Sorry Hyude, its a lot: Chapter 8
After school, I lay back on my bed feeling tired and accomplished. But there was something nagging me. I felt like there was something I had forgotten. Then it hit me. I pulled out my cell-phone and started texting.
Natalie: Y’all, I just figured out something! It wasn’t loan ?s that wrote that note, it was thieves. Melissa, u must have been talking to them and didn't realize who they were. I mean, now they probably know that ur, well, rich! So they wrote the PAY OR ELSE thing on that note and stuck it onto your car. u need 2 be careful, melissa. someone may just be watching your every move! This is really dangerous, though. who knows how far they’ll go to get ur money. I’m NOT joking. u and ur family could be in real danger really soon. I’m gonna call the police and tell them everything I-we- have found out. whats ur address Melissa?
Melissa: r u serious? Address= 46 Gold St. Raleigh, NC. quickly call the police. QUICK!!!
I swiped out of my messages and opened the calling app on my phone. I dialed 911 as fast as I could. A voice met my ear almost immediately.
“911, what is the address of your emergency?”
“I need the police, please,” I said and the dispatcher switched me over to the police.
“Uh, hello. I’m Natalie. My friend Melissa found a note on her car a while ago that said ‘pay or else’ in all caps. We didn’t know what it was; we thought it was from loan sharks but we realized it was from thieves. Melissa had been talking to them and, well, they realized that she was rich. We, well, we didn’t know what else to do except call the police so that’s - that’s what we did.” I finished kinda lamely. A strong, deep voice answered me.
“I see. What is the address? We will send help over now.” The policeman said. I repeated the address that Melissa had told me. Then when the policeman hung up, I texted Melissa to tell her what was happening. She responded with a “WHAT?!” in all caps. I was halfway through answering when my phone suddenly rang. As soon as I answered, Melissa’s voice boomed in my ear. I quickly turned the volume down.
“Hey, Melissa. Yeah, yeah, I know this is sudden, I’m sorry. But someone had to call. This is serious! Plus, when you texted me to call the police…”
“I know! But I didn’t think this was so important. I would have called them myself!”
“Sorry to break it to you but what you need to focus on is to let your parents know that the police are coming and that the note was from thieves. Ok?”
“Ok. I’m on it. Hold on real quick while I tell them.” I heard Melissa sprint through the house, looking for her mom and dad. Then I heard yells of surprise and then the sound of the door opening.
“Ok, Nat? I’ve got to go. They’re here. Gosh, I’m so nervous for some reason. This is crazy!”
“You’re ok, it’s fine,” I said soothingly into the phone. “I’ll ask my parents if I can come over to help. Ok?”
“O-ok.” Even her voice sounded scared as she hung up. I ran down the stairs. “Mom! Dad!”
“Yes, Natalie? Is everything alright?”
“Yes-no-sort of.” I explained everything in a hurry. “-and I need to go over there. I need to help!” As I finished, my heart slowed; it had been racing ever since Melissa called.
“Of course, hon! We’ll take you over immediately!” My mom said with a reassuring smile. “Joseph, you and Nat be ready to go in 5 minutes. I just need to get proper clothes on.” Indeed, she was wearing a dress and tights from church that morning. She hurried to her room after addressing my dad and I.
“Yes, Nat. We will be over there as soon as your mother is ready.” He rolled his eyes and grinned. “But, you couldn’t have told us this sooner? I mean, we could’ve helped you.”
“Yeah. I probably should have said what my friends and I had found out earlier, but we were just too excited and, well…” I trailed off. “Point is, we were trying to figure all this stuff out and we kinda forgot. Ya’know?”
“Yes, Natalie. I certainly underst- Oh! Here comes mom!” My mother ran past us and to the front door. “C’mon, Natalie! Come on Joseph! Hurry up!.” My dad glanced at me, rolled his eyes again, and smiled; despite the hurry we were in. We hopped into the car and turned on the gas. We rode the short way to Melissa’s house in silence.
“Melissa!” I screamed when we got there. “I’m here! What’s going on!?”
“Oh, Nat!” She cried, running forward. She threw her arms around me as she exclaimed the worst news I’ve ever heard in my life. “The police were investigating and- and they- they-” She broke off in tears. “Natalie! It- it was James!”
“No,” I whispered. “No! It can’t be!” Pulling away from Melissa, I searched her face for signs that she wasn’t telling the truth; that this was another one of her dirty tricks. But even her eyes looked at me with true sympathy. She nodded, tears flooding down her face. “What happened? How did you-they know?” I demanded as I also had water streaming out of my eyes.
“Nat, he- well, he took me- and my family- out to dinner to thank me- us- for something. So we went out to a restaurant not far from my house. When we were finishing, he said he would pay but he left his wallet in- in the car.” Melissa broke down crying again. After a minute, she cleared her throat and started back again; her voice much stronger than before.
“He went out to get it but drove his truck the 2 minutes it took to get to my house and, well, he wrote the note and stole $4,000 from my parents along with our credit card number.”
“Wait, Melissa. He drove? He’s only 14!”
“Yeah. He didn’t do it legally. Anyway, he came back and paid using our credit card number. But he- he’s such a good actor! I mean, he pretended that he was your cousin and…” My friend blushed through her tears. “Well, he- I maybe kinda liked him…a bit? And well, I was jealous because I didn’t know y’all were cousins and I thought… Anyway, never mind. It doesn’t matter. I keep saying ‘well’ a lot, don’t I?” She finished and I even smiled a bit as she changed the subject.
