The Life I'm Running From

39\ I Become a Public Felon

Veronica Gold... Veronica Goldmin... Veronica Goldm...

I looked up from my phone. "How do you spell Taylie's last name?"

"Goldmyn?" Charlie twirled the straw in her Starbucks frappuccino. "Gold, M-Y-N. Why do you need to know?"

My fingers typed in the name. "No reason," I said, as I waited for Google to load. It took only a few seconds, and then a bunch of Facebook profiles showed up. Okay, maybe Google wasn't my best friend.

"If you're looking for her Instagram, she doesn't have one." Adriana made a face. "Though I don't know why you'd want to follow her."

I shook my head, biting my lip. "That's not it." After shooting Peter a quick text to do a search on her, I set my phone face-up on the table. My microwaveable noodles were getting cold, so I dug in with my plastic fork.

Skylar smoothed her hands on her paint-splattered pants. She had eaten her lunch already, and was looking jittery. "Are you friends with her now? Because you're friends with Harley?"

A notification popped up on my phone, with Peter replying that he'd do the search after school. I shrugged to Skylar's question, and shovelled a forkful of noodles into my mouth. "Not really." They didn't need to know I was searching up Taylie's older sister who I suspected to be the criminal Ravenyx. That would probably raise some weird questions.

Charlie swept her hair away from her face. She had gotten a haircut, so today all of the curls were shorter and tighter. Thirteen people had already complimented it today, four in the last few minutes when we had sat down for lunch. Funny how popular Charlie was, even though she only talked to us three.

Adriana crossed her arms on the table, and leaned over them. "Did I tell you guys about last night?"

I tried to respond 'no', but my mouth was full of noodles so Charlie had to say it. Adriana glanced across the lunchroom to where Ryan was leaning against the wall by the garbage cans. One of his friends nodded to the doorway, and they left.

"Ryan never talks to you at lunch, does he?" I commented, after swallowing my food. "He barely acknowledges you at school."

Adriana nodded, her eyes dropping to the table. "I know. The only time we saw each other was when we were kissing."

I blinked, catching the past tense in Adriana's words. Skylar didn't however, and wrinkled her nose. "You should talk to him about that. And maybe about the vaping thing too."

"Vaping? Is he in that crowd who hangs out in the bathrooms to vape?" Charlie took a drink of her frappe. "They think they're so cool, but they're all going to end up in the hospital with lung problems."

I nodded, and quickly swallowed my noodles. "One of them did. He had a coughing fit in English, and they had to call an ambulance. But anyways, what were you saying Adriana?"

Adriana rubbed her arms, and sighed. "I broke up with Ryan last night."

"What?" Charlie set her cup down on the table. But she put it too close to the edge and it fell to the ground, splashing our feet. She cursed. "I'll be right back. Don't explain anything until I'm back!"

She stepped over the bench and sped over to the paper towel dispensers on the wall. Two guys tried to stop her on her way to talk, but she shushed them and dashed back over with paper towel. I swung my feet onto the bench as she bent to her knees to clean up her spilled drink.

"You can keep talking," Charlie said from under the table. "I'm listening."

I rested my elbows on my knees, and tapped my feet unrhythmically on the bench. "Why did you break up with Ryan?"