The next book club day, Molly and Tyra were the first ones to arrive. They were just catching up on their respective school assignments, when they heard the door and Simon walked in.

  “Hey hey” he said to them as he took his seat. The three friends sat there a little bit longer, Tyra had now moved to scrolling through her socials, Molly was marking things in the book with a highlighter, while Simon sat patiently, waiting for the last member of book club to arrive....only for him not to. Molly, being the leader of book club, was the first to break her silence.

  “I guess he had a game again today and forgot to tell us” she said, standing up, and walking to the centre of the room.

  “Typical” Tyra said, putting her phone away and pulling out her copy of the book.

  “Sportspeople can be like that, I've learned” Simon mentioned a she opened up his copy.

  “Okay, so today's...” she trailed off into what she had planned for today's meeting.

  The three friends spent their time doing the activities Molly had planned for this meeting, talking about the book's themes and ideas, normal book club things. The meeting finished at the usual time, and they were ready for their book club frappes once again.

  “Dash isn't even responding to the group chat” Molly stated, looking down at her phone, as they walked down the street.

  “Leave it, girl” Tyra told her best friend, knowing how concerned she could get.

  “She's right,” Simon agreed, “We all know what he's like when he's in match mode, even if we don't go watch them”

  “True” Molly said bluntly, shoving her phone in her pocket.

  Her friends were right, Dash may not have been your stereotypical jock, but he was a sportsperson. Game mode, match mode, he was on his A-Game at all times, focused on football thoughts and football thoughts only, nothing else mattered except winning that game. Any conversations were football-focused no matter what, that's if you even had any conversations with him during that time at all. There was even that time when they were reading this other book that had a version of sport in it that had nothing to do with the plot, but because he had a big game on, Dash hyper-focused on that part of the book so much, Molly had to call off meetings about that book until Dash had had his game. So there was probably nothing to worry about, and hopefully Dash wins whatever game he has.

  “Did you hear they have a new frappe out?” Simon asked her, cracking her out of her thinking bubble.

  “Oh, yeah,” Molly replied, “Something Strawberry Blitz, can't wait to try it, strawberries are my favourite kind of...”

  Their conversation trailed off as Tyra walked behind them, doing what the majority of popular girls do, checking her socials while she was walking, but as they passed the alleyway, she thought she heard something coming from that direction, which caused her to stop and look up, towards it. There was definitely noises coming from the alleyway. She raised her eyebrow at it, and opened her camera app, starting to walk down it. Pressing record on her phone, she began squinting down the alleyway as she walked.

  “Hello?” she called, “Is there anyone down there?”

  She kept walking and recording, but what she didn't notice was that the more she walked down this alleyway, the more foggy it became, and the more it turned into a forest rather than an alleyway. That's when she noticed it on her phone. There were trees and shrubbery down this alleyway. Tyra decided it was enough looking, and turned to go back, keeping her phone out, and instantly noticed how far down she was. So far down, she couldn't see the street amongst the trees. At that moment, she heard the voices she heard earlier, but a little closer this time and spun around, holding her phone up directly to the mist.

  “Hello?!” she shouted once again, “Is there anybody here?! If there is, I'm recording so this will be all over my social media!”

  With that remark, the voices got closer to her and her phone screen started show static before ultimately dying. She gave it a tap, tried to turn it back on, but to no avail. That was odd, her camera app never drained the battery that fast. The voices got even closer now, and this concerned her. No idea how to find the street, no way to get in contact with the others or use something for directions. And, in a flash, that's when she saw it. She didn't believe it, but she saw it. There was no time for Tyra to explain it away logically. Only time to scream.

  The next book club meeting, Molly rushed in frantically, never been this worried in her life.

  “Guys, have-” but something cut her off.

  Simon was the only one in the room amongst a haul of empty seats. He had his head deep in the book, until he looked up when hearing her.

  “Are you the first one here?” she asked him.

  “I don't think so,” Simon answered, pulling out his phone and looking at it, “Dash hasn't responded to you yet”

  Molly's eyes widened at that statement and she pulled out her phone aswell, checking the group chat. He was right. Dash had not replied to her message since they thought he had a game on.

  “That's odd, even for him” she said.

  “What were you so frantic about when you came in?” Simon asked her.

  “Oh!” Molly gasped, “Tyra!”

  “What about her?”

