Are you getting worried about Charlie? Here's the end of what I posted last time:
It was Carmen who came to the door. I could just make her out through the mesh of the security screen: dark hair flat on one side, wild on the other. She was wearing baggy shorts that hung low on her tiny hips and a red tank top.
“Olivia,” she whispered. She reached to unlock the security door and I pulled it open. Her face crumpled and she stepped back. “Oh, god.”
And here's more:
It was not the welcome I had expected. I tried to hold my voice steady. “Where’s Charlie?”
Carmen blinked and her face smoothed. “You don’t know?”
“No, I don’t know!” I was yelling. Suddenly, I felt like I wanted to hit her, this girl I’d known forever who was nearly as much a sister as my sister was. She knew something; she was hiding something, taunting me.
Carmen put a hand to her chest. “Oh, you scared me. I thought you were coming to tell me something had happened.”
“Something like what?”
“I don’t know. I’ve been texting her all day and she hasn’t texted back. I’m worried.”
“Her car’s in your driveway.”
“I know. She was here last night.” And then, finally: “Come in.” She shut the door behind me and led me into the living room.
“My dad was calling the house all day,” I said.
She sat in the oversized recliner in the corner and pulled her feet under her, making herself even smaller than she already was. “My parents are away. I don’t answer the house phone. It’s never for me.”
I sat down on the couch across from her. “Carmen, if you were worried about her, why didn’t you try to get a hold of me or my dad?”
She looked startled by this suggestion. “I didn’t want to get her in trouble.”
I sighed. Kids. “So she was here last night?”
Carmen nodded, warily.
“Did she sleep here?”
“Well, I thought she did. But, I’m not sure.”
If you'd like to read more, check out the full excerpt on my KindleScout campaign: https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/1ZEZ9K2DLCYOB
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