Drabbles of The Lives of the Ex-Fugitives
Ginger-Snapp
These are some missing scenes, continuations, and short pieces about the lives of characters involved in the Gordan Korman series, On The Run. I will explain in each one when it occurs and maybe a short blurb about the characters or situation if warranted. There will be no self insertions or original characters (unless it is just to shed some light on a main character) so please do not worry about reading something out of a middle school lit project.
Also I don't currently have a beta so feel free to make corrections when you r&r.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the On the Run series, or any of its related characters, story-lines, etc. All of that is written and owned by the talented YA author, Gordan Korman. These stories are meant only for fun and for thought, and are not for profit in any way.
UPDATE 2020: Edited for grammar and spelling but not content
To Flee or Not to Flee
Set maybe 7 or 8 months after the events of the series. Aiden and Meg are situated back in school. Most of the press and attention has died down some, but the kids still live in fame/infamy at school, and they try to fade into the background as much as is possible. This is what happens when Meg tries to join a team.
Meg hated wearing the school gym uniform. The shorts were orange, and it reminded her of the scratchy prison jumpsuits. None of the Falconer family owned any orange clothing anymore. It hadn't been a conscious thing, but one day when her mom had finally gathered the growing pile of goodwill clothes, a disproportionate amount had been that hated color.
Other than her uniform, however, she didn't really have much to complain about this afternoon. School had gone relatively well. She'd had someone to talk to at lunch and only two people had called her a traitor today. Meg couldn't believe that even after everything came out, some people still thought their family was to blame for the terrorist cell information. They'd believed the government the first time around, when the Falconers were innocent – why couldn't they believe the official story now?
"Fal- Margaret! Make sure you stretch!" Coach Ferrara called, catching himself at the last moment. Even the teachers avoided calling Meg by her last name, afraid it might rile the other kids up. Aiden had mentioned the same problem to her. Still, she moved to stretching, copying some of the other kids who looked like they knew what they were doing. Aiden had joked a few weeks ago about joining the track team, seeing as the kids had plenty of practice running already, but when she'd perked up at the idea her brother had immediately put his hands up. "Oh no. You are not making me run ever again in my life. Never mind for fun."
He'd ended up running for his life as she chased him with a permanent marker, both of them laughing.
When she saw the poster for tryouts today at school she'd impulsively taken her brother's unintended advice.
So here she stood, awkwardly stretching and wearing a friend's borrowed gym uniform. Despite it being months since they'd been on the run, Meg was confident and over-enthusiastic as always. She imagined herself winning first place trophies, them having to announce her name over the intercom with all the other winning athletes on Monday mornings. She imagined a trophy with the name Margaret Falconer etched defiantly in the golden number one. Then maybe people would stop thinking of her as a freak, and think of her as Meg, the track-star.
"Okay," Coach Ferrara yelled across the practice track. "Line up. I've got 10 spots. First 10 across the finish line get them." She'd spent months running for her life, and months before that doing back-breaking manual labor. She could do this.
The whistle blowed and she took off.
"So, Meg. Anything interesting happen at school today?" Her father twirled some spaghetti on his fork.
"Not really. They skipped me in roll call again today."
"Hmph. I'm really going to have to talk to the school about that."
Meg and Aiden shared a look. The skill of silent, instant communication that they'd perfected while evading the law hadn't abandoned them yet. Neither of them wanted the extra attention.
"Don't worry about it Dad," Aiden spoke up. "Just give it more time. Once the extra media from the lawsuit dies down, things will get better at school." Meg nodded to add her agreement with this plan.
Louise spoke up. "Meg tried out for a sport today, didn't you sweetie?" She looked to her husband and added, "I picked her up late from school, which is why you had to cook tonight."
Her dad asked "Really? What sport?" at the same time Aiden groaned and rolled his eyes. "You didn't."
"Yeah, I did. I tried out for the track team at school." She didn't offer up anymore information, which was so unlike Meg that her dad prompted her to speak.
"Well...how did it go?"
"Good I guess. I made it on the team. I suck at long distance running though. I was only decent in sprinting."
