Ethan Edwards & Noah Rogers ~ Family Affairs. By Carter P, Monacur

Chapter ~ 12# ~ Haunting Past

Noah ~ POV

Without Ethan, school is a bit more tedious than average. I mostly spent the time at school wondering if the creep noticed she had lost her key. After all, what would she do if she left something important in her hotel room? During lunch, I sat alone, though that didn't stop some of Ethan's friends and rumor starters from trying to talk to me. Most of them wanted to know what happened to Ethan; he had texted me that morning and told me what had happened. Gotta say it's weird that a woman who broke into a house the night before broke into City Hall the next.

It honestly didn't make sense; why would they be there in the first place? I thought to myself; I mostly told everyone that the creeper was stalking Ethan. Figured that might put Ethan in a good light with all the negative rumors. Eventually, a woman approached and sat down across from me. She seemed a little fidgety.

"Is... is it ok if I...?" She began to ask.

I knew what she would ask, so I nodded yes, better than eating alone. The girl smiled before she began eating. She seemed to fidget with her food for a bit before she spoke.

"So... how are things... going?" She asked awkwardly.

I couldn't help but let out a tired groan.

"Look, Ethan was helping...." I began to say but stopped when she interrupted me.

"No, no... I'm talking about Nathaniel." She said, looking at me.

I was a little caught off guard; she was one of the robotic club members.

"Sorry...." She said as she hung her head and looked down at her food.

"No... no, I'm just tired of everyone asking me about Ethan." I said, feeling a little bad that I scared her.

The girl smiled as she looked up at me through her curly hair.

"Sorry... I'm just worried about Nathaniel... he didn't seem like himself before disappearing." A hint of guilt in her voice.

"What do you mean?" I was a little curious.

She seemed to go silent quickly after I asked her that. Did she blame herself for Nathan and his dad vanishing?

"He just seemed... off, like he wasn't himself." So she said as soon as a few others walked over.

One of them placed a hand on the girl's shoulders.

"Emily..." The guy said as she looked up at him.

She gave me a smile as he looked at me. I motioned to the empty seat next to her, and he and the others sat down.

"Jeremiah... president of the robotics club." He introduced himself as he sat down.

He motioned to the others that had joined us.

"Samantha... and Alex." I couldn't help but look at Alex since he was the one that got away from the creeper back at the park.

"Sorry about Emily; she's got a bit of a crush on Nat..." Alex said before Emily elbowed him in the ribs.

Alex let out a mix of groans and chuckles even through the pain at Emily's blushing cheeks.

"He was acting a little weird a few days before he disappeared; we tried talking to him about it. He mostly said he just had drama at home." Samantha said, giving some context to what was going on.

I nodded in understanding as Emily kept her sharp glare at Alex.

"Did he mention what kind of drama he was dealing with?" I asked before taking a sip of my drink.