Runaway

.06

School Monday was absolutely horrible. Everyone was talking about Savannah being on the radio and how all of their social media stuff about her was being deleted as soon as it was published. Someone said it was almost like Savannah didn't want herself to exist. And I couldn't say anything because I knew that was the truth.

Savannah Acker had disappeared. In her place was some Annie Young girl. I'd researched her all day Sunday. This Annie was orphaned at the age of five and had grown up in the foster system before landing in the lap of the producer Jay Crew. Jay raised her through her teen years and found that she was gifted with her voice. Now she was blowing up around the world.

Annie looked so much like Savannah but there were differences now. Annie's face was constantly done up, her clothes were some sort of grunge theme, and one side of her head is shaved. Her smile's brighter too but not the brightest I've seen. Annie looked like she was doing well despite what I had previously thought would happen.

They asked me about her...Farrah and Ivy did. I knew the whole class wanted to know, but I didn't have the answers they wanted. All I knew was that Savannah had ran away and changed her name to become some sort of pop star. It was the same thing they had already figured out.

At lunch, I had ditched Jack, Natalie, and Maddie to drive out to the old spot that Savannah and I had shared. My gray pickup stuck out against the snow covered weeds but I didn't care. What I could care about was that she'd just up and gone.

I leaned my head against the steering wheel and sucked in the mild air in my vehicle. The pickup wasn't completely warm yet but I was okay. My coat was working wonders on keeping in my body heat, and I had manned up this morning to get my warmest socks from the bottom of the drawer. I seemed okay but everything did before it fell apart.

I pulled my phone out and looked through my contacts list for her name. My thumb settled over the blue phone and I let it drop. I worked quickly to put it on speaker phone and listened to it ring once...twice...thrice...

"Phone of Annie Young, this is Margret Johansen speaking."

I stopped breathing.

Someone had answered it.

"Hello?"

I cleared my throat and said, "Hello, yes. I need to speak with Annie right away."

It felt wrong calling her that but I wasn't sure how this Margret would have reacted if I have asked for Savannah.

"May I ask who this is?"

"Tell her it's Ollie."

It was silent for a while and then I heard muttering. I couldn't make it out very well but I could tell that Margret was talking to Savannah. Suddenly Savannah was shouting at Margret for answering this phone. Then there was some crackling before a very distinct, "Ollie," filled my ears.

"Sav-"

"The name's Annie," she interrupted and continued, "Margret, get out! I'm trying to enjoy my bubbly bath!"

I grinned and rolled my eyes.

"Don't roll your eyes at me," she scolded like she knew that's exactly what I had just done. God, she knew me so well.

I wished I knew her better then all of this would make sense. Savannah was a mystery, a wild card, and still the most bittersweet thing that I'd ever been graced with.

"Where are you?" I asked.

"You're not coming to get me, Ollie."

I sighed. Of course that's the first thing she'd jump to.