Roses are Red, Black Eyes are Blue

“I don’t think you’re taking me seriously at all! It really did happen!” Frank assured Anna as she was doubled over the lunch table laughing the next day.

“You’re trying to tell me that our Trig teacher sexually assaulted you? Of course I’m not taking you seriously ‘cause you’re totally lying through your teeth!” Anna accused and started laughing again.

Frank looked annoyed for a moment before his face was taken over by a wide smile. “You got me; I’m totally bull shitting on this one. But it could totally happen. I’ve caught her staring at my ass a few times. Maybe I should confront her? You think she would give me a passing grade if I let her touch it?” Frank asked as he stood up and wiggled his rear in front of Anna, who began to choke on her laughter and gasp for air. Frank sat down and laughed also, shaking his head. “Dude, chill out. Don’t kill over from laughter, that would be the most depressing cause of death ever,” he told her as she tried to take a deep breath.

“I can’t help it. I don’t think I’ve had this much fun during school in a long time,” Anna replied as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

Frank gave her another wide smile. “If you think this is fun, you should come hang out with me and my friends after school. That will be loads of fun.”

Anna bit her lip before replying, “I’d really like to, Frank, but I don’t think I can. I have to do my homework afterschool or my dad will flip out.”

“But it’s Friday! You have all weekend to do that shit.”

Anna sighed and began to explain, “I know, but my dad doesn’t see it that way. And I’m supposed to go visit my mom this weekend, but I don’t think that’s part of my dad’s plan anymore because he hasn’t said a word about it since we moved, so I have to go suck up big time to see if I can go. Maybe next week?” she asked, looking hopeful.

Frank pouted for a moment before smiling and nodding his head. “But at least swap phone numbers with me so you can let me know if all that doesn’t work out, because you have no choice but to hang out with me if you’re not going to your mom’s. No arguments about it, young lady!” he ordered as he pulled out his cell phone.

“Ok, ok,” Anna said as she also pulled out her phone and handed it over to Frank, “but put your number under a female name or something, my dad will have a heart attack if he sees your name in my phone.”

"Oh, I know! My secret code name can be ‘Sexy Franny’!” he shouted as he started to type it into her phone.

Anna rolled her eyes and began putting her number into his phone. “How about just ‘Fran’? I don’t need my dad thinking I’m a lesbian all of a sudden. That is one conversation I don’t ever what to experience.”

“Well, you are no fun at all. Fine, ‘Fran’ it is,” he said as he slid the phone across the table. Anna did the same with his phone and looked down at the new contact entry. The name read “BFF Fran <3”. Anna rolled her eyes, laughing, and slid her phone back into her pocket.

“Well, since I don’t have a super crazy parent, I’m going to change your contact name from boring old ‘Anna’ to ‘Super Awesome Anna Banana,’” Frank declared as he started punching in something on his phone.

Anna laughed and shook her head as the lunch bell rang. The two gathered their stuff and waved goodbye as they made their way to class.

******

After school, Anna made her way to the gates where Frank had designated that they meet every day. She waited on the sidewalk just outside the gate and watched all her classmates walk by. Pretty much everyone was grouped up with friends; it was like this at every school Anna went to. Usually Anna felt like a complete outsider because she had a strange inability to actually make friends. But now she was waiting for the closest friend she ever had. It was odd for her to think about their friendship; it happened so suddenly, and she probably couldn’t have avoided it even if she wanted to.

“Anna Banana!” Frank shouted as he tackled Anna from her thoughts, grabbing her at the last minute to keep her from crashing to the ground.

“What the hell, Frank?” Anna shouted back as she tried to keep her heart from leaping up her throat.

“What?” he asked innocently. “I was just saying ‘hi.’”

Anna stared at him in disbelief for a moment before laughing and punching his arm as hard as she could.

“Ow, what was that for?” he asked as they started to walk towards the bus stop.

“That was for almost making me pass out. You scared the crap out of me, you jerk,” she explained, crossing her arms over her chest in mock anger.

