“Do you think unicorns really exist?” Mikey asked thoughtfully as he walked alongside Frank.
Frank raised an eyebrow. “Ugh sure… sure they do.”
Mikey frowned. “Then how come nobody’s ever seen one?”
Frank shrugged and stopped as he reached his locker. “Maybe they can turn invisible because they don’t want people to see them.”
“Yeah, that’s probably it. I mean, people would probably try and hunt them and because unicorns are so clever, they turn invisible whenever a human’s near or camouflage,” Mikey agreed.
“Uh-huh,” Frank said, not really listening as he crammed books into his locker.
When he turned around Mikey was stood glaring at him through the thick lenses of his glasses.
“What?” Frank asked.
“You weren’t even listening to me, were you?” Mikey asked sourly.
“Yeah I was!”
Mikey rolled his eyes and started to walk away, leaving Frank to give his best friend an irritated look whilst he wasn’t looking before catching up with him.
“Mikey? I’m sorry I wasn’t paying attention,” Frank offered hopefully, looking up at his friend pleadingly.
“You should be!” Mikey huffed, not really angry. He smiled and gently punched Frank in the shoulder. “It’s okay, I don’t get why you put up with me anyway.”
Frank smirked. “Neither do I. Mikey, can I talk to you about something?”
“Ugh… yeah?”
“Me and Jamia… we’re leaving on Friday night.”
“Leaving?” Mikey repeated.
“Yeah. We’re leaving Jersey together.”
Mikey just stared at Frank. “Are you fucking kidding me Frank?”
“No,” Frank sighed. “We’re going to Cali.”
“California? Why the hell are you going all the way to fucking California?!” Mikey demanded.
“Jamia wanted to get away from New Jersey as much as she could. She wanted to be really far away from Newark and we will be.”
“Why? Why are you doing this Frank?”
“Because,” Frank swallowed nervously. “Because somebody’s been following Jamia and we both just really can’t wait to leave.”
“What?”
“This guy… we have no idea who he is, he’s been following her, watching her for weeks now. We need to go,” Frank mumbled.
“Frank, didn’t your parents drum it into your head that you’re supposed to go to the police about that kind of shit? I know mine did.”
Frank felt anger bubble up inside him. “Well in case you haven’t noticed Mikey, I haven’t seen my dad since I was fourteen and I don’t exactly have to greatest mother in the world do I?! We’ll handle this by ourselves.”
Frank sped up and marched past him, glaring at the people who stared at him. The fact that he’d be able to get away from all of this in a couple of days helped calm him down a little.
But he was still unsure about what to do. He still didn’t know how they were going to handle this guy who was stalking Jamia. He was scared. Maybe even more scared than she was. But he had to be able to get through this. He couldn’t just leave Jamia to deal with all of this on her own. Not now.
He was in too deep.