Hi, I'm Eva Quinnlin. My parents died when I was 15. My godparents are alright, but they'll never replace my parents. I constantly let them know that by not calling them mom and dad, as they'd prefer. No. They'd get their real names, whether they like it or not. Molly and Jim. That's who they are. I listen to teachers in school, sure. I get all As and Bs in school. My godparents are a whole different story. I sneak out on a regular basis. I've been doing it for 3 years, and they're still clueless. That's how good I am. I thought I had a decent life. But oh no, that just made things too easy. The day I came of age is the day when all my trouble started.
I sat on the lawn at Falklan High. It was lunch time on Friday. The school was at half its usual volume, because my friends were nowhere in sight. I sat at the same spot we sat at every day. I looked left. Nobody. I looked right. There was some guy chugging Monster with his friends chanting, but no faces I knew. Am I at the wrong spot? No. I made that mistake freshman year. I could sleep walk here by this point. I'm a senior for crying out loud! ...Where are they? I thought.
I looked into my sack lunch sadly. I pulled out a turkey sandwich. That was normal. Granola bar. Also normal. Gatorade. So normal, it bores me to tears. Now where was that apple? I pulled out not the hard, sweet fruit I was expecting, but a chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting piled up on top. Half the frosting was lining the Ziploc bag it was in, but it would be delicious nonetheless.
I was just licking the chocolate frosting off my fingers when someone grabbed me from behind. I yelped and started squirming, sending my lunch flying. As I was freaking out, I heard familiar laughter behind me. "Derrick!" I yelled. He released me and stepped in front of me. Derrick was about the same height as me. He had shaggy black hair and dark brown eyes. He was always in a beanie, a different one every day. He had to have at least 20 of those things. Today it was navy blue. He was in his customary black jacket that was far too large for him. He was in a gray T-shirt and torn dark wash jeans. He wore beat up black Vans. Derrick was the kind of guy who was always just chilling at home. He got all Cs and was happy about it.
I was about to say "Where are the others?" But before I could even open my mouth, two hands clasped over my eyes. I tried to pry them off, but knew they wouldn't let go until I told the person who it was. The small, feminine hands were a clue, but the fact that the hands were ice cold told me who it was without a doubt. "Becky! I know it's you!" I said. Becky relinquished my face and stepped next to Derrick with a huge smile. Becky was shy and didn't make friends easy, since she had a "stay away from me or die" aura about her, but she was pretty awesome once you got to know her. She was asian, pale, and about an inch shorter than me. She usually wore her black hair in a ponytail. She had emerald green eyes, but half the time you didn't see that. Her bangs were extremely long, and she always complained about them, but refused to cut them. She used them to disguise her iPod earbuds, or cover her eyes if she fell asleep. The only class she ever fell asleep in was math, and yet she always got an A in that class, along with most of her other classes. Go figure. Today she wore a purple tank top, and dark wash skinny jeans with her gray converse.
Josh came up behind me and flipped my hood over my eyes. By the time I'd gotten it back onto my shoulders where it belonged he was already standing alongside the others. Josh was about 5 inches taller than me. His lankiness made him resemble a scarecrow, and his shaggy blonde hair didn't help that. He had blue eyes. He wore a red hoodie and stone washed jeans with one knee on the verge of tearing to go with his black Vans.
"Those are your party clothes? Seriously?" Becky asked. I looked down to my navy blue jacket, gray slim fit Tee, black skinny jeans, and black converse. My shoulder length brown hair was loose, as usual, except for a barrette to keep my side parted hair out of my blue eyes. "Uh, yes?" I said. "'Cmon! It's your birthday!" Derrick said, exasperated. "What? Do you guys want me to wear a tiara?" I asked sarcastically. "As a matter of fact..." Becky said, pulling out a tiara with the words "Happy Birthday" intertwined on the front. Becky handed Derrick the tiara and pulled a sash with "Birthday Girl" written in red spirally letters across it. She handed that to Josh and pulled out an oversized button to pin to clothing that read "It's my Birthday!" They mobbed on me. Two minutes later, they pulled away and I was in all the birthday gear. "Much better." Becky said. "You pull it off." Derrick said. I rolled my eyes but couldn't keep the wide smile off my face.
Just then, the bell rang. We all said our good byes and went to our lockers. When I got to mine, they had put wrapping paper and a bow on it. I knew I shouldn't have given them my combo. I thought with a smile. I opened the lock and grabbed my textbook. I sprinted to science and made it just in time.
After school, my godparents took me out to dinner. We went to my favorite restaurant: Red Robins. After we got home from dinner, they sent me to bed at 9:00, as usual. They walked out. I gave them 10 minutes. Then I got up, got dressed, and went to the window. My godparents were downstairs. They came to check on me at 10:00 every night, so I had to check in then, but after that, I'd be good for the rest of the night. I opened the window noiselessly and slipped out onto the tree branch just below. I closed the window after I'd made sure I had the key strung around my neck. I swiftly climbed down and landed on the ground without even the slightest thud. I ran down the street to Becky's house. I threw an acorn at her window to signal my arrival. She was quickly out the window. She climbed down the arbor by her window, which was covered in ivy. "Parents?" I asked in a whisper. "Asleep. I'm good until at least midnight." Becky replied. I nodded and we slunk off to Derrick's house. We lightly tapped on Derrick's window. His house only had one floor, so he just stepped out of the window. "Parents?" Becky asked. "Out cold." Derrick said. She nodded and we hopped his back wall to Josh's house. We went to their shed. We all knew that the lock had been broken for years, so Becky gave it a good yank and it came right open. We grabbed the ladder and put it up to the wall. The light tap it made on Josh's window was enough of a signal for him to climb out. "Parents?" Derrick asked. "No worries." Josh said. Derrick nodded and we left Josh's back yard over the gate. We walked down the street and turned the corner. "Yet another successful escape." I said happily. "Yup." Josh said. "Isn't it always?" Derrick asked. "Now what, birthday girl?" Becky asked.