Girl Lost

by Michelle Files

  “You are too following me. I can’t go anywhere in this house without running into you.”

  “Sorry if I’m bothering you. I just thought you could use my help.” He looked hurt.

  “Well I don’t need your help,” I blurted out. Why did he always irritate me so much?

  With that, he turned and walked away. Was I too mean? I probably was. But he was an adult and could take it. I looked up and saw Annabelle standing in the hall just outside the room. She had been watching us, and was smiling. That was weird.

  “Hey,” I said to her, “Can I use your phone? I want to find out what time my grandparents are getting here.” I started walking toward her.

  She hesitated for just a second. “No, sorry. Adam said he would fire me if I let you use my phone again.”

  I stopped walking toward where she was standing and thought about what she had said for just a moment. “What is your problem?” I asked her. I was in no mood for dealing with anyone giving me hassles. It was a day for getting into it with everyone, I guess.

  “I don’t have a problem. I told you why. I need this job. Not all of us are rich, you know.” I could tell by the look on her face that she didn’t want to help me. But, it was probably true that Adam threatened to fire her.

  “Whatever,” I said back to her.

  She just shook her head at me and started back toward the kitchen. As I was watching her, she stopped dead in her tracks and slowly turned back toward me.

  “Stay away from Jackson. He’s mine, not yours.” The way she said it actually gave me shivers.

  I think I was ready for a fight by then. It had been one of those days. “And what if I don’t?” I challenged her. I didn’t want Jackson, but she didn’t know that and I wasn’t letting her talk to me that way, regardless.

  She walked slowly toward me and stopped only inches from my face. I stood my ground. She was a bit shorter than I was, but was menacing nonetheless.

  “This is a big house, accidents happen all the time.” She said it slowly and deliberately. It was kind of creepy. She stood there for a few more seconds, staring me straight in the eyes. I didn’t back down.

  “Are you threatening me?” I said, with deadly seriousness in my eyes. I wasn’t afraid of her, and she needed to know that.

  Just then Sarah walked in and we both backed off. “What’s going on?” She looked at both of us. It was obvious that she could tell something was going on, but had missed the good stuff. Just the looks on our faces probably told her all she needed to know.

  “Nothing,” I said, lowering my eyes. I don’t know why I felt guilty, she started it. Annabelle didn’t say a word and left the room quickly. Coward.

  After that, Annabelle rarely said anything to me. She only spoke when she absolutely had to. I saw her a lot, though, skulking around the house and staring at Jackson when she didn’t realize I was watching her. I honestly didn’t care if she dated Jackson or not. I didn’t want him. But, she didn’t get that. She saw me as competition.

  Jackson was a little more standoffish after that too. He brought a couple of girls over to the house a few times. I pretended not to notice. He still followed me around more than I would have liked, but he was helpful in the party tasks. Since I didn’t know how to drive, he would drive me into town to pick up things we needed. He didn’t talk to me much, though. He was probably afraid I would yell at him again. I wouldn’t have. I tried to apologize to him for my behavior, but it didn’t help. He seemed genuinely hurt and probably needed some time to get over it. So, I gave him the space he needed and didn’t bring it up again. Jackson was pleasant enough when we were working together. I guess he was and okay guy. But, I had no desire to have a boyfriend, and I think that’s exactly what he wanted from me.

  I tried a couple times to call my grandparents when we were in town, but they weren’t home. Charlie was always at school during the day when I could get to a phone, so I didn’t even bother trying to call him. Oh well, I would see them soon at the party. I couldn’t wait, I missed them so much.

  Chapter 12

  Finally, it was party day. I was exhausted from all the planning, errands, phone calls, everything. I’m not really sure why I had to do all the work. Wasn’t the party for me? Seems like I shouldn’t have had to do anything. Oh well, it kept me busy and was kind of fun. On the other hand, having to deal with Jackson and Annabelle and all that drama wiped me out.

