“Frankie is probably one of the most conscientious students I’ve ever met. She’s good for Ian. She shoulders a tremendous amount of responsibility, maybe even more than she should at her age.” Was that judgment in Mr. Rhys’ voice?
“I see.” Officer Lester studied me for a moment. “Is there anything else that’s happened in the last few days that may have precipitated this?”
Oh. I’d been making out with my best friends, had sex with one of them, fought with them, found out my mother was having an affair with one of their dads, and had a fight with my mom. While all of that was true, Ian inviting me to homecoming was the most likely trigger. “Not that I can think of.”
Diane sighed, but she nodded to me and, Officer Lester said, “Thank you for coming in, Frankie. If you run into any other issues, I encourage you to come back and talk to us. Please.”
“Go on and wait for me out there,” Mr. Rhys said, and it took everything I had not to grimace. “It’s not bad,” he was quick to assure. “I promise. Just wait a couple of minutes for me? I’d like to talk to Dr. Miller and the officer.”
“Sure thing.” I was up and out of the chair. I’d not taken off my backpack the whole time, and as soon as I was out, I found Jake waiting by himself.
“Hey…” The door closing behind me seemed louder than it was.
“Hey.” He stood up and glanced past me. “You okay?”
Shrugging, I said, “Pretty sure I should be asking you that.”
I took the chair next to where he’d been seated, and he dropped to sit next to me. There was a faint bruise on his jaw, and his knuckles were raw on both fists.
“Eh, well, I’m not suspended yet. But I might have to sit out a couple of games.”
Oh crap. “Jake…”
“No biggie,” he said, catching my hand. “Seriously. Totally worth it. Punk had a mouth on him.”
“People are going to give us shit…”
“Then they can give shit to us,” Jake said firmly. “They don’t get to say shit to you.”
“I don’t want you losing out on scouts seeing the games.”
He shrugged. “I really don’t care. I’m not going to college for football anyway. Bubba deserves any scholarship money there is.” Which was great, but that wasn’t what Ian wanted to go to college for either. “The guys are outside,” he said. “Waiting for us. You got your phone?”
“Yeah, it’s in my backpack. I had to talk to Diane, and then she brought me up here.”
Jake pulled his phone out and texted something, then looked at me. “Can you go?”
“Mr. Rhys asked me to wait,” I said with a long sigh. “I can’t believe he sat through that. They showed him the pictures, Jake.”
“Fuck.” He grimaced, then tapped something else on his phone. “You all right?”
“I’m fine.” I’d said that statement so many times today, it didn’t have any meaning.
“No you’re not,” Jake countered. “But we’ll talk about this after.” The warmth in his pale blue eyes steadied me. He still hadn’t shaved. It took me this long to even make that belated realization. Tired hung around his eyes, but his smile chased some of that away. The urge to run my fingers over the stubble on his cheek left my hand twitching.
“Okay,” I conceded, and his smile grew. A minute later, I laughed, it was a hysterical little giggle, but he bumped my shoulder. When one of the doors opened, the humor faded, and we both glanced to where Mr. Rhys exited the office with Diane and Officer Lester behind him. Almost a heartbeat later, the other office door opened letting, Mrs. Benton out, followed by Officer Jennings.
Mrs. Benton looked irked. More than she had when I got here earlier. Jake stood when his mother reached him. “You can leave for the rest of the day,” she told him. “They aren’t suspending you. But you will have to talk to Dr. Miller this week about some anger management.”
He nodded.
“You’re also going to apologize to that boy.”
Mutiny appeared in Jake’s eyes. But before he could open his mouth, Mr. Rhys said, “Let’s discuss it later and not here.”
Mrs. Benton nodded, then turned to me. “Frankie, sweetheart, are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” I told her. Yep, it didn’t gain an ounce of truth, no matter how often I said it.
“Frankie,” Mr. Rhys said. “I’m going to sign you out for the rest of the day, if you want to just call it and go home.” At this point, I’d missed most of lunch, and Jake wouldn’t be there for Euro or Study Hall. I really was worn out…
“I actually won’t say no to that.” I was tired of people overall. I could go home and hide under the covers.
