𝐑𝐮𝐧 ✯JJ Maybank

𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 || 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐂𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐬

✯♛✯

𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐞 arrived home, she assumed her mother and stepfather were already asleep. All of the lights seemed to be off, except in her room, the glow from the artificial lights were shining through the glass windows of the doors that lead to the small balcony connected to her room. Her bedroom was on the second floor, with her mother and stepfather's room across the hall. Both were very large, so it took up most of the top floor which was slightly smaller than the bottom floor because the ceiling was open by the stairs.

Francine opened the front door slowly, not wanting to make much noise. It was about midnight, She would have been home earlier if Topper wasn't acting completely wasted. She and Sarah had to basically carry him into his house, up the stairs, and into his room. It took a long time because that boy seemed to have 3% body fat and was basically made of muscle. It also didn't help that he was coming in and out of consciousness constantly. Francine didn't understand why he was acting that way, he didn't seem to get hit that much and he didn't have many injuries. She assumed that it was because he was drunk before the party and the adrenaline was wearing off so the buzzed feeling was coming back.

The girl slowly and quietly crept up the stairs into her bedroom, every now and then a stair would creak, causing her to flinch. She didn't want to wake up her mother and have to face her so she tried to make the least noise possible, it was kind of hard with the house being really old. Francine finally entered her room, she shut the door behind her as quietly as possible. She put her ear to the door, waiting to hear any sign of anyone else awake in the house. When she heard nothing Francine sighed in relief that she didn't get caught on her way there. She didn't know how she was going to cover up the massive bruise that was forming on her cheekbone if she happened to run into Katerina and Christopher.

     Francine stood still for a little bit resting her head on the door, thinking of cover stories for the mark on her face. If she said that she got hit at the party, her mother would either ground her or seek out who punched her. She was trying to avoid both. She could also lie and say that she fell, but that might not convince her stepfather since he was a doctor and knew that a bruise like that was not caused by a fall.

She thought back to the party, the dirty looks that her old friends were sending her. She thought Kiara would understand what was going on and that the reason she picked Sarah was that her mother made her, but it seemed that the girl thought that she actually had control over her decisions. Francine bit the inside of her cheek as she remembered the hateful look on her former best friend's eyes, the look he gave her made her feel envious that turtles were able to curl into their shell whenever they wanted. She took a deep breath, trying to push everything away like she's been doing for the past three years.

     "Stressed?" A voice coming from the direction of her bed. Francine's breath hitched as she turned around, hoping that she was imagining the voice. Katerina was sitting on her bed, eyebrows raised with an amused expression, in her hands was the small pink shoebox that Francine had been looking for. "How was the party?"

     Francine narrowed her eyes in suspicion at the strange way her mom was acting, she seemed almost calm which was concerning. She thought that her mom would be livid and screaming at her once she saw her, after the comment she made during their argument. She rested her back onto the door, trying to find any source of anger in her mother's face as she replied, "Good...."

     Katerina nodded and put the box onto the bed beside her. She raised her brow at Francine as she pointed to her own cheek, "Good? Then what's that?"

    The teen widened her eyes, not knowing how to answer her mother. She stuttered a little bit before shooting out a truthful answer with the least detail possible, "There was a fight, I tried to stop it." Her mother nodded, not asking any further questions about the party. She just stayed silent, which made Francine nervous about what was going through her mind. She knew that if she lied and her mother found out differently, her already limited social life would be dead. She cleared her throat, "What are you doing here?"