“Aww, I’m sowwy, wittle Banana.”

Anna turned to glare at him and quickly raised her fist to punch him again as he jumped away, laughing.

After the two calmed down and boarded the bus, Frank changed the topic.
“So do you go to your mom’s house every weekend?” he asked, grabbing Anna’s bag and digging through it.

Anna ignored his actions and replied, “No. I’m supposed to go every other weekend, that was the agreement on the custody settlement, but sometimes I have to remind my dad or convince him to let me go.

“Hm,” he said as he pulled out Anna’s purple notebook and started flipping through it. “Do you like your mom? Like, is she nicer than your dad?”

“Yeah, she’s really awesome. She’s nothing like my dad. He’s all about work and money, and she just does whatever floats her boat. I really like staying the weekend with her because we do the most random things. She never asks me about school unless I bring it up first and she’s always asking about what I wanna do. It’s just a lot less stressful over there,” Anna explained, smiling softly.

“Well now I want to meet this woman. She sounds awesome. And I wanna see what kind of random things you two do. I bet it would be youtube worthy,” Frank said, smiling at the thought of posting stupid videos on the internet.

“Well, maybe you can meet her one day. But I will not allow you to bring a video camera. I have a feeling it would lead to nothing but trouble,” Anna said, pointing an accusing finger into Frank’s face as he smiled innocently.

“Well, sweet heart, if you don’t hurry you’re going to miss your stop and you’ll be heading to my house. But maybe that’s not a bad thing, I’m sure it would be a lot more fun than homework,” Frank said as Anna shot out of the seat and grabbed her bag, leaving her purple notebook behind with Frank once again.

******

“Dad?” Anna asked as she popped her head into her dad’s home office.

“Yes, Anna?” he replied, not looking up from his work.

“Well, it’s mom’s turn this weekend. I was wondering if I could drive over there or if you would give me a ride? I’ve got my stuff packed and I did my homework for Monday already,” Anna said, hoping not to be shot down.

Anna’s dad sighed, looking up from his papers. “Bad sign,” Anna thought.

“I’m sorry Anna, but I’ve already called your mother and told her you won’t be coming over this weekend. We need to finish unpacking and you need time to get used to the new school load,” he explained.

“But I just told you that I did all my homework already! And all my stuff is unpacked, I tried to unpack the kitchen and living room stuff but you told me to wait until you could do it with me.”

“School isn’t just doing homework, Anna. You need to study also. For every hour that you spend in class you need to study three hours for that course.”

“That’s ridiculous, dad! I know how to study! I’ve never had any problems with my grades before. And I don’t have a test coming up in any of my classes for another month! What am I supposed to be studying?” Anna shouted, forgetting to stay calm when talking to her dad.

Her dad’s frown deepened and he replied, “This is not up for discussion. You’re not going this weekend and if you continue to behave like this you won’t be going next weekend either.”

Anna took a deep breath to try to calm herself before saying, “Fine. But I’ve already done my homework, and I think I need some fresh air, so I’m going to go to the park,” and then she left quickly.

As Anna walked up to her room she pulled out her phone and started to call Frank.

“Banana!” he greeted. “I was wondering when you were going to realize that you left your notebook.”

“Oh, did I leave it again? Crap. Thanks for grabbing it for me though.”

“You didn’t realize you left it? So what do you need from Sexy Franny? Hm?”

“Well, my dad canceled my visit, and now I really need to get out of this house. Is it too late to take you up on that offer to hang out?” she asked as she began pulling out an orange t shirt and a pair of blue jeans from her dresser.

“Of course not! Do you know where Lake View Park is?” he asked.

“Yeah, I’ve been there a few times.”

“Ok, I’ll meet you there in a little while, alright?”

“Thanks a lot, Frank. See you then,” Anna said before they hung up. She quickly changed and began throwing things into her small purple messenger bag and headed out the door.

******

“Wow, you should wear normal clothes more often,” Frank called as he saw Anna approaching him.

“Not my fault the school has a uniform policy,” Anna replied, laughing.

