Chapter 388 - Karen Missing
Karen’s seat was empty when Roxie walked into chemistry.
They had waited in the parking lot that morning, expecting Karen’s car to appear at any moment, but eventually they had to go inside without her. Now Roxie slowed beside the empty chair before forcing herself to sit down. Karen was late. That was all. After yesterday, maybe she had slept through her alarm or decided she needed a morning away from everyone. Roxie could hardly blame her for that, especially when she knew Karen had made it home safely.
That was the thought Roxie kept holding on to.
Last night, after Karen ignored every call, she had finally texted her aunt. The reply came almost an hour later.
Karen’s home.
Roxie had stared at those words until some of the pressure in her chest finally loosened. Zac had come home late with exhaustion written all over his face, and she had almost told him everything when he asked why she was still awake. Instead, she said she couldn’t sleep. Karen had gotten home, and at the time that had felt like enough reason to leave everything else until morning.
Before trying to sleep, she had still sent Karen one last message.
I’m sorry about how everything happened. I’m still angry and scared, but I love you. Please just tell me you’re okay.
Karen never opened it.
Now Roxie sat staring toward the classroom door whenever somebody passed outside, waiting for Karen to walk in with an annoyed expression and pretend yesterday had never happened.
Angela arrived just before the bell. Her eyes went to Roxie first, then immediately to Karen’s empty chair.
"She’s still not here?"
Roxie shook her head. "She probably slept in."
Angela sat down and pulled out her phone anyway. She sent something, waited, checked the screen again, then placed the phone beside her notebook. "She’s not answering."
"She’s pissed."
"I know."
A burst of laughter came from the back of the room, and Roxie turned without thinking.
Zac was sitting with Dylan, Mason, and Kyle. Dylan was saying something with his hands while Kyle laughed hard enough to lean over his desk. Zac had his head tipped back laughing too, while Mason shook his head at whatever Dylan had said.
For a moment Roxie just watched them.
Zac looked tired. He had come home late last night after training and whatever else Dylan had dragged him through for Tennessee, but he looked better this morning than he had when he walked into the bungalow.
Angela followed Roxie’s gaze. "Does Zac know?"
Roxie shook her head.
"You didn’t tell him last night?"
"He got home late."
Angela gave her a look.
Roxie sighed quietly. "Karen got home safe. I thought I’d talk to her first today."
Angela studied her for another second before letting it go, and Roxie was grateful because she still couldn’t figure out how to tell Zac about yesterday. Saying it aloud would mean explaining the alcohol, the fight over Karen’s keys, and the fact that Coach Miller had been standing right there and Roxie had covered for her.
Before she could think about it longer, Mr. C walked in carrying a thick stack of papers and dropped them onto his desk.
"I spent my morning looking at your projects," he announced, staring around the room. "At this point, I’m reconsidering whether half of you should be allowed to graduate."
A few students laughed.
Mr. C picked up one paper between two fingers. "Three pages. The requirement was eight. I have received apology letters longer than this."
More laughter came from the back.
Normally Karen would have leaned toward Roxie and whispered something stupid.
Roxie looked at the empty seat again as the bell rang.
Karen still wasn’t there.
Mr. C started going over the projects while Roxie tried to follow. She copied a few notes, realized she had written the same line twice, erased it and started over, but every few minutes her attention drifted toward the door.
Nobody came.
Halfway through class, Angela leaned closer. "Her location is off."
Roxie stopped writing. "You checked?"
"Yeah." Angela glanced toward Karen’s seat. "You think she went out?"
Roxie looked toward the front of the room, but her mind had already started moving somewhere else. She had spent weeks making excuses for things she hadn’t understood. The gum was just gum. Karen liked strong perfume. She guarded her tumbler because she was weird about sharing drinks.
Yesterday had changed all of that.
Now the idea of Karen skipping class to drink somewhere didn’t even sound impossible, and that scared Roxie more than she wanted to admit. She had spent years thinking she knew Karen. Now she wasn’t even sure what Karen did when none of them were around.
While Mr. C called on someone across the room, Roxie pulled out her phone under the desk.
Her message from last night was still unread.
She typed another one.
Are you coming to school?
She stared at it for several seconds before sending it.
Nothing.
When chemistry finally ended, Roxie and Angela stayed behind long enough for most of the class to clear out. Zac passed them with Dylan and Kyle, slowing when he reached Roxie.
"You okay?"
Roxie forced herself to nod. "Yeah."
He looked like he wanted to ask something else, but Dylan called him from the hallway.
"I’ll see you at lunch."
"Okay."
Zac leaned down, kissed the side of her head and followed Dylan out.
Angela waited until he was gone before looking at Roxie. "You’re really keeping this from him?"
"For now."
Angela picked up her bag. "Okay."
By lunch, Karen still hadn’t appeared.
Roxie had spent every class checking her phone while trying to convince herself Karen was somewhere sleeping off yesterday’s fight or deliberately ignoring them because she wanted space. The explanation still sounded possible until Mason reached their table, looked at Karen’s empty chair and frowned.