“Aww, Melissa! It’s ok. I know this must be hard for you with you lik- with you being friends with him and all. But he lied. He betrayed us for his own gain. Do you understand that? This isn’t your fault, nor anybody else’s.” I told her gently, trying to comfort her. “Anybody’s except me,” I muttered under my breath.
“But Nat! I know it’s not my fault but still! I feel guilty, you know, for, well, liking him. I- we spent so much with him and I feel like I- we- should have noticed! You get me? I just feel like we should have called the police sooner and…” she trailed off desperately. “I just wish that we could have figured this out sooner so this wouldn’t have happened.”
“Oh, Melissa.” I sighed and threw an arm around her shoulders. “I feel the same way. It’s like we should have been on the lookout more and noticed this before it came to, well, this!” I put my arm back down by my side again and looked at her very seriously. “But Melissa, you’ve gotta realize something. Like I said before, you can’t blame yourself for this. None of us knew. We can’t think ourselves dumb or stupid for this. James was very smart and a very good actor. He was so good that we failed to realize that he was… anyway, it’s not our fault for what he did. That’s just not right!” As I finished, she sighed sadly.
“I know that and all, but it’s just… you know how I’m feeling right now, don’t you? It’s like…”
“It’s like it’s all your fault and you will never get over the guilt,” I said in a bored voice even though the tears hadn’t ended.
“Yes, exactly. I just can’t get over it, you know?”
“You’re repeating yourself,” I reminded her. “You will get over the feeling.”
“Ok but…” Melissa said.
“No. No ‘buts’ I don’t care. It’s not your fault so stop acting and feeling like it is.” I told her sternly. “No more talking like and about this. It’s natural to feel like this, but you can’t dwell on it.” I walked away and towards the police. I explained the situation clearly and my parents and we drove back to our house.
Chapter 9
I went to school the next day and James was there. Obviously he didn’t know about the events of the previous day and so I took advantage of the situation.
“Hey, James,” I said with a huge, fake grin on my face. “You wanna come over today after school? I’ve gotta surprise for you!”
“To make up all of your birthdays that Nat has missed,” Melissa caught on quickly. I glanced at her and gave her the smallest of smiles.
“Yes. So why don’t you come over about an hour after school ends. Maybe, 4:00?” James looked surprised at this so I quickly reassured him. “I just have a little gift that I wanted to give you.” He still looked unsure of why I was doing this.
“We’re cousins! Cousins do stuff like this all the time!” Then I smiled. “Melissa will be there,” I reminded him teasingly. James perked up at this.
“OK! I’ll meet Meli- you guys at 4:00.” He said as Melissa blushed.
“Ok, great! Me and Natalie just need to ask that girl over there…” Melissa pointed. “…a question. Do you mind going over and saving a seat for us at our normal table?”
“Of course,” he replied smoothly.
As we walked over to the girl who we had told James that we needed to ask a question, Melissa turned towards me. “My gosh, Nat. That was SO awkward! Anyway, what’s the plan?”
“You’ll come to my house right after school. We will tell the police and our parents and with luck, the police will arrive 5-10 minutes after James gets there. Perfect?”
“Perfect. Now let’s go tell the girl that we like her dress, or else James will be suspicious.” We went over and talked to the girl and went back to our table.
After school that day, I went home where Melissa was waiting for me. “Alright! Ready for the first part of the plan?” I asked her.
“Yep! I already told your parents. Now we call the police and wait for James.”
“Ok. I’ll call.” I took out my phone and dialed 911. I asked for the police and explained the situation quickly. They said that they would be there at 4:15. I thanked them and turned to Melissa just as I heard the doorbell ring. It was time.
Melissa went to the door. “Oh, hey James! Yeah, Nat’s in the other room. I will take you over there and we’ll explain the details.” She led him into the living room and I plastered on a smile. “Ok, so your gift is a tad late and it’s coming in about 15 minutes.”
15 minutes later, the doorbell rang for the second time. I rushed over there, telling Melissa and James to “wait here”. I opened the door and the police were standing there. “We’re in the den. Come quickly but quietly.”
I walked them into the den and they immediately started putting on a disguise before going in. “Hey, guys. I heard James the Great is here! Can I shake your hand?” James looked confuzzled but he allowed them to. As soon as the one policeman touched his hand, the others had the handcuffs out and ready. “Alright, Sunny Jim, you’re under arrest.”
“What?!”
“Come on, Matthew Wareham. We know it’s you. Nice plan, though, pretending you’re Miss Natalie’s long lost cousin. You’re a good actor, though. Too bad you had to use it in a bad way.”
“You got me this time,” The thief named Matthew growled as he let the policemen lead him out of the room. “But there will be a next time. I can promise you that.”
“Don’t worry, Miss Natalie. We’ll lock im’ up good and strong. You’ll never have to worry about him again.”
“O-ok, thank you.” I replied, truly grateful. “I’m so sorry that we didn’t realize this before.”
“No, no. You can’t be blamin’ yourself. You didn’t do anythin’ wrong. Actually, you did just the right thing. Callin’ the police before it got, er, out of hand, if you know what I mean…”
“Ok, thanks again.” I said and turned towards Melissa. “C’mon, ‘M’. Let’s go.” Raising my head, I walked out of the room; determined not to cry.
