The world seemed to whizz by in black and white as she sped down the street on her little pink bicycle. The groceries rustled restlessly in the white whicker basket. Rapunzel liked running errands. Mostly because was the only time she ever got out of the house.
This was ridiculous. Shouldn't graduating high school feel…different? It should feel like something, at least. Like the end of a chapter in a small part of your life. Maybe it was because she was the only one not doing anything after high school. Everyone she knew was moving on — going to college, traveling the world, doing something. But Rapunzel was just staying at home.
It wasn't like her mother was doing it on purpose. She needed Rapunzel to stay home because they didn't have enough money for college, and besides, if she left who would take care of her mother?
So she did stay. Living every day the same as the last. It wasn't as bad as Rapunzel was making it out to be. It was just…stagnant.
The metal spires of her bike clicked together as she continued down the road. There was a faster back to her house from the store, but Rapunzel liked going this way. Partly just because it was longer and she didn't want to go home just yet, and partly because this route took her past this old car shop. It was pretty run down, looking more like a graveyard of rusty car parts than an actual garage. But looking at all these junker cars getting fixed up and being turned into something, it made Rapunzel happy.
She squeezed the brakes on the handle of her bike and skidded to a stop, planting a foot on the dirt road by the shop. She was familiar with a few of the cars there, even though she'd never been in herself. She just lingered outside the shop, leaving whenever one of the mechanics approached. The red rusted hatchback was looking better. It had a lot more parts, and Rapunzel guessed they were going to repaint it pretty soon.
She leaned her bike against the chain link fence that lined part of the garage and tentatively inspected some of the projects. A dented green van that looked like it was from the sixties, a bright yellow buggie that looked just about ready to sell. Rapunzel leaned into one of the cars to check out the interior when a glint of sunlight caught in the rearview mirror shone in her eyes. She blinked in confusion and followed the light to find it casting off a blue pickup truck.
It was perfect. Sky blue and vintage-looking, like it belonged on the road. Rapunzel had seen a car like this before. In fact she was pretty sure she had seen this exact car before. All of her first semester in high school, Rapunzel would go by the junkyard near her house because there was this beat-up, abandoned pickup truck there. She had always fantasized about taking it for herself and getting it fixed up, but she'd never had the courage to actually do it. But practically every day when she biked home from school, she'd go past the junkyard and there it would be, sitting on top of a pile of rusty soda cans various wads of paper. Then one day she went by the junkyard and it was gone. And now Rapunzel could swear this was the exact same pickup truck she used to look at every day. It was a little nicer looking, but she was sure it was the same one, and secretly envied whoever had done what she had always wanted to do.
"You rock, Sal. Thanks again."
Rapunzel looked up to see a white-haired boy walking leisurely out of the shop, keys in hand. He stopped short when he noticed Rapunzel leaning over what she guessed was his car.
"Uh…can I help you?"
Upon closer inspection she realized she knew this guy. They went to high school together, but they never really talked. If anything, they were supposedly "at odds". Rapunzel was on student council, and about ninety percent of their problems had to do with Jack Frost. She had one, very specific memory of Jack from high school.
She had stayed after school to help out with the tutoring program, and volunteered to lock up the room after all the other students had left. To be honest, the high school was sort of creepy after it got dark. All the lights were off, and Rapunzel was getting ready to leave when she hear footsteps combined with a suspicious crinkling noise.
When she turned on the light she saw Jack Frost standing in the hallway with an industrial-sized roll of tin foil, half the lockers carpeted in the silvery material. The council had always suspected that Jack was behind the pranks at their school, but since they had no solid proof, they couldn't pin it on him, so they were always the ones cleaning up his mess. Rapunzel wondered how many council members would kill to be in her shoes right now, finally catching the school prankster in the act.
They both stood speechless in the middle of the hallway. Then Jack flashed a devilish smile at her, and put a finger to his lips. Although she didn't know why, Rapunzel just turned lights off again and left the school. She said nothing to the rest of student council, even when there was chaos the next day as every student struggled to rip the tin foil off their locker.
"Rapunzel you locked up last night, right? Did you see anything?"
"…No."
She didn't know why she did it. Maybe she liked the idea of having a secret that only she knew. But part of her surprisingly didn't want Jack to get in serious trouble. The kid was already a regular in the principal's office. If they knew he was behind the big pranks, he was sure to be expelled, suspended at the very least.
"Afternoon, gents." he had teased as he walked past them after school that day, a smug grin on his face.
Half the council groaned in response, practically drowning in tin foil. "We know it was you, Frost." One of the boys spat.
For a moment Rapunzel swore she saw panic flicker over Jack's face, and his eyes met hers for less than a fraction of a second.
"Can you prove it?"
"Just you wait, Frost. One of these days you'll be the one picking up the mess from your stupid pranks."
Relief settled in his features, then an almost undetectable hint of confusion. Then he looked at Rapunzel for much longer than a fraction of a second, like he was trying to figure her out. He knew she hadn't said anything, but he couldn't figure out why. Rapunzel was sure he was about to say something, but then he left.
