DISGUYSED

The Beginning of a Bad Idea

“Ron…Ron…Ron! Wake up!”

My eyes shot open, not paying attention to my heavy eyelids begging for sleep. “W-What?!” I said, my head throbbing, and my whole body numb from the cold.

“You fell asleep!” Aaron said, helping me up off the bench I had been laying on.

I looked around, confused. I was at a street that was merely a hazy memory, not sure how I got here or what we were doing. I was too tired, and too confused to remember, anyway.

“What were you thinking? We were worried about where you were.” Parker said, crossing his arms obstinately.

“Yeah, we’re just lucky we found you,” Drake sighed, “Because now we get to go back to finding Alex,” He said, grimacing.

I shivered, finally remembering what we set out to do. It was freezing. And it had to be at least 1 by now. We were so dead when we go back to school. “Any idea of where he could be?” I asked; taking in short, warm breaths.

“No,” Parker said, frowning, “We’ve searched everywhere, and then checked again and again.”

I frowned, looking around at the mostly deserted city. Chicago was huge. I wanted so badly to head back to the suburbs and back to school where I could go to sleep. But I didn’t want to abandon Alex here. What if he was in trouble? I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself, even if he was a total ass.

“Guys,” Drake said, his teeth chattering, “I think we should go back. I mean, I bet Alex is already back there.”

“Yeah,” Parker agreed, frowning, “Let’s face the facts. He’s probably fine, he just went somewhere we forgot to check and then went back and went to sleep. Besides, He never misses curfew.”

I scowled, “How can you guys be so insensitive? If he was really okay, he’d have texted us back by now!” I said, getting a bit paranoid. “We have to find him!”

“Calm down,” Aaron said, setting a hand on my shoulder, “Look, Ron. We appreciate it and all, but give it a rest.” He said, yawning.

“Yeah,” Parker agreed, “We’re all dying of fatigue, anyway.” He said, frowning, while fighting the urge to close his eyes.

I scowled, mad about the lack of motivation. “Fine. You guys can go, but I’m gonna keep looking.”

Aaron frowned, “Uh…” He muttered, fiddling with his thumbs, “I don’t think that’s the best idea.”

“Yeah,” Parker said, “You could get lost. You still don’t know your way around.”

I frowned, crossing my arms, “I’ll be fine. I have a GPS on my cell phone.”

They still didn’t look convinced.

I sighed, “I’ll be fine.”

Parker, Drake and Aaron all exchanged a nervous look, but Parker turned back to me, a weak smile on his lips, “Fine. I suppose we’ll see you tomorrow.”

I beamed, “Good.” I said, waving goodbye to them, already running off, “I’ll call you guys later!” I shouted.

Over the sound of the snow crunching under my feet, I could hear Aaron say, “I think that was a bad idea.”

****

“Hey, Alex!” I screamed, cupping my hands over my mouth to amplify my screams, “Alex! Get out here! I’ll find you eventually!”

No response.

“C’mon, Alex! Just come out!”

Nothing.