Missing Pages

Chapter 1: Conversations Cut Short

It was a cool autumn afternoon in my town. The leaves were vivid hues of orange and red as they fell from the tops of the trees overhead.

My friend, Carmen, was asking me a series of strange questions.

"If you had the choice between a rotten carrot and spoiled milk, which would you choose?"

"Uh, the rotten carrot?" I answered.

"Would you rather do a bellyflop off of a 500 foot diving board or run three miles in ten minutes?" she asked.

"I don't know... run three miles? Why are we doing this again?" I questioned her.

"To pass time," she said, answering my question, "Well, here's my stop. I'll see you tomorrow, Jasmine."

We said goodbye, and I continued down the sidewalk towards my house. Carmen and I always walked home together after school. Tomorrow was Saturday, which meant that all of my closest friends were going to do something fun. It was like our weekly tradition.

I was a few blocks from my house, when I was stopped by Nina. She was a smart girl who always got picked on. I didn't see why she would deserve such unfair treatment, but many suggest otherwise. Everyone says that she is horrible when she's off of school premises. They even claim that she bullies young children.

"Hey Jasmine!" she exclaimed.

Me, being the nice person that I am, decided that she couldn't do any harm, and started a friendly conversation with her.

"Hey there! How's it going?" I greeted her.

"I'm good. I just saw you walking alone, so I came over here," she explained.

I nodded in response. "Have you heard about the new bookstore? I've heard that it was really nice, and had really decent prices, too."

"Yeah. I was going to stop by there later. If you want to, you could-"

Beep! Beep!

"Sorry about that!" I apologized. My phone was going off, indicating that I had received a new text message. I silenced my phone, and returned my attention to Nina.

"As I was saying, you could join me-"

I couldn't focus on what she was saying because my phone was vibrating like crazy in my back pocket.

"How about it, Jasmine?" she finished. "Jasmine? Are you even listening?"

I was too busy tampering with the settings on my phone to even hear her. My phone just wouldn't stop vibrating. I was getting about a million text messages from my brother. He would just have to wait.

"Huh? Oh I'm sorry! My brother keeps on texting me! What did you say earlier?" I asked to keep the conversation going.

"I was asking you if you wanted to come with me to the-" she began.

You'll find us chasing the sun!

My phone started blasting the song 'Chasing the Sun' on full volume. It was my brother, David, calling.

I laughed nervously. "If you'll excuse me for one moment..."

If he was this persistent on contacting me, then it must have been really important. I answered my phone.

"Hello? David, is it you?" I asked into the receiver.

'Yes. Didn't you get my texts? You need to get home ASAP!" he said.

"Ok. I'm nearly home. I was just talking with Nina," I explained.

"Well, hurry it up! You shouldn't be talking to her anyways."

"Bye." I said, and locked my phone.

"Sorry, Nina. I have to go, it's a family emergency. I'll talk to you later?" I stated, unsure.

"Yeah. Bye," Nina said half-heartedly before turning on her heel. Whenever I tried to have an actual conversation with that girl, something would always come up. That was pretty strange.

I would apologize again later. Right now I needed to worry about what was going on at my house...

Author's Note:

Hello people! Sorry about the really late update, I have been really busy with school! This week we have Thanksgiving break, so I'll try to put up a few more chapters! This is the sequel to my first book, The Curse, so you can check that out to better understand this story!! As always, feel free to comment on my story, and vote! Talk to you guys later!! :]