Run Away

Ch-5 THE JOURNEY BEGINS

Ch-5: The Journey Begins

"So, my name's Jake." The boy said. "What's yours?"
"Why do you care?" I asked without looking at him.
"Well, because we're going to be together for a long time." He replied.

We were still stuck in the market. Now we'd reached a place with a sandy road and stalls on each side of the road.

I stopped short and looked at him. "Hey, we're not going to be together for a 'long time'. You just have to get me out of this market, get me some food and tell me about my whereabouts." I explained.

"You think that's going to take like a day?" Jake said as he continued to walk.

"So does that mean that I'll be stuck with you for more than just a day?" I asked, wide-eyed.

He shrugged. "If you want your wish list to come true."

"Oh man." I groaned.

There was an awkward silence, then I asked him, "Sooo......are you lost?"

"No." he replied flatly.

"So, you ran away from home, or......"

"Ran away from home!? Whose ever going to think of doing that!?"

"Well trust me, some people really do."

He gave me a funny look. "Did you run away?" He asked me, eyeing me up and down suspiciously.

I opened my mouth to probably lie to him, but I closed it again. There was a cop right in front of me. He had a sheet in his hand which he was showing to one of the stall owners.

I stopped short and suddenly became all panicky. Jake, Sam and Suzie continued to walk. Suddenly, Jake realised that I wasn't next to him and turned around and looked at me, confused.

"What's the matter?" He asked loudly.

I shushed him. Jake came closer to me. "What?" He asked again.

"Uhhh...." I tried to make something up as I shifted my eyes from Jake to the cop. "I just don't want to go from here," I said smiling and batting my eyes innocently.

Jake lifted an eyebrow. He was going to reply, but I saw the cop turning towards me. I couldn't wait for Jake's answer. I quickly pushed him to another road leading right. Suzie and Sam quickly followed.

"Come on, hurry up," I said, almost jogging. But Jake stopped. "Hey! What on earth happened?!" He demanded.

I stopped, looked at him and scowled. "You can't just order me!" I said, raising my voice.

He shook his head. "Okay, so I'm asking you to tell me what happened." He said softly.

"None of your business," I replied rudely.

"Secrets, secrets, secrets," Jake said. "You know, it's not good to keep so many secrets." He looked at me.

"I don't care," I spoke without changing my expression.

"You know. I don't like your attitude." He looked at me to see my reaction, but my expression remained unchanged. Obviously, his little remark did not bother me even a tiny bit.

"You're not even telling me your name......"

"Caroline," I replied.

"See. Now we're getting somewhere." He said shaking my hand which I quickly yanked away.

"How old are you anyway?" I asked him.

"Thirteen. You?"

"Thirteen"