Run Away

Chapter 10

Evie entered the kitchen the next morning to find the entire family sitting down at the kitchen table finishing off their breakfast. When Sandra saw Evie she immediately stood up, walked over to her and embraced her in a warm hug.

"How are you feeling this morning?" Sandra asked Evie, holding her at arms-length and studying her for any indication of something wrong.

"I'm fine," Evie murmured, still taken aback by how welcoming and caring Sandra was towards her.

Sandra eyed Evie suspiciously as though she didn't believe her, "Are you sure, because you don't have to go to school today if you don't feel up to it."

"Honestly, I'll be fine," Evie insisted.

Owen's chair scraped against the floor as he stood up from the table and grabbed his bag and car keys.

"Mum, leave her alone. She says she's fine." Owen exasperated, then to Evie said, "Come on, I'll give you a ride to school."

Owen nudged his head towards the door as an indication he was leaving and Evie should follow. Evie nodded and smiled politely at Sandra before hurrying off after Owen out the front door.

Evie had known the excuse of Owen having a commitment before school was all a lie. It seemed now that she had cleared the air with him. It was okay for him to give her a lift to school again.

Once they were in his car, Owen reversed it out the driveway then started down the street towards the school.

"Mum can be a bit full on at times but she means well," Owen explained, not taking his eyes off the road to look at her.

"It's okay," Evie shrugged, "It's kind of nice to have someone worrying about me. I mean, it's been awhile."

Owen just nodded as if her explanation made sense to him.

It was weird to Evie that they were talking how two normal people would do in a car while driving, but the relationship between Owen and Evie was anything but normal. She knew he didn't like her, though it seemed like he could now tolerate her presence.

They rode the rest of the drive-in silence, but it wasn't an awkward silence like it had been the first day Owen had driven her to school. It was more of a comfortable silence.

Owen parked the car and they wandered towards the school together without a word. Evie suddenly stopped walking and Owen turned to look at her in confusion.

"You okay?" Owen asked her, an eyebrow raised in question.

"What do I do about Zane and... you know." Evie looked down at her covered ankle before looking back to Owen for an answer.

"Don't worry about Zane," Owen replied cavalier, "He has been my best friend since kindergarten. He won't say anything to anyone."

"How do you know that?" Evie worried.

"Because I told him not to," Owen shrugged as though it was as simple as that.

Not wanting to argue with Owen or make things uncomfortable, Evie decided to put her faith in Owen and his trust in his friend to keep her secret. One of them.

They parted ways when Evie reached her locker. Owen told her he would wait for her in the parking lot after school to give her a ride home. She was grateful for his offer as the bus ride home the day before made Evie feel too exposed but she wasn't going to tell Sandra that.

When lunchtime came, Evie collected her food and was about to head outside to the comfort of her secluded table under a tree when Harley spotted her. Harley raced across the cafeteria waving at Evie and calling her name. Evie stood there wondering if she could possibly pretend she hadn't seen or heard Harley but knew that was impossible. The entire cafeteria had heard Harley and was watching her bound towards Evie.