Part 3

As the night slowly wound down with the moon easing off of its bright orange hue, James and I continued our discussion about the current situation regarding Norton Gibbs. It was the strangest thing that happened tonight of all nights. Norton wasn't the type of person to just up and disappear. If one thing was for sure, Norton was the exact type of guy that everyone could depend on, no matter what. To make matters even worse was the fact that the play about homeless people in our community was his idea and the senior class loved it.

James and I had finally arrived at my house. The cool spring air was settling on the ground as we watched the mist flow out from our mouths. The hot air mixing with the cooler air added to the already eerie feeling of our crazy and strange night.

“Well, we made it home. My ma will be going nuts if I don't get in. Thanks a bunch for walking with me. It means a lot that you got my back." I said; shuffling my right foot back and forth I could feel the uncomfortable edge all around me.

“Na, not a worry Simone. If I'm not looking out for you what kind of trouble would you get into anyway? Beside, that's what friends are for, right?" James replied, poking me in the arm as he grinned at me with the awesome grin of his.

"Dude, I've gotta go. Hey text me if ya hear anything. K?” I smiled back at him.

"You know it, girlie. Later" With that he turned and headed for his own home. As always he whistled as he walked away, turning back to wave at me one more time.

I watched James with a little smile on my face. He was a great guy, a heck of a catch and the one person that I knew that I could count on anytime, any place. Beside, he wasn't bad to look at either and that made it all the easier for me to almost want to be his girlfriend.

With that happy thought in mind I headed in the house. Mom would be on pins and needles waiting on me to get inside and I didn't want to worry her un-necessarily.

As soon as the door opened Mom was right there to greet me, “Sweetie, you're here. Give me a hug; I've been worried to death. Any news about Norton? Did you see his parents? What are the police saying?" She couldn't ask enough questions as I walked through the door, hugging me so tight I could barely breathe.

“Ma, Ma, its okay. Hey let me loose, I need to breathe here." I said, hugging her back. “I’m here and I'm okay. Besides I told you I was with James."

Walking into the kitchen I grabbed a bottle of water gulping it down as fast as I could. Looking at my mom I told her what I knew, "We don't know anything about what happen to Norton. He just didn't come on stage at his cue. Everyone was waiting for him to make his entrance and man, he just didn't show up."

“When was the last time anyone saw him?" she asked her face showing how concern she was at all of this craziness.

"As far as I know Norton was at the school getting ready for the play to start. I think I saw him talking to his dad right before the play started, then that was the last time I saw him at all." I swallowed the rest of the water. There wasn't much more that I could share with her at this time. James' ring tone began playing on my phone, "Ma, I gotta get this." I said as and I put up my index finger to indicate for her to wait. "Hey, what's up?” I said answering the phone.

“Got home, no boogeyman anywhere insight. Thought you'd like to know. All good at your place?" he asked chuckle just a little bit under his breath.

“Of course, it's sweet as always." I replied with a grin on my face. "My mom says thanks for watching out for me." I added as I turn to my mom and winked at her.

“Hey, what's a best friend for, right? Besides, one senior missing for now is quite enough. I really hope Norton is okay, ya know?"

I could hear his concern in his tone. There wasn't much to be said at this point, "Yeah, me too. See ya in the morning?"

“Ya betcha. Same time, time place. Later Si." he said. James had always called me Si, he said he liked that nickname for me, it just fit me.

“You too. Peace." That was my call sign for him. James was sort of a peaceful dude, mostly. Only Dusty seemed to get under his skin and that seemed to be how everyone thought of Dusty and the dusty-mites.

With that I gave mom a goodnight kiss and headed for my bedroom. Upstairs, all alone with just my computer and TV to keep me company, I sat looking out of my window at the house two doors down from me.

I could see the moon still shining brightly against the ebony night, as I watched the light come on in the upper room of the brick house where James lived. It was sort of ironic that my bedroom window faced James’s bedroom window. If I looked real hard I could see him moving about the same size space as my room. I felt lucky that the house between us was one level leaving me plenty of room to watch my handsome knight as I thought of him without his noticing.

Funny thing about spying on people, sometimes when you think you're the only one doing the spying, well in fact most of the time you're not alone. Someone else is usually looking back.