CHAPTER 3

"Your father fell unconscious and all you care about is the flipping cake?!" Andrea yelled furiously. Erin whimpered. "I'm sorry, I was just hungry." She looked towards her mom. She was clinging to her father and crying. Erin and Andrea went to console her.

"What now mom?"

Erin's mom caught her breath. "Just call an ambulance. Hurry!"

The congregation started to erupt with murmurs and whispers while all the reporters did was film every moment of the situation. Andrea gasped.

"Erin, do you know what this means?" Erin nodded. "Yup. Half of the world knows that dad..." Erin started crying. Oh my God, Andrea thought. She'd never seen Erin cry. She has always been the strong one. Seeing her like that made her feel broken inside. She tried to console her.

"It's gonna be ok Erin. Everything is going to be-"

"Ooohh cake!" Erin cut her short and made a beeline for the tres leches cake which was still on the floor. She began to stuff her face. Andrea facepalmed herself. "Erin, quit eating the floor cake!" Erin mumbled.

"What? Have you forgotten about the 50 second rule?"

"Oh you sad, sad child." Andrea looked mortified. Cake was literally controlling her like she was a marionette doll.

Meanwhile, the reporters started doing their job, which was to make matters worse.

"Mrs.Sapphire, how do you feel about this horrific event?"

"Are you going to have Andrea arrested for the poisoning of your husband?"

"Erin, how do you feel knowing that your best friend could do something so devious?"

"Andrea do you realize that you have ruined your mother's reputation by committing the unforgivable crime of murder?"

Andrea, Erin and Mrs Sapphire looked horrified.

"Murder?" Andrea whispered in fear. Erin's mom quickly confronted the reporters.

"How dare you blame Andrea for murdering my husband?!!!! She's like family! And besides,my husband was not poisoned and most importantly he is NOT dead!!!" She rushed outside with the girls behind her. She had a worried look, probably from all the crying. She calmed herself down. "Girls, go into my office and relax. I'm going to check on your father. Don't go anywhere, okay?" Erin laughed a bit. "Mom, we're 16. You're talking to us like we're six. We'll be fine." Andrea held Erin's hand in fear. She was shaking in terror. "Erin, let's just go." Erin noticed that Andrea was scared and she let out a sigh. "Alright. But mom, please make sure dad's gonna be okay." Her mother patted her head and smiled. "I will dear. If you need anything,just call me. And the fridge is loaded." She went to her car and then drove off. As Erin and Andrea were about to head towards the office, they got surrounded by reporters again.

"Ugh! Give us some space!" Erin screamed in anger and grabbed Andrea's hand. "Brace yourself for impact!"

"Wait what?!" Andrea was about to ask what she meant when Erin ran at the speed of a bullet.

"EEEEEEEEERRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIINNN!!!!!STOP!!!!" Andrea was terrified. She wasn't used to this much speed! Fortunately, they lost sight of the mob of reporters.

"Phew! That...was EPIC!!!" Erin punched the air. "It felt like I was in an action movie!" She felt so energetic. Andrea on the other hand was exhausted.

"Don't...ever...…do that to me..... AGAIN!" Andrea sighed heavily. Erin laughed. "Come on! You needed it! You were shaking like a jellyfish." Andrea puffed.

"Well it's not MY fault that I got accused of MURDER!!!" She yelled angrily. Erin placed a finger on her lips. "Shhh!" Andrea got mad.

"What?! Don't shush me! I got rea-" Before she could finish, Erin covered her mouth and hid behind a wall.

"Keep quiet and look!" She whispered and pointed. Andrea paid attention. She saw a masked man. "Who's that guy?"

"I don't know! I just started watching this when you did!"

The masked man brought out his phone and was saying something.

"Hello, boss! It's been done. James is on his way to the hospital, it's a lost cause. He'd probably be dead before he gets there. There's no way the poison could be extracted from his system." The guy said before he walked away. Andrea and Erin gasped in horror.

"He...…he poisoned your dad!!!" Andrea shrieked. Erin got streaming mad. "Well c'mon! Let's follow him! We can't lose him!" Erin was about to run off, but Andrea held her back.

"Are you nuts?! Your mom said we should stay here! Not chase a criminal. Let the cops handle it!" Erin shook her head. "He probably would have been long gone by then. The police would probably take days to find him since we have no idea who he is,where he came from and his identity. Please Andrea."

