Chapter 11

“Mom,” Frankie began her plea of innocence. “We fell asleep, that’s….”

“I am speaking. Not you!” Rachel was furious. “I said to sit!” wrinkles formed between Rachel’s eyebrows, making her look maniacal. Frankie immediately planted her butt in the chair beside her desk and twisted a strand of hair in her fingers.

“Frances Tulsa Montgomery. You had me scared out of my mind! Where have you been, young lady?” Rachel drew in a deep breath and rubbed her forehead. “Faith dropped you off hours ago. I have called and texted you, and all I got was a smart-ass answer without any information about your whereabouts.” Frankie watched her mom pace the small space between her bed and desk. She noticed wadded-up tissues littered the ground for the first time since she entered the room. Her mom had been crying in her room in the dark. Frankie felt the knot forming in the pit of her stomach as tears welled in her eyes. “I tried calling Steve, but he wouldn’t answer. You can’t imagine the horrors running through my mind of what could be happening to you.”

”He didn’t have his phone. He forgot it at his house.”

“I guess that is supposed to make me feel better. At least he wasn’t ignoring your mother.”

“No, he wasn’t ignoring you,” Frankie explained innocently. “We were at the lake in Veteran’s park and fell asleep in the bed of his truck.”. She stopped twisting the silver strand around her finger and stood with her back to her mom. She absently rearranged the books on her desk.

“You what??” Rachel’s eyes popped. “Frankie! How could you sleep with him? You have only been dating for a couple of weeks! You know better! I can’t believe you did this! I hope you used protection!” a river of questions and accusations spewed from Rachel’s mouth. She bit her bottom lip, closed her eyes, and drew a deep breath.

“What? You think I had sex with him?” she twirled on her heel and shouted at her mom. “Oh, my God, Mom! Really?!”

“You said you slept with him.” Rachel’s clasped her shaking hands together.

“You are overreacting, Mom,” Frankie huffed. “I said we fell asleep, not that we slept together! We were looking for shooting stars!.”

“Oh.” her mom said meekly. “I thought….”

“You thought I had sex with a random boy that I didn’t even know his name!” she shrieked in her mom’s face. “Just like you did!”

Rachel blanched at her daughter’s outburst but couldn’t deny the facts of what she had done at Frankie’s age. She hung her head and stared at the bright yellow rug under her feet.

“Honey, I am sor–”

“Just get out.” Frankie’s voice trembled. “Get out of my room. I’m going to bed.” she wouldn’t look at her mom. If she did, she felt like she would throw up.

Rachel stepped closer to her daughter and leaned in to kiss her cheek. Frankie jerked away and turned her back to her mother once again.

“We will talk more tomorrow. I start my new job in the morning, in case you forgot," Rachel said.

Frankie slammed the door. In typical Frankie fashion, she caught her finger in the jamb and yelled, "Shit!" at the closed door. ‘I hate you for ruining my life!”

She knew her mother could hear her but didn’t care. She clutched her injured finger to her chest and fell into bed. How had this night and her life turned upside down so quickly? Nothing made sense anymore.

She pulled her journal from beneath her pillows and scribbled a quick entry. God, do you see me? I need you right now. Please, help me. I am so confused and don’t know what to do. Let me know you are there….” she sat silently, listening for any sign, but none came. Tears flowed steadily and eventually carried her off to sleep.

Frankie woke up with drool on her chin. She had a massive headache and desperately needed coffee. She yelled down the hall toward her mom’s room but got no reply. She navigated her way through the living room, stubbed her toe on the corner of the coffee table, and cursed under her breath. This was a great morning.

Silence filled the apartment. She started the coffee and grabbed a blueberry muffin from the breadbox. She noticed a note on the counter.

Since you couldn’t make it home by

midnight curfew and were two hours late,

you are grounded for the next two weeks.

No Faith. No Steve. This is not negotiable.

I will take your cell phone, too, if you argue with

me over this. Think before you speak.

Mom

☙☙☙

“Grounded?” Steve hung his head as they walked toward the main entrance of Holly Springs High, hand in hand. “I’m sorry, Babe, it’s all my fault. I can’t believe I fell asleep.” he scolded himself.

“We both fell asleep,” Frankie reminded him. She enjoyed being held in his arms and would do it again if given a chance. She looked up at him and smiled. Steve leaned over and kissed the tip of her nose.

“Your mom must hate me now.” his face clouded over, and he groaned.

“Who cares what she thinks.”

Steve pulled her out of the flow of students heading into the building to an alcove beside the main steps. “I care, Frankie,” he raked his fingers through his hair. “I like you and would like to keep seeing you. Your mom being public enemy number one, would not be in my favor.”

Butterflies fluttered in her stomach when he touched her cheek with the back of his hand. “Okay, since you put it that way, maybe I will care…a little,” she smirked.

“That’s my silver-haired angel,” he kissed her softly. “Let’s head inside before the bell rings.”

“Ohhh,” Frankie groaned and pulled Steve backward by his hand. “I don't want to go to school today. Can’t we go back to the lake and feed the ducks?” she whined.

