1| WAKE UP LITTLE ONE ( zalfie)

Chapter 13

Caspar and I decided to go back to his flat, but were met with a surprise. A pretty girl who looked to be about my age with blonde hair stood on the doorstep, nervously winding a strand of hair around her finger.

"Poppy?" Caspar asked as we drew closer.

The girl spun around. "Caspar! Thank God, there you are."

"Oh, Zoe, this is Poppy Deyes, Alfie's sister," Caspar introduced me. "Poppy, this is Zoe Sugg, also known as Zoella on YouTube - she does beauty, fashion, hair and vlogs, she's working with Simple Skincare at the moment. Her brothers Joe Sugg. ThatcherJoe. You probably know her already."

"Yeah," Poppy gave me a sweet, genuine smile. "I've heard a lot about you from Alfie, Zoe."

"All good stuff, I hope?" I giggled, trying to make polite conversation, but even talking about Alfie hurt.

If something had happened to him it'd be all my fault. I shouldn't have been so awful to him. I shouldn't have lead him on.

"Of course," Poppy smiled sweetly. "But I'm not here about that. Have you seen Alfie?"

Caspar and I exchanged a look. I decided to fill her in on the part of the story she deserved to know, as Alfie's sister, but left out the bit like my car, our suspects and all that.

"Oh," Poppy sighed. "Guys I'm so worried. It's not like Alfie to just disappear and not tell us. I think you're right. Should we call the police?"

"No," Caspar begun.

"Caspar we have to," I snapped. "Alfie could be in trouble. There's no time to spare."

After a few minutes of silence, Caspar finally nodded. "Alright. We'll call the police. But I'm sure Alfie's fine..."

Nobody believed that. Not even Caspar himself could.

I took out my iPhone and dialled 999. I told the police our situation, but they didn't seem interested in Alfie's disappearance. But they were interested in my car.

"We'll dispatch some officers over to your house in the next half hour. Have a nice day," the female receptionist trilled into my ear.

I was sure they'd be disappointed when they found out Finn had fixed my car. But then I remembered something...How could I have been so stupid? I'd taken a picture of it when I first saw it! So I guess I was smart about the whole situation, after all. Sure, it wasn't as good as fingerprints and DNA but I had proof it really happened. Good for you, Zoe. I thought to myself.

Why hadn't I thought to show Jack the picture when I met him in Primark? Then he would've believed the message was really there. I sensed he doubted me. Then I realised I was probably freaking out so much it had taken everything in me to fumble with my phone and snap a picture, and my brain was panicking too much to remember it was there.

"Zoe? Zoe?" I jolted out of my daydream to see Caspar waving a hand in front of my face, concerned.

"Oh sorry!" I cried. "I was lost in thought. The police are going to be over here in half an hour. We should probably go inside, make them some tea and cakes or something."

"Okay, if you insist," Caspar said.

"Come in, Poppy," I said politely to Alfie's sister.

Half an hour later, Caspar, Poppy, the police officers and I were all sitting on my sofas, nibbling cakes and sipping scalding tea.

Poppy had scrolled through her phone and found a picture of Alfie, and the officers had saved it to their computers, promising to look into the case.

"So about your car, Miss Sugg?" The officer asked. "Tell me what happened the day you found it."

I recited my story, which knew without faltering now.

"Is there any chance we can see the car?" the officer asked.

"My friend took it to the garage to get fixed. I didn't know he'd done that, or I would've asked him to leave it as I know how important evidence is," I said.

"Hmm," the officer scribbled something down in his notepad. "Is there any chance this 'friend' of yours was the one who sabotaged your car? Since he took it to get fixed and everything, isn't that a bit suspicious? He should've known that could contain important evidence for the police, but he took it to get fixed...And wash the proof away."

"But why would slash the tyres and write a threatening message only to fix it again? It doesn't make sense," I said.

"To freak you out, and as a warning," the officer suggested.

"I don't know..." I bit my lip. "The guy in question is my boyfriend's twin brother and I've known them for years and trust them fully."

"That may not be enough, Miss Sugg. Some people just can't be trusted. Can you give us names, please?" the second officer spoke at last.

"My boyfriend is Jack Harries, and his twin, who took my car to be fixed, is Finn Harries," I recited.

"The YouTubers from Jacksgap?" asked the first officer.

"Yeah," I smiled.

"And you're Zoella from YouTube. It's quite common for people who are well known to get threatened," the first officer continued. "My names Elliot, by the way."

"I'm Aaron," the second officer waved slightly at me. "We should ask you some questions about the missing boy."

"Age?"

"20."

"Name?"

"Alfie Deyes, PointlessBlog on YouTube."

"Day he went missing?"

"He was at my house two days ago, we had a fight at around 12 o'clock, and he left. We haven't seen him since."

"What car does he drive and number plate?"

We told him.

"Number?"

We answered.

"Address?"

"He lives with me," Caspar said after telling him the address.

"Anywhere he could've gone?"

"Not that we know of. We contacted anyone he could be staying with, family, friends, and they haven't seen him."

"Contact numbers?"

We told him our numbers and the numbers of his family.

"Thank you. In the meantime I'd advise you to stay inside, post things looking for him on those social networks, stay together, don't go out after dark and don't go out alone, and just stay on the look out," Elliot told us.

"We will," I answered for all of us.

"Well, if that's all-" Elliot started to say.

"Wait!" I said. "I have a picture on my phone of my car, with it's tyres slashed and the message on the bumper. I took it when I first saw it, because I knew it'd be important."

"You're a clever girl, Miss Sugg," Aaron praised.

"Let me save that to my computer, that could come in handy," Elliot said, glancing at the photo.

Once he'd saved his stuff, Elliot and Aaron finished their tea and cakes and packed away their stuff.

"Thanks for calling, Miss Sugg, you did the right thing," Elliot said.