Scars - A PJO/HOO Soulmates AU

22.

I think I deserve a round of applause. I actually managed to finish this weeks chapter on time, huzzah for me! School is being so draining this week and fun fact: I wrote the pillow part to the end, all in the last 30 minutes. 

So yeah, it might be utterly horrible. Sorry.

Chapter 21 - Frazel Finds a Little Secret

The next Monday, Frank dragged his feet along as he made his way across the street.

He didn't sleep very well last night, too concerned about his father to get much sleep. Mars was getting more and more distracted and distant these days.

He even stopped their morning workout routine because he was going to his job so early in the morning and coming back very late. Frank would do the workout on his own now. He was afraid that Mars would pop out of nowhere if he decided to skip and make him do 100 more pushups than usual.

The thing that made Frank restless however, was the fact that he didn't even know his father's own job. He thought that he worked for the army, but he hadn't been deployed anywhere recently and he also would come home with bags under his eyes and looking exhausted.

Frank knew for fact that military training wasn't so horrible that it would even make a dent in the great Mars Zhang. Maybe his father was just becoming old?

Frank thought that and then felt bad. He wondered what his grandmother would say.

Do not talk about your elders like that Fai, they are the ones who take care of you.

Frank couldn't believe he was thinking this, but he really missed his grandmother. When they lived together in Canada, he hated how she would make him learn Chinese history and gods, but now he would give anything to hear her scold him again.

Frank saw his school come into view and started walking a bit faster. He got to the steps and almost bumped into a girl who had stopped on the stairs. She had one hand on her hip and the other holding a phone against her ear.

She was whisper-yelling at someone in the receiver. Frank recognized her.

Puerto Rican? Check.

Black hair in a braid? Check.

Tall with piercing black eyes? Check (he couldn't see her face but by then he'd guessed who it was).

Reyna turned around and Frank stepped to the side to hide behind a person in front of him. Reyna shrugged and returned to her call. Frank sighed and continued up the steps, remembering times from before.

He and Reyna used to be friends, best friends in fact.

When he was in first grade and she in second, she pushed him off the swings, and he cried and told on her. They had been friends ever since.

Until one day in the first year of middle school. They were planning a movie night, and when Reyna arrived, she didn't hesitate to deliver the bad news. Meaning, when he opened the door, she told him that they can't be friends anymore and ran off.

Frank couldn't help but cry, and asked his father what happened. His dad just stared with cold eyes and told him that he and Reyna's mother had a falling out, and Frank was forbidden to talk to her from then on. So they didn't.

Whenever they locked eyes in the hallways, there was no speaking or expression, but Frank could tell from Reyna's eyes that she was sad about their broken friendship. He still had Reyna's contact in his phone, but whenever he was about to call or text her, he would chicken out.

Frank walked down the hall and to his locker. Then he went to class. As usual, the first period was hashtag boring, but he couldn't seem to have one art class where there wasn't extreme drama.