On Top of the World

"Mom...?"

I called out for her softly, gently knocking on her door. It was open a crack, so I was able to peek my head in to see what she was up to. She was lying in her bed with the covers wrapped all around her, watching a re-run of Law & Order: SVU, as per usual.

"Frankie? What is it, baby?" She asked, lifting her head up at my intrusion.

Instead of getting annoyed at her for calling me 'baby', I simply smiled, and waltzed over to join her on the bed. I had it in mind before I came in here that I needed to be as sweet and charming as can be to convince her to let me stay home tomorrow...

"I... well..."

Damn, I was suddenly at a loss for words. I should have been more prepared with this, I truly had no idea of what I was going to say to her. I bit my lip, chewing on the skin there for a bit. The only words slipping from my mouth were the occasional, "um" and "well".

"Frank," she said rather forcefully, making sure she got my attention. "Quit your damn mumbling. I know you want something, so why don't you do us both a favor and just tell me what you want?"

I smiled again, realizing there was no use in trying to hide what my true intentions were. She knew me too well, especially when it came to me wanting something. I should have known better than to try to fool her.

"I um, want to stay home from school tomorrow," I blurted out, which sure got her attention. She propped her head up on her elbow, and shot me a rather questioning look.

"And why would you want to stay home, Frank?"

I gulped. She was making this harder than I thought, but there was certainly no beating around the bush now that I held her attention and she knew I was up to something. Not to mention, I had a lot counting on my next choice of words, so I took a deep breath and prepared myself for what my next move should be.

"Well, I don't necessarily want to stay home," I admitted, smiling sheepishly. "I want to go somewhere, but I can't do it if I go to school because I promised him I'd go-"

"Him? Oh, Frankie," she cut me off before I could finish, crashing her head hard against the pillow. "You want to play hooky from school so you can go visit Martin in the hospital tomorrow, don't you?"

My jaw dropped as I started at her wide-eyed. I gulped again, and replied, "Yeah, that's kind of the idea..."

I chewed on my lip again, because by now, I could tell by the previous tone in her voice that she was not very happy with my request. Although she hated telling me no, she hated giving me exactly what I wanted when it came to me wanting something unnecessary. Just as I remembered to close my mouth after it fell open earlier, it dropped open once more as the last thing she said finally seeped into my brain. How on earth did she know Martin was in the hospital?

"Did you promise him you would go?"

Her words made me cringe, and I found myself nodding in response to her question. I just so happened to glance up at myself in her wall-length closet mirror, and noticed that I wore a rather pathetic expression draped across my face.

"Then I guess you can't break a promise to him," she finally answered a minute or two later, an exasperated sigh slipping through her lips as she rubbed her tired eyes. I let out the breath that I'd previously been holding, a smile immediately beginning to spread across my face.

"Thank you mama, you're the best," I replied. As I leaned over to give her a hug, I was stopped suddenly by the hurt expression on her face and the finger she lifted up that was now shaking in my face.

"Oh no, Frankie. It's not that simple," she began, looking me straight in my eyes as she did so. She sat up, and I decided it was best to prepare myself for what was yet to come.

"I never said it was-"

"No, Frankie! You didn't say anything!" She had cut me off, rather harshly as she continued to stare me down.

"I'm letting you do this, because I heard about what happened to Martin at school today. But... I have to tell you, I'm a little pissed off that you didn't tell me about it yourself," she finally finished, that hurt look still plastered across her face, digging even deeper into me than before.

I was speechless. I couldn't do anything but nod, because she was absolutely right. I should have told her about all of this afternoon's events myself. As soon as I swallowed the lump in my throat, I was finally able to apologize - now all I needed to do was gather the right words to say.

"I'm sorry, ma," I began, taking a deep breath as the words I needed finally flowed freely from my mouth.

"It's just... you asked me how good he tasted, and I guess my mind was in a frenzy because your question made me focus on the good things that happened today. You didn't ask about the bad stuff, and to be honest, I didn't feel like bringing it up in fear of it ruining my good mood... it kills me to know that he's in there because of me," I finally finished, tracing the silky floral pattern of her bedspread with my finger.

"Frankie, listen to me," she said, bringing my face up so I could meet her gaze. "I'll admit, what happened to Martin today was very unfair, but you have to believe me when I tell you that none of this was your fault.

"I know, mom... I just feel so responsible," I replied, sighing deeply as I cuddled into her waiting arms. She began to stroke my hair, which immediately began to sooth and calm me down.

"So, the star quarterback has a little sugar in his tank - big deal," she began, which made me giggle snort because of the 'sugar' comment. "Just because Martin kissed my Frankie instead of the little slut cheerleader that's probably sucked every other football player off in the locker room, it's no reason for people to gang up on him and send him to the emergency room."

I had no choice but to giggle. Her reasoning was straight to the point, and actually made me cheer up a lot better than trying to avoid the subject of he and I being attracted to each other.

"I can tell there's something else on your mind, sugar pie. If there's anything else you want to say, now would be the time."

"You're right mom," I replied as I sat up, making a face as she ruffled up my hair some more. "It's just... if I hadn't made Martin kiss me today, the football players wouldn't have seen, and they wouldn't have beat up on him. It was my first kiss, mom, and those assholes ruined it by doing what they did to him..."

"I'm sorry, sweetie," she consoled me, rubbing my cheek. "Martin likes you too, doesn't he?"

