the exception [pin hawthorne] 𝐢𝐢

chapter eleven

Olivia was awakened by her phone buzzing under her pillow. Groaning, she slipped her phone into her hand, squinting at the bright light it emitted. The time read 9:34, a bit later than Olivia usually would wake up, but not nearly late enough that she'd be late for practice. Olivia was further perplexed when she realized she was receiving a call from Zoe's sister, Rosie.

"Hello?" she picked up the phone.

"Hi, this is Rosie, Zoe's sister," said Rosie.

"Yeah, what's up, is everything alright?"

"No, Zoe's gone. I can't find her anywhere, her bed hasn't been slept in, and she's not picking up the phone," Rosie said worriedly. "I was wondering if you'd seen her?"

"No, sorry, I haven't seen her since we got in an argument at her party," Olivia said, now fully awake. "Are you at Bright Fields?"

"Yeah," Rosie replied.

"Alright, I'll be there in ten minutes to help you find her," Olivia said, already getting out of her bed.

"Thank you, see you later," Rosie said, hanging up. Olivia hurriedly slipped on some sweatpants and a gray wool sweater. She quickly brushed her hair into a ponytail and applied a small amount of makeup. Slipping on her boots, Olivia practically ran to Bright Fields. She made it there just in time to find Rosie and Becky exiting the tack room.

"Any trace of her?" Olivia asked in worry.

"No, and we found her phone in her locker, she didn't take it," Rosie said.

"Great," muttered Olivia under her breath.

"Olivia! Why aren't you getting ready for friendlies?" Mia exclaimed as she rounded the corner. "Holloway's here."

"We may have a slight problemo," Becky said.

"If Bob's given Firefly nits again—"

"It's worse than that," Becky said.

"Zoe's gone missing," interjected Olivia.

"She what?" Mia practically yelled, stopping in her tracks.

"She's gone, we can't find her," cut in Rosie. "She left her phone here." Mia looked as if she would explode at any moment.

"Fine. I'll go find James, and you all need to get as many people as possible. I want everyone looking for her, now!" she strided off angrily.

"I'll go find Emma," Olivia said. She hurried off, looking around for Emma. She quickly found her carrying out some hay bales. "Emma!" she called out. The girl dropped what she was doing, hurrying to Olivia's side at the obvious urgency in her tone.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Zoe's gone missing, we need help finding her, are you in?" Olivia said, sparing Emma the details.

"Of course," Emma said, following Olivia as she led her back to the rest of the group. They entered the tack room, finding a few people already gathered there. Olivia almost ran into Pin who was standing right by the door.

"Why is she here?" Mia asked in disdain when she noticed Emma.

"Oh give it a rest Mia, Emma's here to help."

"Guys, it doesn't matter, I just wanna find her," Rosie said as Olivia and Emma settled in.

"Rosie's right," Mia said. "Whatever lame reason Zoe had for doing this, she's one of us. We also really need her to help us crush Holloway at Friendlies." Beside her, Olivia saw Emma roll her eyes.

"I'll check by the beach. She goes there with Raven," Pin suggested.

"Why is he here, he's not even one of us," Marcus drawled, making Olivia in turn roll her eyes.

"Neither are you last time I checked," bit back Pin.

"Oh shut it will you. I'll go check the beach with you Pin, come on," Olivia said getting up.

"Right, someone should check the pier too," Mia said.

"Susie and I can go," suggested Jade.

"I could check the woods with my good friend Rosie here," Becky added, getting up.

"I should stay," Mia said. "Marcus, you and the other girl can check out the moor. Don't worry Rosie, we'll find her. We have to." Each duo headed out, getting their horses and riding out to their given location.

* * *

"It's no use, she's not out here," whined Emma as she trekked along the windy moor.

"What makes you so sure?" said Marcus.

"The ground is damp from the rain, we would've found horse shoe prints by now," remarked Emma. "And, aren't you her boyfriend? How is it she didn't tell you where she was going?"

"She doesn't tell me much these days," sighed Marcus.

"Sounds like a real solid relationship you've got there: you're constantly jealous, and she never tells you anything?" commented Emma.

"You don't have to rub it in you know," Marcus said.

"Sorry, I just meant that this doesn't really sound like a happy relationship. You deserve better," Emma said. Marcus looked over to her inquisitively.

"Oh don't get all jealous on me now, I'm not trying to steal your girlfriend. Not really my type of girl," laughed Emma.

"Right..." trailed off Marcus, Emma laughing again at his confusion.

"Alright now I see you're trying to figure me out. Yes I like girls, yes I also like boys, answer your question?"

"Uh yeah, sorry," he said, rubbing his neck.

"Don't worry about it," she laughed. "Everyone's always curious about it."

"Right well, I don't think we'll find her here, we should go back to Bright Fields for friendlies," Marcus said.

"Wait, weren't you going off to the academy or something?" asked Emma, remembering the prior day's conversation.

"Yeah, well, I sort of... quit," Marcus said.

"Oh, okay then, back to Bright Fields," Emma said, turning back the way they came. She was curious as to why Marcus had quit, but then again, she didn't know him, and she could tell he didn't want to talk about it. Just then, Marcus' phone rang.

"Hello?" he picked up. "Alright on my way." he put his phone into his pocket. "It's Mia, she says Olivia and Pin have found tracks on the beach, but she needs them back for friendlies, so i'm gonna go check it out," he explained.

"Oh, right, I should probably get back for friendlies too," Emma said.

"Alright, see you around Emma," Marcus said as he turned back around.