* * *

But my tongue was still frozen.

  “I don’t want to drag you into this.” Marti was saying. She started to pace, something she only did when she was really thinking hard.

  “Too late for that.” He laughed a little. “Are you ok?” He took her hand and tried to look into her eyes, but she pulled away. My heart started to race. Why hadn’t she told me about this guy? I suddenly wondered how well I really knew Marti.

  “Yes I’m fine. Would you mind,” She paused, and the rest of her question was lost in the wind. Suddenly, it started to rain. Not a gentle drizzle, but hard, hot, pouring rain. I was soaked through in a minute. My hair stuck to my face and my legs felt slimy when they brushed one another, a mix of lotion and rain water creating an oily film.

  I peered through the raging drops and saw that Marti and her friend were hopping in the red BMW. Suddenly recovering my powers of motion and speech I darted out from my hiding place. The car started backing away, with my best friend inside it.

 Whoever he was, the kid was a driver in a hurry. He flew out of the lot and started towards the highway before I could catch Marti’s eye. I ran after them, all the way to the highway on-ramp and up onto the busy interstate. I couldn’t believe myself. I was racing alongside a dangerous road chasing a pair of taillights.

Why?

Why, why, why? My mind screamed. But I kept running, afraid to stop, afraid to lose the faint glow of those red taillights fading into the distance. I tripped over something on the shoulder, falling. Gritty residue from the side of the highway scraped along my arm, smearing me with dark streaks. The rain made my eyes cloud with watery black mascara. As the cars flew by they splashed up sheets of hot, dirty road water but I was too terrified to care. I leaned back against the cold concrete barrier, trying to think if there was some way I could have prevented this.

There wasn’t.

Surely.

Surely there was nothing more I could have done. She had sealed her own fate from day one. And I was too tired to chase after her anymore.