Missing

chapter three

When I get home I make sure to shove the brown bag in my hoodie pocket obviously not stupid enough to just carry it in. I walk through the door and glance at the kitchen clock looking at the time. It reads 7:23 meaning my dad would be home in about 7 minutes. I'm about to make my way up the stairs when I'm stopped by my mother's voice.

     "Payton, dear come in here dinner is about to be ready and we have company." She appears in the hallway with a smile on her face.

     "Just a minute mom I have to go upstairs and do something." I rush keeping my hands in my pocket so you can't tell anythings in it.

     "Honey don't be rude. Come join us now." She smiles making the last part more demanding as she flicks her head towards the kitchen.

     "Mom seriously it will only take a second I just have to put-" She cuts me off.

     "Payton I will not ask again please come in the dining room and sit down. Your father will be home any minute and we have Mr. and Mrs. Whitley over." I sigh knowing I won't win this one.

My mother always acts so perfect and proper whenever we have company over and it's pretty irritating. I would just run up the stairs anyway but either I would be in trouble for disobeying her or she would sense something was up and follow me to my room so I decide against it and follow her into the dining room.

My hands are extremely sweaty and it's not because I have a paper bag between my hands. If I got caught with drugs on me I would be beyond grounded. Especially with the Whitleys over. I guess they are nice but Mrs. Whitley has the biggest mouth. She would tell everyone she knew "Did you hear about Payton Berwick? She does all kinds of drugs now, her parents might send her to rehab blah blah blah" okay so maybe I'm overexaggerating but still if I was caught my parents would have my head. I mean my mother brought my curfew down 2 hours for being late once. Just once. I sit at the dinner table and look down at my plate my hands still in my pocket.

     "So Payton darling how are you? How's school going?" Mr. Whitley asks me smiling. I just tell him the basic pretty good not going into further detail. I really have no interest in conversing with these people.

I hear the front door open and feel relieved. Even if I have weed in my pocket right now I'm always glad to see my dad. He always makes the mood light and cheery and is always telling jokes. My mom will try to be cheery but it's all an act to try to charm anyone she's talking to. The way my dad does it is so carefree and non trying and that's what I love about him.

I hear him telling my mother that dinner smells really good before coming into the dining room and sitting down at the table right next to me. I sort of panic until I see that he's tired and won't notice and I know he really doesn't want to deal with the Whitleys right now. He greets them casually not really trying to make conversation then he turns to me. He gives me an unfeigned smile.

     "How was my favorite child's day?" He says giving me all of his attention.

Oh you know a kid went missing so being the snoop I am I went to ask a boy I despise about it and ended up getting some pot. btw its in my pocket right now.

     "Wow Dad I'm flattered even though I am your only child," he laughs nodding. "yeah but I just had some coffee with Samantha and worked on my project." He nods accepting my answer when my mother walks in sitting at the table. 

     "Dinner is about five minutes from being done!" She cheers putting on her brightest smile for the Whitleys. I roll my eyes and scoot closer to the table so no one can see my pocket.

     "Payton please put your hood down we are inside." She laughs, thinking her joke was oh so funny. The Whitleys join in. I put my hood down knowing that even if she acted like it was a joke to our company I knew it wasn't.

All I want to do is go upstairs and look stuff up about the case which is what I should've done in the first place instead of asking a bunch of questions that landed me with weed in my pocket.

     "What is that smell?" I hear Mrs. Whitley ask crinkling her nose sniffing. Mr. Whitley does the same.

     "Oh it might be the chicken." I look at my mother as she starts to panic about her potentially burnt food.

     "No that isn't it, it smells almost like skunk," I whip my head up then look around making sure no one noticed my sudden outburst. Uh oh. They can smell it. "It's very faint but it's there." I suddenly start to feel queasy and think this is it. I decide to speak up so I can get the fuck out of here.

     "Dad," My dad looks over to me raising his eyebrows. "I'm not feeling so well can I just go upstairs?" My mother interjects.

     "Honey dinner hasn't even started why don't you just wait it out." But she didn't ask me if I wanted to wait it out she told me. I fight the urge to roll my eyes. Mrs. Whitley's nose is still crinkled up. I give my dad a pleading look.

     "Melissa if she isn't feeling well she should go upstairs and get some rest. She can eat her dinner later." I smile at my dad mentally thanking him for getting me off the hook.

     "Well I suppose that's alright," She turns her attention to me. "you're excused Payton." She smiles at me and I give her my best fake smile back. I mumble a thank you under my breath and push my chair out. I stand up and immediately put my hands in my pockets. I calmly walk out the dining room and down the hall before bolting up the steps.

As soon as I get in my room I shut the door behind me and take the weed out of my pocket. I pace my room with the paper bag in my hand. I suddenly get an idea and pull out my dresser drawer. I take the small plastic baggie out of the larger bag and set it on my dresser. I reach in my drawer and pull out a long sock then get the plastic baggie and shove it in the sock. I roll up the top of the sock and shove it down so its underneath everything. I shut my drawer and walk over to my bed laying down suddenly feeling exhausted about today with everything. Especially the hiding and lying.

I finally decide to just do my project tomorrow and throw all my school stuff on my floor. I take my pants off leaving me in just my underwear and hoodie and snuggle beneath my thick white comforter. I reach over and turn my lamp off suddenly becoming extremely tired. I fall asleep around 10:30 an extreme contrast to my usual 4 am night where I stay up scrolling through tumblr and listening to my music. I go to sleep thinking about all the stuff I will look up tomorrow about the case.

ok I'm posting a bunch of chapters at like 3 am right now so I know no one is reading yet since I just uploaded the first chapter like 2 hours ago but yeah anyway just tell me if this is a good length or not and don't forget to vote and comment!