She normally had dance class every week night. Except Fridays. But this week, on Thursday, it had been cancelled because Miss Liz was going to a conference. The older girls were still going to practice, but since she wasn't allowed to stay in that class the full period yet, she didn't need to be there. Her mother was unaware of this change. On school days, she normally walked home with her friend Suzanne. They had taken dance together for a long time. Most of their classes were either together, or the times were right after one another, so Suzanne's Mom, Ms. Rose Marie, just took them both at the same time.. She loved Ms. Rose Marie very much. And Suzanne, too. She felt horrible when she thought of how worried they would be. She hated sneaking. She hated lying, So she told herself it wasn't lying if she never said anything to begin with. She read about the cancellation on the board at the dance studio. She told Ms. Rose Marie she would just walk home after school that day. Then nothing more was said. So maybe it technically wasn't lying.
She rummaged through the bottom of her closet. Over the past several months, she had been stashing away food and drinks and other things she thought she might need. She knew the day would come...she just didn't know when. There were individual plastic zip bags hidden all arond the floor.. Some with crackers, others with raisins, more with dried fruit and apples. She read that Granny Smith apples stay good the longest, so she had asked Ms. Rose Marie specifically for those during snack time. She felt bad stealing them, but there was no way around it.. She had some chocolate, too. She knew the sugar would help give her some energy if she needed to run. Lastly she had juice boxes and some water in the Thermos from her lunchbox. It took a while to organize everything into her lunchbox, but it finally fit when she took out the Thermos.
She ran to the bathroom and grabbed the backback she had hidden under the cabinet. She foud it in the lost and found box at school. It was pretty new, and big enough for what she needed, so she took it. She hoped whomever lost it would forgive her. In it she had already packed a roll of toilet paper, deoderant, sunscreen, some wet-naps she took from the Italian restaraunt, a toothbrush and toothpaste. There was also a small calendar and some girl-pads. She had marked the days of her period, and didn't think she would need the pads for a while yet, but she felt more comfortable having them. She took the bag to her room and added 2 tshirts, some socks, underwear and a small pillow. She wanted to take more. But she couldn't. Her bag was already almost too heavy. And she couldn't take anything that would be noticed as missing.
It was 3:40. No one would be expecting her home until after 9. She checked her reflection in the mirror. Jeans, tshirt, jacket, sneakers. She had an extra hair band on her wrist. She mentally checked through her list and compared it to what was in her bag. She felt confident she had everything. She took a quick look in her room and felt sick. This was scary. She felt sticky and clammy. Hot and cold at the same time. "Get moving," she said out loud. And she did.