Curled Hair, Blue Eyes

Chapter Seven // Step One

- Sadie's POV - 

For the rest of the day I wrote out my plans and waited around for 3:00pm to hit. When the last bell rang for the day I waited patiently outside the college to see Alice, I had to be careful though because if my friends spotted me then the plan would be ruined. 

The outside area of college is a long green field with a few benches but sitting there would be too obvious. I stood across the road in a busy street where it would be impossible to spot me from the college grounds, I watched hundreds of people exit the college until I saw my three friends walking together. Parker had his head lowered and Wyatt seemed to be angry with him, while Alex was jumping around and singing as if he had been taking drugs all day (like always). They went their separate ways and then Alice emerged from the building. Three boys were chasing after her and asking her questions which I couldn't make out what they were as the traffic and people pushing passed me were loud. 

Alice looked tired and bored of the attention from guys, what a shock? She made her way to the traffic lights before turning to the boys and swearing in their faces, they suddenly looked petrified. The three boys ran off and left Alice to strut across the road with her head held high, she turned right and began to approach the area that I was hiding in. I frantically looked around for a better hiding spot but gave up, I hurried into a shop which was close enough for me to escape into. Alice walked passed the shop without glancing in and I sighed loudly with relief. I exited the shop and began to follow her down the busy street, it was impossible to see me if she looked back because of all the people rushing passed.

"Step one, locate Alice's house" I told myself before getting out my phone and ticking the box as I knew following her would take me there. I glanced up for a brief second and realised she had disappeared. My smile dropped and I looked around before stomping one foot angrily, then I spotted her getting on a bus around the corner. I made a run for it and got on just in time, the bus was empty but Alice made her way up to the second floor so I decided to stay downstairs in case I was spotted. I have a bus card for being a student at college so I didn't need to pay or tell the driver where I was heading. I sat down beside an old lady at the back of the bus, she grinned at me and I smiled back. 

The bus journey was long and quiet, I realised that we were heading out of the town and into a dodgy looking area. I felt uncomfortable at first as everybody seemed to be getting off the bus except for Alice, she was still sitting upstairs. Finally after half an hour the bus stopped at a random stop and Alice's footsteps appeared from upstairs. I fell to the floor and ducked my head behind a chair as she exited the bus and thanked the driver by his name. When she was a few steps away from the bus I rang the bell on the banister to let him know I was also getting off.

"You don't look like the type of girl who would live here" The bus driver said to me as I walked passed him, I stopped and looked back at him in confusion.

"Why not?" I asked, slightly intrigued by his assumption. 

"There are no holes in your clothes, your shoes are in good condition and you have no bruises on your face.. Why else?!" He said before laughing and closing the door in my face, I watched the bus drive off in horror. Is this neighbourhood really that bad? Why would a stuck up bitch live here? 

I glanced down the street and saw Alice turn into a street, I kept my eye on the corner and ran for it as fast as I could. When I reached the street I stopped and peeked around the corner to make sure Alice wasn't looking my way, she turned into a small garden which was attached to a bungalow. I watched in surprise as she pulled out a key and walked inside. There was a basketball hoop in the middle of the road and a group of kids were fighting over the ball. They all looked homeless and one of them had no shoes at all. I frowned while watching them before bringing my attention back to the bungalow that Alice entered. I wrote down the address into my phone and sighed loudly, I did not expect her to live in a place like this. 

All of a sudden my phone began to ring loudly, the kids who were playing heard it and started to stare at me weirdly. I turned away and hurried down the street with my head lowered to avoid any eye contact with people. 

"H-Hello?" I answered the phone nervously.

"Sadie? Where are you?" Wyatt's voice appeared in the speaker, I sighed with relief once I heard him.

"I'm fine don't worry about me, I went for a walk" I said while nodding at my lie, Wyatt sighed loudly. I headed back to the bus stop and began to look for the next time a bus would be arriving. I stared at the board in confusion as I couldn't see any heading to where I live.. Oh dear.

"Uh.. Wyatt? I think I'm in trouble" I told him down the phone while double checking the board.

"What do you mean?"

"I got on the wrong bus and now I'm stuck in a random neighbourhood.." I laughed nervously and Wyatt began to freak out over the phone. He worries about me too much sometimes. 

"I'll go to see Alex, he will know what to do" Wyatt explained, I stared at my phone as if that was the stupidest plan I had ever heard (it was).

"Alex is probably hiding under a bridge getting stoned like he does every night. Why would he be any help?" I asked Wyatt while shaking my head. I sat down at the bus stop and tried my best to stay calm, there weren't many people around which was a positive. 

"Alex's dad owns a car and we regularly steal it.. DON'T GET MAD!" Wyatt added at the end of his sentence, I began to shout at him down the phone for being irresponsible and reckless but all he could do was laugh at me. 

"We will be there to rescue you soon. Where the fuck are you anyway?" Wyatt asked, that was a good question. I stood up and looked around for any signs that could inform me on where I was. Suddenly my dad sent me over ten text messages asking where I was and why I hadn't arrived at home yet, I decided to ignore him even though that wasn't the best idea. 

"Only I would be stupid enough to get lost" I muttered to myself while Wyatt ran to Alex's house, he refused to let me end the call in case I suddenly became anxious or upset. The call began to get muffled and hard to understand what was being said or what was going on until I heard the scream of a boys voice and then Wyatt's footsteps quickening.

"What is going on?!" I shouted down the phone but Wyatt didn't answer, I could hear Alex giggling in the distance and I rolled my eyes. 

"What a disaster.."