37. Franny
Tyler and I sit at the end of a long table in the cafeteria, facing each other. We both have our books and binders laid out around us, and a bit of crap food from the cafeteria sitting in front of us. I take a bite of the pizza and turn a page in my history textbook.
"I'm gonna fail," I say.
"No, you're not." Tyler rolls his eyes. "Just study, you'll be fine."
I huff and put the pizza down. Looking up, I notice Tyler glance across the room. I slide my eyes over to where he's looking and see a table filled with a few boys, most of them wearing our school football shirts. I look towards Tyler and sigh.
"I know you miss it," I say. "You always try and convince me you don't, that you're over it but you're not."
Tyler snaps his eyes over to mine before looking down at his food. "I just . . . sometimes I miss little things. How I'd feel when we finished a game. When we'd all go to the same place to eat every time we won. How the coach would tell me that I'd done good. And yeah, sometimes I miss them. They used to be my best friends."
"Why aren't they still?" I ask.
"I pushed them away," Tyler says. "Wasn't really in the mood to try and keep friendships going so eventually they gave up on me. Not their fault."
"I'm sure they still care about you," I say.
"They have a new captain of the football team," he says. "They don't need me anymore."
"That's a lie." I give him a pointed look. "They'd take you back in seconds and you know they would."
Tyler looks back over at his old friends and shrugs. "Not yet though. Not ready yet." He clears his throat. "How's your dad?
"Good," I say. "Pretty much back to normal now. He's used to the whole missing eye thing. He sometimes gets a little freaked out but he's okay."
"Is he any . . . better?"
"You mean has he stopped being an asshole?" I smile. "Yeah, a bit. I mean, I don't know how long it will last but he's nicer." I trace my finger along the table. "I missed that."
Tyler squeezes my hand briefly and finishes up his food.
"What are you doing tonight?"
I shrug. "Probably just stay home and relax for once. You?"
"I have a fight," Tyler says tightly.
My face falls. "A fight?" I echo. "I thought Carl would be easier on you now."
"He already has been," Tyler says. "He thinks it's been too long since I did a fight. He wants to see another one."
This is getting out of hand.
I close my eyes and reach along the table to touch the top of his hand as he did to me a few moments before.
"Be safe," I say. "Please."
Tyler winces. "I'll try."
***
Tally completely destroys any hope I might have had of a peaceful night in, when she comes barreling towards my locker at the end of the school day. She slams her hand against the one beside mine, making me jump nearly a mile in the air. I narrow my eyes at her and zip up my backpack and slide it over my shoulder.
"Can you not do that?" I ask.
"You remember that father-daughter dance?" she asks, completely ignoring what I just said.
"Yeah, what about it?"
"Well, I've decided that I'm going to pull a big ol' middle finger to the people that set it up and go anyway, even though I don't have a dad to go with me," Tally explains.
"Well good for you," I say and shut my locker door.
"And you're coming with me," Tally finishes and I gawk at her.
"No, I'm not."
"Yes, you are!" Tally whines. "I can't go alone, and you never have anything better to do!"
"My dad only just came back from the hospital yesterday," I say. "I can't just ditch him."
"Yes you can, it's totally fine. He won't even notice you're gone," Tally pleads.
I sigh and lean against my locker. "I don't want to go."
"So? They have free food. And knowing Jonah, he'll probably have a keg in the back of his car that we can run out to when the parents aren't looking."
"I don't even like school dances," I mumble.
"I don't this, I don't that." Tally rolls her eyes. "Have some fun for once. You've been all down about your dad, so this is the perfect opportunity to finally have a bit of fun for once. You're going to turn into a sad little old lady before you know it, if you don't stop."
I press my cheek against the cold metal and pout at Tally, who just glares at me. "Fine, fine," I say. "I'll go to this stupid dance. Not promising that I'll be good company, though."
"Yes!" Tally cheers and hugs me. "Thank you, thank you, thank you. Now, we just need to get changed, the dance is at seven."
