Somehow, Flash found himself going home with MJ and Ned. They went to MJ's apartment, because Ned wanted to keep his family out of the loop - especially with the new information - and he was worried they'd overhear the three of them. His mom did spy sometimes. Meanwhile, MJ lived with only her oldest brother, who would be at work until dinner, and gave MJ her privacy besides.
At first, they just kind of sat there, in the living room. They had no idea where to start.
"She came over on Friday," Ned says suddenly. "It must've been after… after. She came over for a sleepover, with a bunch of snack and even more drinks. And she kind of hid her backpack in the corner. I didn't really think about it at the time… but what if she was keeping, like, a test or something in it?"
"This is Penny we're talking about," MJ retorted. "There wasn't one test, there were a dozen, I guarantee it."
"That would explain all the drinks," Ned said thoughtfully.
"She should've just pulled a Juno," Flash joked. "A gallon of Sunny D would've done the job."
Ned started giggling. Then MJ joined in, and Flash couldn't help but start laughing himself. Soon, they were all just sitting there, laughing hysterically over a very dumb Juno joke.
Ned was the one to first start crying. Then Flash found himself hiccuping, tears streaming down his face. MJ, for the first time either boy had seen, was openly sobbing. They stayed like that for a surprisingly long time, until they were both physically and emotionally drained. Once they'd finally managed to calm down, Flash turned to MJ.
"What do we do now?" He asked.
She bit her lip. "I… have no idea."
—
Penelope Parker was declared missing by her foster father after two weeks. Following the advice in her letter, MJ, Ned, and Flash all avoided Penny's former foster father as best they could. Like Penny had suspected, they were called in for questioning - at least Ned and MJ were. Flash apparently seemed far enough from the situation to not be part of the investigation.
Ned and MJ decided to stick to what they'd known when she disappeared, as they had no proof that Penny was being abused, much less sexually, or that she was truly pregnant. But they mentioned her changed behavior, and MJ managed to imply without outright stating that she suspected Skip. Regardless, this seemed to be dismissed, as the investigation into Skip only lasted 2 weeks before he was cleared as not being at fault. This made all three teenagers furious, but they had no idea what to do instead.
They also conducted their own, secret investigation, including the information that the authorities didn't have. Despite Ned's hacking skills, MJ's knowledge of people's behavior, and Flash's knowledge of Penny's behavior, they found nothing.
Ned and MJ took the letter's advice, and stuck to each other like glue. Flash dropped in and out, usually outside of school, as he stuck to his normal behavior for the most part while in school, but he stopped bullying people entirely and encouraged his friends to do the same, even getting them all to blacklist one guy who'd pantsed a freshman.
As March turned into April, they began to get more and more dejected. It seemed that Penny truly couldn't be found, and their only choice was to hope she came back or made a mistake that they could use to track her down. Ned continued monitoring any activity he thought might be useful, but nothing came up.
They had just about given up. It was already May, and both investigations had stalled. They had no leads and no idea what to do next.
Then, on May 15th, Ned woke up to someone knocking on his window