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𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐚 deep breath at the sight of the two blonde kooks in front of her. Topper and Rafe both held golf clubs, approaching Pope and herself, both boys basically glaring holes into the two. Francine knew something like this was bound to happen, nothing seemed to go perfectly her way. Sure, Pope had forgiven her but that might go all down the drain if Rafe or Topper ever mentioned anything around her mother.
Rafe continued to stalk towards the two but Topper looked a little hesitant, kind of like he didn't want to do anything his friend was doing. Francine noticed that and couldn't help but narrow her eyes suspiciously, usually, Topper would be all for harassing pogues. The older boy spun his golf club around a little as he let out a small laugh, "There had to be a reason you rejected Nate last night, and me, for that matter. You were screwing a pogue all along, I should've known. Good job bud, I've been trying for two years."
Francine spun on her heel so she was fully facing Rafe, anger swirling inside her. He knew she wasn't anything like that, he just wanted to get under her skin, this was how the boy usually acted around his friends, and most times it never bothered her but this comment really set her off. She set her eyes into a glare, Rafe's smirk just growing smugger as he knew he really hit a nerve with the girl. Francine could see Topper behind the boy shaking his head slightly as he spoke quietly to him. Rafe didn't listen to whatever his fellow blonde was saying, shaking his head with a firm 'no' as he brushed Topper's hand off.
A few seconds later, Pope tried to lunge at the two kooks, Francine holding him back. She knew how the fight would end and since they were on Figure Eight, kook territory, the pogue would be getting blamed for everything. Rafe and Topper also liked to play dirty, while Pope had nothing to defend himself with but grocery bags, the other two boys had golf clubs. Which they would surely use if they wanted. Francine had just mended her friendship with Pope and she didn't want him getting hurt because of a stupid comment Rafe made, the blonde was just trying to get under their skin and she'd be damned if the boy got what he wanted.
Pope kept fighting against Francine but she kept shoving him backward, shooting him scolding looks, not wanting a fight to break out. "Hey, calm down, it's okay."
"You're just gonna let him talk like that?" Pope asked incredulously as he stopped struggling for a second, not understanding how calm she could be in this situation. He was usually the one trying to stop fights, but when it came to disrespectful comments like Rafe's, he couldn't help himself.
"He's like a stray puppy, if you ignore him he'll go away," Francine whispered to Pope, trying to make him let it be so he wouldn't get hurt.
Pope nodded at her words, they weren't sure how to escape Rafe and Topper. Francine racked her brain for a solution, her eyes finding the grocery bags they had placed onto the ground. She pursed her lips, looking at Pope, subtly nodding her head to the bags. She knew a way around the golf course to get to the main building so they could avoid the kooks. The boy nodded as they grabbed the bags, trying to make a run for it, but Rafe let out a bitter chuckle. Francine's breath caught in her throat as she felt the cold metal of a golf club touch her cheek. The blonde shook his head, holding the club in place, if it was any other person, she wouldn't be scared, but this was Rafe. He would try anything. She froze in her steps, turning her gaze to the boy who was standing to her left, now moving in front of her, making sure the golf club stayed on her face.
"Got nothing to say now?" Rafe grinned menacingly, narrowing his eyes at the girl, a dangerous glint in them. His words made Francine glare at him, her face went from slightly fearful to sour at his words. She wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of scaring her, no matter how much he actually did.
"Rafe, just leave us alone, please," Pope begged from Francine's left, pleading with the blonde to let her go. His voice caused the girl to turn her head, without thinking, to look at him. He was being blocked by Topper who was going on about letting Rafe be, pushing the boy back every step forward he took.
Francine was about to move and help her friend, but Rafe pushed the golf club further into her cheek, causing her attention to shift back to him. He grabbed her jaw with his free hand, keeping the golf club in place. The hard grip he had on her face caused the girl to flinch from the slight pain. Rafe turned her head to look at him, "Tell me, Fran, what would your mother think about this?" She narrowed her eyes, keeping her mouth shut as she took in his crazy look. After she didn't answer, he squeezed harder on her jaw, making more pain shoot throughout her face. "Hm? I wonder. What she would think about you slummin' it with this trash?"
"Shut the fuck up Rafe," Francine hissed, barely able to move her mouth due to the strong hold he had on her jaw. Which was definitely going to bruise, her frustration towards him, only made Rafe grin wider than before.
