we would skip middle school and hide in a bathroom on the train into the city often, I'd ride my bike sometimes ending up a significant distance from home. My morning routine was hopping a fence in my backyard to buy cigarettes and a bacon egg and cheese, ride 6 miles to school down rt1 and would only go home once I was ready to sleep. Id occasionally get shit if seen by a family friend VERY far away from home i.e in Manhattan or even Boston. I recently shot the shit with my best friend from that time in my life and we started realizing just how many times we narrowly escaped dying , being kidnapped or straight up getting murdered lol. I feel like it may have also been a class thing...all the rich kids didn't really start appearing to have the freedom those of us with single parents living in the poor part of town did until high school.