Why Me?

Chapter 5

Sophia:

            I got into Dad's car and noticed that Noor wasn't there. She was usually in the car before me since I stood around talking to my friends before I came here.

            “Where’s Noor?” I asked.

            “She went to her friends house to get some Calculus help,” Dad said. “But she said she’ll be home in two hours.”

            She ended up coming home one hour later.

            “Hey Noor.  Where did you go?” I asked.  She looked troubled.

            “Huh? Oh...I just went to a friend's house,” she said distractedly.

            “Which friend?” I pressed.

           “Um...Drew,” she said. Then she started towards the stairs. “I have homework.”  With that, she disappeared into her room. Something weird was definitely going on.  Noor only saved her terrible lying skills for very crucial things.  And I was going to find out what it was.

            The next day at school, I saw Jasper and Noor whispering to each other next to his car.  I was about to go to them but Allie dragged me off to the library to help her find a book. When the bell rang, we both hurried out of the library.  There was a huge crowd in the hall.  I tried to see what all the commotion was about and saw Drew describing how he saved Noor.  He added a lot of exaggerations though.  I saw Noor a few feet away trying to get through the crowd.  People kept stopping her and asking if she was okay.  She looked uncomfortable.  I felt sorry for her. She didn't like being the center of attention.  A few teachers came out to tell us all the hurry up and the crowd broke up.  I lost sight of Noor so I couldn't ask her what she and Jasper had been talking about.

            I couldn't find Noor in the halls anywhere.  As I was heading to lunch, fully intending to find her there, Jake caught up to me.

            “Hey, I haven’t seen you forever!” he greeted me.

            “You saw me this morning in class,” I told him.

            “Yeah I know, but that doesn't count. Oh, do you know that Jasper guy?” When I nodded, he continued, “He’s really weird. He almost started a fight today. I don't know why. But there’s something seriously wrong with him.”

            I agreed wholeheartedly.

            “And I think he wants to do something to your sister,” he added. I stopped in the middle of walking.

            “What are you talking about?” I exclaimed, not realizing that I had talked too loudly until everyone looked my way. I lowered my voice. “Why do you think that?” Jake shrugged and rubbed the back of his neck.

            “I heard him talking to someone on the phone...” he muttered.

         “What did he say?” I demanded, not caring that I probably sounded like a crazy person. Jake looked startled.

            “Uh...he was just saying that they should keep an eye on Noor or something and that’s basically all I heard. Oh and I heard the word ‘danger’ in their conversation a lot. It sounded like they were arguing.”

            I was thinking about what Jake had just said when Jasper walked right past me.

            “Jasper!” I said, grabbing his arm. He easily shook me off and surveyed me coolly.