Tears were welling up in her eyes. "I have to take this risk for my dad and for your justice." Andrea sighed.

"Alright. Let's go. He couldn't have gone far." As they were about to run, Andrea paused. "Wait! How on earth are we going to confront him? He's a freaking criminal! He's probably armed." Erin stroked her chin. "Hmmm...you've got a point." She snapped her fingers.

"I've got it! For my plan to work we need to distract him first." We must not lose track of him." The masked man was close to the church entrance, so they had to be fast. Erin smiled. "Buster!" Buster, the 5 year old Saint Bernard that belonged to Erin, came running. He slobbered all over her face which made Andrea laugh.

"Ok ok ok. Buster, see that guy over there?" Andrea pointed in the direction of the masked man. Buster responded with a bark. "He's a bad guy. Teach him a lesson boy!" Buster barked to show he understood and ran off. He jumped on the man and pinned him down, barking and chewing him like a toy.

"Ow! Get off me you mutt!" Andrea noticed that the man had an American accent, she overlooked it thinking that it was of no importance.

"Andrea, make sure Buster is still keeping him busy until I get back." Erin raced into her mom's office. Andrea waited patiently, but in time it looked like the man was about to overpower Buster.

"Come on Erin…"

Andrea started to feel her heart rising to her throat.

"I'm back." Erin painted. "Phew! I've got it, the answer to all our problems." Erin smiled as she raised a microchip with a red light beeping. Andrea raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that the tracking device for your phone?" Erin smirked. "Good eye mate! Mom put it in so she'd figure out where I was if I wasn't home early. Apparently a girl can't party in peace anymore. Now we just need his phone or something." Erin whistled to Buster so he could pay attention. She showed him her phone and in a matter of seconds he came running with the man's phone.

"Run! Go!" Erin signaled and the three of them ran swiftly and hid in a corner to avoid being seen. Andrea took a peek outside the corner.

"Quick Erin he's going to see us!"

"Almost...….. Done!!" Erin smiled and gave the phone to Buster.

"Go give him back!" Buster headed towards the guy and pinned him down again. He dropped the phone on his chest and ran off to the girls.

"Stupid dog." The man muttered as he cleaned off the dog drool on his phone. He ran out of the church to avoid any further distractions, entered a black car and drove off.

"So what now?" Andrea asked as she gave Buster a belly rub for being such a smart dog.

"Now," Erin switched on the television."we track him." She connected her phone to the television. It showed the map of the United Kingdom and apparently,the location of the masked man was at the airport. Erin and Andrea looked horrified.

"He's leaving the country?!" Andrea yelled. She couldn't take it anymore. The drama was too much! "I'm calling the cops!" She was about to dial 999 but then Erin snatched the phone from her.

"Hey! What gives?!" Andrea screeched. Erin just grinned.

"We could just call the cops...…or we could just follow him!!!" Andrea looked at Erin like she had seen a ghost. Even Buster started whimpering.

"Are you crazy?! I just got a heart attack trying to get his dumb phone, now you want us to go..... Ion even know where in the world!! You must be joking. We've already outdone ourselves. We're not detectives or the FBI!" Erin just kept smiling.

"Relax. We can easily know where he's heading. I'm just gonna have to enhance the map and make it a world map." She started working on her phone like a technological geek.

"And now...… Thanks to technology, we've figured out that he's on a plane to...…" After a final click, they figured out his destination. Andrea, Erin and even Buster looked at the TV in shock.

"AMERICA????!!!" They both yelled. Erin was filled with joy.

"This is so amazing! Countless shopping and tourism awaits! Oh and also catching a criminal." She smirked. Andrea lost her balance and landed on the couch.

"You want us..... To go ALL the way...… TO AMERICA?!!" Andrea sighed and put her hand on her forehead. "I think the cake has gotten to your head. It's loaded!"

"But where in America?" Erin continued working on her phone until she finally got her answer. She squealed as she looked at her phone. "We're going to the heart and soul of America! The United States!" She kept jumping with joy while Andrea looked at her friend with horror. Was she nuts?

"We just need supplies." Erin started looking around the office. Andrea groaned. "What do you want now? We need to call your mom! And the police!"

"Aha!" Erin said with victory. "Mom's substitute credit card!"

"But that's only for emergencies!" Andrea complained.