  “Good morning and happy birthday,” Adam said to me as I walked into the dining room for breakfast. Sure, we fought like crazy, but I was really starting to care for him. We were very much alike. It wasn’t just our matching green eyes either. It was more about our personalities. We were both very stubborn and wanted things our way. I definitely knew who I took after in the family.

  “Good morning, thanks,” I replied. Jackson was already there, but I didn’t speak him.

  “Don’t dawdle this morning, Madison. We have a lot of setting up to do today,” Sarah informed me.

  Sheez, that didn’t take long. I just barely got up, hadn’t even had breakfast yet, and she was already putting me to work.

  “Wait, why am I doing so much work? It’s my birthday after all.”

  “Do you just want to sit around and do nothing while everyone else does all the work for your party?” Sarah asked me.

  “I guess not,” I replied. Thank god it would all be over that night. I was really looking forward to just doing what I wanted, like riding Jett. I hadn’t been horseback riding in weeks.

  I finished breakfast quickly and started on my party tasks. It was going to be a long day. Almost immediately after breakfast people started showing up with stuff, like decorations, chairs, tables, center pieces, booze, the cake. You name it. My job was to coordinate where everything went and make sure it was all set up properly. Sarah had even hired extra people to work at the party. Once they started showing up, I had to tell them what they would be doing. I was starting to wonder if anyone else was doing anything at all. It really seemed like I was doing all the work.

  Annabelle had been assigned to help me with everything. A fact that I was not happy about. But, I decided to make the best of it. However, I didn’t see her all day. I tried looking for her, but she was nowhere to be found. I finally sent one of the new hires to find her, but he came back empty handed. So, I ended up doing it all myself, with some help from the staff. The problem was that they needed a lot of direction and it really slowed things down.

  A few hours before the guests were supposed to start arriving, I noticed that no food had shown up, so I called the caterers to find out what time they would be arriving. They informed me that I had called them and cancelled the order. When I explained that I had not cancelled it, they actually argued with me. When all was said and done, we were out of luck on the caterers. They booked a last minute party and were unable to help us with ours. I tried calling every caterer and restaurant in the area, but no one could accommodate us on such short notice. What was I going to do? I was on the verge of tears when Jackson walked in. Jackson took one look at my face and knew there was a problem. I wouldn’t have been able to hide it from anyone.

  “What’s the matter?” he asked, as he walked over and put his arm around my shoulder.

  “Someone called and cancelled our caterers for tonight. Now we have no food. We can’t have a party with no food,” I wailed.

  “Did you try calling someone else?”

  “Of course. Do you think I’m stupid?" I threw his arm off of my shoulder and spun around to face him. “What do you think I’ve been doing for the last hour?” I was a little too harsh. But I was desperate and freaked out. He would understand.

  “No, I don’t think you’re stupid." He looked at his arm like I had just lit it on fire. Then he looked back at me. "I just walked in. I have no idea what you’ve done so far.”

  “Sorry.” I said. “What am I going to do? I just moved to this area and don’t really know anyone. What will everyone think when they show up expec
ting food, and there isn’t any? We can’t possibly have a party without food.”

  Jackson sat there quiet for a minute. I could almost see the wheels turning in his head.

  “I hear you’re a pretty good cook. I’d be happy to help.” He smiled a very mischievous grin.

  “What? We don’t have a menu or anything that we would need. I don’t even know if it can be done in time.” He was insane, that idea wasn’t going to work out at all.

  He reached for a pad and pen that were lying on the desk near the entrance to the ballroom and started writing.

  “What do we have to lose? We need food, so let’s get to work.” He was very determined.

  “Well, I guess you’re right. We need to do something,” I agreed.

  Over the next half hour we made a buffet menu. While I went to work in the kitchen getting started on some of the items, Jackson went to the grocery store to get everything else that we needed. I rounded up some of the staff to help. When Jackson arrived, we all dove in. We were in that kitchen chopping, slicing, frying, baking, etc. for several hours. Finally, we were just about done when the first guests arrived. Of course, I looked a mess. I hadn’t even had time for a shower that morning and had been running non-stop all day.

