10) Unkown Caller -ALEX-

     Jake was gone. Poor Bethanny. I felt bad for her, but right then we had something really important to show Beth, so I broke the silence.
     "Uh...we found this." I handed Bethanny a note that had neatly written on it 1111.
     "What could it mean?"
     "I don't really know. Maybe it's an address or something."
     "With only numbers?" Toby did make a point.
     "Well for tonight I give up. Can I stay the night?" I asked Bethanny, which even though we stay at each others' house all the time, seemed to be asking a lot.
     "Yeah."
     "Well I 'm going to go home then."
     "Here we'll walk with you."
     "No, no it's OK. I'll just go.It's getting late anyway."
     "Toby, we insist. Now let's go."

     Toby's house is in the same neighborhood as mine which is about a 15 minute walk from Bethanny's . I looked at my phone and it read 11:00. We were going to be cutting it close with Bethanny's 11:30 curfew. I turned to look at her. She was just texting away.
     "Hey, it's 11 o'clock. Just to let you know."
     "Uh-huh thanks, I definitely can't break curfew tonight, since my mom lifted my grounding today."
     "Yeah that would definitely be a fail if you did."
     "Shut up Toby!" We all laughed.  I could see our street coming up.
     "Who are you texting?" I asked her.
     "Nobody." she said hiding her phone from view.
     "Okay then, won't ask." I turned back to Toby.
     "It's totally Jake. She's gonna miss him so much." I whispered to him so Beth couldn't hear.
     "You wanna bet?" He smiled at me, "Watch this." He stopped walking.
     "Hey Bethanny, can I use your phone to call my mom. Mine got a little wet."
     "Oh yeah, sure." Beth gave Toby her phone. Sometimes she could be so careless. Toby opened up her Inbox. It was nearly full, and all the texts were from the same person. Not Jake though.
     "Who's Dalten? Toby and I asked together, and Beth's face got beat red. No way she could hide this secret.
     "A friend. Now keep walking. I cannot be late!" She said and walked ahead of us. We walked in silence for awhile before anyone said anything else.
     "We need to learn how to drive." Toby said.
     "No kidding." Beth said from in-front.            "Hey, 16 next month though!" she turned around to face us and walked backwards. I found it a little surprising that Beth knew his birthday and I didn't.
     "When is your birthday?" I asked him.
     "August 2nd."
     "Now I know when to sing 'Happy Birthday' loud and obnoxiously!"
     "Yeah Alex is the best at that! One time.." she said, but then her phone started to ring. I looked at my own phone to see it was 11:11 exactly.
     "Weird who's calling me at this time of night" Bethanny stopped walking and then kept a pace behind Toby and me. 
     "Hello?" The next sound I heard was a thud of something hitting the ground. We turned to see Bethanny with her jaw-dropped. Her phone was on the pavement. She picked it up like it was something that would sting her.
     "Beth I think you need to hold the phone to your ear to hear the other person talk." Toby said over his shoulder.
     "It's Ashlee." was all she said. I ran over and grabbed the phone out of her hand.
     "Hello, Alex, Bethanny, Toby, Hello?" Yes. It was Ashlee's voice. Suddenly I was flooded with relief.
     "Ashlee!?! Where are you?"
     "Alex? Put me on speaker phone, I need to talk to all of you." I was so anxious to hear what she had to say, I hit about every other button except speaker. 
     "Ok go ahead." You could tell she didn't know how to begin. Silence.
     "Ok, now don't ask any questions. i don't have a lot of time... I ran away with Gabe because I think I love him. I am not coming back for now. And well to be honest... all of you have changed. Now don't go to my  parents, considering I already told them." She started to cry, which from Ashlee I have never heard.
     "And...and I just can't live in that stupid town any longer!"
     "Ashl-" Bethanny started.
     "NO I'M NOT COMING BACK! SO.. SO DON'T TRY AND TALK ME OUT OF IT. OK?" The call ended. Toby took off fast walking.    
     "Toby!Wait." He was already a good distance away from me so I began to run. When I finally caught up he stopped. His face, from the little light given from the moon, looked hurt.
      "How could she do this?TO YOU AND BETHANNY? TO ME?" He was getting upset. 
     "Toby, you know this isn't true. She' s just mad." My words seemed to do little to diffuse his anger.
     "IT'S NOT FAIR! DON'T YOU SEE IT ALEX? SHE IS DOING THIS BECAUSE ASHLEE KNOWS THAT IF SHE'S GONE WE'LL WORRY AND THEN ....THEN SHE'LL GET WHAT SHE WANTED... ATTENTION. SHE IS SO SELFISH!"Toby kicked over a trash can. I didn't think he was like this.
     "Toby." He had begun to walk again. I grabbed his arm.
     "Stop listen to me. I'm sorry. She's been so horrible to you and I just let it happen." I didn't know what else to do so I hugged him. His clothes were still a little damp from falling in the water. He pulled back to look at me.
     "Alex you shouldn't be sorry. I'm the one who let it happen not you." Oh good he wasn't mad anymore. Then something unexpected happened.