On their way to school, Derek and Chris approached Jon's front lawn, where Derek found the stone less than an hour earlier.
A girl walked towards them. She was too busy talking on her cellphone to notice the two emo boys walking in her direction. Derek heard just part of her conversation over her phone and it made him stop walking. "Jon, you must have accidentally dropped the stone somewhere. I'm telling you, there's no way anyone would have stolen it." She paused. "Jon? I'm here. I'll be right up." Then she put away her phone and entered Jon's house.
"What is it?" Chris asked, wondering why his friend stood still, looking at the house that the girl just entered.
Could it be that the stone actually belonged to someone else and it was just lost? The way Derek's life was going, though, he supposed that he should have seen this coming. Why would the stone be waiting there for him? Of course, it belonged to someone else. How could Derek be anything but unlucky?
But, this Jon guy didn't know that Derek had the stone and there was no way that he could know. Derek didn't care if the stone belonged to someone else. He found the stone, so it was his. For once, he wanted to win.
"Darklyte?" Chris asked.
"Huh?"
"What's wrong? Besides our totally fucked up lives, I mean."
"Nothing. Come on." They walked past Jon's house and to the school, which was just two blocks down the road.
Meanwhile, Karyn helped Jon look for the stone. But it was a fool's quest, since the stone was no longer there.
"Jon, it's not here. We've looked everywhere," Karyn said. "I hate to say it, but maybe you're right. Maybe someone stole it."
"But who?" Jon asked.
