Chapter 4

"You know, I'm really starting to hate shopping here," Rosa grumbled as she walked in the door with an armload of groceries.

"Why is that?" Henry asked. Rosa rolled her eyes at his overly relaxed state.

"Because half the stuff I would normally get at home isn't here. And the money confuses me." Rosa set down the bags and began to unload everything. "You know what's really weird though?"

"What?"

"You people don't refrigerate your eggs. It's so strange!" Henry laughed and began to help putting the groceries away. He wasn't that much help considering that he ate almost everything he attempted to put away. Finally Rosa banished him from the kitchen and finished herself.

Without Henry bothering her, Rosa finished her job quickly and decided to go for a walk. She felt that she had to familiarize herself with the neighborhood. The air was warm for England and she found no reason to need to drive.

Rosa walked down the street trying to remember street names and corners with landmarks when she bumped into something. Rather, not something but someone.

"Sorry, I wasn't paying attention." She looked up and saw Luke starting back at her. He was with some other guy that Rosa didn't know.

"Hey Rosa, what are you doing?" Luke asked. His eyebrows furrowed for a second as he asked her this, but his expression was friendly.

"I was just going for a walk to familiarize myself with the area. I need to know where I'm going." Rosa replied. "Who's this?"

Luke snapped out of the small daze he was in. "This is my friend Clyde. Clyde, this is Rosa, she moved in across road." Rosa smiled and shook Clyde's hand. He returned the smile and the handshake.

"Do you want to come with us? We were just going to do some shopping. I'm going to go get a new video game and Luke needed another book to read." Clyde said with some sarcasm and a smile.

"Sure, there is no better guide than a local. Show me the stops." They all smiled and the three teenagers walked off together. They saw the video game store, where Clyde got his game and Rosa picked up a couple new controllers to replace the ones lost on the way over. Then they stopped at the book store where Luke got a scientific journal magazine and a book on mathematics. Rosa got the new Divergent book. Finally they got some coffee that Rosa ordered for them. They all liked it.

"How do you know so much about coffee?" Clyde asked as he took another sip. Rosa slowly swallowed before answering.

"My mother is South American. Down there coffee is an art. She taught me everything I know. I've been drinking coffee for as long as I can remember. Coffee is God's gift to man, in my opinion." Rosa took another long drink from her cup.

"Why did you move here? Not that I'm complaining right now, but I'm just curious." Luke asked over his cup.

"My mom's job moved us here. She sent me ahead to get the house ready while she finished some business back in New York. Henry is just a friend who said he would stay with me for now." Luke nodded.

"What about your dad?" Clyde asked. Luke shot him a look for prying into something that Rosa didn't seem to want to talk about.

"It's okay, I never knew my dad. He died before he had a chance to marry my mom, before I was born. My mom said he was just like me, strong, smart, reckless, and fast. He was everything I want to be." Rosa got a far off look in her eyes. True she had never met her dad, but she had heard enough stories to feel like she knew him.

Luke and Clyde were quiet for a moment while Rosa was deep in thought. She was completely out of it, but then she shook her head and crashed down to earth.

"Sorry sometimes I just zone out like that. I've been doing it for as long as I can remember." Rosa shrugged her shoulders.

"So what should we do now?" Clyde asked. He finished his coffee and set down his cup. Rosa finished a second later.

"We can go back to my house and I can beat you at that game you just got." Rosa smirked. Clyde's expression changed to one of cocky confidence.

"You're on." The all jumped from their chairs and put their empty cups in the trash. While they were walking Luke noticed some things about Rosa that he hadn't realized before. For example, he noticed that she walked with a rhythm like she was listening to a song no one else heard. He also noticed that she moved like she was saving her energy for something else. Her movements were fluid, seamless, like water. She also moved her hips a lot.

They reached Rosa's house and went in. Most of the boxes were unpacked, because Rosa rarely stopped her work. She dipped into one of the few boxes left and pulled out her game system. She hooked it up to her TV and sat back while Clyde put in the game.

Of course Rosa won. She was always a very good at video games. Clyde was still in shock that he could have been beaten by a girl. She was in the middle of gloating when her petrified porcupine scanner beeped. She froze in the middle of her dancing.

"I thought you said that you changed the settings on that." Rosa said as she walked over to where it sat as a decoration.

"I did. I set it to only pick up hostile alien technology." Luke confirmed.

"Then why is it going off now?"

"Wait," Clyde interrupted. "How do you know about aliens?"

"That's another story for another time. Right now, this is concerning me, and if it's set for hostile tech, we have a problem."

HAPPY NEW YEAR! So there is a poll on my profile, and it would be awesome if you all went and voted. Please. :)