Damage Read Free

to Hollywood with Ronnie, aka the Most Beautiful Girl in the World.
    â€œI can’t just take off on my parents,” I said. Though really, I thought, why shouldn’t I? They’d done nothing but nag me and accuse me of lying since we’d left home the day before.
    â€œI didn’t mean you should run away.” She laughed. “Jeez, give me some credit.”
    â€œYou mean, ask them?”
    â€œYeah, doofus,” she said. “Ask them. And hurry up.” She nodded at Zach. “He’s finally conked out, which means I can put him in his car seat without a total meltdown.”
    Ronnie obviously didn’t remember my parents very well. There was no way in hell that they would agree. On the other hand, I couldn’t imagine letting this opportunity slip away.
    I could just do it without asking. Just go, right now. There’d be nothing my folks could do about it. They’d freak out, sure, but that wouldn’t be my problem if I wasn’t here.
    They wouldn’t even be able to call to yell at me, since I no longer had a phone. I’d made the mistake of lending it to Koli at a party a couple of weeks ago, and somehow—I wasn’t clear on the details—it had taken a fatal dive into a toilet.
    I took a deep breath. “Sure,” I said. “I’ll go ask.”
    I headed toward the restaurant, but as soon as I was out of Ronnie’s sight, I ducked into a restroom and waited for a few minutes. Then I headed back to Ronnie, a smile on my face, and gave her a thumbs-up. “Go figure,” I said. “They said yes. I think they must be tired of arguing with me.” I couldn’t quite meet her eyes, and I hoped she wouldn’t notice. “Um, yeah. So I’ll just grab my things.”
    Ronnie smiled widely, her cheeks dimpling under her oversized sunglasses. Her teeth looked startlingly white in her suntanned face. “Awesome, Theo.”
    God, I loved the way she said my name. I slipped into the hotel room, grabbed a pen and paper from the desk and started to scrawl a note for my parents. I wanted to tell them I was tired of being compared to Darrell, tired of being nagged about school, tired of them not trusting me, but I didn’t know where to begin. Finally, I just wrote, Mom, Dad. Don’t worry, I’m fine. Decided to travel with Ronnie for a few days. Have a good visit with D. I’ll be in touch.
    I quickly packed, slung my duffel bag over one shoulder and headed to the parking lot. Ronnie was standing beside her car, a wide-brimmed hat shading her face and a disposable cup in each hand. “Free coffee from the lobby. From the taste, I don’t think it’s actually meant for human consumption.”
    â€œUh, thanks?” I took one from her, though coffee was the last thing I needed. There was so much adrenaline rushing through me, I felt shaky and almost sick.
    Ronnie laughed. “Think of it as fuel.” She took off the hat, tossed it into the backseat and shook her hair loose. “Let’s do it, Theo. Let’s hit the road.”

Chapter Four
    Zach was buckled into his car seat, still fast asleep. With the heavy-duty straps over his shoulders and across his chest, he looked like a little astronaut about to blast off.
    â€œI can’t believe I’m doing this,” I said.
    Ronnie grinned at me. “It’ll be nice to have company. Zach’s great, but let’s face it, he has a pretty limited range of conversation topics.”
    â€œI bet he doesn’t do his share of the driving either.”
    â€œHa. He’d love to. He adores anything with wheels.”
    I buckled my seat belt and glanced over my shoulder at him. “Is he always such a good sleeper?”
    She hesitated before answering. “I guess so—I mean, yeah. He is.”
    â€œWhat’s wrong?” I studied the frown lines that had appeared between her eyebrows.
    â€œNothing.” Ronnie