Gerard's POV

“Never have I ever gone an entire school day without being beaten..... and bullied in other ways. I can pretty much deal with the emotional aspect of it. I mean, I expected to be made to feel like shit. I was in elementary school and those kids were my own age. But, I wasn't prepared for the physical abuse.”

Everyone was silent. I turned to Ray, his expression was one of shock. He didn't know either. How did we both miss this? Mikes must have reallyfelt the alcohol to have admitted this to us all. “Mikes....Mikey...”

“Gee, stop. I can handle it. I've been handling it. We're graduating in a few weeks, it's just finals anyway. Oh, and the joyous Valedictorian speech that I'm SOOO looking forward to.” Wow, I had no idea it was that bad. I knew a few kids picked on him. “I don't know why I don't just withdraw and let the Saludictorian take over. Oh yeah, the school wants the publicity. It's just another reason for the students to hate me.”

“But, but, how are they getting to you? You have Ray or me with you almost all the time. I thought we were protecting you enough.” The pangs of guilt I felt must have been all over my face.

“Yeah, almost. But you 2 can't be with me every second and you shouldn't few guilty about that fact. If you both weren't with me as much as you were, I'd have to go to a special school or study online. There are a few groups that have our schedules memorized. I try hard not to use the bathroom alone. But all it takes is 2 minutes without one of you in the hallway. Or the restroom. They have it down to an art form really, when and where to take me, what will cause the most pain with the least amount of visible damage, the exact spots that won't show bruising even during P.E. Which injuries won't make me limp but still keep me in constant pain. You know, anything to avoid suspicion.” He lifted his shirt up to his collarbone. “Yesterday was the last day of school. See if you can find the brass knuckles. This was an hour before we were sent home.” After 10 seconds, he pointed along the bottom edge of his ribs. Sure enough, it was hard to see, even on his pale skin. “Bottom rib and the area just below don't seem to bruise on me, as long as they don't crack the rib. At least you can breathe easier with bruised ribs than cracked ones. Hips however...” he pulled the waistband of his jeans down a couple of inches on one side. “Don't worry, Frankie. I'm not going too far down.” He smiled, obviously trying to ease the tension.

“Ha ha, I was a little concerned that you were going to start a strip tease for us. Trying to change my mind about which Way I'm going with?” I slapped her arm gently, then placed my other hand on my chest giving everyone my best sass. By then, Mikey had his hip displayed, and all jokes were forgotten. We all gasped. He was beaten so badly it was literally black and blue, something I thought was only a figure of speech. The entire area was a mottled purple and blue, with what looked like black knuckle marks. I don't remember the last time I wanted to really let loose and cry, but at that moment, tears welled up in my eyes.

“Why didn't you say anything to us? We could have tried to help. Or at the very least, we could have made sure you weren't alone anymore.” Ray held his hand and gently rubbed circles on his back with the other. 'He was protecting us' I thought. My brother would do anything to protect the ones he loves and if these particular bullies are conniving and cruel enough to hide their damage, they've probably threatened us as well.With my damp face in my hands, I felt a terrible numbness come over me. I realized that my worries were insignificant compared to what he'd been dealing with, all the while going through it alone.

“They said if I told either of you, they would start doing the same to both of you as well. So if I suddenly had bodyguards all the time, they would have guessed. It's the same reason I didn't tell the Principal, a teacher or Mom and Dad.” Frankie and I got up and walked over to him. She sat down on the floor near his feet. I leaned over and hugged him. Ray gave me a little space, then went back to comforting him like before.

“You're such an amazing person. Dealing with all this by yourself. Tutoring me which I know for a fact is frustrating, even though I am trying my hardest.” We all laughed. “Yet you STILL manage to stay top of the class and finish high school in 2 years.” Mikey looked at his lap, blushing.

“Really? You really ARE a genius, aren't you? You need to give yourself more credit.” Frankie had a look of awe as she spoke. Ray and I both nodded but Mikey shook his head slightly, still looking down.

“We're all really good at something. Ray is a Guitar Legend, maybe a Guitar God. Gee is the best artist I've ever seen, and his voice is beautiful. He just doesn't know it.” Now it was our turn to look down in embarrassment. “I'll need aural confirmation to know for sure, but I've heart that you are quite the musician as well.”

“Ha ha, yeah. Well, I've heard worse and I had a great teacher. Seems like you have a talent for finding the good in others too.”

We decided to switch to strictly soda for awhile. The conversation was easy and relaxing, like the 4 of us had been hanging out together all our lives. We found out each others favorite bands, albums, songs, movies, books. We were comparing which live shows we'd been to that we considered to be the best when Frankie's phone went off. She ignored it and continues laughing and talking with us. 10 minutes later it went off again. And again.

