CHAPTER five
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Our Town
part2
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•here we're all•
fugitives
⚚⚚⚚
Bleu was walking through the Quad with the boys just like any other day. These were the moments that hurt the most. When everything felt normal. As if she would say goodbye to her friends and go see her partners. Bleu never missed her parents, but of course, she missed them now, because there was a chance she would never see them again. She was stopped by the echo of her name.
"Bleu!"
She turned around to be faced with her brother.
"What do you want, Campbell?"
Campbell chuckled at Bleu's annoyance.
"I think people are doing pretty well." He smiled as he gestured around himself.
"What?"
Bleu turned and looked back at her group of friends. She could see how uncomfortable Grizz was with Bleu talking to Campbell. She could see how Grizz was getting ready to walk over to her but she tilted her head towards the church, telling him to go inside.
"You and I, we're the lucky ones, of course."
Bleu looked at Campbell and pursed her lips in confusion.
"How so?"
"Comparatively, we've both got Sam and each other." Campbell looked down the back up at Bleu's eyes. "You were right." Bleu looked Campbell dead in the eyes. "I'll admit it. We can't go on like this, we have to figure some things out. You know? Make some rules."
"Oh, Campbell Eliot finally wants some rules?" Bleu responded.
"Yeah. Idle hands." Campbell said. "The only problem is who's gonna decide, like, the rules. Who has all the power?"
She could tell what he was doing. Bleu ignored his request to get a say in making the rules.
"Not you." She said bluntly and turned to walk into the church, she could see that Grizz was waiting for her at the entrance.
"Hey," Campbell grabbed her arm, forcing her to look at him. "Are you and Sam still staying at Cassandra's?"
Bleu turned her head to see Grizz walking towards her and Campbell.
"Yeah." Bleu nodded, nervously.
"Oh, that's really sweet of her." He smiled. "You know, maybe I could come over one night to visit."
Bleu knitted her eyebrows.
"You should really ask Cassandra, Campbell."
"Or just stay the fuck away," Grizz said as he stopped next to Bleu and placed a protective hand on her back.
"Grizz," Bleu said through gritted teeth.
She looked at Campbell one last time the grabbed Grizz's arm practically pulling her away.
"Really" She whisper-yelled at him.
"I don't trust him." Grizz defended himself.
"And you think I do?"
~~~
"Okay! Okay, we're gonna-hello?" Harry yelled as he stood on top of a car.
Bleu was standing by herself waiting for Harry to start this game of fugitive. She was patiently waiting for Grizz to show up so he could be her partner. Bleu looked around at the kids who surrounded her. She turned and saw the girl she attacked in the grocery store, Elle.
"Hey, you playing?" Bleu asked the blonde girl.
"No, uh, I don't think so."
"Why not?"
"I'm not really in the mood for games," Elle said as she crossed her arms over her body.
"Yeah, uh, hey, I'm sorry I kinda attacked you in the grocery store a few days ago. It wasn't my place."
"It's alright," Elle responded. "Uh, I was the kid that cried the first day of school, every year. So it takes me a little while to get used to things."
She looked around at the group of kids behind Bleu.
"I keep thinking that God is punishing me," Elle said grabbing Bleu's attention again.
"Why do you think it's about you?" Bleu asked, keeping the conversation spinning.
"I don't know, I just do."
"Well, if you ask me I don't think that He's up there making every decision for us, setting out every possible path. I think that we have some choice in the matter." Bleu left the girl with that.
She walked away to find Grizz standing next to Harry. Harry handed him a set of keys, the turned back to the crowd. Before Harry could say anything a police car rode in and the siren blared. Clark jumped out of the car and put his arms out.
"What do you think? Keys were inside." He said as he dangled the keys in the air.
Bleu looked over at Grizz and they both knew that this game wasn't going to end well.
"Okay!" Harry said putting his hand up. "We're gonna divide up. Half of us are fugitives and the rest are cops. Fugitives on foot, cops in cars. The church is safe, the gazebo is jail. The whole fucking town is fair play!"
The crowd cheered at Harry's rules.
"Fugitives you have a three-minute head start." Harry held up an air horn and pressed the button sending a blaring sound into the air. "Your three minutes starts now!"
Bleu followed Grizz to their car and got in the passenger seat.
"You're running, I'm driving," Grizz said to her. "You ready?"
Bleu nodded at Grizz as he started the car. Grizz pulled out of the church parking lot and turned onto the street, the rest of the 'cops' were behind him.
Clark and Jason pulled up in the cop car next to them and revved their engine. Harry and Allie on the other side. Bleu smiled at Allie as her adrenaline started to rise. She then turned to Jason and Clark and rolled down her window. She called their names and as Grizz started to drive she smirked and flipped them off.
"Good luck, losers" She yelled as the boys got stuck behind her.
Bleu looked down at the phone in her hand. The light illuminating the car.
"Luke just texted. Fugitives spotted on Winpool." Bleu said to Grizz as he took a sharp right turn.
Bleu smiled as Grizz sped through the streets of West Ham. The wisps of her hair whipped around her face as she leaned out of the window. Bleu had on black ripped jeans, a white shirt, and a dark flannel.
"There!" She yelled as Grizz took another sharp turn.
He stopped the car and Bleu ran out. Allie and Harry pulled up behind Grizz and Allie jumped out. She ran in front of Bleu and before Bleu could blink a car pulled forward and Allie flew over the top.
"Allie, shit!" Bleu yelled as she ran to her friend.
"Fuck!" Bleu heard Harry yelled.
