Back To Our Roots, Book One

CVIII. Wow, AND He's Racist, He's Checking All The Boxes

"Tell me again why we are doing this?" Jenna hissed, struggling to keep up with Chloe's pace.

"Did you not hear that phone call? Witnesses? It sounds like he's mixed up with dangerous people, and I don't want someone like that in my home."

"You're being ridiculous."

"And you're afraid," Chloe spat back.

"Fuck you."

"You would."

"Shut up. Your dad's going to freak when he finds out we're gone."

"Not when he finds out why. Besides, you can just say you went home early. You won't get in trouble."

"Unless I get murdered!"

"Oh, shut u– I see him."

Chloe stopped Jenna in her tracks, taking in the scene before her.

Wes, looking at a police station, where some people were getting out of a car and a shaking boy was hiding, presumably from the people.

"What's he doing?" Jenna whispered.

Before she could answer, Wes rushed over to the boy, who immediately hugged him. It looked like Wes was trying to calm him down.

They were talking so softly that Jenna and Chloe couldn't hear, but they stood up and Wes threw something against a tree. The two boys bolted, hands linked.

The others looked in the direction of where the sound had come from, except one, who took off after the boys.

Jenna and Chloe shared a look, cutting through someone's yard so they were caught up. They strained their ears, hearing Wes saying something.

"–see the gray house up there? Run into it. The door's unlocked."

"I– what?"

"Just trust me!"

The other boy ran ahead, running into the house. The boy chasing him followed.

Wes ran to what looked like the backyard of the house, disappearing from sight.

"Okay, this is all really shady," Chloe said.

"Exactly, which is why we should get out of here."

Chloe's phone rang and she laughed nervously. "Look, he noticed we're gone."

"We're dead."

She answered her phone. "Hey, dad. How's everything?"

"Where. Are. You."

"We just went for a bit of a walk–"

"Don't lie to me, young lady."

She glanced at Jenna. "Okay, fine, we followed Wes," she admitted quickly.

"You let him leave?"

"Well, I mean, he kinda ran."

"He ran away?" He sounded less angry and more worried now. Chloe knew why; they could get in big trouble with the law for letting him run away.

"He got some phone call and it seemed to be an emergency but, like, really shady– he said something about witnesses– so we followed him and he met up with this guy who was hiding from some people at a police station and they ran from the people but one of them followed them and they're all in this house now." Chloe gulped. "And now there's cop cars."

"I don't hear sirens."

"I guess they're trying to sneak up on them? There's no lights either. Maybe they aren't a– nope they're going into the house."