "I just know he has to be here." I shout, searching for the officer's badge so I can call him by his name. I raise my voice once I find it and continue to yell at him. "Look, I don't what your problem is, Officer Greg, but if you can't help me, I'll find someone who can."

"Ma'am, I'm going to have to ask you to lower your voice or leave," Officer Greg's voice was calm and collected, which only fueled my annoyance.

"I'm going to stay here until-" I begin but am interrupted by the sound of my phone ringing. "Ugh," I say as I accept the call while glaring at the officer. "One minute."

"Cassidy? Have you guys found him?" I ask as I turn away from the cop.

"Not yet, but you need to come to his dorm. Now. It's important," I hear Cassidy's voice over the phone.

"Why? Is everything okay?"

"Just hurry," She answers before hanging up.

"Cassidy, wait- Cass-" I shout trying to stop her from hanging up but fail. I start to put my phone away as I notice the Officer Greg giving me a kind of concerned facial expression. "Oh, like no one's ever hung up on you before." I say, mockingly.

"Actually, no one ever has." The officer responds.

"Hello!" I shout in anger.

"What?" He whispers, trying to take attention away from our conversation.

I in return turn around and walk out of the station without a word.

"Hey!" He shouts as I walk away.

"Now you've been hung up on." I shout back as I walk out of the station, resisting the urge to flip off Greg.

I walk quickly towards Reed's dorm while lighting a cigarette. I didn't smoke until I got to college, but everything changes when you grow up I guess. I definitely am not the person I was two weeks ago.

I really hope Reed is okay. Last night was great until Reed got arrested and went missing. He was really good at kissing, and dancing, and I was really starting to like him.

Oh god, Nova, whatever happened to no boys until after college? I promised myself the first day of orientation that I would steer clear of that toxic topic. I had been able to ignore boys all throughout middle and high school, what was different now?

Well, I did use to go to an all-girls academy. That could be part of it.

Whatever was happening though, I needed to fix it. There was no way I could mess up this early in the semester. My parents made me promise to stay clean and focused throughout college in exchange for a nice check every semester to pay off my tuition, and no boy was going to ruin that for me. I have already broken the rule of staying clean last night, so now I really had to stay focused.

Why am I looking so hard for Reed then?

My thoughts lead me to his dorm and I take a second to breathe before allowing myself to knock on the door.