“Then go on,” he said with a smile. “I’ll take care of it. I left a message for your mom, so I’ll talk to her as soon as she calls back. Don’t worry about any of this.”
Fine by me.
“Thanks.”
“And Frankie,” Diane said. “My door is always open.”
Well that was one way to let a draft in. But I just nodded. When I stood, Jake said, “I’m going to go now then…” He looked at his mother. “Maybe take Frankie to get something to eat. We missed lunch.”
“That’s fine, I need to get back to work, but I want to talk to you later. Understood?”
He bobbed his head. “I’ll be home later. You need me to do anything?”
“No, Rebecca and Blake are going out after school, and Louisa has dance. I should be able to pick her up when I’m off. So you’re free—for now.” The last she said with emphasis, and I winced internally. At least Jake wasn’t grounded, yet.
“Thanks, Mom, Joe.” Jake nodded to Mr. Rhys. I never called him by his first name, but then, he hadn’t asked me to, either. “C’mon.”
I wasn’t going to look a good escape in the mouth, Jake pulled open the door and, I slid out. As promised, Archie, Coop, and Ian were waiting a half-dozen steps away.
“We’re out of here,” Jake said. “Bubba’s dad is signing Frankie out.”
“Where to?” Archie asked as Coop wrapped an arm around my shoulders. I was tired, but we needed to dial back the PDA at school, no matter how much I enjoyed it.
I ducked out from under Coop’s arm and said, “Sorry. Talk about it out of here, okay?”
“No problem.” He searched my eyes, but his gray-green ones were a storm of worry.
Ian glanced past us at the closed office door. “Food,” he said before he looked at us. “Coop, you ride with Frankie, I’m taking the bike.”
“Everyone take your cars,” Jake said. “Then somewhere quiet to eat.”
Even as we headed away from the SRO hall, I said, “Guys, I don’t really want to go out. I’m exhausted. I’d rather go home and sleep.” At least there wasn’t anyone there to stare at me or whisper or give terrifically awful advice. The whole day sat on me like a too many heavy sacks, and I was tired of carrying all of them.
“We’ll pick food up and come over?” Jake offered.
The hopeful looks on their faces were hard to ignore. “Okay, but if I fall asleep, you guys just have to deal with it.”
“No problem.”
We split up with Coop and Ian falling in on either side of me as we headed for the exit closer to my car and Ian’s bike. Lunch was over in five minutes, and I was a total coward, I took a different hallway so I didn’t have to go through the cafeteria.
If Ian or Coop noticed, they didn’t say anything. Outside, it was sticky and humid. The clouds were back, but the air was torpid. That just added to my bad mood. A note was stuck to my car, right under a windshield wiper, and I sighed internally.
“I got it,” Coop said. Even if everything else left on or by my car lately had been sweet—this morning really hadn’t been.
“Thanks.”
“Hey,” Ian said as he caught my backpack when I slipped it off. “I know it’s been a shit morning, but it’ll get better.”
“You know that?” Because right now that sounded amazing.
/> “Yeah,” he said. “I do.” Then he pressed a kiss to my cheek and hugged me. If it weren’t so sticky and gross, it would have been an awesome hug. Despite the humidity, I hugged him back for a long minute before pushing away.
“What do you want to eat?”
“I don’t care, whatever anyone wants to pick up. I’ll kick in money for it when you guys get there.”
“Coop?” Ian said.
“Already on it,” he called. “You want me to drive, Frankie?”
I stared at him as I unlocked the car, and he grinned.
“I’ll take that as a no.”
“I’m fine to drive.” It was hot in the car, too, but I got the engine going, and Ian waited for me to pull out before he followed us. Once the A/C started cycling some cooler air, Coop covered my hand on the gearshift.
“Do you wanna talk before we get there?” Coop asked after I pulled my hand away to make my turn.
“Nothing really to talk about. Jake’s not suspended, that’s good.”
