Taken

Chapter 2

RIKKI

September 6, 2013 8:00 a.m.

"Bye, Mom. Mason's going to drive me to school," I called out as I left the house. Mason is my family's limo driver.

I climbed into the limo with my backpack and took out the book that we're reading in English class. After ten minutes, we were at my school, Edina High School. Edina is a so-called "rich" suburb of the Twin Cities in Minnesota. It's not like 90% of the school's families are considered to be in the upper class or anything...

When we arrived at the school, I noticed that the same Kia Soul that had been sitting outside of my house the other night was parked in the parking lot at school.

Maybe I'll figure out who owns that green Soul, I thought to myself. After I got into school, I went to my locker to pick up my books and folders for my morning classes.

"Hey, Rikki," said Bailey as she walked up to my locker before I had time to get it open.

"Hey, Bailey. How's it going?"

"Pretty good. Did you watch The Voice last night? It was epic!"

"No, I didn't. I was watching the Lynx game," I replied sheepishly.

"Ugh, you and your basketball," said Bailey, shaking her head. Just then, the bell rang. "Oh, well we'd better get to class. See you at lunch."

"See ya!" I said to Bailey with a quick wave.

I entered my combination and opened my locker. On the inside of my locker, there were pictures of various athletes from Minnesota sports teams. Despite being a girl, I'm a huge sports guru. I love watching football, baseball, hockey, and, most of all, basketball. I love watching the Huskies, Minnesota's NBL, National Basketball League, team. My favorite player on the team is Blair Castro, a point guard from Spain.

I looked at a clock on the wall and realized that I was almost late for class, so I quickly grabbed my books and headed to my first-hour class, English. I made it there just in time before the late bell rang. English was uneventful, as were my other five classes I had before lunch. After my sixth-hour class, I went to my locker to put my books away.

Just as I turned to leave after I had put my books away, I saw a hunchbacked janitor. The janitor had white hair and huge old-timey glasses. He looked to be about sixty years old. The man was dressed in a janitor's uniform, but I had never seen him around school. The scariest part of all this was the janitor was limping towards me! Of course at this time all the other students had gone to class and all the kids in my grade were at lunch. I got scared, but stood my ground.

The janitor said, "My name is Jacque Nelson. Do you know where I can find Rikki Roberts?"

"Um, that's me," I replied nervously.

"I heard that your locker was broken," said the janitor in his raspy voice.

"Um, no, it's not," I replied, sounding confused.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Maybe I'm thinking of somebody else," the janitor apologized, and with that, he walked away, his keys jingling as he went.

That was weird, I thought to myself. I'd better get to lunch now or everyone will wonder where I am.

After I got my food, I sat down next to my friends at our usual table. Just before I could eat my first bite of my delicious chicken salad, my friends started bombarding me with questions.

"Where were you?"

"We were getting really worried about you."

"What took you so long?"

"Guys!" I yelled over the screeching voices of my questioning friends. "I was walking to lunch when a creepy hunchbacked janitor asked me where he could find me. When I told him I was the girl he was looking for, he said that he had heard that my locker was broken, but it wasn't even broken in the first place. It was so weird."

"Oh, was it that janitor with white hair and huge glasses?" asked Lacey.

"Yeah, that's the janitor. Did he talk to you, too?" I asked

"He asked me where I could find you, so I told him. Sorry if I caused you any problems," said Lacey sheepishly.

"Nah, you didn't cause any problems. I just found that guy extra creepy. I wonder why he was looking for me," I said.

"Maybe you should tell your story to the principal or counselor or something," said a concerned Bailey. "I wonder who told him your locker was broken."

"I wonder that, too, but I don't think it's that serious. Maybe he got me confused with someone else since he's new and everything," I said.

"Okay, if you don't think it's serious, I won't think it's serious," said Bailey as she took another bite of her turkey and cheese sandwich.

"Good. Now that that's settled, how were your mornings?" I asked cheerfully as if the janitor thing had never happened. I tried to make it seem like the day was totally normal, but little did I know that it was only going to get weirder.