To Be Frank

Three's a Crowd

"Her face is better than her acting," Katie remarks.

The four of us are watching TV leisurely: Kat sits on the carpeted ground, Amery and Frank on opposite ends of the couch, and me, sandwiched in between.

"Isn't that true for all of them?" Amery asks, and reaches over my lap to get access to the popcorn. "Hey, can you pass it?"

"Sorry, sorry," I grab a handful before handing her the bowl.

"Kat, why are we watching this?" Frank asks, not completely unkindly.

"It's for her school play," I answer with my mouth full, and shrug when I see Ames glaring at me. She calls my manners atrocious.

Katie sniffs and uncrosses her legs. "I'm bored now," she says. "Why did the teacher tell us to watch this? We already understand the plot, plus I think I can already act better than most of them."

"I know you can, Katie-Kat," Frank grins and leans down to ruffle her hair, " and I can't wait to go see your debut performance."

"Really?" She lights up like a lightbulb, and extends a hand to Frank. "You'll be there? Pinky swear."

"I swear," Frank promises and complies, locking both his pinkies with hers and shaking their hands twice.

At this, Amery and I both smile; seeing Katie and Frank interact almost always had that effect on us.

"Hey, Kat, how about asking Frank to help you practice your lines?" Amery suggests.

"Will you? Please?" If Katie smiles any wider her face will split in half.

Laughing, Frank shoots her a double thumbs up, "sure, why not? But give me a sec, okay, I gotta go to the washroom first."

"Okay, I'll get my script while you do that then," she leaps to her feet and rushes off, even before Frank could get off the couch.

I twist around and check to make sure that the both of them are out of earshot before I turn back to face Amery. I have to tell her; it's my duty to.

"What's up?" she asks expectantly, seeing the urgent expression I held on my face.

"Frank and I found a note today during lunch break," I blurt out before I can think it over, "it was addressed to me and said to stay away from Christian, but I think the sender made a mistake and it was meant for you."

For a minute, Amery stares at me unblinkingly. Then she bursts out laughing. "Oh, Eli, you don't actually believe that they mean it?"

I am rather taken aback by her reaction. "I believe it," I try again, "I really do."

"Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean to make a joke out of it, but it just seems so... silly," Amery sniffs and tries to look back at me seriously, but failing miserably. "What did it say?"

"E Chan, stay away from Christian," I repeat the words from my memory.

"So it's not exactly like they were threatening to do anything bad, right? Probably just a joke."

"A lot of people are serious about dating Christian, Ames. It's not just you."

"Well," she flips her hair and turns back to the TV, "at least you know I'm serious about him. I'm not going to let this joke bother me at all, so you shouldn't worry about it either, okay?"

This wasn't how it was supposed to go. She was supposed to believe me. I'm her sister-sister-dear. Dejectedly, I slump back onto the couch and run a hand through my hair. "Frank said the same thing, it's probably just me," I say, partially just to make myself feel better. But I still couldn't shake off the feeling that there was something bigger going on.