“And you?”
“They wanted me to make a statement about the post,” I said with a shrug. “They wanted to know who it was who posted it.”
“Sharon did it,” Coop said. “Obviously.”
“It doesn’t matter if it’s obvious, I’m not going to name her.”
“Why the hell not?” He frowned, twisting to sit sideways.
Sighing, I shrugged. “Because I don’t know one hundred percent for sure that she did it.”
“Yeah we do,” Coop said. “Maria all but admitted it to Jake.”
“She also has her reasons.” I wasn’t too blind to see that.
“I don’t care…”
“That’s the problem, she got hurt, and maybe no one intended that, but she was hurt. Now she’s hurting back. I can handle it, Coop. I’m a big girl. I’ve handled far worse comments than that.”
“What does that mean?” He frowned and wouldn’t let it go all the way back to my place. Ian pulled in behind us.
“Archie and Jake went for food. They’ll be here in a few.”
“Great,” I said, grabbing my backpack and leading the way up to my apartment. Coop was right on my tail like a dog with a bone.
“What happened?”
“Nothing,” I told him. “Let it go.”
“What happened when?” Ian asked as I got the door open. Inside, the apartment was quiet and all the blinds were shut. That was normal. Tory vanished from the sofa, but Tabby and Tiddles wandered out, yowling.
“I’m going to change.” Not waiting for their response, I headed back to my room. I left the backpack on the floor and stripped out of the damp shirt. We hadn’t been outside that long, and I’d already sweated bullets. I traded out my clothes for a tank top and shorts. Then eyed my bed with longing.
First we had to eat though, and then maybe they wouldn’t mind if I just passed out for a little while.
Back in the living room, Coop and Ian both had sodas, and Ian frowned when I came back in. “You were upset this morning.”
“First, I wasn’t,” I said, holding up my hands. “I was tired. I’m still tired. I got like two and a half hours of sleep last night because Jake and I got back late. Second, let it go? I know you’re mad at Sharon, but let it go. No one else needs to be fighting…”
“Who’s fighting?” Archie called as he let himself in the back door.
“That would be me,” Jake answered from right behind him. “So the fight’s covered. Rodney’s a little bitch anyway. He wasn’t that hurt, just playing it up for everyone.”
“You still shouldn’t go slugging people cause they say stupid stuff.”
“He slut sneezed,” Jake said flatly. “He slut-sneezed about you. He’s lucky he has teeth.”
I groaned and flung myself down on the sofa. My head hurt, my eyes hurt—everything hurt.
It was only Monday.
This was going to be the longest week ever.
The couch depressed next to me, and Ian tugged me back to sit against him and he wrapped his arms around me. “I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “This is my fault.”
“It’s not,” I told him.
“She’s right,” Archie said as he and Jake spread lunch out on the coffee table. “It’s not your fault. It’s theirs because they decided they knew what we were going to do, and when we did something different, they got pissed.”
“Well, we were kind of—all over them,” Ian argued.
I opened my eyes to find Jake watching me quietly. “Guys…”
“I don’t care,” Archie countered. “Patty was dating a different dude a week ago, you didn’t see me getting aggressive. Do you care if Sharon sees someone?”
“Guys,” Coop tried. “Let it go for now.”
They looked at me, and Archie’s mouth turned down. “Yeah, okay, putting a pin in it for now.”
Ian pressed a kiss to the back of my head. “Still sorry, Frankie.”
I patted his hand. “Me too—even more because your dad saw the pictures.”
Coop made a face, and Jake sighed. The only one who didn’t care was Archie, but I got that. His parents weren’t likely going to say anything to him. Mine might, I guessed it would depend on how many times Mr. Rhys called her.
That tended to get on her nerves.
They’d stopped for Arby’s. Roast beef sandwiches and curly fries—and mint chocolate chip shakes, at least one for me. Still, I would have to move away from Ian to eat, and as good as the food smelled, this was comfortable, too.
He made the decision for me when he sat us both forward. “Come on, eat.”