“Do you want to get grounded longer?” he was unphased by her whine but admitted to himself he was tempted to steal her away for the day. “I would like us to be able to go out again before Christmas.”

“I guess.” she pouted. “Do you always have to be so logical?”

“It isn’t logical; it’s looking at the big picture. You should try it sometime.”

“What’s that supposed to mean,” Frankie scowled.

“I just meant that sometimes…” he stammered, trying to figure out how to get his point across diplomatically without further insulting her.

“Hiya, Chickadee!” Faith bounced from the shadows, interrupting their discussion.

“Hi, Faith,” Frankie turned her attention away from Steve, but not before flashing him a glare that told him they would finish the discussion later.

“What happened last night?” Faith questioned. “Your mom was freaking out when you didn’t go home. Why didn’t you at least text me to cover for you?” she sounded hurt. “Lord knows you’ve covered for me when I am out with Hunter. Where were you anyway?”

“I wasn’t planning on staying out so late,” Frankie drew in a deep breath and blew it out in a huff, “We were at the lake, and Steve and I fell asleep in the bed of his truck,” it seemed like the hundredth time she had retold the same story. Steve stood silently, letting Frankie explain.

“What?” Faith’s mouth fell open then she mouthed silently to Frankie, “You had sex??”

“Why does everyone assume we had sex?” Frankie’s voice rose louder than intended. Several students turned to look at the three standing near the entrance, and her face reddened.

“What are you looking at?” Faith snapped at the nosey onlookers. “None of you were invited to this party.” she turned back to Frankie and Steve, shaking her head. “Juveniles.”

“We did not have sex. Okay? We were looking at the stars and fell asleep. No big deal,” she released a long, low sigh. “And,” she continued,

“I’m grounded for the next two weeks. One week for every hour I was out past curfew.”

“Oh, that sucks.” Faith spouted. “Two whole weeks. Wow, your mom was really mad!”

“Tell me about it,” Steve chimed in. “This weekend, I wanted to see the new Avatar movie in 3D that just came out.”

“I’m so sorry, but you can still go, Steve,” Frankie bit her bottom lip. Steve had been talking about that movie for weeks waiting for the release.

“Don’t wait on me to go.”

“No way. We will go when you’re paroled.” His smile was so sweet; it made Frankie’s heart melt.

Faith looked at the display on her phone, “Guys, we gotta go. The bell is going to ring in two minutes,” the three took off, running toward their first class, especially Frankie. The last thing she needed was a tardy slip for her mom to have to sign.

☙☙☙

“I don’t want to go in there,” Frankie complained as she and Faith stood outside Mr. Winter’s English class. She slumped against the lockers and picked at the nail polish that had chipped while playing volleyball in Phys Ed.

“I know, but you can’t cut class. We got caught trying to do that yesterday,” Faith hooked her arm in Frankie’s and dragged her into class. “Come on, Chick.”

“You are so mean.”

“I know. That’s why you love me,” she smirked. “We’ll sit in the back and hide behind the basketball players. He won’t even know we are here.” Faith was an eternal optimist, whereas Frankie sometimes tended to be a pessimist. Maybe that is why they were such good friends. Opposites do attract.

“Fat chance,” Frankie responded flatly and sat at a desk beside Faith.

Mr. Winters stood at the head of the class, waiting for the students to settle after the tardy bell rang. “The votes are in,” he paused for dramatic effect. “And the winner is… Catcher In The Rye. Apparently, The entire class read it in the eighth grade along with Mr. Cupp,” he chuckled and began passing out copies of the book. He didn’t acknowledge Frankie as he handed her a book. However, he did address Faith as he passed her by. She turned to Faith and squished her eyebrows together as if to say, what the hell? Faith shrugged her left shoulder and shook her head slightly. She looked just as confused as Frankie.

Mr. Winters didn’t look at Frankie once during class. In fact, he ignored her completely. She felt a pang of hurt in her heart. Sure, she didn’t want anything to do with him, but she wondered – if her mom had told him that she was his daughter, which she was sure Rachel had, shouldn’t he have said something, anything, to her?

She packed all her books in her backpack when the class was over and slowly exited the classroom with Faith. She was a bit surprised he hadn’t tried to stop her or get her attention when the final bell rang.

“That was weird,” Faith turned to Frankie when they were out of earshot of their teacher. “It was like you weren’t even there. Are you sure your mom told him about you?”

“How could she not have, Faith?” she held back the tears welling in her eyes. “I guess he really didn’t want me all those years ago, and he doesn’t want me now.”

“Oh, Chickadee, I am so sorry,” she put her arm around Frankie as they left the building. Frankie didn’t utter a word as they walked through the parking lot to Pickle. She climbed in the passenger’s seat, rested her chin against her chest, and stared at the untied shoelace of her Vans. Faith reached over and squeezed Frankie’s forearm reassuringly. She started the engine and steered Pickle out of the parking lot to take Frankie home.

“Frankie,” she whispered softly. “God is in control.”

Frankie didn’t respond to her best friend. She silently wiped a tear off her cheek and watched Holly Springs pass by outside the side window.