Taken (Page 17)

As she sat there behind all the sweaters, her cell phone began to ring. She quickly pulled it out of her pocket to turn off the volume and looked down at the caller ID.

MOM CALLING

She hoped her mom wasn’t still in the Gap. She couldn’t see or hear her, so she figured the coast was clear. She climbed out from behind the sweater rack, stood up and brushed herself off. She gave a quick look around the store and realized her mother had gone.

“Hi Mom, What’s up?”

“Hi Sweetie, you ready to get picked up now?”

“Um, almost, I need about twenty more minutes.”

“Ok, I’m just leaving the mall, I should be there shortly.”

“See ya soon!”

Rachel was now screwed. How was she ever going to beat her mom back to AHS and make it into the building before she arrived?

Chapter Eleven

Rachel scurried out of the Gap, and ran into Victoria’s Secret. She grabbed Taryn by the arm and said, “Hurry, I need to go— my mom’s on her way to get me from school. I told her I was staying for extra help because I’m grounded, so I need to get back there before she does.”

“Whoa!” said Taryn. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m grounded. I had to lie to get out of the house. My mom doesn’t know I’m here,” Rachel said, out of breath. “We have to go now!”

“OK! Girls, let’s go, quickly!” Taryn said. “We have to get Rachel back to school.”

The six girls rushed out of the mall quicker than ever and jumped into the car. Taryn backed out of the parking space quickly, almost hitting a white Range Rover parked behind her. Rachel sat in the back, and kept a look out for her mom’s station wagon.

“Why are you grounded, Rach?” asked Liv.

“Because of the newspaper article, and the fight. My parents just don’t trust me anymore.”

“Wow,” Liv said. “They’re tough.”

“You have no idea!” Rachel said.

“So does this mean you can’t come to the movies later?” asked Jen.

“I’m going to try. I need to see how the night goes. If I can sneak out, I will!”

“You’re so cool,” said Taryn, as she sped down the highway and on to Route 22.

As they headed off the exit, Rachel spotted her mom’s station wagon cruising along.

“That’s my mom, hurry!” shouted Rachel, pointing to her mom’s car.

“Don’t worry, I have an eight cylinder engine—, I’ll beat her before it turns into a one lane road.”

Rachel sat in the back seat and watched as Taryn weaved in and out of cars. Her mom’s car was two cars ahead, and the road narrowed in approximately one mile. Rachel knew if they didn’t make the stoplight, she would surely get caught.

The light turned green in the distance and Rachel held her breath and closed her eyes. She couldn’t watch anymore, she was getting too anxious. She felt the car accelerate and the girls all screamed “Wahoo!”

Rachel was so nervous, she began to sweat. She couldn’t bear to think about what would happen to her if she pulled up at the same time as her mother, or right after her, for that matter. She tried to devise a plan for what to do if that happened. Even if she did beat her mom, she would only beat her by a minute, and she would have to quickly run into the building and then walk out again so her mom would think she was just leaving.

“We did it!” Taryn said as she passed Rachel’s mom on the left. Rachel opened her eyes and looked out the rear windshield. Much to her surprise, Taryn had managed to get five cars ahead of her mom.

“OMG, you’re amazing Taryn,” Rachel said. “You saved my life!”

As the car pulled into the driveway of the school, Taryn sped down and dropped Rachel at the side entrance. “Go in that way, and then come out the front,” Taryn said. “Your mom will never suspect anything.”

As Rachel jumped out and shut the car door behind her, her friends yelled, “Hope to see you tonight Rach! That was so fun!”

She didn’t look back. She ran quicker than she thought was physically possible in the side door of the school and through the hallways. Her cell phone was ringing with her mom’s name flashing on the screen. She knew her mom was out front waiting.

Rachel swung open the front door of the school, practically out of breath and walked out into the main parking lot where her mom was patiently waiting. Rachel took her time walking so she could catch her breath before getting in the car. She didn’t want to be suspicious.

As she walked up to her mom’s car, she could feel her mom staring at her. She hoped her mom didn’t suspect anything. As she entered the car, her mom said, “Hi Rachel, glad to see you being such a good student.”

Rachel couldn’t tell if she was being sarcastic or serious, but didn’t bother to question her. She sat silently in the car on the way home to avoid any conversation about her punishment, math help or anything else that her mom might bring up.

*

When Rachel walked into her house, she went right upstairs and into Sarah’s room. She knew she had to talk to her about tonight. As she climbed upstairs to her bedroom, she could hear Sarah singing Selena Gomez & The Scene’s Love You Like a Love Song. Surprisingly, Rachel liked that song and when she walked into her room she broke out into song with Sarah. The two smiled at each other and then finished the song singing loudly and dancing. They both laughed hysterically when it was over, and greeted each other with a hug.

“So, how was the mall?” Sarah whispered.

“OMG, you will never guess what happened.”

“What?”

“Mom was at the mall. I had to hide from her in the Gap. It was the most insane experience ever. I really thought I was going to get caught, but she didn’t catch me.”

“Shut up! That’s ridiculous.”

“Yeah, and then I beat her back to school by like a minute.”

“Amazing!” Sarah said with a smile.

“But I don’t know what to do now,” Rachel said.

“What do you mean? You’re back. You’re fine!”

“No, I mean about tonight.”

“Oh,” Sarah said. “What’s tonight?”

“Well, I want to go to the movies with all my friends. I hear like the whole school is going to be there and I don’t want to miss it.”

“I’m going to the movie, too!” Sarah said. “Why don’t you just come with me?”