"Where do you wanna go?" I asked the hitchhiker. "Anywhere…is…fine…" He was gasping for breath. I started driving. The next five minutes

passed in silence. It was deafening. "What are you running from?" I finally asked him. I wasn't stupid. I could tell he had something to hide. There

was a pause. "My girlfriend, Katy." He admitted. "Well, now my ex-girlfriend. When I broke up with her, she ran after me with a curling iron in one

hand, and a hair dryer in the other shouting 'I'm gonna get, you Kris Allen'…" his voice trailed off. He shivered. "By the way, I'm Kris," he said. "I'm

Danny," I said back, my eyes still glued to the road. But Kris wasn't interested in me anymore; he was searching through the glove compartment.

After a few seconds, he pulled something out. He examined it. "Styx," he said. "Cool!" It was an old Rock and Roll CD that my friend, Jamar, had

given to me for my previous birthday as a joke. Not that I hated it, but Rock and Roll just wasn't my thing… Kris jammed the CD into the dashboard

and pressed the "play" button. The first song was called "Renegade". It was about some guy who ran away from the law and was screaming for

his mommy. "Its kinda appropriate," Kris chuckled when it was over. "You know, 'cuz this dude's running away from the law, and we're running

away from Katy! Funny, right?" I wasn't laughing. His smile vanished. "I guess not…" he said as he pressed the repeat button. The song played

over…and over…and over…by that time, Kris knew some of the lyrics and started to sing. "Oh, mama, I can hear you a-cryin', you're so scared and

all alone…" he sang. He actually wasn't that bad… He paused the music. "C'mon Danny," he said cheerfully. "Sing with me!" I started to think that

he was blind. Or stupid. Or both. Couldn't he see that I was NOT in the mood to sing? I decided to anyway. "The renegade, who had it made…" I

had to admit it, it WAS kinda fun. "Hey, you're pretty good!" Kris said. "You could even be on 'American Idol'!" We both laughed that time. Yeah

right, like that was ever gonna happen!" Kris wasn't lying, though. We DID sound good! We sang the song over…and over…and over. I think it

was the 17th time when right in the middle of the song, Kris's eyes got wide, and his breathing increased. "Oh, crap," He was freaking out.

"They're after us!" My head went numb. I looked in the rearview mirrors. Three police cars were speeding after us. My head whipped around to

stare at Kris, almost to blame him and silently yell, "What the hell is going on!" Kris took a deep breath His face was pale white and his hands

wouldn't stop moving. . "Did I mention that Katy's dad is the chief of police?" he struggled to say. My body heat doubled. "WHAT!" I blurted. My

hands started shaking, too. My vision was blurry, even though I had my glasses on. I had to struggle to keep the truck straight. "They…want y-

you to p-p-pull overrr," he stuttered. I thought he was gonna pass out. I knew Kris didn't deserve this. He didn't do anything wrong. It was all his

psycho girlfriend's fault. I imagined what they would do to him, the kind of criminal charges Katy would press. I imagined his face as they threw

him in a jail cell. This wasn't right. What I did next cost me my freedom, but saved Kris. "No." I said as my foot pressed hard on the gas. "I'm

gonna get you out of this mess."