"Bleu?" Grizz said as he came around the side of the car with Harry close behind. "Allie! Fuck."
Bleu knelt next to Allie as Harry knelt on the other side of her.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck-" Bleu repeated.
She opened her eyes and smiled. Allie looked up at her friend.
"My heart is beating so fast!" Allie yelled.
Clark got out of the car and apologized but Allie kept laughing.
"Jesus," Bleu said.
Harry looked up at Grizz and shrugged his shoulders. Bleu looked at Allie confused as she examined her to see if she was hurt.
"We have fugitives to catch!" Allie screamed before standing up and running off.
Bleu stood up and walked back to the car. while Allie ran off to chase a fugitive.
After about thirty minutes of driving around and running, Bleu got a text from Harry.
"Harry said we got all of them," Bleu said to Grizz. "Party at his."
"Alright, let's go drink," Grizz said while holding out his hand for a high five from Bleu. Bleu responded and the two did their handshake they made up when they were fourteen. Grizz turned the car around and drove back to Harry's house.
About an hour later Bleu was sitting in front of Harry's pool on a pool chair with Grizz. They were drinking, quite a lot actually, but Bleu didn't care. She had given up hope of her parents barging into a party and yelling at her for drinking.
"No," Bleu said as Grizz finished telling her a story. "I did not do that!"
"Seriously, you did," Grizz said back to her.
"How old was I?"
"Eight, maybe."
"Well, I can't take responsibility for something I did at eight." Bleu slurred back.
Grizz laughed at her.
"Ya know, I did dye my hair with chlorine when I was seven," Bleu said.
"How does that even work, Bleu? Chlorine?" Grizz asked as he took another sip of his drink.
"Exactly. I was a dysfunctional child." Bleu laughed again.
"No, you weren't," Grizz argued.
Before Bleu could counter-attack, the sound of thunder filled her ears. Grizz stood up and pulled her arm. He helped her up and dragged her inside as the rest of the kids followed.
Bleu was now sitting on the countertop next to Grizz drinking out of a plastic cup. The lights on the ceiling flickered off as a thunderclap rolled through the sky. The lights remained dark for a second but flickered back on.
"What happens when they go out for good? I'm serious who turns them back on?" Gwen, a dark brunette who's armed were wrapped around Clark, asked.
"Maybe they never go back on," Grizz said from beside Bleu.
"Hey, you got any flashlights?" Bleu asked Harry as a partially drunk Grizz threw his arm around her.
"I don't know. Maybe, somewhere." Harry responded. "What about iPhone ones?"
"Battery won't last."
"Alright." Clark clapped his hands. "Expedition to the hardware store for flashlights. Who's in?"
As Clark spoke the lights flickered out and the kids were left in darkness.
"Well, shit," Bleu said.
"We should get home." A girl said. "Before it gets really bad."
"Well, you can all stay here." Harry offered. "I mean if you want."
The lights turned back on and everyone looked around.
"I'm going home," Helena said and most of the girls followed her out.
Bleu and Grizz stayed behind. Harry and Clark gathered a group of football guys and, maybe, three girls and headed out into the rain. Bleu and Grizz followed behind them.
"Bleu," Grizz said holding out a sweatshirt he must've had at Harry's.
She took it and threw it over her sopping wet white shirt, that she was pretty sure you could see through.
"Thanks, Grizz." She said as she flipped the hood up.
The group of kids arrived at the town's hardware store and Jason broke the door window. The "sorry we're closed" sign fell to the ground. Bleu watched from afar, in the rain, as the boys tore apart the store. More kids arrived and entered the store. Clattering and patter of rain-filled her ears as kids came and left. A car pulled up next to Bleu and Kelly and Will got out.
"I doubt there's anything left," Bleu said to them.
"Well, shit," Will said as he backed up under the roof that was a few feet behind him.
Inside the store, yelling erupted and boxes fell to the ground. Bleu heard a kid yelled at Jason to fuck off then the fighting began. Jason drove a kid through the door and more aggressive fighting erupted. Bleu went to go in the store but Kelley grabbed her arm.
"Where are you going?" she asked.
"Grizz is in there. So are Allie and Harry." Bleu responded.
"Bleu!" Kelly pulled her back again. "Just wait, please."
Kelly ran to Will who was dry and under the roof, but Bleu waited in the rain. She squinted her eye's trying to see through the water. Kids fell to the floor as Jason started throwing punches. Flashlights rolled on the ground along with kids. Some kid Bleu didn't recognize walked out holding a torch. He threw it in Harry's car and followed up with a can of gasoline. This caused an explosion.
"Bleu!" both Will and Grizz yelled as the explosion caused Bleu to step back.
Bleu stumbled over a flashlight that was on the ground. As she stumbled Grizz rushed over. He tried to pull her away, but Bleu just stared at the fire.
"Bleu!" Grizz yelled over the kids. "Come on! Bleu!"
He grabbed her arm and she finally gave in turning and running into his body. Grizz pulled Bleu to where Cassandra, Will, Allie, and Harry were standing. She brushed the wet hair out of her face.
Kids ran from the store holding any supplies they could get. Bleu continued to watch in awe of what had come over her friends. Glass shattered behind Bleu as Grizz put his arm around her shoulder in a protective manner. Bleu turned around and saw a kid climb in a store window. Bleu started to shiver from the wet rain and cold wind.
"Fuck," Bleu breathed as Grizz pulled her closer to his body.
The car remained on fire. The rain kept pouring, beating harder with every minute. Adults remained gone. the rules remained broken. Most of all, the kids remain the fugitives of a nameless law.