The smell of sweat fills the room. It even has become quite muggy. Cheers coming from every direction. Clinton high has the ball, while West high is on defense. Taylor makes a pass to Luke, and Luke shoots. As the ball goes in the audience cheers. 

Clinton is ahead with  24 to 19. There are 10 mins in the game when Luke searches through the audience and locks eyes with me. He gestures to watch him. Taylor heads up, signals Luke, and makes another pass to Luke. He slams dunk. As he moves back to Clinton's side, he held up his hand, making a cocky gesture. I give him an awkward smile. Looking to the side I see Taylor looking from Luke to me with disapproval. 

I dart my eyes around the gym and catch the time on the wall. It's almost 7:00 pm. I get up, making my way through the blenchers and toward the exit. I look to Luke one last time. I don't think he will mind if I left early. 

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Some chills go down my spine as I arrive at the White's house. "Jessica? Are you here yet?" I call out. There's no response, I double-check the rooms and find a note on the fridge.

Be back home at 5, Went over to Leslie's

I grab the note and tear it. The last thing I need is to have my sister restricted to hanging out with her friends. As I make the piece smaller, I notice a piece of paper in the trashcan with the name Sarah on it. without a second thought, I grab it. 

 It seems to have been torn out of a larger piece. I look at the address on the corner 

New Jersey

New Jersey? with my fingers, I trace where the paper was torn. 

Sarah...

There seems to be another letter after it, but I can't tell what it was. 

Looks like W... or maybe a U. I think about it for a while. I look over at the bedrooms, then glance a the front door. Out of will, I quickly open the door to White's bedroom. I leave the door open to hear if anyone comes in. I start looking around, my eyes land the closet. Surprisingly, I find a filing cabinet slightly open. With my heart pounding, I start searching through documents. I open a vanilla folder and an ID card falls out. I pick it up and look at it. 

Sarah C. Hill

I see a picture of a woman with brown hair with welcoming eyes. My eyes start to water. I swallow hard and suppress any tears trying to slip out. Why would Mrs. White have my mom's ID?  I glance to the door and get back to the filing cabinet, but it's gotten too quiet. I slowly put everything back, not forgetting to close the cabinet. I put the ID in my pocket. Slowly approaching the door, I listen for any noise. 

"Ow, " I fall on my back as the door to the bedroom was being opened. I look up to who opened the door when my eyes go wide. "What are you doing?" Mrs. White is standing at the doorway with a puzzled look on her face. 

Still, on the floor, my eyes dart around trying to find an excuse. "I was looking for you," I blurt out without thinking.

"Looking for me?" She questions. 

"I thought you were home."

"Since when do you do care if were home?" she eyes me suspiciously.

"I need to..." Her eyes look over at the closet, where I left the door open. "Ask you something, " I practically yell. 

She looks at me astound, "What's gotten into you?"

"My mom." My heart is about to burst from my chest, "What was her maiden name?"

She furrows her eyebrows in disgust, "How would I know?" Once again she glances at the closet door then at me, I try to come up with something to distract her. 

"Did you? Did you open that door?" she gestures toward the closet. 

I shake my head. No words come out. She walks toward the closet, looks back at me.

"You," She starts to speak, but I get up quickly, run to the front door. As I reach it, Jess comes in.

"What's going on?" Jess ask confused by Mrs. White coming after me.

Mrs. White compose herself and calls Mr. White. "Why don't you talk Jessica for some ice- cream?"

Mr. White nods. "But I just got home," Jess protests.

"Sweety, look we'll talk later. I need to talk with Abby for a bit. Now go and get some ice- cream."

Once Mr. White and Jess are gone, she turns to me, smacking me across the face. "What were you doing in my room?"

My eyes are starting to water. "I told you, I was looking for you."

"You think I will believe that!" 

I cover myself with my arms ready to be hit again.

"Look Abby, I warned you last time about going to my room. You go there again, and I will make sure you do not ever see Jessica again."

My eyes go wide with anger. "Why?"

Taken aback she says, "Why?"

"Why do you treat me like this I did nothing wrong."

"Oh my gosh! You annoying, Kid!" She slaps me again. 

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The whites are gone again for the weekend. But this time they took Jess with them, leaving me here alone. I lay down in the living room crying my eyes out. I feel so empty and scared. I close my eyes, cry my heart out on the sofa's pillow. The phone starts ringing, I ignore it. I go to my room. Stand in the center, look around and fall to the floor. I continue to cry.

The ringing of the phone wakes me up, I try to ignore it but I give in. I walk toward it, but I stare at it for a while, hesitant to answer it. Before I master the will to answer it. It stops.

I fall to the floor. My eyes hurt, my brain hurts, my face hurts. I look around the room, my stomaches growls. I glance at the door. 

Next thing I know I'm walking toward The Grind in sunglasses. As I enter the cafe, I feel a lot of eyes on me. I make my way toward a table in the corner, pull out a book. I don't take off my sunglasses even though it's already evening. I'm scared I will start crying again. 

It really isn't fair, I missed my 3rd basketball game. I miss a whole week of school, just for going into Mrs. white's stupid closet. I remember about the ID and pull it out. I look at it again, analyzing it. 

Sarah C. Hill

I look to stop myself from crying. I try to look out the window when I see someone running into the cafe. He bursts into the cafe door, searching among the crowd, finally his eyes land on me. I note the familiar blond highlights. 

Luke!