Runaways (Orphans 5)

"We can't take chances," Crystal said.

"Some chance, helping someone. Stop for her, Brooke," she pleaded. "We could use the change in company," she added, throwing a look back at Crystal.

"I don't mind," Butterfly said. "It could be fun."

As we drew closer, we could see that the hitchhiker was a young woman, maybe seventeen, eighteen years old. She wore a short skirt the color of light tea, shoe boots with no socks and a tie-dyed tank top. A lime green and white bandanna was wrapped around her peach and blue colored hair and her forehead. The faded brown suitcase upon which she had been sitting looked like it had been tossed out of a speeding train. It was cracked and battered so badly, some of her clothing was actually leaking out. She had tied a rope around it to keep it shut.

"All right. She does look pretty pathetic," I said and stopped.

She wore only one earring that looked like a thin string of leather with a blue marble on the end. Her small framed, dark blue sunglasses hid her eyes. She wore no makeup, but it looked like she had a patch of tiny, blue dots on her left cheek.

The tank top was snug and revealed she was braless, despite her full bosom. She had lean arms with a tattoo of what looked like a sunflower bursting open on her left forearm. Her right hand was covered with metal rings, none looking very expensive. Despite the tattoo, the dots, the strange clothes and appearance, she was a pretty girl. Her nose was perfect and her lips were full and straight with just a tiny dip in the left. corner. When she spoke, a dimple flashed on and off in her right cheek.

"Thanks for stopping," she said breathlessly. "I didn't expect to see anyone on this road for days. Where should I throw this?" she asked, indicating her suitcase.

For a long moment, the four of us just gaped at her.

"Well, are you giving me a ride or not?"

"Oh, open the back door for it," I said and got out. I flipped open the rear door and she put the suitcase in quickly.

"You can sit up front," Raven called out the window and she went around and got in when Raven moved over. I started the engine and drove on.

"Thanks guys," she said, smiling back at Crystal and Butterfly, who continued to stare at her as if she were an extraterrestrial.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"Anywhere but here. How about you?"

I glanced at Crystal in the rearview mirror. She shook her head slightly.

"To my friend's house in Ohio," I said.

"Great. I'll go to Ohio," she said. The way she

said it, I thought she would agree to go to Alaska if we said we were heading that way.

"What's your name?" Raven asked. She was the most taken with her.

"Sunshine. What's yours?"

"Sunshine?" Raven hesitated as if her own name wouldn't match up in value. "Urn, I'm Raven. This is Brooke," she said nodding at me. "Crystal and Butterfly," Raven said nodding at each.

"Butterfly? Great name. I had a friend who named her daughter Beetle Bug because she was born with these dark eyes so close together she looked like a little bug in the blanket."

"Butterfly is just a nickname," I said. "Her real name is Janet. What's your real name?"

"I told you, Sunshine. I have no other name," she insisted.

"How come you were hitchhiking?" Raven asked.

"Because my darling boyfriend, Sky, left me out there. We broke up."

"Sky?" I said with a smile.

"In his case he had another name, Ormand Boreman. It was on his driver's license. It should be Ormand Boring instead."

"He just left you there?" Crystal asked. Sunshine turned and smiled at her.