CHAPTER FIVE

The fifth chapter

5  

I was celebrating my 16th birthday with Danny, Olive, and . . . ugh, Lizzy at the roller-skating rink. Thinking back to this memory made my nose wrinkle. We were all really good skaters, we could skate forwards, backward, and in circles, we could even bounce skate (It’s not that hard, it’s just bouncing and moving your skates to the beat of the music). Bounce skating in a line was always our thing. The music was so loud inside the skating rink, I couldn’t even hear my phone ring. I went into the bathroom with Olive to check our makeup and talk about cute boys we saw skating. I looked down at my phone and an unknown number had called me. They left a voicemail. It was a man, a voice I’ve never heard before. I could barely hear what he was saying, the music was still too loud in the bathroom for me to hear.  

“If this is Pheonix Ride Parker, please call me back ASAP at this number. 706-555-6575. It’s urgent.”  

Olive looked over at me from the mirror, "What, who is it?”   

“No clue, ‘s some guy, saying it’s urgent and for me to call him back immediately. Should I take it?”  

She shrugged and went back to fixing her makeup. “It’s your birthday boo, you choose.”  

I was hesitant to call him back. I had no idea who it was, and I thought to myself Who is this man, what does he want with me? And how did he get my number and my MIDDLE NAME??