frankie [episodes 1-3]

-4-

After visiting Carter, Rebecca drives us to a grotty looking bar called The Joint. It's close to school and they do under 18 nights so it's often crammed full of our classmates.

It's for that reason that I haven't attended since before I became a monster.

"I don't want to go, Rigor," I say.

"Andrea's band is playing a gig there," she says as though that explains everything.

She parks the hearse down the slick black road, the rain still drumming against the roof.

"Nerdy Andrea? Well then, that just changes everything..." I mutter.

Rebecca gives me a deadpan look.

"Yes. Andrea is a nerd. I'm a nerd. Jared is a nerd, we're all..."

"I'm not a nerd," grumbles Jared from the back of the vehicle.

Rebecca grins.

"Are too... anyway, Andrea's actually pretty cool once you get to know her. Come on, it'll be fun. Plus, we need to look over the new file."

I look out of the window. There's a crowd joking around underneath umbrellas at the entrance and I feel a jolt of sadness inside. I used to love coming here. But that was before. And this is now.

I don't belong here anymore.

Rebecca opens the car door and I grab her arm – mortified at the desperation rising inside of me.

"I'm not dressed right. I don't look right. People will stare at me."

She holds my gaze as Jared clambers out of the back.

"Let them," she says.

Neither of us speaks for a few moments and I'm only marginally aware that I'm still clinging onto her wrist. She makes no move to pull away though.

"What if people laugh at me?" I say.

She looks at me squarely.

"What if they don't? What if me, you and Jared get totally caffeine high off those awful watery cappuccinos they serve, have a laugh, and listen to some live music? What if we all look through the casefile of Eleanor Masters together, instead of you having to do it alone? What if you actually have a great time?"

She raises her eyebrows at me as my mind tries to process what she's saying.

What if she's right? What if I stop worrying what people think and do what I actually want to do for once?

Then Jared raps on the window, making me jump and breaking me out of my thoughts. There's rainwater streaming through his closely shaved black hair and down his face. His lips are pursed and his eyes have the angry glint behind them that I noticed when I first met him.

"Are you guys coming or what?" he snaps, "I don't know if you've noticed but it's raining out here."

"Oh, I'm sorry, is your hair getting messed up?" Rebecca bellows out at him, "God, he's such a little diva. Anyway, you up for it?"

I find the corner of my lip tugging upwards at the thought of big, muscular Jared being referred to as a little diva. I exhale heavily then nod.

"Fine."

Rebecca grins and I return it. Then the two of us get out of the car.

Inside, The Joint is just how I remembered it - dark, loud, and crowded. There are about twenty assorted tables gathered around a small raised stage area - where Andrea is playing drums in a band led by a gangly looking teenage boy. They're playing a slightly off key cover of a Blink 182 song - clearly making up for the lack of singing talent by sheer volume. At one side of the room is a dingy bar serving bottled soft drinks and coffee. The space smells like stale beer, perfume and barely masked adolescent sweat.