Naturally, I hated every minute of that mind-numbing poppycock. I first ran away during my second week there. I was caught. (You wouldn’t believe what brutal security guards those nuns are….they’re like German Shepherds!…woof) I tried four more times and was caught every time.
This time, though, it was all or nothing—I was going to get away from that god-awful school and hide out somewhere until the semester was over and I could return home to Grandma. With a little luck I’d be expelled forever and ever.
We had taken a rare class trip to a nearby city for one reason or another (like I pay attention to stuff like that…) and I gave my classmates the slip when I went to the bathroom.
I could see it now: those stupid twittish classmates of mine would wait politely outside the bathroom door for at least twenty minutes (any sign of impatience before twenty minutes time would be classified as unladylike, don’t you know.) Eventually they’d think, Uhhhh, Naomi’s been in there a while, uhhhh, maybe she fell in or something… and they’d check on me. Of course, all they’d find would be an open window and an abandoned school uniform with one blouse sleeve floating in the toilet (exactly what a school uniform deserves, eh?)
Once the girls decided that I was too big to have been flushed down the little hole in the toilet and made the connection between the open window and the lack of Naomi, they’d run right along to one of the habit-clad nuns. They’d squeal that “Omigoodness, omigoodness, Naomi’s disappeared!!!!!!!” and pretty soon there would be a search out for me. By now they were used to me running off, and they had probably assembled a whole squad of “Go-find-Naomi-ers” before we even left the school, just in case I tried to run off during the trip.
However, I’d had plenty of practice at running away before, and I’d managed to get quite good at it. And, with a little luck, I’d be the first successful runaway from Sister Hildy’s ever.
I watched from behind a wall as a few of the searchers ran past, calling my name. Like I’m just going to pop out ‘cause you called my name, I thought with a snort. Stooopid.
“Hey, Naomi! Is that you?” yelled a sudden voice behind me, making me jump.
Gyah! Without turning around, I ran forwards into the street area. I needed somewhere to hide out for a few minutes—
To my right was a small outside café, complete with cute little tables and pretty white umbrellas and the whole nine yards. Perfect. I ran towards a free table and vaulted over the back of a white plastic chair into a seat, collapsing behind a menu as I panted. I had the menu upside-down, but I hoped no one would notice. And, if none of the students or nuns were nearby, I could—
“Erm, excuse me?”