Totally Opposites

Chapter 10: Theories (some)

Charlotte's POV:

I don't know how it happened but I somehow beat Dad to his workplace, which was weird considering he was driving a car and I was walking – well running to be honest. He drove into the parking lot and got out of his car to enter the building. I follow him inside. He works for a company, I forgot what it was called.

Anyway, I walk in and see rows and rows of cubicles all lined up to each other and beside each other. Wow, Dad has never taken me to where he works. Not even for 'bring your child to work day' or maybe he did and I forgot about it.

I see Dad walking to a cubicle that probably belongs to him. I turn to walk over there but I get a message from Evelyn: Where are you?

I send her the address and look up just in time to see a woman entering his cubicle. I take a picture, just in case.

I get closer to his cubicle to see what they're talking about.

"The plan worked. She's finally gone now." The woman says.

I can't get a good look at her cause if I lean in farther they might see me and I don't wanna risk that so I settle for her voice. I start recording them.

"That girl was a pain in my butt, to be honest. I'm glad to have finally got rid of her." That's Dad's voice.

I can't believe it! Did Dad kill Mom? No way, that can't be true.

"But, how did you kill her? Did you poison her or something?" Dad asks.

"I never reveal my secrets, dear." The mysterious woman says.

"Oh come on. She's dead now, you can tell me." He grins up at her.

I"m shocked at this behavior of his. I look down at my phone and it vibrates in my hand. A message from an unknown number: Keep looking!

I widen my eyes at the words. I hear them again. I'm gonna have to look at this later.

"Trying to get my secrets so you can kill me, huh? Is that what you're doing?"

"No, no. Of course not. I respect you too much for that."

"Good, you should respect me." She answers mischievously.

A while later I look to my side and see Evelyn standing beside me. I jumped in fear. How did she get here so quietly?!

Dad looks towards us and narrows his eyes. "Is someone there?"

Uh oh! We got caught. We better run quickly. I widen my eyes and start running, with Evelyn right behind me. I look over my shoulder to see him running after us.

"NEVER LOOK BACK WHEN YOU'RE RUNNING FROM SOMETHING OR SOMEONE!" Evelyn yells.

"He's gaining speed, what do we do?!" I ask.

"Run and hope he doesn't catch us!"

We both run outside and I hide behind a bush big enough to cover me if I lay down on the ground. I look around and see Evelyn running inside a building. Of course, she ran inside a building, she wouldn't get herself dirty even if it meant that she was gonna be alive. At the last minute, she changes her mind and runs towards the bush beside mine.

I want to yell at her for doing something stupid like almost getting caught by Dad and that woman – who's probably his mistress – I can't believe that Dad would cheat on Mom. And I've got proof right here on my phone. Or was it all a big misunderstanding?

I look to the side to see Evelyn drenched in mud. WOW! I can't believe it, she made a fool of herself. I snap a picture of her.

"Don't you take a pic- Oh come on!" Her yells echo off the tree which scare the birds into flying away.

I laugh quietly at her.

"If you send that to someone – anyone – I swear I will strangle you to death."

I giggle at her words. She grumbles in response.

We see Dad re-entering his building and at first, I decided to follow him but Evelyn grabs my wrists and pulls me away.

"No way. We're not going after him yet, I've gotta clean up." She says, grumbling away.

"You can clean up, but I am as clean as laundry when it comes out of the washing machine. I'm gonna go after him."

"Charl-"

She keeps screaming out my name.

I hear her but I ignore her as I walk to his building and see him alone this time.

Wren's POV:
I can't believe that I couldn't go with Charlotte and Evelyn, Apparently, school is important and I need it in my life to succeed in the future. I don't get it. School I mean. Why is school so important, why do I need it to help me in the future?

If I could drop out, I would. But I don't have enough money to drop out. So I guess I'm stuck here until I graduate. Luckily, only high school, middle school, and elementary school are mandatory. Colleges and universities are optional.

I'm in class right now, almost break time. The teacher has told us to write about our feelings today. To just pour it all out in this journal he has given us. But I can't write anything. I don't know how to express my feelings.

I glare angrily at the journal in front of me, just hoping that something will spill out of me and onto the damn paper. But nothing. All I can think about at this moment is Charlotte and Evelyn spying on our Dad and what he's hiding from us.

I hear the bell ringing and pack up my bag.

"Remember, I want to see your journal filled with thoughts and your feelings by the end of the school year. That's your only homework." The teacher says.

Homework? Damnit! I leave the room hurriedly and lock myself in one of the stalls in the girls' bathroom.

Eww, it reeks in here! I block my nose from the smell and pull up my messages app to text Charlotte: So have you found anything yet?

She replies back: Aren't you supposed to be in class right now?

It's break time. So?

It takes a while for her to reply back to me but when she does, this is what I get: No, we haven't found anything, we're still looking.

Ugh really? Well, look harder Charlee!

We are. Now stop texting me so I can focus!

Fine!

I swipe out of her contact and decide to text Evelyn instead but before I can press on her profile I get a message from an unknown number: Keep looking!

What? When I look at those two words, my eyes widen in shock and I look around the bathroom stall — I know it's weird but sometimes people can look under the stalls or over the stalls and that gives me the creeps — to see if anybody saw the message on my phone. Luckily, nobody did.