"Seven?" I frown. "It's not like we have a curfew at nine."
"It's a school, Franny, they aren't going to let us stay till one in the morning. And it's not even a cool dance anyway, dads are gonna be there."
"True," I mutter and begin to walk down the hallway. "I don't have to dress really formal, right?"
Tally frowns for a moment. "I mean . . . I don't think so. Doesn't matter anyway. We're supposed to be opposing the whole dance, not trying to abide by its dress code."
"Also true," I say and hold the door open for Tally as we step out of the school.
"Tally!" I hear someone call from the left and look over to see a tall boy run over.
He stops in front of us and gives a wide smile full of perfect teeth. His blond hair is gelled in an awful spiky arrangement, but I manage to pull my eyes away from it to look at his face.
"You coming to the dance tonight?" he asks. "My uncle's coming with me and Jonah said he'll bring a keg."
"Never doubted he would," Tally laughs. "And yeah, I'll be there. This is Franny, by the way. She's coming with me."
"Hey." The guy waves. "I'm Ryan."
"Hey," I reply.
"Shit," Tally suddenly says. "The buses are about to go. I'll see you later, yeah?"
Ryan nods. "See you guys there."
I rush towards the buses with Tally and stop at the door to my bus.
"I've never seen that guy before," I say. "Ryan . . .?"
"Hensley," Tally supplies. "He's in my chemistry class."
"Hensley." I frown.
The name sounds familiar, but I can't for the life of me remember where I might have heard it. I shake my head and Tally promises to pick me up later for the dance before she heads to her own bus. When the bus gets my stop, I sluggishly get off and walk towards my house.
Inside, my dad is sitting on the couch, the TV on and some work folders littering the dining table.
"Hey," he greets me. "You have a good day?"
I kick off my shoes and look at my dad with surprise. "Yeah, it wasn't bad," I say, smiling. There's a school dance tonight at seven. Tally's going to pick me up around quarter to seven."
"Sounds good," he says. "Do you want dinner before you go?"
"That would be great, thanks." I nod and walk through to the kitchen to grab a drink.
After we have a simple dinner together and I change into a black summer dress I found thrown at the back of my closet, I grab some flats and look at the top of my dresser where I have a little set of makeup. I walk over and pick up the red lipstick I've maybe worn once before. Glancing at the mirror, I decide to just fuck it and put the lipstick on—albeit a little messily. Once I've touched it up a million times, I finally straighten my dress and grab my phone.
As I walk down the stairs the doorbell rings and I smile to myself. It takes a best friend to have perfect timing.
"I'll see you later," I call to my dad.
"Alright, make sure you've got your key," he says.
I grab my little bag on the way out. Tally gives me a smile—she's also in black—and we head over to her parent's car.
Tally grins and starts the engine. "Buckle up, sunshine."
***
The dance itself is the usual lame school dance, but this time they've decided that serving cookies and lemonade is supposed to make it some pimped-out nightclub. The only redeeming quality seems to be the giant keg that Jonah is secretly running at the back of the parking lot, hidden in a stand of trees.
A few people dance—fathers and daughters, some sons and mothers. The songs are awful, but I guess that isn't really the point at the end of the day.
The thing I wasn't expecting was for Ethan to walk in and head straight towards Tally. They smile at each other and he nods his head at me.
"Are you allowed to be here?" I tease. "You know, seeing as you're not from this school, or even in a school right now."
Ethan grins. "I'll pretend I'm a father."
I grimace. "Well, that's disgusting."
"I can be your daddy." Ethan winks.
"I think Tally would like that much more," I retort and Tally gives me a sharp slap to the arm.
I notice Ryan come walking over and he gives a short wave and glances over at me, smiling. I frown and look around the room as they talk.
"Hey," I hear him say. "I'm Ryan."
"Ethan," Ethan says. "Do I know you?"
I look over to see Ethan squinting at Ryan.
"Nah, man, I don't think so," Ryan says.