"Oh, I see," Rafe hummed, nodding to himself. "She won't like it very much, right? Katerina Gold doesn't associate with pogues and her perfect daughter doesn't either. I wonder what she'd say when she figures out you aren't all she thought you were. She probably doesn't even notice you anymore, because I know for a fact that she's been over to my place a lot lately." Francine looked at him with wide eyes, finally knowing where her mom has been disappearing lately. She completely disregarded all the threats the boy sent her way and focused on the last statement. Rafe saw the shock that was clear on her features and clicked his tongue with a chuckle. "Oh, she never told you. Her and Ward are working on a project, I think it's really important."
"No, she would've told me," Francine shook her head, a frown on her face as she denied the idea of her mother working on a 'big project' with Ward Cameron. Surely, she would've told her, the teen was Katerina's only child. Francine was even sure that the woman didn't even tell her husband about her whereabouts because lately, Christopher seemed just as confused as the girl about everything going on.
Rafe leaned down to her level, narrowing his eyes into a glare. He brought his face close to hers, too close for comfort. The girl leaned her head back, not wanting to get too close to the boy, in case he tried anything. "I wouldn't blame her for not telling you anyway, you're just a pogue whore."
Pope finally got past Topper, who suddenly got distracted by his friend's shocking words. "Hey, Rafe, leave her alone!" The older kook spun around quickly pulling both his hand and the golf club off of Francine's face. The girl stumbled backward, her face throbbing from where his hand once was, feeling slight relief from the pain. Rafe lifted the club up and brought it down onto Pope's head, a huge gash being left over. The boy fell to the ground out of impact as the three kooks stood over him. Rafe tilted his head to the side, letting out a few laughs. Topper was staring at his friend with wide eyes, not thinking that Rafe was going to go that far. And Francine was rubbing her cheek, rushing to the boy's side. She knelt down beside him, looking up at the kooks in front of her. She didn't understand how she could be put in the same social category as them, it's people like Rafe and Topper that make her ashamed to be considered a kook.
"Stay down bitch!" Rafe yelled at the pogue who was cradling his head in pain. Francine glared up at the boy, his face showing no remorse, he just scowled at Pope and herself. She didn't understand what has gotten into Rafe lately, he was just flying completely off the handle. Usually she'd blame his cocaine addiction, but now, she wasn't so sure it was that simple, there had to be something else wrong.
Topper grabbed the older boy's shoulder, finally mustering up the confidence to try and stop Rafe from going any further. Sure, he didn't like pogues, but his friend was going too far, it wasn't a fair fight, Pope had nothing and Rafe had a golf club. "Hey, let's just go."
Rafe shook his Topper's hand off, glaring daggers at him, he put his finger on the boy's chest, to show his point. "No, Top, did you forget the fact that this scum and his friends put a gun to your head?"
Francine rolled her eyes at the terrible excuse Rafe came up with, there was no way that the whole reason they're beating Pope is that JJ pulled a gun out of Topper while he was trying to drown John B.
As she was thinking of what had happened over the last week, she almost laughed. Just witnessing that would have any other person scared for their life, but to her, this stuff was normal. How bad could your life be that you find that normal?
The dark-haired girl watched in shock as Pope tried to stand up from his spot on the ground, shakily getting to his feet. Just as he was about to stand straight, Rafe hit his stomach with the golf club, hard. The boy hunched over in pain and the kook brought the club down onto his back with the same force as before. Pope fell back onto the ground with a grunt, the wind being knocked out of him.
Francine quickly grabbed Rafe's arm, not really thinking about what she was going to do next, this was instinct to her, an impulsive action. It wasn't something the girl did often, she was a person to think everything over. Francine spun Rafe around to face her, quickly, she drew her fist back and punched the boy's face. He immediately pushed her backward roughly onto the ground and clutched his nose, blood immediately began dripping out. Rafe glared at the girl, he angrily picked his golf club up and swung it at Pope's head. He intentionally missed by a few inches, only doing the action to scare the two people on the ground.
"Stay off Figure Eight, pogue!" Rafe sneered down at Pope as the boy spit blood out of his mouth from the beating he just had. Topper began pushing Rafe away from the two. The older boy sparing one last glance at Francine, looking her up and down with a disgusted look.
Good, Francine thought, maybe he'll leave her alone and stop making her feel incredibly uncomfortable when they were in the same room.
