Puzzle Pieces

Chapter 15

"Annabel, open up," Noah's voice called to me from my sleep. I grumbled and stretched as the banging on the door continued. I finally get a dreamless sleep and I'm awakened by my twin brother? Can't he sense the good slumber I'm in? "Annabel!" he called again.

The banging on the door more furious. I groaned and walked to the door before opening it slowly.

"What?" I asked, making sure to annunciate each letter. He looked taken aback for a second, but quickly hid it by putting a bored look on his face.

"Mom's downstairs. She told me to wake you. Said you slept enough and she really wants to talk to you."

"Why didn't she come up and get me herself then?"

"I have no idea. Don't shoot the messenger," he said before turning and walking down the stairs. I sigh, put my hair in a messy bun with the hair tie I have on my wrist, and then walk down the stairs. When I get to the living room, I see my mom sitting on the single arm chair that my dad used to sit in that is now Noah's favorite chair. I stop mid-step and think about what I could have done wrong. Well, there's plenty. Just wondering which one she is angry about.

"Have a seat Annabel," my mom said. Her voice is almost normal, but I know that voice well enough now to know whatever I have done has to be something really bad. Slowly, I walked over to the couch and sat down facing her.

"Hi mom. How was work?" I asked trying to remove her zoomed in focus on me.

"It went well. Would've been better if I hadn't received a few phone calls today. Would you like to tell me what you've done today?" she asked, staring back at me and I noticed she really hadn't blinked. Not a good sign. Definitely not a good sign.

"Nothing much. I did go to the school to drop off the hospital note," I said, shaking my head in mock innocence.

"After I told you not to leave the house?" her blue eyes flamed brighter. Not good. Not good at all.

"I only left because I was feeling better and I didn't want to get another demerit."

"Tell me Annabel, what else did you do at school?" she asked, tilting her head to the side. Crap. She knows.

"I broke up with Xavier" I said with a shrug and light "please don't kill me" smile.

"Wrong! You got suspended and earned two demerits, Annabel. How could you be so...so..."

"Suspended?! How did I get suspended?!" I shouted with disbelief. Anger is starting to rise in me. Two demerits?! I'm off the cheer squad! This is ridiculous!

"You got suspended for that little stunt you pulled today on Xavier and the Sheriff's daughter. Really Annabel? Do you know they can press charges and you could end up in jail? What is wrong with you? Why would you do something so...careless?!" She shouted angrily. Careless is another word for dumb, I guess. Or immature in my mom's eyes.

“Wait, freeze. They could press charges? How? All I did was break up with Xavier and tell Leslie off. They were just words,” I explained, jumping up from the couch.

“Words!? You didn’t use just words, Annabel. You physically injured Xavier and got into an altercation with Leslie.”

I forgot about the knee thing with Xavier. But I didn’t lay a finger on Leslie.

"It just kind of happened, mom. I'm sorry. I went to tell Xavier that I couldn't see him anymore because of how I'm grounded and I saw them...together. I just tried breaking up with him, but he wouldn’t let me go. I just…reacted," I said with a shrug, sitting back on the couch.

"You're suspended from school for three days and have to serve detention for a week. You can make the two weeks you’re grounded, a whole month. No if, ands, or buts, Annabel."

"There's nothing to object. With the two demerits, I'm off the cheer squad. Why would I care to leave the house anymore?"

"And your friends can't come over. I'm sorry, but those are the rules," she said before getting up from her seat.

Can this day get any worse? This day has sucked since this morning. I want to crawl into a ball and scream, but I can’t do that. My mom walked into the kitchen and called over her shoulder, "Come on. Dinner is on the table."

I let out a long deep breath before getting up and making my way to the table. She bought chicken wings and French fries. Noah watched me as I slid into one of the seats at the table. He continued to stare without saying anything. I noticed from the corner of my eye. I turned to look at him with an arched eyebrow and lips set in a straight line. My cheeks burned and I knew they were probably bright red. He rolled his eyes at me and cleared his throat.

"Hey mom, I have this project in school that I require your help with," Noah said, interrupting the silence at the kitchen table.

"Really? What do you need my help with?"

"Well, I'm doing a kind of real estate project and so I wanted to know, what's the average amount of houses you sell a year?"

"Honestly honey, not very high. I'd say about Eight. I know it's a higher number in bigger cities, but for Sierra Hills, it's a lot," she said with a big proud smile. The flames in her eyes were now gone.

