Runaways (Orphans 5)

"No. It's a joint," Sunshine replied with a smile. She offered it to Crystal, who shook her head and then to Butterfly, who stared with big, frightened eyes.

"She doesn't want any." Crystal spoke for Butterfly.

"None of us do," Raven said. "That stuff is nothing but trouble."

"With a capital T!" Crystal and I chimed in, laughing nervously.

"It's all right. One puff can't hurt," Sunshine said, taking a long drag. "It never hurts, that's the point." She leaned to me and I shook my head. The sweet smell filled the car. Crystal coughed.

"Throw it out," she demanded.

Sunshine looked at me.

"Please," I said. I didn't want to have to stop the car and kick her out, but I knew we'd have to if she kept this up.

"What a waste," she muttered, took another long drag and then threw the joint out the window.

"You could start a fire in a field," Crystal complained looking back.

"Who are you, the national leader of the Girl Scouts?" Sunshine asked.

Raven gave her a dirty look and Sunshine changed the subject.

"So what were you all doing back east?" Sunshine asked.

"Going to school, a private school," Crystal said quickly, maybe a little too quickly.

Sunshine looked at Raven and then back at Crystal. She raised her eyebrows and slowly took off her sunglasses and gazed at Butterfly, who quickly looked down.

"Something tells me you're not telling the truth. Am I right?" she followed. No one spoke. "What, are you all running away or something?"

"No," I said. "We're going to Crystal's home in Ohio. We've been invited."

"Really?" She looked back and then smiled. "Pack light, do you? All I see are some pillowcases. I know this isn't some kind of pajama party. You guys are on the run. You don't have to tell me. I know enough about people on the run."

"I told you not to pick her up," Crystal complained.

"Relax," Sunshine said. "I'm the last person you have to worry about. I've been running away for years."

She sat back with a laugh.

Despite Crystal's reluctance to let Sunshine continue on with us, we couldn't help but be interested and intrigued with our new acquaintance. She described her travels, the places she had been in America, hitchhiking, developing relationships with men who took her along on their own journeys and then either deserted her or did something to cause her to want to desert them.

"I was nearly murdered in Texas," she said. None of us even breathed for fear of interrupting her. "I met this trucker at a rest stop . . . best places to pick up rides," she inserted. "Even the ones who have No Riders Permitted stickers on their windows take you along if you ask them nicely, know what I mean?"

"No," Crystal said with her eyes narrow and her lips tight. "What do you mean?"

"Well, Pollyanna, it's like this," she said infuriating Crystal more.

"My name is not Pollyanna."

"Whatever. You show them some skin, flirt, fill their mind with fantasies," she explained.

"Then what happens?" I asked.

"Depends. If you really like the guy, you pay up. If not, there are ways to worm your way out. Only this time in Texas, Roy was not taking no for an answer. He put a knife this long to my throat," she said, holding her hands apart. Raven gasped.

"What happened?" Butterfly asked. Sunshine glanced at her.