  “She didn't come home after our last meeting,” Molly told him, “And hasn't been home since. No one has heard from her since then, either, not her parents, not me, not her clique. Even her followers haven't”

  “Well, I doubt they would” Simon said all matter-of-factly.

  “No, you don't get it,” Molly kept explaining, “She goes live for them weekly, and nothing. No lives, no posts, nothing”

  “That is strange” Simon stated.

  “I'm really worried about her, Simon, at the very least she should be contacting me. I mean, I'm her best friend. And we should be concerned about Dash too”

  “Well, let's start with him,” Simon stated, calmly, getting up off his chair and heading over to the computer they had in the room, “He should be easy to find. We just find out what game was on back then, if they won or lost, and get in contact with the coach or his teammates”

  “Yeah...,” Molly trailed, “And then Tyra”

  “Yeah, exactly,” Simon replied as he sat at the computer and started typing, “I'm sure she's fine, maybe just needed a breather. She is very popular”

  “I know...” Molly said.

  She just wished Tyra could have told her that, instead of going no-contact. Isn't that what best friends were for, no matter how opposite to each other they were? Sharing everything that's going on in their lives. Sharing with each other the stuff you're afraid to tell anyone else. I mean, she told Tyra everything about all her life she never told her parents or other friends. The fear that this book played on was the only secret she was keeping from her.

  “Uh...” Simon trailed, cutting off her thoughts once again.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  “Remember how we thought Dash had a game that day?” he asked her.

  “Yeah, we all just assumed he'd gone into one of his hyper-focused moods and forgot about book club” Molly recalled.

  “Except there was none” Simon stated sternly.

  “Come again?” she asked him.

  “There was no game that day, look” Simon repeated himself, pointing at the screen.

  Molly looked at the screen, leaning in, he was right. The website Simon was on to search for any games Dash might have had was the local town's sports page. Being such a small town, all of it's sports games are posted up on this site, big or small. And especially big ones. As she quietly scanned through the page with her eyes, she realised Simon was right. That day Dash didn't come to book club, there was no game. Nor was there one the day after. Or any subsequent days after.

  “Then where is he?” she asked.

  “It looks like we're not the only ones who want to know, look” Simon told her, pointing to the screen again.

  Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

  Molly noticed he'd scrolled down further and opened the small forum-type chatbox on the site that seemed to be specifically for the sports teams. There was news on the netball championships, openings for the hockey team, news about the next soccer game, and then they caught her attention. What Simon was pointing at. There was a slew of threads about Dash. And where he was.

  “Have you seen Dash?”

  “Did Dash quit the team?”

  “Football team chaos: Missing Quarterback”

  “What happened to Dash?”

  And then she saw it.

  “Dash bailed on me, why?”

  “Open that one,” Molly told Simon, pointing at it, “It's not like Dash at all to bail on plans to do with his team”

  Simon clicked on it, and began reading the post out loud.

  “Does anyone know why Dash bailed on me? We had plans to talk about our upcoming teamwork take down strategy against the big city's football team over frappes, but he didn't come and has been ghosting me since. Isn't he supposed to be the chill guy on the team, why would he do this?” Simon read, “And then all the comments are just agreeing with them about the fact it's totally unlike Dash to do that”

  “Book club's unlike Dash to these guys, I doubt they knew he came” Molly added.

  “Look when it was posted,” Simon noticed, “Not long after that book club meeting he didn't come to”

  “So he wasn't planning to come have frappes with us that day, but instead with this...AlanRInTheField person...” she noted.

  “Maybe we should talk to him” Simon suggested.

  Molly was deep in her thoughts once again, staring at her phone. Wondering if Tyra had other plans with other people aswell, and that's why she's gone ghost too. She thought she knew her best friend, but she was starting to question whether she actually did.

  Simon waved a hand in front of her.

  “Molly?”

  “Huh?” she shook her head, “Sorry”

  “I said, we should talk to AlanRInTheField, find out how regular Dash is in contact with his teammates” Simon reminded her.

  “Yeah...,” she said, “Good idea”

  The two friends arrived at a green building they were both unfamiliar with. As much as Dash attended book club, and the four of them considered each other friends, they weren't really friends at school or in their 'real life' away from book club, they never came to watch his games in person, just watched it online or read the scores on the site or in the newspaper, so they knew whether to congratulate him, or cheer him up. They noticed an older woman with short sandy blonde hair on the field, she was cleaning up the cones that were on it. She was wearing a full blue tracksuit and had a whistle around her neck.

