The Innocent ↝ ÉLITE ¹

TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY
Baby Driver

ARLO CLENCHED HER jaw as she threw her car door open and sprinted up the stairs of Samuel's apartment building. She skidded to an abrupt stop outside his front door and knocked numerous times.

A second later, the door opened to reveal a pretty, brunette middle aged woman who Arlo assumed was Samuel's mom. "Hi. Can I help you?"

"Hi!" Arlo chirped too loudly and happily as she smiled. "I'm Arlo, a friend of Samuel's from school. Is he home?"

The woman flashed a smile at the girl once she had revealed her name. "Ah, the famous Arlo. It's good to finally meet you. I'm Pilar, his mom. And sorry, no he's not. He and his brother are out right now."

"Do you, uh, happen to know where I can find him?" The girl questioned hopefully. "School project."

"Yeah, he should be by the square. It's only a few minutes drive down the road. Just look for Alba's cafe." Pilar explained.

Arlo let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you so much, Mrs García. It was nice finally meeting you too."

Before the woman could say anything, Arlo ran back downstairs and rushed back into her car. She inhaled a sharp breath as she started the engine. She wasn't going to ignore the bad feeling in her stomach and she sure as hell wasn't going to listen to Guzmán. This involved people she cared about on two sides. Samuel and then Guzmán, Ander and even though it had been a while since she was close with Polo, she had still known him practically all her life and that had to count for something.

Arlo followed Pilar's instructions as she drove, looking out the window for any sign of Alba's cafe. Finally spotting it, Arlo drove faster only to stop when a familiar navy blue blazer sprinted in front of her car and down the road, followed by at least 5 guys looking like they were on a war path. The girl's eyes widened, recognising it was Polo who was running for his life.

"Shit." She grumbled before she drove right about the block. Her car was too big to follow the alleyway he had gone down. She managed to cut through another road and stopped, seeing Polo running in her direction, still being chased.

"Hey!" Arlo shouted as she rolled her window down, catching Polo's attention, who's eyes widened upon seeing Arlo in her car. "Get in. Come on! Hurry!"

The boy sprinted to the blue car and nearly tore the backdoor open as he jumped in. Arlo quickly turned on the next street and looked at the boy in the rear view mirror who was currently running a hand over his face, letting out a long breath. "Thank you."

"You wanna tell me whats going on?" The girl snapped.

"Ander." Polo exhaled as he stared out the window, his eyes widening.

"Wha–"

"Anders there with Omar!" Polo exclaimed and Arlo looked to the right to see Omar trying to keep Ander up right as blood dropped from down his nose and mouth.

"Shit." Arlo hissed. "What the hell did you guys get into?"

She drove towards them, beeping the horn. As Omar turned, he visibly looked so much more relieved as he helped Ander into the car next to Polo. Once they were both in, Arlo started driving.

"Anyone know where Guzmán is?" She questioned worriedly.

"At Nadia's shop. He just texted me." Polo informed, waving his phone.

As Arlo grit her teeth, she abruptly turned right. "You boys have a lot of explaining to do."

"ARE YOU OUT of your minds?" Arlo yelled as she slammed the first aid kit down on her patio table where all of Guzmán, Ander and Polo sat around with Omar and Alma tending to Ander. "Whatever the reason was, shouldn't have your minds realised you were outnumbered when you got there?"