Page 73 of Finding My Forever

“Nothing yet?”

“Nope.”

She didn’t say anything.

“This is when you’re supposed to tell me things will work out and I’m overthinking everything.”

“I still think everything will work out, but I’m just as frustrated as you are. Eli…I just can’t understand why he would go silent on me. I thought we were friends.”

She was right. They’d grown close. Why would he ask her to apply for the summer program then ignore her? As terrible as it was to admit, knowing she was missing them too made me feel better.

“I’m sorry. Do you think something happened?”

“Wouldn’t that be awful? I haven’t checked Mypage, but maybe you should.”

“Good idea. I’ll see if there’s anything on that.” This call was only making me more depressed. “Can we fly back?”

“I wish, April.” She laughed, and I could picture her shaking her head. “I’ve got to get to an art class, so I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Bye.”

Crap. She seemed just as deflated as me.

Why would they do this to us?

Chapter 21

Not having my phone with me the day before had done nothing other than giving me more anxiety, so on Wednesday I caved and brought it with me to school. I nearly deleted every message I got out of pure frustration. Was it that hard to pick up a phone? I checked Liam and Eli’s Mypage accounts for any updates, but they hadn’t posted anything since Friday.

They were both fairly active on the site. Liam even posted a few pictures of us together, but nothing since. Why would they both just disappear?

Despite the many times I asked myself that question, nothing sensible came to mind. Classes and cheer were my only distraction, but when I got to work my mind was free to wander. It was dangerous and making me sink further into myself.

The only positive was that my determination to not think about Liam meant during cheer practice I was solely focused on that. Katie was still drilling us, but it was paying off. Our main competition routine was coming together, and we made it through most of practice without mistakes. This allowed Katie to nitpick her heart out, making sure every move was precise and executed with precision. At this rate, we’d not only win but we’d be recruited for military service.

Work went from being my favorite part of the day to what I dreaded.

Mom hadn’t found a new driver yet, so I was alone in the back room making arrangements for lucky girls who had boyfriends that returned their calls.

Jerks.

Thursday and Friday were the same.

On Friday night, Katie called me to see if I wanted to go to a party with her. I didn’t.

Just one week ago I was standing on the roof of the Met kissing my soulmate. Now I was laying on my bedroom floor listening to depressing music. Alone.

I worked all weekend playing my depressing soundtrack. It sucked. Sky offered to work in the back so I could go to the front and have a change of scenery, but I declined.

I finished all of the orders and went home for more quality time with my rug. This would have been a great time to write. I could have released my feelings onto a page, but every time I opened my laptop the words left.

I was meant to suffer alone.

Incessant beeping woke me up.

I was still laying on the floor in my clothes from yesterday. My room was dark. Too dark to be morning already. I crawled to the edge of my bed and pulled myself up enough to see my alarm clock. It was ten pm.

The beeping.