so sorry, I’m Ellen or Ellie for short. So where are you guys from?” she asked. I gulped. I hesitated to answer, but Kaylee jabbed me in the ribs.
“Well, I guess uh… Chris here was driving super reckless last night and we crashed! Good job Chris!” I seethed, punching him.
“Ouch!” he mumbled. Ellie nodded.
“Well, that makes sense I was in the ambulance that picked you guys up! But you’re all good, fell on a mound of dirt!” she exclaimed, and checked her watch.
“Oh, crap, almost late for work. There’s a jar of emergency money that you guys are more than welcome to use… I mean take it all if you want, I got more than enough in the bank! It’s in the cupboards above the sink. The key is in the bottom of the trash can. And there’s a great bagel shop a few blocks away, okay byyyye!” she called, speeding through her words, and rushed out the door. Wow. That was… just wow.
“Um… guys,” Kaylee breathed looking around. I was deep in thought to even hear her. Okay so we were all probably hungry, so we'll stop by that bagel shop. But then from there, where do we go?
“CHLOE MOLLY’S MISSING!!!!” Kaylee screamed right in my face. I snapped back to reality.
“No, she’s right there!” I exclaimed, pointing to a pile of blankets. Wait… Molly would never sleep on the floor. Oh gosh… Molly was actually missing.
“She is literally NOWHERE! Chris even checked in the toothpaste bottle!” Kaylee sighed, plopping on the couch. I paced in front of it, thinking, while Chris ate out of a jar of peanut butter. Think, like Molly, think like Molly. Well, Molly decided to leave her phone here TOO! (We figured this out after we texted and called FIFTY times!!!)
“Well, let’s assume she never even made it here. That she left when the Corvette crashed to…” I paused to think of why she would leave.
“Ta goo gat halp!” Chris replied, mouth full of peanut butter. Maybe.
“Chris get your hand out of the peanut butter, that’s disgusting!!” I snapped. He just shrugged, and grabbed a spoon instead.
“Most likely. So she probably went to a hospital. But then where after that?” I asked aloud.
“Oh Chloe, is it a weird custom to put paper in peanut butter in… wherever we are?” Chris asked. I had then realized I didn’t even know where we were. I flung open the curtains and gasped to see the 102 floored Empire State Building. Wow. That’s a lot of shiny windows.
“Well, as far as I know, they don’t do that in New York!” I replied, breathless. The windows shone like crystals in the sunlight. Flakes of snow quietly fell to the ground, covering the New York streets. I quickly shook off the feeling and turned back to Chris to see what he was talking about. He held a paper covered in peanut butter. It read:
Dear Mrs. Ellie Rose,
Your prescription for melatonin is now in. Please pick it up in a week or order will be thrown out.
Thank you!
CVS Pharmacy
“That is the weirdest prescription letter I’ve ever seen!” Kaylee commented. I nodded in agreement.
“Yea and the letters look weird too!” Chris added. We both looked at him.
“Wait, the letters do look weird! Chris, how did you notice that!” I gasped and peered closer at the letters. I hated to admit it, he was right!
“Chris are you… secretly smart?!” I teased, in fake shock. Chris rolled his eyes. (Chloe zero, Chris one.) Some of the letters were slanted!
“Here hand me that piece of paper that Ellie was writing on!” I blurted, and Kaylee passed it to me. I began to frantically write down the slanted letters. I mean, that could be a clue about Molly!
A m ll o p t o n l s i l r h o y hr m a u
“What the heck is that supposed to mean!” I cried. Chris scrunched up his face and grabbed the pad of paper and the pen, and scribbled something down.
Paramount Hills-Molly
“Omg, how’d you do that? I think I like you even more!” Kaylee giggled. Chris smiled and blushed. Ugh. Blah. Gross. Love… like… stuff.
“It’s an anagram. I used to do them while in the electric closet, for fun!” he explained. Kaylee blushed more. I rolled my eyes.
“Okay so now we have a clue. What’s Paramount Hills though?” I asked. Chris pulled out his phone, and looked it up, then showed us a picture of A group of kids in uniforms standing in front of a huge building.
“Looks like an academy filled with rich kids to me,” I groaned.
“It reads, Paramount Hills is the best school I’ve ever sent my kids to! They love the variety of cafeteria food and chic uniforms. I won’t send my kids anywhere else! That’s a review from Casey Stein’s!? He's the best quarterback ever! He threw 6 touchdowns in one game, and 5 ‘Hail Mary’s’ Wow!” Chris exclaimed. Kaylee and I tilted our heads in confusion. Kaylee grabbed the phone out of his hands.
“Paramount Hills has educated my children. The teachers are kind and have kept my kids in their place. They barely ever try to burn my garden anymore! 5 stars! That’s from Jason Crisp. Yikes!” Kaylee read. I snorted a laugh.
“So are we going to Paramount Hills then?!” Kaylee asked, excitement ringing in her voice. I sighed. Seemed like the only choice.
“Paramount Hills…” I began
“HERE WE COME!!!” Chris and Kaylee exclaimed in unison.
“Yes, my parents sent us here in the limo with the tuition money,” I lied straight to the headmaster’s face. We were at Paramount Hills Academy trying to become ‘students’. Before we got here we found the money. It was $400,000 just sitting in a safe!!! After that we grabbed some bagels, (ten dollars per bagel, I know pricy) hopped in a cab (twenty dollars) and then came to Paramount Hills and the tuition total for all three of us was $250,000 (which apparently that was cheap for this school) because we would be rooming with other people and not have our own room
“Fine. You guys don’t have to make the application process because it’s the middle of the year,” Mrs. Teresa Philips, the headmaster replied. Time to ask the big question.
“Did a girl named Molly come here a few days ago?” I asked. The headmaster put on a thinking face.
“Yes, actually she did. Long hair. Very… hmmm… perky?” she replied. Had we found Molly!?
“That sounds like her!!” Kaylee blurted, but then quickly covered her mouth. Mrs. Phillips raised an eyebrow, but apparently didn’t care that much.
“Okay, in this folder is your schedule, room number, classroom numbers, locker numbers, our restaurants, and more. You will find your uniforms in your bedroom. Right now the school is at lunch