"Uh hello? This is one of the biggest emergencies in the history of emergencies!" Erin went to the couch and pulled out suitcases from underneath. "We'll go shopping on our way to the airport. But I think it's best if we withdraw cash in case of emergencies. Also, I've already booked us early tickets. We'll be leaving in the afternoon. If we wait until tomorrow, we'd never catch him." Andrea was dumbstruck. Everything was just going too fast. She didn't even know what to say.

"You've officially gone mad! I'm not going! I'm staying right here." Erin scoffed. "Fine, your loss. I'll send you pictures of my amazing victory, while shopping and visiting tourist attractions, not to mention the beautiful artifacts that could be found in the museum. You know, that something institution you've been dying to go to." She smiled and turned to leave. Andrea groaned and lazily got up from the couch. "ALRIGHT! You've got me. I'll go." Erin grinned. She knew how much Andrea wanted to visit one of the greatest museums in the world,the Smithsonian Institution. Andrea frowned. "You used my love for knowledge against me. That's just pure blackmail. But what about Buster?" Buster wagged his tail in eagerness to follow them too. Erin stroked her chin. "If we leave him here, he might rat us out. He'll come as well." Buster barked and jumped with joy, he showed his gratitude by slobbering all over Erin's face. "Down, Buster down!" She laughed. Andrea looked at her watch. Already past 1 pm. "Erin, when's our

flight taking off?"

"Umm.....in about two hours. We need to hurry before anyone sees us." She stood up from the floor and left the office with Andrea and Buster following her. "We're officially detectives!" Erin said enthusiastically. As they left the church, a thought just hit Andrea.

"HOLD UP! Who's gonna drive us to the airport?!" Erin smiled and jingled her dad's car keys. "I AM!"

Andrea felt like she was going to faint. This was too much. First, Erin's father went unconscious, then they indirectly faced a criminal, also they're about to go overseas and NOW Erin wants to drive!!? The thought of it makes her sick. "ERIN... I'm definitely not ready to die young!!! And this isn't even your dad's car! It's Desmond's!!!"

"Relaaaax! Daddy's car keys can be used on any car! And besides,Desmond's been giving me driving lessons for a long time. I know everything there is to know about driving. Calm down grandma." Andrea frowned and led Buster into the backseat before sitting in front.

"I have a bad feeling about this." She mumbled. Erin just shrugged and started the car. "First stop.....The mall!"

MEANWHILE...

( In the hospital )

"Doctor, is he going to be alright?" Jasmine Sapphire cried to the doctor. The doctor sighed before explaining everything to her. "I'm afraid your husband has truly been poisoned. But there's good news. The poison was one that enables the body to die slowly, a slow death poison. He probably just choked on the cake which made him unconscious because he was weak from the poisoning. If he didn't choke on the cake, he wouldn't have come here and the poison wouldn't have been discovered and by the time you do discover it...…it might have been too late. We can easily remove the poison now since it was discovered early and it hasn't really spread around his body. Congratulations ma'am. Your husband was really lucky." Jasmine was filled with joy as she put on a broad smile.

"That's...AMAZING!!!!!!" She shook the doctor's hand with excitement. "Thank you! Thank you so much!" The doctor smiled. "You're welcome ma'am. I'm just doing my job. Oh and by the way, who poisoned him? Do you know yet?" Jasmine just sighed as her thoughts went to Andrea. "Umm… no. Not yet. But we're still on the case." She gave a faint smile and then excused herself.

"Poor Andrea. She must be traumatized. Being accused of murder… pfft! Preposterous!" She tried calling her, but she didn't answer. "Huh... that's strange. Andrea always answers my calls." She tried again. And again. And again. But to no avail. She called Erin, but she didn't pick up. TECHNICALLY not a surprise, Jasmine thought, but she felt like something was wrong. Quickly, she called Desmond.

"Desmond, I need you to please pick me up from the hospital. The girls aren't picking my calls and I'm worried."

"Uhh…..about that… I can't come. My car's gone." Desmond said nervously.

"WHAT? What do you mean gone?!"

"I parked in front of the church, also ,Andrea and Erin aren't here either. Dunno where they've gone. Even Buster's gone." Panic started to rise in Jasmine's chest as she felt claustrophobic. Where could those girls be now?! Could it be that they've been kidnapped? Or did Erin do something irrational? This was too much drama for a day!