  I left the kitchen to the people who had been helping me. They could do all the finishing touches. I ran up the staffs’ back staircase and toward my room to get ready. I almost made it without seeing anyone. Then I ran into Sarah walking down the hall toward my room. She was wearing a gorgeous orange formal gown that went great with her short, dark hair. Orange isn’t something that most women can wear, but somehow Sarah pulled it off.

  She took one look at me and gasped. Oh boy, here it comes, I thought.

  “Madison! Why aren’t you ready? Your guests are arriving and everyone has been asking about you.” She was practically shrieking.

  “Sorry, we had some trouble and I have been cooking all day. I just got done. I’m going to go get ready now.”

  “What do you mean you were cooking all day? We have caterers for that,” she replied.

  “No we don’t. Someone called the caterers a few days ago and cancelled our order. I just found out this afternoon when I called them to find out when they would be arriving.”

  “Oh my god. And you spent all day cooking by yourself for this party?” She actually looked impressed.

  “Well, not all by myself. Jackson helped a lot. So did some of the staff. I had help.” I certainly wasn’t super woman and I didn’t want to take all the credit for myself.

  “Still, I don’t know anyone else that would have done that,” she said. I think I gained a little respect from her at that moment.

  “I’ve got to go get ready.” I walked into my room and shut the door without inviting her in.

  When I emerged forty-five minutes later, I was ready for the wolves. I was wearing a beautiful brilliant blue evening gown that Sarah had helped me pick out. I also had on high heels. That was something I wasn’t used to. I just knew I was going to fall all the way down the stairs and land at someone’s feet in a bloody heap. I could barely breathe. I could’ve really used a good zombie apocalypse right about then to get me out of the party.

  “Okay, you can do this,” I said out loud to myself, as I took a deep breath.

  Just as I reached the top of the stairs, Jackson came out of nowhere and stood beside me.

  “Every lady needs an escort to her first ball,” he said with a big grin on his face. He was wearing a tuxedo and was very handsome.

  I was absolutely speechless. Maybe he wasn’t such a bad guy after all. He held out his arm and I took it. I was so grateful for Jackson at that moment. Maybe the night wouldn't be so bad after all. We started descending the stairs slowly. Most of the guests were in the ballroom, but there were several milling about in the foyer and every single set of eyes looked our way. I just know I turned a deep shade of red. My face felt like it was on fire.

  “Breathe,” Jackson whispered sideways to me.

  I let out a breath. I hadn’t even noticed I was holding it.

  Just as we reached the bottom of the stairs I saw Adam walking toward us. He also looked very handsome in his black tuxedo. I think he wanted to walk me into the ballroom. But, he could see how tightly I was holding onto Jackson’s arm and he just led us in. When we walked in the door, it was my turn to gasp. There must have been 300 people in there. Way more than I expected. I hoped there was enough food.

  “Everyone, can I have your attention,” Adam said very loudly, not quite yelling. “I would like you all to meet our beautiful daughter, Madison.” Sarah had appeared by his side just in time.

  I thought I was going to faint as everyone stared at me. I felt like I was on display. Adam took my arm, prying me away from Jackson. He stepped aside and let Adam take over. I looked back at Jackson with fear on my face. He nodded slightly at me, which said ‘you’ll be all right.’ We walked around the room and met what seemed like a thousand people. There were a lot of teenagers there. I guess my parents wanted me to meet more people my age. They all seemed nice, but everyone is nice when you first meet them. I could feel their sideways glances on me and hear whispering as we walked the room. Real or imagined? I’m not really sure.

  Oh, I had almost forgotten in all the excitement. I scanned the room one more time. “Where are my grandparents? And Charlie? I don’t see them anywhere,” I asked Adam.