My smile returned even quicker than it had faded, so big that it made my cheeks hurt. "Yeah, I think so..."

"Then that's all I need to know. Something needs to be done, Frankie, I'm not going to stand back and let bad things happen to good kids for bullshit reasons that they cannot help," she replied, which made my face sort of grow a bit pale.

"What are you going to do...?"

"Well... for starters, I do admit that I am a little afraid for you to go to school tomorrow. Well, until things get smoothed over, anyway," she replied, giving me a half-assed smile as she took my hand and kissed it.

"I'm not too sure, I was thinking about going to have a chat with the principal tomorrow, and I will explain to him that you won't be attending school until he can guarantee your safety as well as Martin's, and other kids that might need it. Other than that, I'm not entirely sure what to do," she continued, yawning a bit.

I was really nervous about her plan. "Mom, I-"

"I'll drop you off at the hospital and come back for you whenever you call me to come and pick you up, Frankie, but you have to let me do this first," she replied, and again, all I could do was nod. I'm not entirely sure her plan was going to work, but I suppose it was worth a try.

After we finished our talk, I gave her a kiss good night and marched back to my room, worry coursing through my system as her final words about going to my school tomorrow continued to bounce around in my head. I reached for my cell phone so I could set my alarm. Even though I was staying home from school, I still wanted to get an early start.

I then texted Mikey to tell him that I wouldn't be at school the next day and why, mainly so he would stay home too. I'm sure my mom had already called his mom and told her what her intentions for the next day were anyway, so Mikey's mom should have no problem with letting him stay home as well.

I snuggled under my covers and shut my eyes, getting comfortable and allowing my eyes to flutter shut. At that very moment, my phone began to vibrate and the annoying sound of a text message began to flutter throughout my silent room. I grabbed the phone just in time to see the little envelope icon appear, and almost didn't check it because I figured it was some sort of response from Mikey, but something told me I should anyway.

I flipped the phone open and nearly dropped it, as it revealed a text message from Martin. It read:

"I couldn't sleep without telling you goodnight again. I can't wait to see you tomorrow, Frankie. Sweet dreams - Martin"

I clutched the phone tightly to my heart, which was currently swelling with happiness, kicking all previous feelings out of the way as the only thing I could focus on was Martin, and the realization that I was getting to spend the entire day with him tomorrow.

---

"Frankie..?"

My pillow muffled my response, then proceeded to hide my face as my mother marched into my room and ripped my curtains wide open.

"Geez ma, what are you-"

"Save it, Frankie," she snapped, doing her best to shut me up. "I still have to go to work for nine, so get your happy ass up."

"What time is it?" I asked, wiping furiously at my eyes in an attempt to wake myself up.

"Almost seven. Now come on, get up," she instructed me, patting my bottom which was sticking up slightly in the air. "We're leaving in a half hour, so get up."

"Yeah, yeah," I muttered, snuggling deeper into my pillow as my eyes shot almost painfully open. A half hour gave me literally no time at all to get ready! I scrambled out of bed and took a five minute shower, the quickest one in Frankie history, might I add.

I slid across my bathroom floor and wiped the mirror with my hand, revealing my reflection as the steam from the shower finally decided to clear up. I studied myself for a second, realizing that with what little time I had, I might as well go natural. After all, he liked me with my pretty eye make-up yesterday, but that was just to get his attention. I'm pretty sure I had his attention now, so I didn't need to do anything drastic with myself today.

After brushing my teeth, I rushed towards my closet to pick something good to wear. The tighter the shirt I picked, the more I hated it. Something about my tighter fitting shirts just didn't seem right for today, they just seemed all wrong.

I mean, we were going to be simply hanging out today... I'd probably be rather uncomfortable in jeans that are too tight for no underwear and look like a desperate tramp if I wear a skin-revealing shirt to hang out with the guy I'm trying to impress, at the hospital no less.

So, I decided on a simple pair of blue jeans, ones that weren't too slim-fitting, and only slightly loose-fitting with ripped up knees. I pulled those on, and stood shirtless in front of the mirror, smiling at my reflection as I slipped a black studded belt around my waist.

"Black..." I muttered, glancing around the room, my eyes landing on a fresh pile of neatly folded clothes. I grinned to myself as I retrieved a simple black t-shirt from on top of the pile, and slipped that on over my head. It was perfect, and had little music notes dancing along the sides of the shirt.

As I stared in the mirror yet again, I realized with my black shirt, a little bit of eyeliner wouldn't hurt. As I made my way towards my bathroom once more, my mom poked her head in my room.

"Frankie, come on, let's go," she said, motioning for me to get a move on as she shut my door. "Two minutes!"

I played aimlessly with my hair, picking it up and watched as it fell lazily from my fingers. I gooped some gel in my fingers and massaged it messily forward, smiling because I liked the way my fringe sort of fell in my eyes. It looked sort of perfect, actually...

"Frank!"

The shrieking of my name made me cringe, and I grabbed my stick of eyeliner and stuffed it in my messenger bag, realizing I'd have to put some on later. I shoved my feet in my Chucks, and was out the door. I met my mother in the living room, and she wrapped me in a big hug once I reached her.

"Aww Frankie, you look adorable," she gushed when she let go of me, still eyeing me up and down before wrapping me in her arms once more.

"Thanks ma," I replied, kissing her cheek which made her smile.

"How about we pick up some Starbucks on the way?"

Ahh, today was turning out better than I could have hoped...