"Have you ever sold a house to the teachers?"

My mom laughed at his question before answering, “Of course, Noah. They need places to live too.”

“Right. What I mean is, any of the Sierra Hills High school or elementary school teachers?”

"As a matter of fact, I have. A few different teachers have bought houses, to be exact,” mom answered with a nod as she put a French fry in her mouth.

"Any female teachers?" he asked, catching my mom's attention. She looked at him through narrowed eyes.

"What exactly is this about Noah?"

"Nothing. Just wondering if you have sold more houses to men or women?"

"I'd say an equal amount because most of the houses I've sold to people are newlyweds starting out a family or a husband and wife wanting something better for their children."

"My friend Jacob's cousin said she recently bought a house from you."

"Really? Who?" my mom asked with her interest clearly piqued.

"Um, I think she said her name was Judith Sky."

"Judith Sky, Judith Sky" my mom repeated, trying to recall the name. Then she nodded in recollection before continuing, "I didn't know you had a friend named Jacob."

It's as if I don't exist here. Like I'm not sitting at the table with them. I don't really mind if he gets the information, but I don't like being ignored either.

"I didn't know Noah had friends, period," I said to let my presence be known.

They both looked at me unhappily before Noah turned his attention back to my mom, who was shaking her head.

"Anyway, it's Annabel's friend, Cara's cousin. They're related by his dad. Judith is related from his mother's side," Noah explained.

"I see. Well, Sierra Hills is a small town. I guess it shouldn’t surprise me who knows who.”

"Do you sell houses in just one side of Sierra Hills? or all over?" I asked nonchalantly. I don't want to give away how badly I want to know. My mom eyed me and I shrugged. "What? I want to know. Since we're talking about houses and stuff, I was just curious."

"All over. Well, someone new has just been hired in the same office as me, so now I have been given a area. Now I cover the North East half of town and Terry the South West."

"Really? So what area did Judith buy her house?"

"She wanted to be near the school, but in a quiet neighborhood. She's in the lower North West side of town," my mom answered. I wanted to jump for joy. I know someone who lives in that area.

"The yellow one-story house? When I went to visit my friend Mikayla, I remember seeing a 'For Sale' sign on a house down the street from her."

"Now you know I can't give you that information. Whether it went to Judith or not, I will say the house did get sold. Do not go around knocking on that door though, Annabel. I mean it. Whoever lives in that house deserves the privacy they wanted. Don't go around there just because you're now curious to see who lives there."

"I wasn't planning on it."

"I mean it, Annabel," Mom warned. Noah’s lips spread into a small smile.

"Mom, I'm already grounded for a month. Why would I try to make that more?" I asked rhetorically with a shrug. My mom still watched me through narrowed eyes.

"Because I know you and your habit to satisfy every curiosity you have."

"I was curious to know the area and you told me. That satisfies my curiosity."

"Good. I do have to work tomorrow. I won't be at the office though, so if you need to contact me for any reason, just call my cell," she said, standing and grabbing her plate.

"Okay," Noah and I replied.

After my mom put her plate in the sink, Noah looked at me with a smirk. "Okay, who is Jacob?" I asked, unable to keep the words in my mouth much longer.

"A real guy, just not my friend. And yes. I do have friends. Just not any of the losers that want to hang in your circle," he said, making me roll my eyes. "Anyway, he is related to Judith, but not to Cara. His mom is the town gossip, so I knew he would know this Judith Sky. Turns out she's his cousin. He didn't tell me where she lived, but I knew that’s where mom would come in.”

"Nice. Now that we have figured out the house, you can go."

"What do you mean 'you can go'? You know where the house is, you should go. Your dream, your suspect, you should be the one to talk to her."

"I can't!” I hissed. “I'm grounded, remember. Mom said that I couldn't go knocking on the door, but she said nothing whatsoever about you going and knocking on the door."

"I see. You're trying to get me grounded," he said, tilting his head to the side.

"I thought you wanted to help me, Noah? Look, I already told the sheriff about her, so maybe we're done already. What if we did our part and it's over?"

"Do you think it is?" he asked, raising that eyebrow of his. I couldn’t answer because I didn’t have an answer for him. All I could do right now is hope that Sheriff Silverman actually takes my word and does his job.