On The Run

I walked through the hallway to history with Carrie, who was brushing her hand against the lockers. We overshot the history room by about ten feet, which I didn't notice until Carrie said,

"Joey, we just walked past the history room." We turned around and darted into the history room right before the bell rang,

The history room is full of colors and when I say that, I mean that. There are maps, globes, quotes, and wax statues, all in various colors, everywhere. Suddenly, I awoke from my daze when I heard Mr. Mallard yell "Hey, juniors plus Joey and Carrie!" (The only reason we're separate is because we're sophomores and we're in some junior classes. 'Nuff said.)

"Hey what!" we hollered back.

"There's an early out dismissal today. We're getting out at the end of this period, so Joey and Carrie, you will be dismissed five minutes early to rejoin your class," he replied, oblivious to the snickering in the back. We fished out our notebooks and got ready for the boring seminar we were about to endure.

Half an hour later, Carrie and I were dismissed. We packed up our bags and headed into the math room, where the sophomores were. When we came in, Mrs. Joss was finishing her lesson.

"...and that is why the Pythagorean Theorem will always work," she droned. What she didn't realize, however, was the fact that half the class was asleep.

The minute I walked in the door of my house, I knew I was in trouble. My mother and father were staring at me, cross.

"We are very disappointed in you, Joey," Mom started. "We thought you knew better than this." She held up a comic. I immediately knew what it was. One of my older sister Mya's fanfictions. She often drew comics about me dating same-sex people, just to be a nuisance and to make Mom and Dad mad. Nobody in the family knew, but with Mya's fanfic, who knew how long it would take for them to find out that I, Joey Elms, am bisexual (I like boys and girls) and gender fluid (I switch between being a boy or a girl, depending on my feelings, emotions, and attitudes). Carrie is pansexual (she likes everyone regardless of pronouns), and the only reason I tell you this is because I've had a crush on her for the longest time. Mom and Dad keep threatening to send me to a conversion camp, a.k.a., torture. A conversion camp is essentially where kids in the LGBTQ+ community get sent and tortured so they become 'better', a.k.a., straight, just because of those stupid fanfictions. Suddenly, I got a call from Carrie.

"Hello?" I ask in the most mischievous voice I can pull off.

"Joey," she started, "I've got an idea."

"What would this idea be?" I ask, legitimately curious

"So since our parents seem to hate us and love to torture us, why don't we run away?"

"How do you plan to get away with this?" I ask, interested.

"The plan is simple. We 'go to school' and then head to Wal-Mart and pick up supplies. From there, we bike to Canada. Just bring a duffle bag with some clothes, your backpacking tent, some money, a water bottle, sleeping bag, your phone, and your passport. Canada is probably only a hundred miles from here, so we should be good."

My response is two words, "I'm in."

I spent the night staring at all of the stripes on my wall. I was mildly concerned about the plan and how long it would take our parents to notice we were gone, but overall, it was a good plan. Plus, if it doesn't work, we can always just hang together all the time at the library.

The next morning, I got all of my stuff packed in one of those camping bags with the sleeping bag spot. You know, those ones. If you don't know what I'm talking about, look it up. I'll wait. Are you done now? Ok, good. Now I'll continue. I set my stuff down and took a slice of breakfast pizza and heated it up for, you guessed it, breakfast. Once I finished eating, I grabbed my sweatshirt and headed out the door, grabbing my bike and peddling to Wal-Mart.