"Oh," Ethan mumbles. "Looked familiar."
"Huh, well, I'm gonna go see my uncle, I left him over there. See you guys around," Ryan says and walks off.
I try to watch where he goes, but the room is too dark.
"You thought he was familiar too?" I ask Ethan and he shrugs.
"Lots of people blend together. Probably just mixed him up with someone else I know."
My frown deepens and Ethan takes a step towards Tally. "You want to dance?" he asks.
Tally looks over at me and I shake my head. "Go for it."
The two of them walk off and I step away from the lemonade table, strolling along the outskirts of the gym. I reach towards the little bag over my shoulder and go to take my phone out when a hand is suddenly on my arm.
"Care to dance?" a voice asks, and I look up into Carl's eyes.
I freeze and he just smiles at me, tugging my hand away from my bag and pulling us along the floor until we're surrounded by the other dancing bodies. He grips my hand and we begin to slow dance to the light music being played. I want to yank my hand away but a shiver goes down my body when I realize that no one can stop him.
It just looks like a father dancing with his daughter.
"Nice set-up," he says. "The lemonade is a little childish but overall it's quite a nice dance."
"What are you doing here?" I ask bitterly. "You're not allowed here."
"Actually, I have every right to be here," Carl says. "I'm just an uncle chaperoning his nephew to a school dance."
"Ryan," I breathe.
"Good kid," he says. "Bit of an idiot, but I guess he gets that from my brother."
"What are you doing here?" I ask again. "Don't you have a fight you should be taking bets on?"
Carl grins. "I'd prefer to be safely out of the way. Tyler's always been a volatile kid, reckless and stupid. But imagine my surprise when I spot a car full of cops watching the bar. Cops watching can only mean one thing—a little bitch squealed. And I'll bet all my money it was your bitch."
His foot catches mine and I nearly skid but he hauls me back up by my waist, making it impossible for me to leave.
"That didn't leave me with many options. Feds watching, a rat in my circle, all the evidence to get me behind bars. Well, the evidence that Tyler didn't burn. So I thought to myself, what can I do? What's the easiest way to get everything out of the way? And after a little thinking, I took some inspiration from Tyler."
My brows crease in confusion. "I don't understand."
"It's a shame I won't see this fight. Tyler against three other men, that's got to be good. And I hear this one's going to end in a boom."
My eyes slowly widen as Carl's smile stretches.
I shove him away roughly and step away, looking around wildly before catching sight of Ethan and Tally. I run over and yank on Ethan's shoulder. He stumbles around and I tug his jacket.
"Did you come on your bike?" I ask hastily.
"Uh yeah, why . . .?"
"I need you to get me to the bar," I say. "Tyler's in trouble."
Ethan nods immediately and turns to Tally. "You okay here?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, go, go," she says and pushes him gently.
I run to the back door with Ethan and we crash through, immediately going towards his motorbike. He grabs the helmet and throws it at me.
"Don't you need it?" I ask.
"You need it more than me," he says and slides onto his bike.
I get the helmet on, and get on behind him. I clutch his jacket as we speed out of the parking lot and onto the main road. My heart thumps rapidly and the air feels like it's been knocked out of my chest. The sound of cars rushing past and the wind whipping against my bare legs makes me grip Ethan tighter. I clench my eyes shut and wait and wait until eventually the bike skids to a stop.
I lean back, yanking the helmet off, and slide off the bike. The bar is still there, all in one piece. Cars are parked outside and I frown, taking a few steps forward.
"Franny, don't!" Ethan yells and all I feel is him yanking me back before the whole bar goes up with a cracking bang.
Clouds of fire pour out of the roof, and the windows shatter, glass littering the ground before me. Ethan and I run backwards until we're out of the way. Shards of wood and broken fragments of windows fall from the crumbling building as fire engulfs the entire bar. My face feels hot and my chest has seized up completely.
I look at the doors to the bar and all I see is fire.
And no Tyler.
- Ellie x