Free Zip by Ellie Rollins

Michael. She opened the message, but before she could read a single letter, the curly-haired boy thrashed in his chair
    “I
said
five more minutes!” He grabbed the phone out of Lyssa’s hands and threw it away with a grunt. Lyssa spun around just in time to see the phone splash into the water.
    “Much better,” the boy muttered, letting out a snore
    “No!” Lyssa shouted, no longer caring whether or not she woke anyone up
    She raced to the edge of the water. A few bubbles floated along the surface and Lyssa swallowed. Her phone had probably reached the bottom of the bay by now. Still, she had to try to retrieve it—even if it would be waterlogged and useless.
    She kicked off her right shoe and frantically peeled off her sock, peering over the side of the ledge. The water looked cold. Just as she was about to kick off the other shoe too someone put a hand on her shoulder
    “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Demo said
    Lyssa whirled around, nearly knocking her sneaker into the water. Demo looked worn out—like he’d been running. His skin was bright red and covered in a thin layer of sweat. Even his mohawk was sticking out in strange tufts, looking windblown
    “My phone,” Lyssa started to explain, pointing to the water. “That boy thought it was an alarm clock and—”
    Demo cut her off
    “You have bigger problems to worry about,” he said
    “What?” Lyssa asked, though she wasn’t sure she really wanted to know. She thought of the nineteen missed calls from Michael and the text message she didn’t even get a chance to read. What if he’d already tracked her down?
    “I was just downtown,” Demo said. “There are pigs everywhere. They’re passing out your picture.”
    “Pigs?”
    “You know, cops?
Police.
”
    Lyssa swallowed
Police?
    Somehow, when she’d first come up with the plan to return to Austin, she hadn’t imagined
police
. That was even worse than Michael looking for her.
    “Listen,” Demo continued. “They’ll be here any minute. Someone found this streamer thing that was on your scooter or something…”
    “Pom-pom,” Lyssa said automatically. She looked around for Zip, feeling irrationally angry with her scooter, as though it had deliberately betrayed her. Then she realized it wasn’t Zip’s fault. The pom-pom had fallen off in the storm. It was an act of nature. It was the universe throwing one big pie in her face.
    “Whatever,” Demo said. “Listen, I went by the bus station, just in case. No police there, yet. If you hurry, you can probably make it.”
    Relief flooded Lyssa’s chest. No police at the bus depot. Michael must not have guessed she was headed back home. This was good news. If she caught the next bus to Austin, she still might make it
    “Thanks, Demo,” Lyssa said. She grabbed her backpackand her right tennis shoe and crept around the cots to a beaten-smooth dirt path that led up and around the rocky ledge. Crawling up the path, Lyssa reached the top of the dock and saw her scooter lying in the sun. She patted Zip’s handlebars.
    “We’re going to make it,” she whispered
    She pulled on her sock and shoved her foot back in her sneaker. She started to reach out for Zip, then immediately ducked her head. There were three men in blue uniforms crowded around the boats near the end of the marina, talking to a shorter man wearing jeans and a sweatshirt. The man gestured to the boats, looking angry. One of the police held up a pom-pom and Lyssa’s heart sank
    She’d never been in trouble with the police before. Once, she and her mom slept in a tree overnight to protest a development company that wanted to cut it down. The police had come to get them out of the tree, but they hadn’t gotten in trouble. In fact, Lyssa had actually managed to convince the officers that the development was wrong and, in the end, the cops had climbed up into the tree with them
    Lyssa bit down on her lower lip, not wanting to take her eyes off the police officers at the end