The Failure and the Runaway

Chapter Five

The first night away, we weren't very far from home. It was late by the time we left, so once it was dark out we pulled into the parking lot of a beaten down grocery store that wasn't in business anymore.

"I'm so looking forward to countless nights of sleeping in the car." Alec said sarcastically as he pulled two pillows out of his suitcase.

"Well I'm actually looking forward to sleeping in..no more school for us!" I said excitedly. Alec smiled and nodded in agreement. "Now, I've got something fun for us to do." I said with a smirk, reaching into my bag.

"That's never actually something fun." Alec teased, rolling his eyes.

"No, no. It really is this time! Promise." I pulled out four cans of spray paint.

"Okay, vandalizing stuff is a sure way to get sent back home before we even get out of this shithole." Alec said.

"Well then I guess it's a good thing we aren't vandalizing anything." I smiled. He gave me a confused look. "We're painting your car."

"We're what?" Alec gasped. "No we're not!"

"Yes we are." I giggled. "We're starting a whole new life. We need a change! And we wouldn't want anyone recognizing your car."

"We are not painting my car." He stated, stubbornly.

"Come on, it'll be fun! And I'm being serious, we need to disguise your car."

"I don't think I have much of a choice here." Alec sighed.

"Nope! You don't." I smiled. "But I'll let you pick the color. Purple or red?" I asked as I held up one of each.

"Red." He said, taking the can from me.

"Aw. I wanted purple." I pouted.

"Don't even try. It's my car."

We put a few flash lights around the car so we could see, and got to work on painting over Alec's white jeep.

"See? I told you this would be fun!"

"Shut up or I'll spray you." He laughed.

I proudly looked at our masterpiece of a paint job. I loved it. Alec, not so much. I think he wanted to kill me. It was beautiful. Exactly one half of the car, my half, was purple, and the other red, a real work of art.

"Carson!" He yelled, clenching his fists. "We agreed on red. What did you do to my car?!"

"Shh, we don't want people to hear us! And you agreed on red, I agreed on purple. It looks cool! Plus, I think I did us a favor. Nobody's going to expect us to be driving some half red, half purple car. They'll never find us. I'm like some kind of genius."

He stormed away from me, taking a few minutes to cool off. I laughed, knowing that he wouldn't stay mad, or go home either. If he went home, he'd have to explain to everyone why he had a half red, half purple car. That's probably worse than spending a very long, undecided amount of time with me. Alec was annoyed, but I was already having the time of my life. Running way was going to be the best thing that ever happened to me.