April, Carson and Jackson walked to school slowly, dragging their feet on the ground and talking about June.
"Hey" Carson said quietly. "Do you want to come over later, Jack? And then do you guys want to do something, after we've talked to mum. Like, I don't know, a water fight, or maybe a movie night?"
"Sure" Jackson muttered. "I could use a distraction. April?"
April didn't answer. She sighed, then froze, thinking about the last time she'd seen June.
Flashback:
"I'm gonna get you!" June shouted, refilling her water pistol. April groaned, squeezing her already soaked t-shirt. She pulled on her long blonde hair, pulling it out of the two neat plaits it was tied back into. June laughed.
"Excellent, even more hair to soak."
"June! Stop it!" April yelled, giggling as June chased her with a water pistol. June laughed again as April screamed.
"Haha! I've got you now Ape! There's no escape!"
"J! Seriously! Stop it, you're going to kill me!"
June stood above April and leaned over her, smirking. She realised her hair was coming out, and paused to unplait it and tie it into a side ponytail. She grinned.
"You should try wearing your hair like this sometime Ape, then we could match with cooler hairstyles."
She could see that April looked hesitant and smiled, helping her up.
"I'll ask your Dad for permission for you, and if he says no, we'll hide it from him. I would say ask Aunt Pheebs, but she's probably gonna go with what your father says. I wish she would stand up to him."
"You and me both." April said sadly as she fell back on the grass. June smirked again.
"You know what, I think I'm gonna get a drink before I finish you off. And after that, I'll show you how to do some new hairstyles I learnt from Mum. Also, I need to speak to Aunt Pheobe and Uncle Mick about maybe sleeping over tonigh-"
June froze, and stared into the distance. April looked at her, confused, as she stood up.
"J? J? June?! Hello? June?!"
"Shed" June muttered.
"What?! Did you seriously just say shed"
"Sorry. I just thought I saw-"
"What? What is it?! What's in the damn shed?!"
"Never mind. It's nothing. Don't worry about it Ape, k. I'll be right back. And then, I'll finish you off."
April stared at her suspiciously, then sighed.
"Well, okay then. See you in a bit."
June walked off towards the side gate, and April frowned.
"Why is she going towards the back garden? My parents should be in the kitchen, although I can't see them."
April groaned and lay down on the grass, waiting for June. She heard the sound of a door shutting, and then a few minutes later a small scream. She waited for a few minutes, then decided to get up. She sat up nervously, then heard a rustle in the bushes and lay down again, thinking it was June. She closed her eyes, preparing herself to be soaked and cold. Instead however, all April felt was fear as she heard her parents voices calling June and her's names. She lay there for over 10 minutes, feeling more scared as the seconds went on.
All of a sudden, April felt a sharp pain in her chest and started breathing heavily. Her parents ran over to her and told her to take deep breaths until she felt better. She sat up straight and looked around nervously.
"Mum? Father? Where's June?"
Her parents looked at each other and sighed. Her father whacked her mother on the arm, and her mum slowly helped her up before looking at her sadly.
"April, honey, we have some bad news. June left to go home 30 minutes ago, but she never made it there."
Present time:
"You guys!" April shouted as they walked up the school driveway. Carson and Jackson jumped, startled, and stared at her in surprise.
"What?" Carson asked. "What is it Apes?"
"Yeah, Apes, what's wrong?" Jackson asked. "You never answered our question."
April gave them a watery smile, but for the first time that day, her smile was genuinely happy.
"Sure, let's have some fun. But first, I just remembered something. Something important."