Hunger

May (part 3)

Frankie wanted to tell Abi everything, but she felt like saying it out loud made it start all over again. At that moment both their phones buzzed. Someone had posted in their groupchat. It was Alex, who had posted a link to a video from TikTok, and written a message along with it. 

'What the actual fuck? Have you seen this shit?'

It was a video filmed from the bus stop at Frankie's job. One of the teenagers had filmed how they shouted after her, and then posted it on TikTok. At first it was a zoomed clip of her looking at her phone and smiling. Then she leaned back and closed her eyes, the sun hitting her face. Then someone yelled: "Oh my God, that's her!" and the rest of the video was just as Frankie remembered it. 

Abi sat in total silence watching the video with a look of horror on her face. A tear trickled down her cheek when the clip ended, and she looked at Frankie, who sat on her bed, hugging her legs. Abi scooted closer to her, and hugged her tightly. "People are fucking arseholes," she sniffled into Frankie's shoulder. Frankie nodded and wiped her eyes. 

"We should report this, Franks," Abi whispered and read up on the rules for reporting people. 

Frankie sat very still, just hugging her legs and looking down on her knees. "I'm scared that this is what's in store for me as long as I'm with Harry," she whispered and a single tear ran down her cheek. 

Abi dried Frankie's cheek with her sleeve and sank a lump in her throat. Then she picked up her phone and dialled a number. 

"Harry, it's Abi," she said. Frankie looked up shaking her head, but Abi gave her a stern look. "I'm going to forward you a link to a video that's going around at the moment. Frankie is in pieces, I think you need to get here." Then she hung up and sent him the link to the video.

"Abi, he doesn't need to get involved. It'll only upset him, and..." Frankie was interrupted by Abi's finger on her lips. 

"No, Frankie. He needs to see what people do to you. He needs to use his platform for good, to make sure that when people say shit like this, he doesn't condone it." Abi wasn't budging, and Frankie knew she was right, but she really didn't want to be a problem for Harry. 

About an hour later, their doorbell rang, and Abi went out to open the door. Frankie stayed on her bed, knees under her chin, hugging her legs. She had been stuck like that for ages, and it felt comforting somehow. She could hear Harry's voice and Abi's both speaking low, but animated. It was obvious that Harry was upset, she couldn't make out what he said, but the way he spoke sounded like he was angry. 

He came into her room, and as soon as she locked eyes with him, she started crying again, and hid her face in her hands. Harry crossed her room quickly and sat down next to her. He pulled her into his arms, and held her tightly as he kissed the top of her head and whispered that everything was going to be alright. His voice cracked and she looked up at him, shocked to find tears in his eyes as well. 

"People can truly suck," he whispered and tried to smile at her. She let her hand rest on his cheek and dried away a tear. She nodded and looked out the window for a while. 

"I'm working on a statement with Jeff," Harry said. "I'm not going to accept people bullying you for being with me." 

Frankie tried to smile, but it didn't reach her eyes. She wanted to tell him that it was kind of him, and that he wasn't just helping her, but all people who were like her. But the words were not coming. Mostly she just wanted to lie down and close her eyes, and make it all disappear. Before she met him people might have thought all sorts of things about her, but at least they kept it to themselves or behind her back. They didn't seem to have the idea that it was their right to yell it out in the streets. She knew there were lots of hateful comments about her online, but at least she could steer clear of those by not looking them up. But if she couldn't go to work and live her life the way she always had without being pummeled with hate, how was she going to function?