Missing (Luke Hemmings)

Chapter 18

It's now the twenty-sixth of July. We are waiting in a church lobby for the youth group to arrive. We're early, and that's okay.

"We're fucking early, aren't we?" Michael says.

"Dude, don't swear," Calum says.

"Why?"

"I don't know, we're in a church. It doesn't feel right," Calum says.

"I guess so," Michael agrees.

"And to answer your question, Mike, yes, we are early. But not by a lot. Five minutes and they should be here," Brooke says.

As if on cue, a group of people walk through the door.

"Ah, wonderful, you're here!" The youth leader, Miley, says. "This is my youth group." We get introduced to all of them, but there's so many I definitely won't remember their names.

"Let's get searching!" Ashton announces.

-

Three hours later, we're in the middle of a forest a few miles from Burbank. We're looking for anything; jewelry, clothing, paper, and unfortunately, a body.

So far we haven't found anything.

"Hey, guys, look!" One of the youth members yells. We run over to her and form a crowd. "It's a necklace. Is it hers?" She hands it to me and I look at it.

"No," I say. "The only necklace she ever wore had a cross on it." I drop the necklace back to the ground.

"Oh. Well, that's unfortunate," The girl says. We get on with looking.

"This is really hurting you, Luke, isn't it?" Another girl asks. I think her name is Kelsey.

"What do you mean?" I ask, looking at her questionably.

"You said that you're in love with Becca. She's missing, and you have nothing to lead you to her. That hurts, doesn't it?"

Just her saying that made me feel a pang in my heart.

"It hurts all of us, and you pointing it out doesn't help," Calum harshly says.

Kelsey walks up and holds onto my arm. She starts slowly stroking my arm, going up and down.

"Ya know, I can make you forget about Becca. I can help," She says slowly, and I get weirded out.

"Stop being a slut, Kelsey!" A girl yells. Kelsey whips around and glares at the girl.

"Shut up, Jessica!" Then she focuses her attention back on me. "So, what do you say?"

"I'm really not interested," I awkwardly say.

"Oh, c'mon. It will be fun."

"That's enough, Kelsey. Get back here with your sister," Miley says. Kelsey grumbles and groans, but stomps back. Jordan grabs my hand and tugs me near her.

"You okay? That was weird?" She asks.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just weirded out," I say.

"Alright, good."

-

For lunch, we decide to eat at a pavilion we found. I'm obviously eating with my friends.

"Okay, so, I walked to-" Savvy's story gets cut short by a girl who walks up to the table.

"Hi," The girl says.

"Hello," We say.

"I'm Jessica, I just wanted to apologize for Kelsey. She's a bit of a slut," Jessica says.

"It's fine," I quietly say.

"Aren't Christians supposed to be, ya know, nice?" Savannah asks.

"Most of us are, but Kelsey isn't a Christian. She's only here because her sister is a Christian. But her sister is deaf, and no one knows ASL besides her. So, she's dragged here," Jessica explains.

"That's kind of sweet, actually," Calum says.

"She's nice on the inside. Way deep down," Jessica says.

"It's fine, Jessica. Thanks for apologizing," I say, wishing she would go away.

"No problem," She says, walking away.

"Today has been an interesting day," Ashton says.

A/N: hi.

UPDATE! I'm leaving to go one of my most favorite places later today!!

Hope you enjoyed! See you next update!

Bailey xx