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Connor looked around at the snow behind the band building as he jimmied the coat hanger in the car door. It probably made him look like an amateur if anyone saw him. It didn’t matter. He couldn’t live in Amanda Stern’s house one more night.
Stealing a car during lunch on the last day of school before winter break wasn’t the worst strategy. He changed his entire look—the stupid uniform he had to wear at CyberLife Prep had been replaced with a thrift store jacket and a beanie that made him look much cooler than he was. He doubted Amanda would be able to recognize him without his hair slicked back like a CEO. Amanda wouldn’t notice he was gone until dinner time anyway. Merry Christmas, Amanda.
The lock clicked. He yanked open the door and jumped inside, ignoring the smell of cigarettes while he followed directions for how to hot-wire a car on his phone. His fingers were numb, sluggish on the mess of wires. The Christmas Eve Car Thief, he imagined, right above his picture in the news—and for a guy that tried to keep his head down and steer clear of the popular kids, this was frankly horrifying. He hot-wired faster. Suddenly the engine roared to life and Connor, heart pounding, guided the car out into the snowy street. He pulled onto the highway and breathed a slow sigh of relief.
“Well, this is kind of awesome.”
The voice was soft and possibly the most gorgeous Connor had ever heard. He still almost crashed the car. A hand reached over his shoulder and steadied the wheel for him, belonging to an arm in an expensive leather jacket absolutely destroyed by splatters of gold paint. He knew that jacket.
“Careful,” Markus Manfred said. “The roads are pretty icy.”
“I—” Connor spluttered, his ears making a pretty good impression of a fire alarm by ringing and burning up. Markus Manfred had to be the most notorious dropout at CyberLife prep. Connor heard all the rumors before Markus left last month. The shoe-in for valedictorian. The thug that gave his brother a concussion right in the middle of third period. The kid that skipped class to graffiti the gym and go to protests. The school heartthrob.
Connor never thought much of him, of course. Not that he was never brave enough to even make eye contact in the halls.
“Were you waiting back there this whole time?” It just came out, probably due to shock.
“I’m a pretty heavy sleeper,” Markus said. “Wasn’t really expecting company. Or this is all a dream. A great dream, actually.”
“I—I didn’t—” Panic was setting in. “I mean, I wasn’t—"
“Relax, or you’ll spin out!” Markus sounded amused more than angry. He folded his arms over the passenger seat and examined Connor from mere inches away. “You’re Connor, right? The guy that always asks questions in U.S. History. And Geometry. And English…”
The fire alarm situation in Connor’s ears turned into an all-out inferno. “Y-yeah. How did you—”
“Come on, your beanie’s really cool, but it’s not a great disguise. I’m—”
“Markus. I know.” Everyone knew the guy with freckles like gold.
“You don’t have to say it like that. We haven’t even met.” He cocked his head. “I never see you at any after-school stuff. I was gonna ask if you wanted to join the chess team last year. Remember, you did that presentation on the history of chess at the beginning of the year?”
Connor ignored this, and gave Markus a suspicious glance in the rear view mirror. “Is it true you gave Leo a concussion? And they expelled you and now you’re a—a…” he thought of all the words Amanda used, and went for the more gentle, “…rabble-rouser?”
“Uh—” Markus’ laugh was a gentle as the falling snow outside. “In order: yes, no, and… sort of? Depends on your definition of rabble-rousing. I did get arrested last week at a sit-in… And in my defense, Leo started that fight, but we’re cool now. And yeah, I took my GED over the summer. I’m working on some college credits. Art and Philosophy.” He cocked his head. “Okay, so yes, definitely a rabble-rouser.” He tucked his arms up on the passenger seat and looked at Connor from inches away. “You know, there’s a really cool coffee shop by the college that does chess nights…”
“You were really sleeping in your car?” but Connor looked around at the empty soda bottles and burrito wrappers, and had his answer. “You can’t live out of a car. You’re only sixteen.”
“Seventeen,” Markus said, as if this made all the difference. “How old are you?”
“I’ll be seventeen in a month. And it’s below zero. Social workers would have a fit!”
“How do you know?”
“I’m—a foster kid,” Connor mumbled. What was he doing? Amanda might be a witch but she didn’t let him freeze in a car in the middle of winter. He couldn’t let Markus die, even if he was a rabble-rouser. “I’m going to take you home,” he informed Markus, in the voice that he used during group projects. “Where do you live?”
Markus laughed again, this time full of mischief as he squeezed the headrest. “You think I’m going to tell you if you’re just gonna turn me in?”
“Well—”Connor gulped. “You’re going to turn me in. Right?” His life was over. Amanda would make his life miserable.
“Should I?” He sat back with a devil-may-care grin like Jay Gatsby, who they were just reading about in class. “Why did you want to steal it?”
Connor’s gaze hardened. “I can’t live with my foster mother anymore.”
Markus considered this for about two seconds before he nodded. “Okay.”
“…Okay? You don’t want to know why?”
“Connor, everyone knows you get good grades in everything, and you’re on student council…. I think you’re smart enough to know when a situation isn’t right for you. The fact that you thought no one would believe you and that running away was the only option is pretty good evidence that she’s not the right fit either. I actually know a guy that takes foster kids who’s really great.”
Connor frowned. “…Really?” He never had a kid his own age talk that way about a foster parent. It sounded a lot better than life on the lam.
“Yeah, Hank’s awesome! Really helped me out when Leo and I weren’t getting along.” He rubbed his mouth and added, “And if you don’t run away it means I can ask you out for dinner and chess.”
Connor froze. He stopped feeling quite so much like a Christmas ornament about to be stepped on. “You’re…you’re you going to help me?”
“Yeah. Uh, did you hear the other thing I said?—”
“But I just stole your car.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Markus glanced over his shoulder. “Uh, they might have a problem with it, though.”
Blue and red lights flashed in the rear view. Connor gasped and gripped the wheel, but— “…Wait.” He wasn’t breaking the speed limit. All the lights seemed to be in order. And how did they know he stole this car if…
“Man,” Markus groaned, “I knew Leo would notice his car was missing.”
“This isn’t your car???”
“He overreacts,” Markus said dismissively, “You borrow your step-brother’s car for one day so you can cover it in plastic wrap as a joke…”
“I can’t believe you!” Connor fumed, “You just let me steal a car that you stole—!”
“Floor it!” Markus yelled.
Connor, more in panic than anything, floored it, just as Markus reached over and spun the wheel. This caused the tires to spin out and the car to gently, inexorably, drift off the road. Its spin matched the feeling in Connor’s stomach when he saw Markus grin. Then the car sunk safely into a snowbank with a soft poof.
“Great job,” Markus said with a wink.
“Great job?” Connor murmured, unable to do much else after that wink.
“Yeah, I was aiming for this snow drift. Better than a high-speed car chase, in this weather. Don’t worry! I’ll do the talking. Hank’s a cop, actually, so this is a perfect time to meet him. Now…” He got out and opened Connor’s door for him. “How about that date?…”