Runaways (Orphans 5)

She lingered at the door, which we kept slightly open while we waited. The girls were taking turns getting ready for bed. Megan Callaway, as usual, came out of her room with her towel. She wore her robe and went to the bathroom to shower. As soon as she closed the door, Raven nodded and the two of us slipped out and made our way to the bathroom. We listened at the door. When we heard the shower going, Raven opened the door by wedging her plastic library card between the tooth of the lock and the jamb. I had the camera in hand. Raven moved slowly, quietly and then we entered. Raven pulled back the shower curtain and I snapped the picture before Megan knew what was happening. It was a great shot, all frontal. She screamed and we were gone.

Hysterical with excitement, we returned to our room, shut the door and waited for the Polaroid to develop. The image emerged, clear and perfect. Revenge was at our fingertips. We put the camera back and then showed our prize to Crystal.

"What if it wasn't Megan who planted the cigarettes?" she wondered.

"I'm sure it was and even if it wasn't, she was somehow behind it, Crystal."

"We're all going to get into more trouble, you know," she said.

"At this point, I really don't care," I said, but Crystal looked toward Butterfly. "Don't worry, we won't involve her or you. Leave it to Raven and me." Megan Callaway had no idea what we were going to do, but we anticipated her going to Louise so we hid the picture under a bulge in our wallpaper, confident that a thorough search of our room would reveal nothing. For whatever reason, Megan didn't tell Louise anything.

The next day I put our plan into action. When we entered the dining room, I slipped into a seat beside Megan.

"That wasn't funny last night," she said.

"It wasn't meant to be," I said and then I opened my hand and she saw the picture. She turned pale as a ghost before a wave of red swept through her face. "There isn't a boy in this place who won't get to see this and don't think you can tell Louise because she'll never find it on us," I said.

She was near tears.

"You get up from here and go to Louise and tell her you planted the cigarettes to get back at Crystal or Butterfly. If you do, I'll give you the picture and no one will see it. If you don't . . ."

I looked toward Billy Edwards. Then I rose and deliberately headed in his direction. She watched in horror as I sat beside him and began a conversation, my eyes on her. I saw her take a long hard swallow and then stand up, her head down, as she made her way out of the dining room.

Quickly, to be sure she didn't turn me in with the picture, I gave it to Raven who left the dining room and hid it in the storage room. We were nearly finished with breakfast before Crystal and Butterfly appeared. Crystal wore a look that told us she and Butterfly had been excused from restrictions.

"What did you do?" she asked before sitting.

"Not much. Showed her the photo we had, told her we were going to make sure every single boy here saw it, and then promised to give it to her if she confessed."

"She did," Crystal said. "She's confined for the weekend."

"Raven gets the credit. It was all her idea," I said.

"I know how to deal with that sort of trash," she bragged.

"I'm going to the library," Crystal said. She stared at us a moment. "Thanks for helping us, but I wish . ."

"It had never happened?" I suggested. She nodded.

"I told you what I think we should do." "Let me think about it," she said.

"About what?" Butterfly asked.

I looked at Crystal and she nodded.

"About running away," I said.

"Running away!"

Raven practically leaped out of her seat to put her hand over Butterfly's mouth and told her to keep her voice down. Some of the others were looking our way and Gordon was talking to Grandma Kelly about a stove she said was malfunctioning.

"Run away?" Butterfly asked again in a lower voice when Raven took her hand from her mouth.

"Yes," Raven said. "Why not? I'm tired of doing chores, working for Gordon and Louise and pretending we're growing character and earning our keep. They're exploiting us. Crystal found out about the food, didn't she?"

"But . . no one will ever be able to adopt us again if we run away," Butterfly moaned. "And even if they could, they wouldn't want to adopt runaways."

"No one's going to be adopted from here, Butterfly, at least not one of us."