“Grrrr! What?! If this is John....” She pulled her phone out of her pocket. Her face a look of surprise, then a smile, then she bounced with happiness. “Yaaaay! OMG, one of my brothers was able to come early! Billie is getting here tonight.” She jumped up from her spot on the group, and skipped a bit around the room. “He'll be here in about 5 to 10 minutes. Oh, yay! Guys, I can't wait for you to meet all my brothers. They're so cool.”

“Why is he just telling you now?” I'm glad Ray asked what I was thinking, because I didn't feel like I was close enough to her yet to ask.

“Evidently he flew stand by, so he didn't know if he could catch a flight earlier than tomorrow or not. He didn't want to get my hopes up and then have me be disappointed, which I totally would have been. He was added right before they took off. Like, seriously, right before. They had everyone else on and they waited and waited for one person who didn't show. So they told him to get on. He did and they took off 2 minutes later. Then when he landed, he thought it would be a nice surprise. So instead of calling and having me coming get him at the airport, which is an hour drive, he decided to call when he was almost here. You know, to make sure we were actually here to let him in and stuff. Both of you are soooo, going to love him.” She was trying to look and motion to Mikey and I at the same time. I couldn't help but smile widely at her. I had never seen her this happy since we'd met under less than ideal of circumstances. This joyful enthusiasm reminded me a little of the Tasmanian Devil. “I don't know why I'm suddenly talking like a Valley Girl. I've never done that before when I was excited. At least I don't think so. Ray?” Ray just shrugged. I shook my head and laughed very lightly. It seemed like Ray was very wisely trying to avoid that landmine question. When she heard the doorbell ring, she rushed downstairs. “I'll get it, I'll get it! Yay! Yay! Yay!”

I heard the front door open. Several minutes of complete silence went by. It was then that I started thinking we should have followed Frankie. “It's awfully quiet down there. You think maybe Frankie walked outside to help her brother with his bags, or something? Why are 3 guys sitting on their asses letting her do that?” As soon as we got downstairs, we knew something was wrong. The front door was wide open but she was nowhere to be found. I ran outside with no particular direction, starting to panic. There was no Frankie, brother, taxi, rental car, luggage. Nothing. This made no sense. “Ok, how about you both search the yard for clues, I guess? I'll ask if they heard anything suspicious inside. Sound good?” Ray and Mikey nodded, then went off in different directions to look. I ran inside and tried to figure out the best way to question a couple who've been making out for at least 2 hours.

“Brendan, Brendan please. This is important.” I really hated telling him this way, but we were pressed for time and I was not going to physically touch them. I walked up uncomfortably (for me) close to them, about a foot away, and almost shouted. “Frankie is missing! She answered the door and then disappeared.” He detached his face from Hayley's and gave me a withering look, one that didn't phase me in the slightest. It took about 10 seconds for my words to register in his brain.

“Wait, WHAT? Frankie is missing? How can she be missing? She was just here. People don't just evaporate.” Yep, I had a feeling this would happen. I got hysterical and I just fell in love with her. He's been in love with her for years.

“Ok, relax.” He started to open his mouth, but I put my hands on his shoulders. “I know, I was hysterical and I will be again but I need to give you all the information. Frankie got a few texts from Billie not long ago saying he was able to get a stand by flight and that he would be here in about 10 minutes. Then the doorbell rang, which you probably heard. Of course, we all thought it was Billie. She ran downstairs to answer the door, but then there was just silence. When we didn't hear any noise or voices, we came downstairs to find the front door open and Frankie gone. We checked the entire front property. We didn't heard any car or truck engines. How did they get away so fast?”

“Yeah, we thought that too, which is why we went outside. No vehicle, no brother, no Frankie. Mikes and Ray are spreading out and widening the search area. We don't know if someone pretended to be her brother and faked the texts or if it was just coincidental timing. But we need as much help as possible.” Brendan's eyes had widened gradually with every sentence, until they were roughly the size of the moon. Now he was just nodded like a bobble head. Hayley held one of his hands in hers, and covered it with the other. She started to calm him by various subtle movements, gentle pats, lightly squeezing.

Before I could even think of a possible next move, my brother and best friend burst into the kitchen with a short, dark haired man in his late 20s. Although I didn't think it was possible, he looked even more freaked out than Brendan. It was obvious that this was Billie, who had just arrived and been informed about her disappearance.

“Hayley, why don't you call the police. I think Frankie's been kidnapped!”

Notes

Think you've got this part figured out? Maybe..... maybe not.

B