And now here he was again, standing outside the repair shop while Rapunzel rested against the side of his blue pickup truck.
"Oh, I—I'm sorry," she sputtered nervously. Her cheeks felt warm and she wondered if she was blushing. "It's just you have a really nice— I like your car." She said finally, leaning back away from it.
He squinted at her in disbelief, but there was a small smile on his lips. "Really? You?"
It didn't surprise her that Jack was confused. He, like a lot of other kids at her school, saw her as the preppy popular girl who always did what was right. Really she wasn't all that popular, but she wasn't…invisible. She wasn't like Jack. She wasn't the type of girl who was supposed to be interested in blue pickup trucks.
She shrugged sheepishly, but held an honest smile. "I've sort of always wanted a car like this." She pressed a hand against the passenger door. "Just to drive away to nowhere. Go down the road with nothing but what you can fit in the trunk and drive." She glanced down to the inside of the truck. "That's what I'd do if I had a car, anyways. Maybe set up a little bed in the back and just stare at the sky. Talk to the stars." She stopped herself when she realized she was rambling and her eyes snapped back up to meet his. She had never told that to anyone, before. But it felt easy. Nice. "I know, it's weird." She admitted. "The talking to stars thing, I mean."
Jack was smiling at her in a way she had never seen before. It was…softer. "I don't think it's weird."
She cocked her head to the side. "Really? You don't?"
He laughed breezily as he walked closer to her, leaning against the truck. "I don't. You know, when I was a kid, I used to talk to the moon." Their eyes met again. Jack looked confused. Rapunzel wondered if like her, he had never told that to anyone, either.
She wasn't sure how it happened, but pretty soon they were sitting on the hood of his car, just talking.
"Oh please, you're telling me that not once you fell asleep in Ms. Waltham's class?"
She giggled. "I didn't say that. But I was better at hiding than some people."
"Okay, I can't help it if I snore!"
"Aw, poor tired little pranking boy." She teased.
This earned her a laugh from Jack. "You know, you're not at all what I expected."
"You mean I'm not the prissy blonde girl who gets straight A's and is on the student council? Oh dear, how my mother will be disappointed." Her tone was dryly sarcastic, but playful at the same time.
They both chuckled, and Jack gazed at her for a moment. He still looked like he was trying to put all her pieces together. "I don't get it, if you wanted a car, why didn't you just ask your mom to buy you one? It's not like she's exactly low on funds."
Rapunzel rolled her eyes. "Oh, she's not. But she's got this whole thing about me earning my own money to provide for myself. Which is why I'm stuck here while everyone else goes off and actually does something with their lives." She sighed wistfully and let her head rest against the windshield.
The sun was almost set, painting the sky orange and purple. Although she couldn't explain why, a tugging feeling in the pit of her stomach wanted her to tell Jack everything. She pulled her legs into herself, hugging them by her chest. "I tried to get away on my bike, once." She told him quietly. "I almost made it out of Burgess, but I…I got scared, I guess."
"You were going to run away?"
She didn't say anything, but looked up at him ashamedly. They were quiet for a moment, but she could tell that he wasn't judging her, which she was immensely grateful for.
"In California, every summer they have this thing called the Lantern Festival, in Corona, and ever since I heard about it, I've always wanted to go."
"I'll take you, sometime."
Rapunzel laughed. She knew he was probably joking, but still, hope bloomed in her chest. "Really?"
"I mean it. One of these days, we'll just pack up this truck," he tapped the hood with a light thud. "and we'll hit the road and go there." He rested his arms on his knees, staring up at the sky. Rapunzel thought it looked almost as though he had fireworks in his blue eyes. "I mean no one wants to stay cooped up here forever, right?"
She smiled warmly. Something in his words sparked a light inside of her. Part of her wanted to say yes so badly.
"Well, it's getting late, I'd better head back home." Reluctantly, she hopped off the car back to her little pink bike.
Jack followed her. "It's pretty dark out, you want me to give you a ride?" Rapunzel looked up at the sky. The orange had faded into a dark, almost black, purple. The first few stars were peeking out through the clouds. Normally she wouldn't accept a ride home from a stranger, but today wasn't exactly a day for normalcy.
"Thanks." And they put her bike in the back.
It was quiet as they drove down the road. Jack's car made a comforting humming noise. "Is it okay if we listen to some music?" she asked tentatively.
He nodded. "Sure." He flicked the radio on and Justin Bieber's "Baby" blared back at them. Jack made a sound of disgust and reached for the knob to change it when he noticed Rapunzel tapping her foot along to the song. He rolled his eyes, but he kept the song on, turning down the volume as much as he could.
"Baby, baby, baby, ohhhhh, like baby, baby, baby…" She sang it lightly under her breath as they drove. She noticed that Jack kept looking over at her incredulously and she could tell that he hated it, but she kept singing anyway, a tiny smile tugging at her lips.
