Disclaimer: I said no all the other times tho.

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Lost and Found

Chapter 7

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"Tell me again about your dream?" A woman asked, her tone soothing, clipboard in hand, ready to scribble down notes.

"My best friend." A little girl says from her spot in a towering armchair. She is almost hidden amongst the large cushions.

"And where did you meet your best friend?" The woman asked slowly and the girl played with the frayed ends of her purple dress. Her best friend's favourite colour was purple.

She shrugged.

"When do you see your best friend?" The woman prompted.

Silence.

The woman was ready to stand up, to give the tiny girl a hug and lead her out of the room. But she heard a small voice.

"When I close my eyes," the girl said eventually.

"What is she doing?" The woman tried not to jump to another question- she needed to remain calm. She needed to make as much progress with this girl as she possibly could to ease the girl into answering.

"She draws, and she cries, and she is looking for someone."

"Does she cry when you're upset?"

"No; she cries when her best friend goes away. When she wakes up." The little girl is whispering; she doesn't like to raise her voice. Her father always told her she was a very special girl.

He also told her to never tell her mother about her dreams.

"Are you her best friend?" The woman's eyebrows were furrowed in confusion, "Are you the one she dreams about?"

The girl shook her head slowly, her lips drawn in a thin line. Her curls bounced around her chubby face and she looked up at the woman sharply. "She dreams of someone else; the girl with the ribbon. And when she wakes up, she is alone."

"Then why is she your best friend?"

"Because she understands me."

"And do you think she's real?"

A dangerous question; the girl knows it. She takes in a deep breathe then says, "yes. I see her every time I close my eyes. She asks me to help her."

"Help her do what?" The woman scribbles in her notepad, pressing down on her clipboard and the girl frowns.

"I can't say," the little girl finally manages to say.

She looks up just in time to see the woman shake her head at someone behind her before a hand roughly grabs her off the chair and pulls her out of the room.

Maybe she shouldn't have told mommy about the dreams after all.

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"Hey, Beck," several clubbers outside the club snapped their heads to get a view of the curly haired teen who was awkwardly scampering over to another who was leaning against his car, coolly. "Hey, it's me."

"Robbie," Beck uncrossed his arms and nodded his head at the other boy. He shoved his hands into his jeans pockets but he never took his eyes off the crowd of partiers.

"I just wanted to thank you again for taking Jade home."

"About that," Beck hadn't originally planned to tell anyone tell anyone this but Robbie was the only link to Jade he had, so he was willing to risk his cool demeanor if it meant that he'd find out about her. "I didn't drop her home."

Robbie's eyes widened and his breath quickened, he pushed his glasses up is nose bridge nervously and then fumbled with his hands. "What do you mean you didn't drop her home?" His voice was higher and Beck winced at the squeal that he emitted.

"We fell asleep." Beck trained his eyes on the pavement and fought the smile that flickered across his face.

Robbie's face darkened, "What do you mean, you slept with her?" He stepped closer than Beck would have liked and his eyes were narrowed. It took the taller boy off-guard to see such dominant, protective features dance across the skinny armed boy opposite him. Robbie's eyes glowered darkly and a scowl replaced his anxious smile. He no longer wrung his hands, but had them fisted at his sides. Robbie's curly hair wasn't as unruly as Beck had remembered and his shoulders were tensed; he was almost paralyzed because of Beck's words.

"Chill dude," Beck held his hands up in surrender. He didn't need any rich boy getting on his case.

"Chill? Chill? I haven't heard from Jade in a week." Robbie unclenched his fists and shook his head, "So don't tell me to chill when every morning I have to make up a stupid excuse as to why my half-sister isn't in summer school or why she hasn't been home."

"Whoa," Beck stepped back and his mouth hung open, "what do you mean she's missing? And…half-sister? You-you said she never spoke to you. I thought-"

"As if I'd go into depths about my family tree with a stranger. I don't know why I thought I could trust you." Robbie spat out bitterly, then shoved Beck, causing the taller boy to slam into his yellow taxi.

"You didn't go home with her." Beck spoke coolly. "I don't believe you two are-"

"We're half-siblings for a reason. Different mothers, same absentee father." Robbie wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans, "you were the last person to see her, so unless you tell me what happened last week, I will personally make sure you will never be anything more than a taxi man."

Beck supposed he should have laughed, pushed Robbie away and given him a bloody nose for good measure. You know, just a regular, good-hearted boyish scuffle, but Robbie was a rich kid. His father- Jade's father probably owned the whole of Los Angelos, as far as Beck knew. Touch one little pretty hair on Robbie's head and they'd pin Beck with so much shit, he'd never be able to sell his RV and get his own apartment. He'd never be able to move out with his mother. He'd never be able to do shit.

He wasn't afraid of Robbie, but rather, he was afraid of the power Robbie's family held.

And now that he thought about it, he could see some similarities between Robbie and Jade; their fiery temper being the first thing.

"When I said we slept together, I meant we fell asleep in someone's front yard. Nothing happened," Robbie snorted at this, "I swear; I'm not that kind of person." Actually, that was a lie. Beck was totally the guy who would sleep with those rich socialites and leave them with an empty bed with nothing more than a single word in the morning. They always went through a phase- a "poor boy, bad boy" phase that he often used to his advantage. He knew the right things to say to get $500 to pay his parent's water bill. He knew the right way to kiss them to get them to pay for gas, he knew the smile to make so he wouldn't have to pay for lunch. And when they got too emotionally attached to him, he knew the right way to break up with them; cold smiles and empty, emotionless words. He would break them down just as quickly as he built them up.

It was something he had gotten from his father. He hated it.

"Just tell me what happened." Robbie sighed heavily- his sudden influx of anger dissipating until he was the uneasy, awkward, scrawny boy Beck remembered meeting last week.

"Okay, but not here." Beck spoke solemnly and nodded his head to the teenagers that eyed the pair, speculation and suspicion evident in their gestures and glares.

"You're right." Robbie nodded his head and followed Beck into his car.

If he was, in fact a kidnapper, Beck would have probably knocked Robbie out and held him ransom with whoever had his sister (that was depending on if she was taken and not a runaway, in the first place).

But he wasn't, so he just ran a hand through his hair and sighed heavily instead.

Robbie never made any attempts to engage Beck in small talk or lighten the mood.

Jade hated him; sure. As kids she would always go out of her way to make sure he was miserable until they were around nine. She was always looking out for him, and then denying the actions and shamelessly letting a stream of curse words after Robbie as she would glare at him from her locker.

Now it was time for him to start looking after her.

He was the older one; it was his job and not anyone else's.

Besides, it was his fault she was missing anyway.

His mother hated her and often, on occasion, she hated Robbie also but his home sure as hell was a lot safer than wherever Jade was right now.

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(.x.)

Is there any reason why you're not reviewing or

Things were just heating up too. Damn.

Give lowlaury, LeleD2010 and canadianfatcake's fics a read. And, well chasingafterstarlight too (even though I'm pretty sure everyone already reads her chiz). Dese are my home gurls, okay?