  “Excuse me?” Simon asked, a little nervously.

  The woman turned to look at them as she picked up the last cone.

  “Hm?” she asked in a gruff voice, “Sorry, kiddos, practice is over. Just picked the quarterback about ten minutes ago”

  “Oh! I'm, we're not-” Simon fumbled.

  “Did you say quarterback?” Molly cut him off, noting what the woman had just said.

  “Yeah,” the woman replied, “Had to pick a new one since the last one supposedly quit”

  Simon and Molly eyed each other at this. Dash would never quit his sports.

  “By last one, do you mean Dash Holloway?” she asked the woman.

  “That's the one,” the woman replied, “You two know of him?”

  “We're friends, of a sort” Simon managed to tell her.

  After that comment, the woman had offered them to come inside the building, which was the football club's stomping grounds. She introduced herself as Coach Sylvie Goodsdale.

  “So, you're the coach he kept going on about how good of a trainer they were” Molly recalled.

  “Ah, he flatters me,” Sylvie said, waving a hand, then getting serious, “If you're friends of his, you must know what's wrong with him, right? He's completely ghosted the team, missed the game the other day and every practice since”

  Molly and Simon gave each other another look before Simon spoke up.

  “Actually, no,” he said, “he's ghosted us aswell. That's why we're here, we were hoping we could find out why”

  “We read on the website's forum he was supposed to meet up with a user called AlanRInTheField a little after he didn't turn up for our usual hangout” Molly added.

  She figured she'd keep Dash's little book club secret to themselves, out of respect for him. Wherever he is.

  “Ah, yes, Alan Richardson,” Coach Sylvie replied, “My other star player. You see, when we have a big game like the one coming up against the city, I like to be prepared and keep my team on their toes, make sure they're the best of the best for the day, y'know? With players like Dash and Alan, gotta do that. I came up with a good formation for them to use in the game that the other team wouldn't see coming. Had 'em practice it every session, and organise to meet up with each other off the field bi-weekly to make sure they had it downpat and so they could work out their own niches to it.”

  Molly got into her thoughts once again, this information was news to her. This meant book club would have been down one person every second week, and she'd have had to rework some of her lessons, staring at her phone, she thought about Tyra. Did she have something like this organised too, and was too afraid to tell her because she knew how much book club meant to Molly? Then Simon's question brought her back.

  “Was Alan at practice today?” he asked the coach.

  “Sure was,” Coach Sylvie responded, “Poor kid, even though he'd practised what he did with Dash, still prepared to keep practising with a new member. In fact, he should be in the canteen right about now, his parents don't pick him up for another twenty minutes”

  Alan Richardson was sitting on a sofa in the football team's canteen, eating a protein bar he'd just gotten from the vending machine, waiting for his parents to pick him up. He had ruffled brown hair, a tall strong build, and was wearing a bomber jacket. He sat there, chewing. Thinking about Dash. And how he just quit on him and has made him have to redo everything they did with some new guy. Just then, a voice broke him out of his thoughts.

  “Alan?” Simon asked him, as he and Molly entered the canteen.

  “Huh?” Alan questioned, turning to look in their direction, “Who are you?”

  “We're friends of Dash's,” Molly explained, as they both walked up to him.

  Alan looked the two of them up and down, and scrunched up his face.

  “Don't look it” he said to them.

  “Friends of the family,” Simon lied, “We're worried about him”

  “Join the list” Alan told him as he took a bite of his bar, looking away.

  “The coach was just telling us you guys had a special formation for the upcoming game,” Molly said, taking the reins a little bit, “And you were going to meet with him just before he...left”

  She didn't know how to phrase that last sentence. Because even though Dash had ghosted them, he'd also just vanished. He didn't just “leave”. It was like he disappeared off the face of the planet.

  “Yeah...,” Alan trailed off, then continued, “It's a good formation, too. Coach Sylvie really put her heart into it. Dash loved it to bits, and was so excited to do it in the game in front of a massive crowd”

  “Did he reach out to you before that day?” Molly asked him.

  “That day exactly,” Alan told them, “That morning. I texted him if he was still a go for our frappes and formation talk and he was all set. Then nothing. I thought he might have forgotten so I tried to do it for the day after, and nothing. Been trying to reach him since, and nothing still, so the coach has replaced him and having me do the formation with this new kid”

  So, if Alan heard from Dash in the morning, that means book club were the last to see him that day. And neither of them clicked onto anything until now.

