Prologue
The boy was incredibly handsome. He was one of the newer kids at school, yet his rise to popularity had happened almost overnight. He played sports, and people loved him.
Penelope Ofield wasn’t so popular. To be honest, she wasn’t sure why he’d taken an interest in her at all. She wasn’t unattractive; she was simply average, and she knew it. Brown, shoulder-length hair, brown eyes, average height and build—nothing special, just a run-of-the-mill teenage girl.
He’d told her to meet him at the Burger Hut on the corner of 16th and Elm at seven o’clock that evening. Of course, her parents would never have allowed her to go, so she told them she had a paper due for her Economics class the next day and that she’d be staying late at a friend’s house. That gave her the freedom to meet him at the restaurant without anyone knowing what was really happening.
He pulled up to the Burger Hut right on time. Penelope sat inside, waiting for him in a booth by the front window. Butterflies fluttered in her stomach when she saw him park, and a smile spread across her face that she couldn’t suppress, no matter how hard she tried. She told herself to play it cool, though if she were honest, she had no idea what that actually looked like. My God, he’s hot, she thought as he stepped out of the car.
He spotted her staring at him through the window and gave her a sheepish grin. Running his fingers through his hair, he glanced away as though he were shy. When he looked back at her, he mouthed, “Come here,” beckoning her outside.
Penelope slid out of the booth, eager to please him. “Hey,” he said when she reached the car. “What if we scrap this whole idea and go for a drive instead?”
“I’d love that,” she said, unable to stop smiling.
As he walked around the car to open the door for her, he flashed his biggest grin. “So would I,” he said.
No one noticed the inconsequential meeting between two high school students outside the Burger Hut. Why would they? Everyone was there to eat dinner and go home.
The following day, an emergency missing-person alert interrupted the usual cycle of weather and sports reports on the local news. A photograph of a pretty fifteen-year-old high school girl—average in height, build, and appearance, with brown hair and brown eyes—filled the screen.
Her name is Penelope Ofield. If you’ve seen her or know where she might be, please contact the Modesto Police Department.
