Element

✯ Chapter 24

Immediately, we go pounding at Parisa's door.

"Parisa? Parisa! Open up!" Aately says looking worried.

"It's not like she's dead, don't make it sound like she is," I say, with more snap than I intended. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap, but I just..." I trail off, my shoulders drooping.

"We will help you." Kaelie says to Aately.

"Thanks... It's just... I don't know what I would do without Parisa. She was really nice to me, and now I feel like I changed her. I understand if you don't want me to hanging out with her now." Aately says, like she's about to cry.

"She wouldn't listen to me anyways." I reply glumly.

"I don't think she's here guys." Ellis whispers. Wow. Talk about true friendship. Ellis still cares about Parisa, even though she was being really jerky to her. Parisa just didn't know it. We turn away to start looking elsewhere.

Kaelie puts her arm around my shoulders, and gives me a half hug. "We'll find her. I promise. All of us are here for you."

Sometimes, I think my group of friends can make me feel way better than any guy can.

•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•

We've looked everywhere that I could think of. The dining room, the library, the office, the flying field. She's not anywhere!

I sit down on a bench, my head sliding into my hands. A tear forms, and drops to the ground, making a small splat mark on the ground. Alanna, Kaelie, Brooke, Ellis, and Aately all stand around me.

"I just don't know where she could be! I shouldn't have been so hard on her." I bury my face in my hands as more hot tears slide down my face.

"No. She should have listened to you!" Alanna says angrily. "If she didn't blow up on you, we wouldn't be in this mess, doing this now."

Aately looks like she's going to cry any second now. "I feel like... I feel like this whole thing is my fault! Ramaya I'm so sorry!" She walks over and sits down next to me, hugging me. I look over at her. She's genuinely sad.

Maybe she is different than Yvette after all.

"It's ok. Guys, it's ok. We'll find her." I say. "

"Yeah. Let's keep looking." Kaelie says, smiling slightly to lift the mood. Suddenly, a thought pops into my head.

The willow.

Could she be there? Silently, I get up and start walking.

Nobody notices for a moment, but then I hear "Ramaya! Where are you going?!" from behind me. I keep walking, even speeding up. I fast-walk across the flying field to the thicket. The willow is in the back of the thicket, and as I approach it, I shout out Parisa's name.

"Parisa! Are you here? Parisaaaaa!" I'm met with silence.

"Parisa!" Silence again, but then a rustle.

"Parisa?" I say quietly.

Then I hear a sob. I gasp, looking through all the trees. Another sniffle. It's coming from the tree next to the willow, a low-growing maple tree. I silently walk over.

"Parisa? It's Ram. You here?"

"Yeah."

I find her, curled up in a ball on a wide branch, leaning against the trunk. She's quite a bit up, so I grab the winds and maneuver my way up so I'm hovering next to her. She looks up to me with a mascara-streaked face.