Killjoys Chapter Seven

I hadn't realized it before, but Patrick was in my P.E. class. I hadn't noticed before as a result to running slower than me, and the fact that most activities were gender separated. I began to slow my pace down and run my laps with him. We didn't get to talk, because whenever we tried, the coach blew his whistle at Patrick for opening his mouth. Even teachers could be bullies.

My period in the library was boring—Frankie didn't show.

Mikey and I met outside of Mr. Evans class after school. We had to scrap gum out from under the desks. It was a disgusting task. Mr. Evans left the room and Mikey sighed with relief.

"I was afraid he wouldn't leave," Mikey said.

"He's so…awkward," I agreed.

"Charlotte, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure," I shrugged and used all my strength to pry off a particularly old piece of gum.

"Do you like Frank?" he asked and looked directly at me. He watched me as I became flustered.

"I…uh…"

"You can't lie," he added.

"I…think I do." I focused more on the old gum now.

"I knew it! I so knew it!" he practically sang and bounced around a little from under the desk.

"Then why'd you ask?"

"Well, I couldn't just talk to you about it until it was confirmed."

"Why do you want to talk about it?"

"It's so obvious! You blush every time he looks at you—"

"Do not," I interrupted.

"You so do. You also always watch him."

"Wow, that's a little creepy," I said.

"What do you mean?"

"The fact that you noticed that and the fact that I watch him enough to be noticed is creepy. I thought I was being subtle."

Mikey laughed. "You obviously don't know what subtle is. Anyway, I don't think he minds."

"He notices?" I demanded, being a little too loud.

Mikey continued to laugh. "Charlotte, he purposely tries to make you blush now. It's so obvious."

"Lies," I shook my head.

He pushed his glasses up. "I am not lying. He's practically taking every opportunity."

"Mikey," I paused, "does that mean he likes me, or is making fun of me?"

"I don't know," he sighed. "I think he likes you, but he had a pretty bad break up last month."

"How bad was it?"

"'Ripped his heart out and danced on it' bad," he said, and when I didn't reply, he added: "I just don't want you to be his rebound."

"Why was the break up so bad?" I asked cautiously. I was afraid to hear something bad about him.

"He was dating a girl that graduated last year. They dated most of last school year. I never really liked her. She encouraged him to ditch a lot, and got him to start his smoking habit back up. She was pretty cool though, people didn't mess with her. Gerard caught her foolin' around with a jock, but Frankie couldn't get himself to believe Gerard when he told him."

"Gerard's his best friend though! Why didn't he believe him?"

"She had Frank eat alone with her. He didn't eat lunch with us most of the year, and was always too busy to be with us. Well, she graduated and moved into town to go to the community college. Frank went to go surprise her on their eight month anniversary to find her sleeping with some other guy—"

"How could she do that to him?" I demanded.

"Charlotte, she was a bitch. She was using Frank the whole time. She tried to get him back, too. Frank told her no, of course, but he really loved her and she crushed him."

"That's horrible," I whispered and looked down at the floor. Poor Frankie…