"The holidays are comin' up," Misty said, playing with Cordelia's hair.

"Yeah," Cordelia sighed. They were in the abandoned classroom, lying on the dirty floor. In the tiny, dark room, full of dust, Cordelia felt at peace. "And we're going to be apart for two whole weeks."

"That's way too damn long."

"Yeah," Cordelia said again. "But after that…"

"We'll run."

Cordelia sighed. She was more than excited for them to run away – she was exhilarated. But there was something eating away at her brain – something she couldn't stop thinking about, even though Misty had said it was okay. "Misty, your family."

"Don't worry about my family," Misty said reassuringly. Well, as reassuringly as she could, anyway – Cordelia still didn't feel any better. "They already threw me away like a piece of garbage. They ain't gonna miss me."

"But what about your sister? Lizzy?" Cordelia asked. It took her a moment to find the name. "I thought you said she was alright."

"Yeah, she is. But as sad as it is, I can't do nothin' to help her. My parents are just gonna keep sendin' me away."

"We could…" Cordelia began, wondering how and if they could take Lizzy with them. Cordelia had never met the kid, but Misty loved her and that was enough.

Misty let out a short laugh, somehow guessing what Cordelia was thinking. "We can't take her with us, Delia. She wouldn't want to come, anyway."

"Misty, I just feel bad."

"Don't," Misty said firmly, squeezing Cordelia's hand. "Lizzy's tough. And the rest of my siblings don't give a rat's ass about me anyway, so it's fine."

"I'm sorry, Mist," Cordelia sighed.

"You don't need to be sorry, Delia, you've done nothin' wrong. It's my parents who should be sorry but they're too busy gettin' drunk to care."

They went quiet after that. Cordelia stared up at the ceiling. Cream, with a dusty white trim that might have once been beautiful. But not anymore. It was covered in cracks and looked as though it might collapse on top of them at any moment.

There was still so much they had to do before they ran away – they still hadn't managed to sneak into the nurse's office to gather first aid supplies. They had to figure out exactly where they would go and how long it would take for them to get ahead of their pursuers. They also needed bus tickets – two tickets cost more money than either of them currently had, so Cordelia would have to buy them after she stole from her mother at break.

Cordelia wasn't sure how to word all this, and she didn't want let Misty know how stressed she was about the whole thing – Misty would get all worried and reluctant to run, and that just couldn't happen. They had to do it – they had to escape from this place. And Cordelia refused to do it without Misty by her side. So she decided to put it simply. "We need to work out a plan."

Misty sighed. "Yeah." Her hands fell to her side, and Cordelia wished Misty would keep playing with her hair. It was relaxing.

"Exactly when we'll leave, which way we'll go, how we'll get out of town."

"Well, we should leave through the woods," Misty said, and Cordelia knew that was their best option – that's what she had been thinking, too. "We both got experience in swamplands, and it'll make things difficult for anyone who could be followin' us."

"Yeah, good idea," Cordelia agreed. "And then, we should get a bus away – quicker than walking."

Misty frowned. "But then what if people see us in town? Surely by the time we get there, they'll realise we're gone, and let the townspeople know."

That was what Cordelia had been worrying about, too – venturing out into the town to catch a bus would ensure they would get seen. And if the school knew they had left, and notified the town to keep an eye out for two rich-looking blonde girls, that would mean they would definitely get noticed. Traveling by foot through the woods and the swamps would be safer, and they would be able to hide, but it would also be far slower, and their pursuers would easily catch up to them. It was a difficult choice, but she'd given it a lot of thought and knew that catching a bus was their best option, even if it was a risk.

She told Misty all this, and when her girlfriend still seemed unsure, Cordelia kissed her gently on the cheek. "We'll get out of our school uniforms, change our hair, I don't exactly know. But people are going to see us anyway at some point."

"True," Misty said. "Guess we can't hide forever." She sighed again, and went thoughtfully quiet for a moment. Cordelia watched her – her face was so beautiful. She always chewed on her lower lip when she was thinking, and it was the most adorable thing. Cordelia watched her happily, unable to believe her luck – just how had she managed to land herself such an amazing girlfriend? It was one of the universe's greatest mysteries. "Hey, we should go to New Orleans."

"New Orleans?" Cordelia asked. "Why?"

"Just think about it, Delia! There are so many people there, we'll blend right in. And it's close to the swamplands, so we can disappear whenever we need to. We could even live there – can you imagine?"

"Live in the swamp?" She had to admit, she liked the idea of it. It would be a lot easier than stressing over rent all the time – if they built their own place and grew their own food, they probably wouldn't ever have to leave. She liked the idea of being completely self-sufficient, cut off from the society which had hurt them both so much.

"Why not?" Misty shrugged. "I know how to build stuff. We both know plants. We could live off the land, just you and me in the peace and quiet."

Cordelia smiled. She couldn't think of any reason to say know – it sounded wonderful, and it was the best chance they had at staying hidden. "That sounds really nice, actually."

"So let's go to New Orleans!" Misty cried, jumping up and pulling her to her feet.

Cordelia threw her head back and laughed at Misty's exuberance, kissing her on the nose. She would go anywhere Misty wanted to go. It didn't matter if they ended up in Paris or a rubbish dump. If they were together, Cordelia would be happy. "Okay. Sure. Let's go to New Orleans!"