"What days are the practices? It's not going to interfere with your homework or your tutoring, is it?" Louise looked like she was already adjusting the master schedule in her mind. Between their parent's tentative return to teaching, the lawsuit and meetings with lawyers, picking up the kids from school or tutoring, the individual and family therapy that she had insisted on, and just generally dealing with the aftermath of being locked up for almost a year; the family was fairly busy.
"I'm not really sure when practices are. I just decided to go on a whim. I haven't even decided if I'm going to join yet."
"Why?" Aiden asked. "You seemed so eager last week."
"Its just a lot to deal with, you know? Between everything that's going on with the family right now, and trying to make up for all that lost school time."
Mom and Dad nodded like this was sensible, and John started recounting the time he'd tried out for the racquetball team in college and failed miserably. Meg and Aiden laughed at the right moments – they'd heard it before – but Aiden was giving her that look, the one that said he knew she was lying and was curious about why. Still, he didn't bring it up until after they finished cleaning the kitchen and went upstairs.
"So whats the deal with the track team. Why the sudden disinterest?"
"I dunno. I wanted to be awesome at it and have it be this big punch in the face to everyone."
"So, did you suck or something? I'ts been a while since we really ran. It's nothing to be ashamed of."
"No, that's not it. I mean, yeah I wasn't amazing or anything, but I held my own. I think its...well..." it wasn't something she liked to talk about, not with her mom, certainly not with the family therapist, and not really even with Aiden. She was very close to her brother, but neither of them liked discussing the negative effects of their time on the run. He just waited, arranging his homework in the order of its due date and not looking at her so as not to pressure her.
"It just doesn't feel worth it anymore," she blurted. "There was no real reason to be running, no spark, no adrenaline."
"No threat. No real risk. I get it."
"Exactly! And because of it I wasn't nearly as fast as I used to be."
Her brother looked downcast. "I get it. I've been thinking lately about that kind of thing. We've accomplished so much. How can getting caught up in school, or getting my drivers license, or winning the science fair even compare to uncovering the biggest treason case in America? To saving our parents?"
"Maybe we're just burnt out. We put everything on the line for them. Now there's no challenge to anything anymore."
"Maybe we'll become adrenaline junkies. Maybe being fugitives and jailbirds has made us into burnouts.
"Hell no!" Meg cursed. She'd picked up some bad habits at the last prison she hadn't been entirely able to root out yet. "If I see another cell before I die it'll be too soon."
"Still. We're going to have to figure out how to adjust to normal life again before we start cliff-diving or something."
"Mom and Dad would looooove that." Meg wished that Aiden had the answer, but she was glad that he at least understood where she was coming from. They'd had their break, months of time to rest and feel like everything was going to be okay. But now Meg was getting... antsy. Restless.
"Maybe you should stay on the track team though. Maybe the adrenaline of competition will help. At least you wont get fat like I have!" This was a joke. They had both put on a couple of pounds since becoming lawful citizens. They were pretty much back to their original sizes now that they were eating more than whatever they could beg or steal.
"Maybe. We'll see. If they make me wear that gym uniform though, I'm out. I'm not touching an orange piece of clothing ever again."
Aiden nodded in agreement and they headed to bed.
A few weeks later, Meg returned home with her mother and showed the men her first trophy – 3rd place, with the name Margaret Falconer engraved on the front in the cheap plastic. It wasn't quite enough: she still felt jumpy, but the running gave her somewhere to put her extra energy, and she now had something else to add to her resume. Margaret Falconer: 1st grade spelling bee champion, fugitive (now exonerated), and track team member. It was something new. A sort of beginning. And now Aiden wouldn't be able to outrun her when he joked that he was joking to dress up as a cop at her next match so she'd get a first place trophy.
Not the best thing I've ever written. I wanted it to be shorter and less heavy handed, but the subject leads into deeper problems and scars the kids would have from their time on the run. Just a silly piece. As some information, in my universe the Falconers would have had to be held back a year because of all the schooling they missed. They have personal tutors in order to help them catch up. The family therapy is a requirement of the federal government as one of the conditions of Meg and Aiden's full pardon. The individual therapy is a requirement of their mother. The lawsuit mentioned is one where the Falconer's are suing the united states government for false imprisonment, emotional and financial damages, etc. I plan on writing something about that later.
Thanks to my two reviewers. Its nice to have some on this little fandom. It motivates me to keep writing. /Ginger