Chapter Seven —
Fugitive

It had been ten days since the world Rosa once knew had fallen apart.

Ten days since the teenagers of West Ham had returned from their camping trip, only to find their beloved town empty.

Ten days since they found out that this place wasn't their home.

Ten days since they realised that their parents weren't coming back.

"Rosa?" Grizz called from the other end of the hall. "Have you seen my grey hoodie?"

Rosa quickly slammed the draw of her father's desk shut, spinning around to face Grizz as he approached the doorway.

"Uh," she paused for a moment to think, scratching the back of her neck as Grizz's eyes drifted over the room. "I think I borrowed it the other day, it might be in my room."

"All right, thanks," he replied, gaze lingering on Rosa, who shifted on her feet uncomfortably. His eyebrows pulled together, stare growing suspicious at her behaviour. "You ok?"

"Yeah, fine," Rosa rushed out. "Just–" Her eye's darted around her father's office, the piles of paperwork lay neatly on the desk, family photographs spread around the room, his favourite brown leather briefcase in the corner. "I'm just missing them, you know?"

Rosa was somewhat telling him the truth, she did miss her parents, and her brother, more than anything. The hope that somebody's family would just pick up their phone and answer them was slowly dwindling, but Rosa still rang her parents, even if it was just to hear their lame voicemail messages – the ones that used to irritate her so much when she could never get through to them. And now, she savoured every second.

But what Rosa didn't mention to Grizz, was that she had been searching every inch of her father's office, scouring through paperwork and breaking into locked draws, in the hopes that she could find something, anything, that explained the situation they were in, and that maybe it would lead them to an answer and a way of getting back home.

But, the most satisfying thing Rosa had found so far was her father's secret alcohol stash.

"I know," Grizz said, sadness clouding his features. "I miss my parents too."

Rosa approached him in the doorway. "I'm really glad you're staying here, you know? Don't know what I'd do without you."

Cassandra's suggestion of sharing houses had prompted Grizz to move in with Rosa practically straight away. Barely even a conversation was held between them, it was just natural, since neither of them wanted to be alone.

Sasha and Glenn had also moved into the Perez household, with more people potentially coming too. Rosa consider herself fortunate to have friends under her roof, rather than people she barely knew.

Some of the biggest houses had to share up to twenty people. Rosa wasn't sure she would have been able to cope with that herself, having so many strangers staying in her family's space, despite them only being gone barely two weeks.

"Also, I'm really sorry I keep borrowing your hoodies," Rosa told Grizz, smiling up at him sheepishly. "They're just so warm and comfy."

"Eh, I'm used to it," he shrugged, smiling softly down at her.

In their many years of friendship, Grizz could probably count on more than one hand the amount of hoodies he'd owned that had mysteriously disappeared at the hands of Rosa Perez.

Grizz's phone buzzed in his pocket, capturing Rosa's attention as he pulled it out to read the notification on his screen. She half expected expected another meeting, or a message from Cassandra, but was surprised to read Harry's name.

"Harry's organised a massive game of fugitive tonight, biggest one yet apparently," Grizz read out. "Everyone's invited."

"Everyone?" Rosa queried. "That's very unlike him."

They'd attended most of Harry's fugitive games, which always led to a party at his house afterwards, and, in Rosa's case, a really bad hangover the next morning. So far, it had only been the 'elite', as Rosa liked to jokingly call them, that were ever invited to join in the fun. She was glad he was expanding his horizons.

"You up for it?" Grizz asked, looking up at her.

"Might as well," she said with a shrug. "Got nothing better to do."

So, later that evening, Rosa, Grizz and Sasha made their way down to the town hall, where a large amount of people had already gathered outside, all waiting in anticipation for the game to begin.

Harry had been right, this game was going to be the biggest one yet.

Her eyes scanned over the crowd, gaze soon landing on the man himself, who stood on the roof his flashy car, announcing the rules.

Rosa crossed her arms over her chest, half a smile of amusement on her face as she watched him, glad he could find something entertaining to do other than whining about their circumstances. Harry soon met her eyes, grinning as he hopped down from the car.

An obnoxious horn sounded in the air, signalling the start of the game. Whilst the 'fugitives' took off running in different direction, Rosa and Grizz both headed towards the 'cops', which happened to be the rest of their friendship group, who had already began to pair off into teams.

"Nice of you to show up," Harry greeted fleetingly as he moved past to get to his car.

Rosa was quite surprised to find Allie Pressman following behind him, but smiled at the girl nonetheless, a gesture Allie returned as she got into the passenger side of Harry's car.

"Yo Grizzy, you're with me!" Jason shouted out, tossing the car keys towards him. Grizz lifted his right hand, catching them swiftly. He shared a look with Rosa, who chuckled, patting her friend on the shoulder. "Have fun with that one."

"Sasha, let's go!" Luke called out, banging his hand against the side of the jeep.

Sasha had a sly smile on her face as she passed Rosa, giving her a captains salute. "Good luck."

"Come on, let's go!" Clark yelled excitedly from the window of a police car, which Rosa could only assume he'd stolen.

She couldn't help but laugh at the whole situation, sharing a glance with Luke, who looked equally as amused by Clark's burst of enthusiasm. "I'll be looking forward to getting my twenty dollars back, Rosa!" Luke shouted over to her, in reference to the little bet their group had come up with – whichever pair that brought in the most fugitives would win.

In hindsight, Rosa realised that betting with money was a stupid idea, since there wasn't exactly any chance of them using it, so they probably should have been more thoughtful about the prize – such as the winner getting their house cleaned or something like that instead. Rosa hadn't realised how much of a chore doing the cleaning was on top of a full days work.

"Not if I have anything to do with it!" She shouted back to him, shooting him an innocent smile as he chuckled, soon disappearing into the jeep.

Rosa glanced around her for a few moments, listening as the engines revved, cars getting ready to speed past the second the fugitives three minute head start was up. It was nice to see everybody throwing their energy into something they enjoyed, seeing them forget, even for just a brief moment, about the difficult circumstances they'd found themselves in.

Rosa finally turned her attention towards Glenn, who leaned back against the hood of his car, twirling the keys around his finger.

"You sure you don't have a betting problem?" He asked rhetorically as she approached him, moving swiftly to the passenger side door to open it for her. "M'lady."

Rosa climbed into the vehicle, and Glenn shut the door behind her. She reached over to grab the seatbelt, strapping herself in whilst Glenn slid into the driver's side.

He twisted the key in the ignition, revving the engine. "You ready?"

Rosa met his eyes, determination crossing her expression. She didn't like to lose out on bets. "Let's do it."

A/N

This game highkey looked like fun.