"Where’s Karen?"
Roxie looked at Angela before answering. "We don’t know."
Mason stopped halfway through pulling out his chair. "What do you mean? You don’t know why she’s not here?"
Roxie shook her head. "Her aunt said she went to school today."
Angela sighed. "She doesn’t seem that worried."
Roxie had messaged Karen’s aunt again after chemistry, telling her Karen hadn’t shown up and wasn’t answering anyone. The message had been read, but there had been no reply.
It pissed Roxie off more than she wanted to admit.
Mason sat down and immediately pulled out his phone. Roxie watched him call Karen and wait through several rings before finally lowering it.
"She’s not answering."
"We know."
Mason looked between them. "Did something happen yesterday?"
Roxie hesitated before leaning closer. "We found alcohol in her tumbler during practice."
His expression changed immediately.
Angela lowered her voice. "She admitted she’s been bringing it to school."
"How long?"
"That’s the problem," Roxie said. "She wouldn’t really say."
Mason looked down at the table.
Roxie caught it instantly.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"Mason."
He rubbed a hand over his jaw. "I’ve picked her up before."
Angela frowned. "What do you mean before?"
"Before the other night."
Roxie stared at him. "How many times?"
Mason looked uncomfortable now. "A few."
"How many is a few?"
"Three. Maybe four."
Roxie sat back while Angela’s mouth fell open.
"Four?"
"She called me. She needed a ride."
"When?"
"Over the last couple weeks."
Roxie felt anger push through the fear. "You never thought maybe we should know?"
Mason’s face hardened. "She was drunk. I picked her up and made sure she got home. I wasn’t running some secret operation behind your backs. Besides, you know how she acts at school like we barely know each other."
Roxie stared at him.
Karen had always insisted she didn’t like Mason romantically, but there was clearly more between them than Karen ever admitted.
"You really kissed?"
Mason looked at her before dragging a hand over his face. "Forget about that."
"Karen saying she was drunk doesn’t mean it didn’t happen."
His expression changed, the irritation giving way to something sadder. "I don’t want anybody thinking I took advantage of her."
Angela sighed. "Karen wouldn’t do something she didn’t want just because she was drunk."
Mason shook his head. "She was drunk that night. It’s my fault for expecting more from it."
Roxie pressed her hand over Angela’s under the table before she could keep going. Mason was obviously into Karen, and Roxie didn’t want either of them convincing him the kiss meant something when Karen herself had already told him it didn’t. Still, Angela had a point. Karen had always been the responsible drunk one. Even when everyone else became idiots, Karen usually knew what she was doing.
That was exactly why everything happening now felt so wrong.
Angela seemed to understand and stopped.
Roxie looked back at Mason. "Where did you pick her up?"
"Different places."
"What places?"
"Parties. A gas station once. One house near Brookside."
Angela’s face went pale. "She went alone?"
"Sometimes."
Roxie stared at him.
A few weeks.
Maybe longer.
Maybe months.
The same months Roxie thought she knew where Karen was most nights. The same months they went to school together, practiced together and ate lunch at the same table.
"How drunk was she?"
Mason hesitated.
"Mason."
"Sometimes barely. Sometimes enough that I wouldn’t let her drive."
Angela closed her eyes while Roxie looked away, trying to keep herself from getting angry at him because Mason wasn’t the person she was angry with.
"She always said she was fine once I got her home," he added.
Roxie laughed without humor. "Yeah. She says that a lot."
Angela looked around the cafeteria before leaning closer. "We can’t let the school know yet."
Mason frowned. "Why?"
"Because this place will eat her alive."
"Angela, if something happened to her..."
"We don’t know that anything happened. She skipped school." Angela’s voice tightened as she glanced toward the tables around them. "And they still talk about me."
Mason went quiet.
Angela looked down at her hands. "People still whisper about Caleb. They still bring up the pictures. Sometimes they shut up when I walk past and sometimes they keep talking because apparently I’m supposed to pretend I can’t hear them."
Roxie reached under the table and held her hand.
Angela swallowed before continuing. "If teachers find out Karen’s been drinking here, everybody knows by tomorrow. She becomes the next fucking story. People start saying she’s an alcoholic, that she comes to school drunk, that she’s taking pills, and by the time it gets around half of it won’t even be true anymore."
Mason rubbed his face. "So we hide it?"
"I didn’t say that. I’m saying we find her first."
Roxie understood exactly what Angela meant.
She wasn’t trying to protect Karen from consequences. She was trying to protect her from becoming entertainment.
Karen had already spent yesterday furious because she felt like everybody was watching her. If the entire school started doing it too, Roxie had no idea what she would do.
Still, one thought sat heavily inside her.
Coach Miller.
Yesterday he had been standing right in front of her.
He had asked what happened.
Roxie had lied.
Now Karen was missing school, ignoring everybody, and apparently Mason had been picking her up drunk for weeks.
Roxie looked between Angela and Mason before grabbing her bag.
"We have to find her."