“How long is your mom gone for this time?” Jake asked, and I glared at him. Did he have to bring that up now? His bland stare said yes he did.
“The weekend,” I said. “She left this morning.” Yeah, after she dropped her little kernel of advice. I unwrapped a sandwich, and I was almost too tired to eat it, but I put some sauce on it anyway and then took a bite. Tiddles appeared by my feet on the off chance I dropped any roast beef.
The guys discussed Jake’s lack of suspension. “Pretty sure your dad talked them out of it and maybe Coach,” he said. “Mom is pissed, or she was until I told her why I punched the guy.”
“You’re missing Friday’s game?” Ian grimaced. “Do you know how many?”
“Probably find out at practice tomorrow,” Jake said. “It was worth it. You guys will be fine.”
“Yeah, but scouts are there for the next few games. You have to play Homecoming.”
“We got time,” Jake told Ian. “We’ll make it.”
I still needed to shop for Homecoming. I finished about half my fries and most of my sandwich before I curled back up on the sofa. “Just try not to get in any more fights,” I suggested. “You guys don’t need the grief.” And a yawn pulled my jaw wide.
“I can handle it,” Jake told me. “Like I said, worth it, and maybe everyone else will think twice about it. Besides, we still have a few tricks we can pull out to deal with the girls if they don’t lay off.”
“She wouldn’t tell them it was Sharon,” Coop said, but my eyes were mostly shut. When I settled against something warm, I just sighed and stopped fighting the sleep. The guys were here, no one was in deep trouble, and I could rest for a little while.
Chapter Twelve
Polite Conversations
It was dark when I woke up. Someone had moved me into my bed. I definitely remembered falling asleep on the sofa, and I was pretty sure it was curled up next to Ian. But I woke up in my room, with all three of the cats sprawled out in various places around me. And alone.
I didn't hear any sounds coming from the front room, and the lights were off, all except for a nightlight that had been left on in the hall and my door was cracked open. I didn't even know what time it was. Stumbling upward, I went looking for my phone and there it was, sitting next to the bed on its charger right where it was supposed to be. When I picked it up, the first message I saw was from the guys, specifi
cally from Archie but with a follow-up from Jake right beneath it.
Archie: You were sleeping too soundly and none of us wanted to wake you. Tucked you in and made sure the cats were fed before we left.
Jake: I would have stayed, but I had to go home and see Mom. Coop has your spare key, he locked up.
After I read those and cleared them, two more messages popped up, one each from Ian and Coop.
Ian: Sorry about today, I know you said it's not my fault, but I keep thinking if I hadn't done the ask the way I did, or if I'd at least dealt with Sharon when she came to the table afterwards, this wouldn't have happened. Trust me, I'm going to fix it.
Coop: I've got your key. I'll be by first thing in the morning. I would've stayed, but Mom has to work late, and I need to be home for Sis. I hope you feel better. Also — you owe me a date.
A laughing face emoji capped it.
I groaned and rubbed a hand over my face as I fell back against the pillows. Crap. Coop and I were supposed to have a date.
My second attempt to get up and out of bed actually worked, and even though I was awake, I was still really groggy. And the phone said it was just after eight, so I’d slept for several hours. I made my way to the bathroom, took care of business, and then headed to the kitchen to get something to eat. Leftovers were sitting in a baggie on the counter with a note next to it that said: We saved the last two sandwiches for you, will grab breakfast in the morning—Jake
Okay, the guys had way too long in here without me while I was asleep. I mean, I kinda figured it would be easy to nap while they were there. I just hadn't expected to sleep like that, and I still had homework.
Holy shit.
I grabbed a bottle of water and the sandwiches to carry back my room. The cats were all different kinds of disgruntled because I’d disturbed them.
Someone had rearranged the roses too and combined them in one vase with fresh water. I stared at that for a long moment, then shook my head. Just not going there. They’d been sweet, even with the roses.
Light on, I dragged my backpack onto the bed with me and then checked my messages while I ate my sandwich.
Changes and Chocolates: Untouchable Book Two Page 16