when rose woke up the boys looked like they were tired and beat. she sat up fully and stretched her limbs out before looking to all the boys.

"you find anything?" she asked them and the boys looked at each other before magnite shook his head no. she groaned and put her head in her hands. she took a deep breath and tried to keep a level head. "its fine. they're just boots" she said clearly upset. she got up and began to leave.

"you better not be going to that punching bag again. you hurt your hands last time" squid said laying back in his bed. Rose didn't think anyone noticed her hands.

"im not, going to try to watch TV on that stupid broken box" she said turning around to face them.

"I'll go with you" zigzag said quickly getting up to follow. squid seemed to have shot him a glare but zigzag seemed to excited to notice.

"dont you want a break, you've been watchin'er all day" squid said bitterly. zigzag shook his head then looked to squid.

"nah, i like hanging out with her" he said walking over to her and he smiled. she smiled at him and nodded.

"yeah, im not that bad" she said and squid got up.

"im going with y'all, make sure no one jumps you two, plus. It's gamblin' time" he said with a sly smirk. Rose sighed and shrugged and she turned around and left, zigzag and squid following her.

"so, when do you think she'll notice they both like her?" magnite said laying back.

"if they keep it like this? never." x-ray said pulling off his shoes.

"when do you think she'll find her boots under squids cot?" armpit said to the group.

"i dont know, but i dont wanna be here when she does" x-ray said changing his jumpsuit. magnite nodded and hummed in agreement.

"definitely gonna be a problem when she does" armpit said laying back in his cot.

Zigzag and Rose thorn sat on the couch in front of the staticky box that the camp called a TV. rose groaned as the TV turned off. she got up and began smacking the back of it. every now and then looking at the screen and then when she saw it wasn't working shed go back to smacking it. zigzag laughed and she looked up and glared at him.

"whats so funny, Ricky?" she said and he stopped laughing and looked at her with a dead face.

"its zigzag" he said and she shrugged.

"tomato, toemato" she said letting her hands drop to her side. zigzag stood up and stood next to her, looking at the TV.

"you think hittin' it will make it work?" he asked and she gave another shrug.

"i dont know but it works in movies" she said and he laughed. squid watched as they both laughed from a distance and his hands clenched into fists. he was angry that she got along with zigzag and couldn't care a little bit about getting along with him. he hated he wasn't the reason she was laughing. he needed to do something to get him on her radar. so far he got nothing. he could use the fact that shes upset about her boots to get closer, even though he was the reason they were gone. he took them because if she didn't have the fire to protect herself, she was going to need his fire to help. so he took her boots.

was this a shitty move?

absolutely.

did he do it because he liked her?

also yes.

was this going to bite him in the ass later on?

maybe.

"hey rose?" x-ray called from the pool table that seemed to be his second home at this point. this hands had left prints, eroding the wood from how many times his hands had been placed as if habit. she looked up at him as she stopped smacking the TV. she stood up completely and put her hands on her hips.

"yeah?" she responded.

"you got any letters? moms gonna collect em soon" he said as he jabbed at the scattered pool balls on the table. as if she was already running, she was out the door and back. out of breath, but back. she stood in front of mom, huffing and breathing heavily. she finally stood up straight again and tiredly made her way to the couch where zigzag and squid had migrated as soon as she bolted out the wreck from a few minutes ago. they were both sat on opposite sides of the couch, leaving a space in between the both. she sat down in between them and leaned back.

"what was that all about?" zigzag said as he looked at rose thorn who was still breathing somewhat heavily.

"I had a letter for my family" she said finally sitting up straight. squid looked at her than back at mom.

"take one good look at that man tell me if you think he's going places?" squid said pointing at him, he was wearing his usual get up but without his giant hat. rose thorn laughed at him and shook his head.

"he's claimed his spot at rock bottom and I don't think he's giving it up" she said and both of the boys gave a small chuckle.

"then why'd you run? you can obviously tell he isn't going anywhere, so why waste your energy?" squid asked and she thought for a second.

"I feel like if I don't do it in the moment; I might forget." she said plainly. zigzag nodded.

"I get what you mean, back with my momma I felt the same way but for my school homework" he said and she nodded and chuckled. rose thorn looked back at the TV and groaned.

"stupid box" she grumbled as she stood back up and walked over to it and examined it.

"did you try turning it on and off again?" armpit asked and rose thorn looked up at him with a glare.

"you think that's going to work on a piece of shit like this?!" she sort of yelled angrily and armpit shrugged back before going back to talking to x-ray. she groaned and tried what armpit suggested and to no avail. nothing changed. she threw her arms up in the air and they fell down to her sides again as she let out a huff. magnite walked over and kneeled on the ground and looked at the outlet of the TV and hopped up to his feet again.

"Plug it in foo!" he yelled smacking the back of her head to which she quickly punched his arm as hard as she could do in that small amount of time which made him grab his arm and wince. "pinche gilipollas..." he said under his breath and began walking away as he rubbed his arm. she rolled her eyes and ducked down where magnite was before and saw that the plug wasn't plugged in. she groaned loudly and plugged it in before standing up again and brushing her hands together before flipping the TV on by twisting the knob. she gave a celebratory shout and pumped her arms in triumph.

"FUCK YEAH!" she yelled and the boys who had been watching her amused from the couch began laughing.

"good job girl" squid said and she looked at him with a glare.

"how long will it take you to get rid of that name?" she asked as she put her hands on her hips. he pretended to think for a second with his finger resting on his chin as if he was in deep thought.

"until I get tired of it" he said and she groaned. she gave up trying to get him to stop in all honesty. if he was going to do it for her entire time there, she might as well get used to it.