EDITED.

Okay, so last night Hannah never called me back. This means one of the two things happened- Amelia did not tell Hannah that I had called or she did tell her but Hannah decided to ignore it. But I know for sure that Hannah would never do that so I decided to go with the first one. I also had no idea if Amelia was at Hannah's house or Hannah at Amelia's. Did it matter?

"She didn't even reply to your message?" Sarah asked.

We were standing near our lockers and I was narrating to her what had happened the previous night.

"No."

"Did you see those photos on Instagram? From Aaron's birthday party?"

"Yeah," I sighed, "I don't think she wants to hang out with us anymore, Sars."

"Oh come on, Rach. Now you are just being paranoid. She's OUR bestfriend, remember?"

"Maybe she feels that they are more fun than us. I mean, she said it herself yesterday that all we three have done for the past three years of our highschool is get good grades and be the good girls. So why wouldn't she prefer them over us?"

"I think that you are thinking too much into this. Trust me, she will soon realise how plastic they all are and come running back to us shouting, 'Rachel! Sarah! Save me from these wannabe Barbies and Ken dolls.'"

I chuckled and shook my head because I wasn't sure if that would happen anymore.

Whole day I tried to spot Hannah but she was no where to be seen. Today we didn't have our Literature period in which all three of us are together, so I wasn't sure if she had come to school or not. During lunch break I saw Sal and Vanessa so I went up to ask them if they had seen her by chance.

"I don't know, she must be with Amelia somewhere," Vanessa replied flatly.

"Okay." What else was I supposed to say?

Sal gave me a tight smile and they both went on their way.

It was at the end of the day that I finally saw her with Amelia, ofcourse, in the school's parking lot. I and Sarah were walking towards our cars and she was standing with Amelia, Aaron and Kyle near Aaron's car.

"Let's go talk to her," Sarah said and went in their direction before I could say anything. So I followed her.

Hannah was laughing at something Aaron had said but her expression changed instantly when she saw us approaching. Her smile disappeared and she looked at us wide eyed.

"Hannah, we need to talk," Sarah's tone was firm.

"Yeah?" Hannah asked in a little voice.

"Spare a few minutes for us and come aside?"

"Um..." She looked at Amelia as if asking for her permission. Amelia just rolled her eyes in response. What the hell was going on?

"Hannah, will you jus-" I was cut off by Amelia.

"Look Sal and Vanessa are here. Rachel, whatever it is, it can wait. Right now we have to be somewhere, okay?" She said and turned to get inside the car.

"I'll call you," Hannah said making an apologetic face and got into the car with others and left.

"Okay," I said, "what the hell just happened over here?"

"You know what, you were right before. She really does prefer them now, Rach. And that's just the bitter truth." Sarah said glaring at the direction of their car.

******

"You were great, Rachel."

"Congrats on the win, y'all."

"Go Team Elk Grove!"

Everyone who was passing congratulated our debate team for the win. I was talking with Sarah when Hannah approached us.

"Hey guys," she waved her hand slightly at us and smiled, "Congrats, Rach. You just brutally slaughtered them out there."

"Thanks Hannah."

Due to her frequent absence from the rehearsals Miss Quinn had decided to replace her with some other student. And I had been the bearer of that message for Hannah. But when I told her that she had been replaced, she didn't seem to mind much. Her reply had been a simple "Ohh okay." The 'pre-Amelia' Hannah would have been devasted to know that she had been kicked out of the team. But again, that Hannah would have never missed rehearsals in the first place.

It had been a week and a half since Hannah had left us stranded in the parking lot promising to call back. Well, the call never came. So after that, I and Sarah decided to stop trying to get to talk with her. We saw her in school between classes and also in Literature where she sat beside Amelia. They both were never seen in the cafeteria during the lunch breaks though the rest of the gang used to be there, except Aaron. Our interaction had reached to just smiling, waving or nodding whenever we saw eachother. Or at times a combination of all three. 

Many people who noticed had asked us if everything was alright between us because they were not used to seeing us away from eachother. At first we told them that everything was perfect as before but then Sarah got irritated to those constant questions and started giving answers like "Why don't you guys mind your own fucking business" or "Beware of the friend snatcher that roams the halls of Elk Grove High."

"If only I hadn't got replaced, we would have rocked. Like always," Hannah said giving me a smile filled with longing.

"Well, you shouldn't have missed rehearsals so often then," Sarah snapped.

"Sars..." I began.

"No she's right Rach," Hannah looked at her feet.

The three of us just stood there looking at eachother. Why was this so awkward. We were bestfriends for God's sake! Yeah that's right, we were. I had no idea what we were now. Just friends maybe? Classmates? So much had changed in only three weeks or so, and I was finding it really hard to accept it. I had known Hannah since the age of four! And here I was, all awkward to make a conversation with her. Why did I ever tell Hannah that it was okay for her to be friends with Amelia? Because I never thought that in that process she would completely forget me and Sarah.

Before it could get anymore awkward, Aaron came in like a savior.

"Hey Hannah, wanna go smoke?" He whispered but it was loud enough for me and Sarah to hear. So now she had started smoking too. Great, isn't it? Wonder what her Dad would do if he was ever to find out about this. I am talking about the man who wouldn't even let her near his cabinet stocked with liquor. Her family had some very strict set of rules. Some of which Hannah had always followed. Some. But smoking and drugs had always been a big no-no for us knowing that they were highly addictive. Until now.

Hannah gave us a busted look, her face turning red and glared at Aaron who understood that he had said something at the wrong place. He hurried away saying, "See ya later," to Hannah.

"I've just smoked once or twice. Not much," she tried to defend herself.

"Hannah, we gotta go," I said trying to end this awkward, forced conversation, "I have got a little after-party planned at my house, so..."

"Yeah okay. Have fun." Saying this she went away.

I had wanted to invited her, but how could I after what all was happening. Sarah had said that it would just be all the more awkward for us and for everyone who was going to be there, and she was right. So I decided to let go of it.

******

I woke up to a buzzing sound. It was my phone vibrating on the bedside table. What time is it? I was sure it was somewhere past 2 a.m. because the party had ended around 11.30 p.m. and I had come to bed at midnight after helping my mom clean up.

I looked up at the caller id and it said 'Mrs. Chamberlain' Hannah's mom. Why on earth was she calling me at this odd hour?

"Hello?" My voice was heavy.

"Rachel? Is Hannah at your place?" Mrs. Chamberlain's tone was enough to wake me up completely. She sounded tense and scared.

"No, is everything alright?"

"She isn't picking up her phone. I have been calling her since eleven o'clock. She never stays out so late. I called all those new friends of hers too but she's not with anyone of them!" She let out a small sob.

"Mrs. Chamberlain, calm down. I'll try calling her and I'll call you back right away, okay?n Please calm down."

I cut the call and pressed Hannah's number.

The number you are trying to reach is currently unavailable. Please try again later.

What the hell Hannah! Where are you?

If she was not with Amelia or any of her other friends then where on earth could she possibily be? As I tried to think harder, the sinking feeling that I had had a few weeks earlier, came back again. Something was wrong. Very wrong.