After the two boys were out of sight, the girl quickly rushed to Pope's side, a concerned frown on her face. She was very worried about what damage they might have caused him, the blows Rafe gave him did not sound or look light. She probably looked terrible but nowhere as bad as Pope. While she only had red marks on her jaw, that would soon probably bruise, and dirty clothes. Pope's face had a giant gash, blood coming from his mouth, and most likely bruises from Rafe's golf club. Francine analyzed the wound on his forehead as the boy groaned in pain. She pulled her hair back into a ponytail and leaned over Pope, placing her hand on his shoulder comfortingly. He flinched at her touch, his eyes still closed tightly, most likely from the pain he was probably feeling.
Pope should've just left Rafe be, he wouldn't hurt her that bad, would he? She wasn't sure about her answer, but the boy must have at least some morals. It was like he completely flipped a switch, she's never seen him act like that before, and he's beat up his fair share of pogues. Rafe was a maniac, and she never really noticed it until just then when he literally jumped her and Pope for no reason whatsoever.
"Are you okay?" Pope questioned, finally opening his eyes and looking at the girl. He tried to sit up, leaning on his elbows as he looked up at Francine. She helped him stand, slinging his arm over her shoulders, she chuckled a little bit at his question knowing that he had the short straw in the situation.
"I think I should be asking you that question," Francine stated truthfully but in a teasing tone as she turned her head to see Pope looking at her with a small smile. Her light mood soon disappeared when she noticed the blood trickling down his face from his forehead. "Do you want me to call anyone to help?"
Pope shook his head at her, both of them continuing to slowly walk down the trail. She was using the shortcut to the docks and road, the same way she got out of Midsummers every year. The girl hated that event and knowing that it was just in a few days made her want to set fire to the country club so it wouldn't happen. Not only was it mentally draining, it was like the kooks were completely ignoring the fact that basically everyone living on the cut can't even afford their groceries. Pope glanced at Francine nervously, "Can you uh, just-- just take me to the boat?"
Francine nodded shooting him a reassuring smile, "Yep, I'll just text Chris and tell him I'm going with you, he'll cover for me."
The girl pulled out he phone, sending her stepfather a short text, not waiting for his reply, which would probably be something along the lines of 'I told you my plan was gonna work.' After she shoved the device back into her pocket, the girl threw Pope's arm over her shoulders again and wrapped her other one around his waist. She knew he was going to say that he could walk by himself, but he would most likely be a limping mess, so she didn't wait very long before she began walking.
Off they went to the boat, both teens thinking about how they would explain this to the people they knew. Francine knew that she could cover it up with makeup, like she did with the other bruise that Topper gave her the night of the party. But if her mother sees her before she could get to her room, like what happened before, she'd have to think of a pretty good lie. She also hoped that Rafe wouldn't mention anything about her being with Pope to her mother, she didn't know if she could live with cutting him off again. Everything seemed to piece together, even though there were a few people left to apologize to, she was almost positive that she and Pope could get them to forgive her.
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𝐉𝐉, 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧 𝐁, 𝐏𝐨𝐩𝐞, and Francine were about halfway through the movie Dirty Dancing when JJ decided to open his mouth, no one had spoken before him but no one was surprised that he was the first one to talk. All the other kids were watching the movie intently, actually enjoying it. "Why do they call her Baby? If that's not her real name."
Francine rolled her eyes, "Her name is Frances, but they call her Baby because she didn't like her real name."
"Baby has a nice ring to it," John B smirked as he thought to himself about the nickname, Pope nodding along with him. "Baby..."
Francine snapped her head in the boy's direction, eyes wide, "You better not be thinking what I think you're thinking."
JJ threw some more popcorn in his mouth, "JB you are a genius."
"Guys please no," Francine shook her head frantically at her three friends who were giving each other mischievous grins.
"Shh, Baby, we're thinking," JJ grinned, smacking her arm. The movie was playing in the background as the boys sent each other looks. They gave each other one last knowing look before JJ looked back to the girl. "Oh yeah, that's gonna stick."
"No it's not, now be quiet and watch the movie," Francine grumbled.
"Whatever you say, Baby," Pope joked before getting hit in the face with a pillow, thrown by the girl. All the boys laughing loudly at the girl who's cheeks were tinted pink from embarrassment. She didn't like the nickname then, hated it actually, but learned to love it over time.
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Word Count: 2850