Punks

Four

"Um... I've got $27 in my room." Jimi replied. They looked at Matt, who was still on the ground, signaling him.
"Uhm.... Well I've got about seven bucks in my bag." He said, sitting up, reaching for his bag.
"Shit. I've got $48. It's gonna take a lot of gas to get there. Florida to Cali is a long ways. Plus food. Alright. Well first, let's get him inside, past Mom. We'll have to hide him here for a bit."
Jimi helped up Matt, and they snuck through the back door to their room. They didn't hear anything from their mother. She was either passed out or she went out.

"Okay. How are we going to get money quick?" Frankie said, sitting herself on the floor. Jimi and Matt followed and sat in a circle, or more of a triangle. The group was silent for awhile, then Matt spoke up.
"We could rob that store."
Jimi stared at Matt like a deer in headlights.
"That's not a bad idea," Frankie added. Jimi stood up.
"How are both of you so okay with stealing?" Jimi exclaimed, throwing her arms up and pacing around the room. She got caught stealing once when she was little, wasn't her happiest memory.
"Well, Jimi, do you really want to continue living here?" Said Frankie.
"Well, no, but-" she started.
"So what? We're young. We'll leave this all behind." She stood up. "Help me find a box and some black clothes."

"Why boxes?" Jimi asked.
"Well... Need some food, don't we?"
Jimi sighed and began looking for black clothing. Frankie left the room and Jimi and Matt were left alone.
Matt was unsure of what to do so he watched as Jimi went through her closet.
She turned around and threw a couple of long sleeve black tees, some black jeans, and hoodies.
She looked him up and down.
"You'll be fine with that shirt. Just turn it inside out."
Matt took off his Sex Pistols shirt, revealing his bruised ribs. Jimi turned away, not wanting to see any of his scars or she'd get teary-eyed. He quickly turned the shirt inside out, and threw it back on.

"Do you have a jacket I can wear?" He asked, starting to stand up. Jimi turned around and sorted through the clothes she threw at him.
She picked up a jacket and tossed it to him.
"It's the biggest we have."
Matt slid on the jacket.
"Holy crap this is huge!" He exclaimed.
"It was my dad's." Jimi said, picking up a shirt and her favorite jacket. She walked over towards the closet and stepped in to change her shirt.
"Oh. Well... Thanks. You sure you don't want to wear it? What if Frankie wants to-"
Jimi interrupted.
"I don't think so. Frankie kinda... Well,-"
"Hates him?" Matt finished.
"Hate's a strong word. But yeah, she hates him. When he left, our mom went crazy. I think she was kind of normal before he left."
"She was always crazy," Frankie said, entering the room. She was holding three boxes, one for each of them to carry.
"Well, kiddos, we're about to restart our lives."

She threw the boxes on the floor. Matt stood up.
"Ok. But if we're going to do this, we're gonna do it smart, ok?" He looked at both the girls for confirmation. They both nodded.
"Alrighty. So, we don't want to draw attention to ourselves and we need to cover our tracks. First, we need to plan course, keep our faces hidden. Keep your head down. We don't need to raise attention by breaking glass, so we'll have to pick the lock." He looked for reassurance that they both were on board.
"Then we can either leave tonight, then they'll definitely know it was us, or we wait a couple more days then leave so we don't raise any suspension."

"To be honest, I don't want to stay here another day. So what if they know it was us? They shouldn't be able to find us."
Frankie replied.
"Mom's car," Jimi said.
"Licenses plate," Frankie counter-claimed.
"Stop overthinking this," Jimi said angrily. Her tone surprised her and her sister. "Look, Mom doesn't know her license plate number. We can't rent a car 'cause that'd be dumb, it's not like they're going to put an Amber Alert with the plate number. Just chill out,"
  "Chill out?" She said mockingly. "Jimi we're about to rob a store. And we're taking off across the country. Do you know how risky this is? We're still in school! And we're about to drive all the way across the country expecting that maybe, just maybe, that some guy we haven't seen in maybe twelve years will let us stay with him,"
Frankie's words angered Jimi. She took a deep breath.
"Yeah, you're right. This is silly. Let's just forget everything, y'know. We can take Matt back to his abusive dad. Continue living with our druggy mother. OR y'know we can call child services and put us all in a foster home where we can all get separated. That sounds like a happy ending, right?" Frankie stood up.
  "Alright. Get up," Frankie said, motioning them both.
  "Why?" Jimi asked.
  "Well what do you think we're doing? We're robbing that store,"