A Promise Is A Promise

[10] Claire

A few days after Kayla and I kissed, Haylie caught up to me as I was walking into school. The girl beside her—who I was assuming was her sister—went ahead of us, but she made it clear that she wanted to talk to me. 

"So, uh, you know about what happened with Frankie, right?" she asked me, her voice low. I nodded, figuring she was talking about how Frankie had been out of school for the past couple of days because she'd gotten into a fight with Isaiah Conrad. "Okay, did anyone tell you why the fight happened?"

I shrugged and shook my head. "No, but it's not exactly hard to connect the dots. The two of them have a history, so it sort of makes sense."

"Well, yeah, but... that's not really the only reason. When he was making fun of her, he said something about you, so she swung at him. Look, I don't know how he found out or how big of a deal that is to you, but I'm really sorry either way. It wasn't easy to hear, let alone how hard it must feel to be right at the other end of what he said."

That made me kind of uneasy because it didn't sound good. Still, I had to know. "It's fine, I guess. Um, what did he say?"

She didn't seem to want to tell me that, which made me worry that it was bad. A couple months ago, I hadn't cared that much if people found out, but if this was the way they were going to be, maybe that was a mistake. "He asked if you were a, uh, a screamer." Her head hung a little as she hesitantly repeated his words. I felt bad for asking her to tell me, too. It was humiliating and knowing that he'd only asked it because he knew I was with another girl made it worse. "Anyway, when he brought you up, she said she couldn't let it go."

"She did that for me?"

"Yeah, and I'm pretty sure she'd do it again, too. When it comes to this stuff, I don't think she's scared to call anyone out."

"That sounds like her," I agreed, amusement turning up my lips. "She's never been before, so I don't see her starting now. Thanks for telling me, though, Haylie. I'm sure it was just as awful to hear then as it is to hear about it now."

"Yeah, no problem, and again, I'm really sorry he brought you into it. She told me about the rest of it and it didn't have anything to do with you."

"You really don't have to worry about it, but thank you. I'll see you around?"

She nodded and went off by herself towards her locker. I couldn't help thinking about how things must have been for Frankie in the moment that he'd said that. She'd spent her whole life hearing that it's not okay for girls to fall in love with other girls, she'd missed out on dozens of experiences that any straight person could easily have, and then when she'd finally found someone who was capable of reciprocating her feelings, some dick who thought it was his place to say something ruined all of it by refusing to leave her alone about it. It sounded like the most frustrating thing in the entire world and I really wondered how she hadn't snapped several hundred times more.

~

I was talking to Kayla one morning when I saw Frankie heading our direction. Since the fight had ended with both Isaiah and her being suspended, I hadn't had the chance to see her. I'd really been needing to have a conversation with her, though, so hopefully now was the perfect time.

"Hey, guys, what's up?" She waved and nodded at us as she came to a stop next to us. K smiled at her and I could tell it was genuine. Now that basketball was over and softball had started, she'd really been missing Frankie at practice.

"Hey, it's so good to see you," I said, honestly feeling just as happy. "How much longer do you have to have your stitches?"

"Just a few more days. It won't be that bad, I'm just excited to get back to practice."