Vanished by E. E. Cooper Page B

know?”
    Her shoulders went up in a halfhearted shrug.
    I wanted to hurl the stapler at her in frustration. I forced myself to swallow and calm down. Britney couldn’t be pushed. “Okay, fair enough. If she swore you to secrecy,I get it. I’m not asking you to break any promises to her. You would never break your word to a friend, I know that.”
    Brit met my gaze. “I would never screw a friend.” Her voice was clipped. “And unlike Beth, I can keep a secret.”
    I winced. I’d just made things worse. “I swear, she only told me about your college applications because she wanted to come up with some way to make you feel better. She wanted you to have enough support.” That was true.
    â€œYou have no idea why Beth does anything. No one does.”
    Whoa. Apparently we’d both felt burned.
    I tried a different tact. “How about if I guess where Beth went. Will you at least tell me if I’m on the right track?” I yanked out the list I’d made in study hall when I should have been cramming for my chem quiz. I’d approached the list the way my dad would. He was a total engineer. He’d taught me every problem can be solved if you work through it systematically.
    â€œPeople are saying that Beth ran off to Europe, but I’m pretty sure she didn’t have a passport. So I don’t think she’s there,” I said.
    Britney gave the barest of nods. I felt a rush of relief. One option crossed off the list.
    â€œI don’t think she’s in town. If she were still here there’s no way that could stay a secret. Someone would have seen her by now. It’s not like she’d be hiding in someone’s basement. She’d have to come out sometime.” I realized that myfoot was bouncing and made it stop.
    â€œIt would be hard,” Britney admitted, but she didn’t say anything else. I crossed it off my list.
    I pressed forward with my theory. “I think she’s still in Michigan somewhere. I know everyone likes the idea that she’s run off to L.A. or New York, but I don’t think she’d go there. She doesn’t know anyone in those cities. I can’t imagine that she plans to stay away forever. She never talked about wanting to get into modeling or acting.”
    Britney snorted. “Is that Alicia who keeps telling everyone Beth’s going to be a model? Please. Beth is pretty, but she’s not model material. Alicia’s deranged.”
    An image of Beth flashed in my head. She wasn’t pretty; she was beautiful. I forced myself to stop thinking about her gorgeous eyes and the shape of her hands, and the scent and feel of her hair. I’d end up falling apart right there in Brit’s kitchen if I let myself linger on these thoughts.
    Of course Brit had taken the idea of Beth modeling as a personal comparison. Brit had done some modeling at our local mall and sometimes mentioned that she’d considered moving to New York and signing with an agency, but she hadn’t wanted to leave Jason and all their future plans behind. We knew she was bullshitting, but we never called her on it.
    Whatever. The important thing was neither Britney nor I thought Beth was trying to work a runway somewhere. I crossed it off.
    I looked down at my sheet of paper. There was one moreoption, and I had to ask. I forced myself to look at Brit, who was flicking through pages in her Vogue as if skimming for answers there. “Do you think Beth left because she was having some kind of relationship trouble?” I asked, trying to stay vague.
    Britney’s head snapped up from the magazine. “What do you mean?” I didn’t answer. Her lips twitched. “Everyone knows Beth doesn’t do relationships. She hates the mere idea of commitment.”
    I forced my voice to sound casual. “I don’t know; it just seemed like lately she was different. Like maybe she was falling in