𝕽𝖊𝖇𝖊𝖑𝖘||𝕺𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖎𝖓𝖆𝖑 𝕬𝖕𝖕𝖑𝖞𝖋𝖎𝖈||

Chapter Four

Tina Baker loved hanging out at Lucali's. Her mom worked there during the day, so after school and on the weekends, Tina could go hang out with her and do her homework while having pizza. Plus, it was normally quiet around that time of day. 

When the three girls walked in and sat down, Tina couldn't help but stare- two of them had brightly colored hair, one of which was wearing a Victorian dress, and the other kept looking over her shoulder and looked nervous. They sat down only two tables away from Tina, so it was hard not to eavesdrop. 

Tina heard them order and then the girl in the Victorian dress with bright pink hair started to speak.

"So- you don't know much about me. So I guess I should tell you- as you know, my name is Al Aideen, you can call me Ali, or A, or Deen. I'm agender and go by any pronouns, but normally they/them. I'm 16, and I have 3 brothers, Noah, Aster, and Alex. I have a pet cat named Magic and I love Victorian dresses. Tell me about you!"

Tina's autism made it hard to understand what she had said so quickly. Though she knew the name- Al Aideen was the person who played on the streets. Tina had seen her several times with her brothers and cat. 

Tina watched the other two girls share a look- one girl had short hair that was dyed with teal streaks and the other was the most normal looking one of the group. She wore a simple floral dress and her hair was a natural color that tumbled down her back.

"OK." The normal girl said. "Like I said, I'm Razia Kahn and this is my girlfriend, AJ Kane. I guess you could start with the fact that we're runaways."

"Oh yeah?" Al said, thanking the waiter that had come over with a hot pizza. "Where from?"

AJ waited until the waiter had left before answering in a low voice. "Planet Zarrocco."

"I'm sorry, planet?" Al asked.

AJ nodded. "Don't tell anyone else- Zarrocan Chaser are going to be scouring the universe to find us."

"Wait, so you're telling me that you guys are aliens? That is so cool." Al said with a chaotic grin. AJ stared at her incredulously. 

"We're literally wanted dead or alive across the entire universe." She told her.

"Even cooler. Sounds like you have quite the adventure ahead of you." Al wiped the grease off of their hands. "So why did you run away?

"No one on Zarrocco approves of our relationship, especially AJ's parents. It's against the law."

"So is the way I dress, the way I act, and practically everything else about me." AJ said bitterly.

"How are you not locked up yet, then?" Al asked.

"I used to be friends with this one Chaser, Ivan." AJ shrugged.

"What is a Chaser?"

"They track down and lock up anyone who breaks the laws of Zarrocco."

"So they're like cops?" Al summed up.

"What's a cop?"

"They protect people and lock people up when they break our laws."

AJ nodded. "This food is very similar to the Red Bronchitis we have on Zarrocco."

"Red Bronchitis? Isn't that a disease?" Al asked.

"No." Razia answered, giving a confused look. "It's very similar to this except it doesn't have whatever this gooey white stuff is."

"You mean cheese?"

"Whatever." AJ cut in. "The point is that it's delicious and better than Zarrocan food."

Al shook her head in disbelief. Tina was struggling to soak it all in and not just because of her autism. She didn't notice the two girls, Lydia and Aiofe, who had also been listening in on the conversation.

A/N: So I am planning on going back to edit all of these chapters later on, so I didn't worry too much about proofreading. If there is anything overly confusing, please let me know so I can fix it.