  “It's like Evan and Harry, but to me...” Alan trailed off.

  “I'm sorry, what?” Simon asked.

  “Evan and...Harry?” Molly asked, “Who are they?”

  “You can't be serious you don't know the story,” Alan said with disgusted shock, but gave a sigh and began telling them, “They were members of the hockey team. Close as. Best buds, tight as a rope on a garbage bag. Did everything together, inside and outside of the team. But then one day, the day of the team's biggest game in the history of town, Harry planned a big celebratory party for him at the coffee shop because it fell on his birthday. Like a pump up pre-celebration combined with his birthday party type of thing. But after the celebration, Evan completely disappeared. They looked everywhere, searched the whole street, the park, even down past that alleyway that's close to the shops that no one seems to care about, and for months”

  “What happened to him?” Simon queried.

  Alan just shrugged his shoulders, “No one knows. Everyone moved on, his friends, his family, the team, Harry quit the team and moved overseas because of the depression his disappearance gave him, so the story goes. But like, that's not exactly us, is it? 'Cause we never even got to have our frappes”

  At that, they heard a honk of a car horn, and saw a car pull up. Alan told them it was his parents and just shrugged them off with a wave as he headed outside. Molly and Simon eyed each other at the knowledge of the story. Dash and Alan may not have got to have their frappes, so Alan thinks Dash was never down that street. But that street is the last time the two of them had seen Dash. This got Molly wondering about Tyra, because that's also the last time she remembers seeing her.

  “Did you see Tyra after she skipped our frappes that time?” Simon asked the question that was on his own mind.

  “No...,” Molly replied, then noticed he was motioning his hand in front of her, as if to give him something, “What?”

  “Give me your phone” he said.

  “Why?” Molly asked.

  “She has social media, right?” Simon said as he pulled out his own phone.

  Molly simply nodded as she handed him her phone. He went to Molly's own social media, and her friends list on one, looking for Tyra's username. Once he found it, he clicked on it and typed it into his own phone, giving Molly hers back. What he saw on Tyra's social media surprised him. 15,000 followers, over 800 videos, and she looked completely different in each one. If coming here was considered stepping into Dash's outside life, then him looking at this was him stepping into hers. Molly watched him in concern as he fiddled with his phone, taking a seat.

  “What are you doing?” she asked him, “You can see she hasn't posted for ages”

  “That's not what I'm looking at,” Simon told her, “I have an app that can integrate with any app, and let me into any person's profile on it as if I were them”

  “As in hacking?” She may not have been as technologically savvy as Simon, but she knew what hacking was, “Are you hacking into Tyra's social?! That's an invasion of her privacy!”

  “You want to know where she is, right?” Simon asked her.

  Molly wasn't denying that, so she went quiet. She was just concerned what they might find out that she didn't know if they did that. If there was stuff her supposed best friend hadn't told her. The idea of that scared her. She sat there in her thoughts as Simon fiddled with his phone, daydreaming as she sat back, looking up at the ceiling. Eventually, Simon gave an annoyed grunt that snapped he rout of her daydream.

  “What is it?” she asked him.

  “I can't get in,” Simon told her, “There's blocks and firewalls galore, my app's useless”

  “That makes sense,” Molly said, she knew her best friend well, supposedly, “She did always say she never wanted anyone to get into her socials and impersonate her for money or scams to her followers. She must have got someone from school to set it up for her”

  “Well, why didn't she ask me to do it?!” Simon asked, shoving his own in his pocket, feeling a little offended.

  Molly raised her eyebrows at him, as if to say “really?”.

  “Of course,” Simon understood, “In case I ever tried to do this. Book club really got us all knowing each other well, huh?”

  Or so they thought, Molly said to herself. Because what if Tyra was hiding something? Even from her? Keeping secrets from her best friend. That's not what best friends do. Simon walked over to the vending machine and got himself a snack to calm down, he knew Molly was in her head, and he figured he'd let her have this one, especially since it involved a lot of feelings about Tyra. He sat down next to her, thinking about the two friends he never would have made friends with if Molly hadn't of started up book club. And that's when they heard it. Molly's phone was ringing, interrupting their respective thoughts. Molly got it out of her pocket, and looked at the caller.

  “It's Tyra's mum” she said, looking at Simon.

  Finally, looking at this call, she had some hope, she smiled for the first time since Tyra had ghosted her. This call gave her hope, and pushed her doubts of their friendship to the back of her mind.