"It's right up here," Jack turned into her neighborhood and Rapunzel felt a sudden unease in the pit of her stomach. "Third house on the left." she told him shakily. He started to slow down as the neared her driveway. Rapunzel thought about what would happen when she came home. Her mother would scold her for being late, then tell her she can't waste her time doing trivial things. She would be too afraid to tell her mother where she really was, so she'd just say that she got sidetracked and her mother would make some remark about Rapunzel being a scatterbrain.
"Wait—" She said suddenly. Jack stopped and looked at her with concern, noting the panic in her voice. "…Could you just…go through the neighborhood a few times? I promise I'll pay you back for gas." She wanted to put off going inside as much as she could. Jack looked confused, but said nothing and continued to go down the neighborhood, house after house flicking past them. Every time they got to Rapunzel's house, Jack would look over at her with a questioning glance, and she'd shake her head.
By the fourth time they drove by her house, Ed Sheeran's "The A Team" was playing softly on the radio. Rapunzel drew in a quiet breath, preparing herself. Jack stopped the car completely, pulling the keys out of the ignition.
"Are you okay?" he asked finally. Rapunzel could see the regret on his face when he asked because he was sure he overstepped his boundaries.
She sighed anxiously. "I'm in a car with I guy I barely know, submissively, telling said guy that I don't want to go home… Yep. Everything is just peachy."
Jack was at a loss for words, unsure of what to say to make her feel better. Then, for whatever reason, Rapunzel lost it. It was as if some sort of emotional dam she had set up for herself finally broke and she started sobbing.
She sniffed and tried to wipe away the tears, calming herself down. She didn't want to cry in front of anyone, especially Jack. "Did you know I actually hate summer?" Her voice was small and weak, but the question left Jack confused. She sniffed again to try and get enough power to get everything out. "All year, there's usually something going on, I try to find ways to keep myself busy so I don't have to really think about it… But in summer, everything stops, and I finally think I can be outside and be free but I—" she felt herself tear up again. "I'm trapped." Rapunzel could never go out without her mom bombarding her with questions, eventually guilting her to stay home and take care of her. "That's why I want to run away. That's why I don't want to go home." Her voice was wobbly and she hated it. Whenever it got that way around her mother, she would tease her for being such a baby. Rapunzel sniffled and tried to toughen herself up, sighing with a look of resolution.
"Thank you for the ride home, Jack." And she got out of the car and ran inside before he could say anything.
Life went on the way it was supposed to after that. But every ten seconds, Rapunzel's mind would flit to Jack and his blue pickup truck.
I mean no one wants to stay cooped up here forever, right?
The words echoed in her head, pulling her stomach into knots. She tried to take her mind off it by painting — that's what she always did when she thought about leaving. Paints in hand, green eyes searched for a new space on her bedroom wall to paint. But…there was nothing. Every inch of the wall had already been painted. Something about that set a small fire in the back of her brain. There was nothing left.
Her fork clinked against her plate as she stabbed the chicken anxiously. She'd never know if she never asked, right?
"Mother…"
"Yes, Sweetpea?"
"So…now that school's over, I have a lot of free time now, I mean a really lof free time, and—"
"You're mumbling, darling. You know how I can't stand that."
"…Right. Well, I was just wondering…" She took a deep breath and gathered her wits. "Okay. So every year in California there's this Lantern Festival. And what I want, I mean what I really want…"
"You want to go?"
"I mean…yes?"
"Go all the way to California."
"Well…"
"I can't believe how selfish you're being. After all I do to try and raise you to be the young lady that you are, you're going to abandon me to be a part of some light fair thing in a hick town that you've never even been to before?"
It went on like that for the rest of dinner until Rapunzel finally dropped it. She went to bed feeling defeated with a sour taste in her mouth. Every time she tried to go to sleep, she found herself wrestling in the sheets. She couldn't get Jack's proposition out of her head. Had he been serious when he offered to take her?
"Jack, who the hell is at our door asking for you at two in the morning?"
Jack rubbed his groggy eyes and padded down the stairs. "I got it, Frank." he mumbled, still trying to wake up.
He opened the door to find Rapunzel standing there, looking scared out of her mind, with a white floral backpack draped over her shoulder.
"What are you doing here?" He was immediately concerned as he stepped out on the porch with her, closing the door behind him.
"Let's go."
"Alright Punz, you're scaring me, what's going on?" He could see her little pink bike leaning against the side of his house. Had she run away? Did something happen between her and her mom?
"The other day you told me that we would leave someday, right?"
"Well, yeah, but…"
"Well why can't we leave now?" Her emerald eyes were resolute and desperate and the moon gave her skin a palish glow.
Jack turned back at the dilapidated one-story. Frank and Carol wouldn't miss him, that was for sure. He went back inside and grabbed a bag full of clothes, a toothbrush and toothpaste, a cell phone, and his car keys.
"Let's drive."