  “Looks like they didn’t show. Come on, I want you to meet the Mayor.” He had absolutely no emotion in his voice. It was painfully obvious to me that he didn’t care that the only family I had known most of my life didn’t show up to my 16th birthday party.

  I was devastated. How could they not show up? Why would they do that to me? I hadn’t seen them in months and I missed them terribly.

  Well, it wouldn’t do me any good to mope. I would call them later. I decided to make the best of it and I actually enjoyed myself. A couple of the boys asked me to dance and it was a lot of fun. The food was a hit, especially when Sarah told everyone that I cooked it myself. I’m not really sure why she did that. She was usually embarrassed by things like that and would never want people to know that I stooped to cooking for my own party.

  I tried to explain that I had a lot of help, but no one listened.

  “Young lady, if you ever want a job working for me, let me know,” one of the older men told me. I just smiled in response. I found out later that he owned the country club and they did tons of catering for parties there. That was the second job offer I had received since I arrived at the ranch. I was thrilled that he, and everyone else, loved the food. It’s nice when people appreciate your hard work. It was something I loved to do too. Cooking was really fun for me.

  At one point, I was standing alone drinking punch, just watching everyone having a lot of fun. I was pleased. It turned out to be a really nice party. I’m glad they insisted that we have it. The only thing that would have made my 16th birthday party complete was if my grandparents and Charlie had shown up. I would have to call them the next day.

  “I hear you had to cook all the food for your own party.” I heard a familiar voice behind me. I spun around and saw that it was Annabelle.

  “Are you the one that called the caterer and cancelled our order?” I demanded. I was furious with her.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said with a smile. “It could have been anyone.” As she walked away, I watched her slink out of the room through one of the kitchen staffs’ doors that were used for bringing in and out food and drinks.

  I knew it had been her. I just couldn’t prove it. I really didn’t know why she hated me so much, all of a sudden. I guess it was about Jackson. But, I didn’t want him anyway. She just didn’t see that.

  Chapter 13

  The rest of the evening went perfectly. Everyone there was great. I met so many people, and hoped there wouldn’t be a test later. I barely remembered anyone’s name. I hung out mostly with Jackson, becau
se I didn’t really know anyone else. We had a great time.

  Then it was time to bring out the birthday cake. It had five tiers, was lavender with little icing flowers all over, and just gorgeous. I had seen it earlier in the day when they brought it in, but it took my breath away nevertheless. Luckily it was made by a well known bakery in town, and not the caterers. There’s no way I could have made something like that. Apparently Annabelle screwed up and forgot to cancel the cake too. Ugh, it made my blood boil just thinking about her.

  Everyone oohed and awed over the cake. I could hear whispered chatter about it all over the room. That made me smile.

  All of the guests, yes all 300 or so of them, gathered tightly around me and sang happy birthday. I kind of enjoyed being the center of attention. That surprised me. It really wasn’t like me at all. Being in the background was more of my thing. Even so, I was having a really good time and was glad that my parents forced the party on me.

  After the singing was done, Adam cut the cake, the first piece anyway. I suspected that he would pass that job on to one of the staff members afterward, when everyone wasn't watching him intently. He did like to make a show of things.

  There were so many people around me and I was kind of squished in between my parents. I wished everyone would spread out a little, give me some breathing room. There were entirely too many people jam packed around me.

  As I reached for the first piece of cake, which was customary for the birthday girl, someone shoved me in the back. It was such a quick and deliberate strike right between my shoulder blades that it knocked the breath out of me. I barely had time to think. Since I was already leaning forward, I immediately lost my balance, twisted my ankle on my high heels, and tumbled right toward the cake. I saw it coming at me as I fell and there was nothing I could do about it. It felt like it was happening in slow motion. I started flailing to try to stop the fall, but it was inevitable. The cake and I went down in a huge commotion. I could hear the collective gasps of the crowd even as I was falling.