Vance had waited around Grab N Go for Sarah for nearly an hour. He was becoming beyond annoyed with her, huffing and puffing and smacking around his pin ball machine. They agreed to meet at two, and now it had been three. Usually, she was the one that had come early to their meet ups when it came to tutoring, but clearly not to just hang out.

Vance really over thought it, which was something he rarely did. He'd say he somewhat cared about Sarah, he'd definitely protect her if someone tried to pick on her. And then there was what happened at the lake and all the unexpected hugs, which he never returned, that she gave. He thought maybe that considered them friends, but he didn't even know if he wanted Sarah to be his friend. All he knew was they were suppose to be hanging out, and she'd stood him up entirely.

And now he wanted to kick her ass.

"Sheeps! You asshole!" Vance banged his fist on her front door, after making sure there hadn't been any cars home. "What? You're all of a sudden bad with numbers?"

He stumbled slightly when the door opened when he was still throwing a tantrum on the middle of the door. Sarah stood there, her eyes all sunken with a red nose and blanket wrapped around her. "I tried to call you, but you didn't answer."

"Because i've been at Grab N Go for the past hour, waiting on you." he walked in when she walked away. "Are you sick?"

"Mm." Sarah hummed as she went back up stairs. "Lock the door back."

Vance did before going up as well, Bingo right behind him and begging to have his head rubbed. Vance did on the way up, finally making it to the top and coming to the conclusion Sarah's room was at the end of the hall. He walked in to see she'd already been back in bed, wrapped up like a burrito and had a movie playing on the tiny tv. "Jesus, Sheeps. You look like ass. I told you not to get into they damn river."

"I feel like ass." she agreed, glancing over her shoulder just a little. "You can sit down."

"I don't want you to get me sick." but he sat down anyways, reaching around and smacking his hand on her face. She winced and made a painful noise as Vance pulled back. "You're really hot."

Sarah gave a snort. "Thank you."

He smacked her shoulder. "You know what I mean."

"It'll break." she hummed. "It's just a cold because of the weather change. Plus getting in they freezing water didn't help."

"I was sick of that goddamn cold anyways." he kicked his shoes off and moved further back on her bed. "Are you going to school on Monday?"

"Probably. I've never missed a day." she rolled on her back, looking up at how he sat next to her. "Lay with me."

"No." he said back immediately. "You've really never skipped class?"

"No." Sarah nudged his arm. "Please?"

"No." he repeated himself. "That's what we're gonna do on Monday, then. Skip, make up for you being weak and getting sick."

"My parents are already worried you're a bad influence on me." she pointed out, holding back a smile when he moved to lay on his back next to her. She didn't say anything though, knowing he'd then freak out and never do it again.

"You're parents know then?" he cracked a smirk and glanced over at her. "Bet that went over great."

Sarah shut her eyes with a faint smile. "It wasn't so bad."

"So, what? You're not allowed to be my tutor anymore?" he nudged her, but Sarah was tired. "Sarah."

"I can still be your tutor." she mumbled, rolling over in his direction more. "After I take a nap."

"I'm gonna go." Vance sat up.

"Why?" she opened her eyes again, but hadn't moved. "I want you to stay."

He didn't know why being sick turned people into a bunch of babies. His Mom was the same way, and he kinda was too. He knew that if Sarah was her usual self, she'd have kept her distance at all cost. "Why?"

"Don't wanna be alone." she said in return. "And Bingo doesn't like to lay with me when i'm sick, I don't know why. You guys have similar hair."

"Woah, you just compared my hair to your dogs?" Vance asked in disbelief but leaned back again so Sarah pressed her forehead into his arm. "What am I suppose to do while you sleep your life away?"

Sarah used her hand to reach behind her and pull out one of her text books. She smacked it on the other side of his head and tossed her other arm across his chest. "Vance."

"Yeah?" he flipped one of the pages open.

"Even if my parents don't like it, I really like that you're my friend." she admitted, he paused his flipping and glance down at her. "I really like being around you."

He was quiet, for too long because she fell asleep in the silence. Vance patted the back of her head. "Me too."

But, he had know she was asleep. That's the only reason he could have said it.

Vance glanced upwards, trying to see if she had a lamp so he could see the pages more. His eyes fell onto her closet, how the door was slightly cracked. He saw a paper stick out of the side, a newspaper. He waited for a minute before slowly moving out of her bed, her head dropping from his arm to the comfort of her pillow. Vance was carful not to trip over his shoes as he walked over, pulling it open with a minor squeak.

"Holy shit." he stared at the other side of the door. Every newspaper that mention Billy had been taped, photos of him and her together at each corner, and a map she'd drawn with the route he went home on his bike drawn, multiple question marks and unanswered curiosities all over.

"I checked the entire route." she scared him, his heart nearly left his body before turning to see she'd sat up and was watching him. "He went missing on the way home from school. I checked the whole route, multiple times, there was nothing. Griffin went missing on the way home too."

"What are you trying to say?" Vance could see that she was heavily hinting at something.

"You think that's coincidental?" Sarah rose an eyebrow slightly, Vance didn't say anything. "Someone's taking them. I know it, my Dad knows it. But, the police force isn't gonna confirm it unless they have a third victim to back that theory."

"And you think there's gonna be a third one?" Vance shut the door. "This is insane, Sarah. You're insane."

"I know." she had to agree before grabbing her notebook. "Billy went missing in December of 74'. That's seventeen months now that we're in May. But then , Griffin went missing in October. Then ten months apart."

"Okay, so what?" Vance sat down and looked at her familiar handwriting.

"That means that, if who ever took Griffin and Billy is staying on a schedule, which is hard to tell if he is or not because there's only been two boys, then the next person to go missing is gonna be in August." Sarah met his eye with a worried look, shaking her head as Vance stared at her. "But no one's gonna do anything because they won't confirm it as a kidnapper until the third gets taken the same way the other two boys did."

•

kylie speaks

never gonna be able to
listen to august by taylor
ever again now.