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"Why not? I was almost adopted this week, wasn't I? It could happen. You said it could. You said I should want it to happen. You . ."

"Louise stopped it from happening," I blurted. She stared at me with her big, beautiful sad eyes.

"What do you mean?" she asked, and I told her what I had heard and what had happened. Her face softened, her lips trembling. "They think I'm crazy?"

"No. They know you're not crazy," Crystal said, "but they use whatever they can to keep us here for one reason or another, but especially for the money. It's all tax exempt, too. I'm afraid Brooke's right."

"It's getting too late for us, Butterfly," Raven said. "Teenagers are too much trouble. Parents want their children to be five forever."

"Raven's right," I said. "I even heard Gordon say it. Little children, little problems, big children, bigger problems. Anyway," I said, sitting back, "I don't know if I even want to be adopted anymore. I've been on my own so long, it just feels right, like an old shoe or something."

"Me too," Raven said.

"Then we should do it," I followed quickly, turning to Crystal. "We should finally take control of our lives."

"Where will we go?" Butterfly asked.

"West," I said, "to California."

"That's across the whole country," Butterfly said in a low whisper.

"We'll stop wherever we want and wherever we decide we're wanted," I replied. "But my guess is we'll go all the way."

Everyone was quiet, pensive, full of

imagination and dreams.

"You can become a dancer much easier out there, Butterfly," I told her. "And you can become a doctor, Crystal. And you can become a singer or an actress, Raven. You can go to auditions all day, all week until you become a star."

"What about you, Brooke?" Crystal asked. I thought.

"I could be me," I said.

Raven didn't want to do it, but I gave Megan the photograph as we had promised.

"A deal is a deal," I explained

"You don't make deals with people like that," Raven said. "Believe me, Brooke. I know."

There was a lot she did know about mean, manipulative people, but I didn't want to turn into someone I hated. I slipped the photograph under Megan's door and forgot about it.

All that following week, I devoted as much time to planning how we would run away and where we would go as I did to studying for my finals. I asked Crystal to go on the computer and see if she could find a travel route from New York to California.

"How would we travel?" she asked. "The four of us can't just hitchhike our way."

"Leave that part to me. I'm working on it," I said.

"Working on what? Trains, planes? I mean, how am I supposed to plan out a route if I don't know what you're thinking?" she asked.

I was afraid to say it, afraid that if she heard what I really had in mind, she would back out before we even began.

"For now, plan it by car," I said.

"A car? And just where are you going to get a car? You don't have a license; you don't have enough money for a car. Even if we pooled all our money, what sort of a car cou

ld we get? And then we would have no travel money. Really, Brooke, . ."

"Can't you just do that one thing for me? Please?" I asked, knowing she liked a challenge and loved to show off her ability on the computer.