“And you are no longer allowed to wear your hair up. That is an order,” Frank demanded as he crossed his arms over his chest.

“What? Why?” Anna asked, looking confused.

“Because you look so much prettier with your hair down, and as your best friend I will not let you hide your prettiness.”

“Whatever,” Anna replied as she blushed and looked away, trying to look busy by pretending to look for something in her bag.

“Oh, by the way, here you go,” Frank said as he tapped Anna’s head with her purple notebook, which Anna took and slid into her bag.

“So what are we doing today?” Anna asked and returned her attention to Frank after she was sure the blush had faded.

“Well, I was planning on taking you to meet some of my friends, although you have to promise that I will continue to hold the ‘best friend’ position,” he said as he turned and began walking out of the park.

“Of course, I wouldn’t dream of having any one else as a best friend. So are these your ‘loser’ friends from school you’ve been blowing off at lunch?”

“Nope, like I said, they’re losers. No need for you to waste your time on them. No, none of these guys go to our school, but they’re really awesome. I think you’ll like them. Just remember, I’m your best friend,” he said as he nudged her with his elbow, making her laugh.

Soon they reached their destination and Frank opened the front door of his friend’s house. “Hey guys, I’m back. I brought Banana with me too,” he called as he kicked off his shoes by the door.

“Good, now get your skinny ass in here, it’s your turn!” someone shouted from the living room.

Anna followed Frank through the house, suddenly feeling her shyness coming back to her.
“And why was this such a good idea,” she thought as she tried to hide behind Frank.

“Guys, this is Anna. Anna, that’s Gerard and Ray. Where’s your brother?” Frank asked, turning back towards Gerard.

“Taking a shower or something. Hey, I thought you said her name was ‘Banana’?” he asked, looking away from the video game he was playing.

Anna glared at Frank as he turned to her and smiled innocently.

“Frank it’s your turn. Hurry up and fight me!” Ray said as he tossed a pillow at Frank. Anna and Frank made their way to the couch and Anna watched the guys play their game for a while.

“Anna, your turn,” Frank said as he took the controller from Gerard and stuck it in Anna’s hands.

“Wait, I don’t know anything about video games. I can’t play this. I’ll get destroyed,” Anna whined, trying to hand the controller back to Frank.

“It’s ok, I’ll explain it to you, and I’ll even take it easy on you. Now, pick a character. Oh, make sure she has big boobs or something,” Frank added, attempting to avoid the kick that Anna aimed at his leg and failing.

A few moments later Anna sighed and let the controller slide out of her hands.

“Wow, you are bad at video games,” Ray said patting her on the shoulder to comfort her.

“I told you…” Anna replied, slumping back into the couch.

“Hey is it my turn yet?” someone asked as they entered the room. He came around the couch and turned to look at everyone. Anna froze when she noticed who it was.

"Oh. Crap.” she thought.

When the guy noticed her his eyes widened.

“Oh hey, Mikey, this is–” Frank started to say before Mikey cut him off.

“Annie? When did you move back to town?” he asked, eyes still wide.

Anna just stared at him for a moment, unable to answer.

“Oh! I thought you looked familiar!” Gerard said from his spot in the floor. “You’re Mikey’s ex-girlfriend from middle school, right?”

Anna just nodded, still staring at Mikey. Finally she stood up and grabbed her bag, making her way towards the front door as she mumbled, “I think I should go.”

Anna got outside and started to walk quickly down the side walk towards what she hoped would be the park.

“Wait, Anna!” she heard Frank calling from behind her, but she continued walking, afraid that Mikey would be behind her too.

“Wait!” he called again as he grabbed her arm and made her stop. Anna looked up to find that it was only Frank on the sidewalk with her. He stared at her, wide eyed for a moment before finally speaking. “Why didn’t you tell me that you were Mikey’s ex-girlfriend?” he asked, sounding astonished.

“Why didn’t you tell me that you are friends with Mikey?” she shot back.

“Touché, but what happened? Was it really that bad of a break up that you can’t be in a room with him?” Frank asked, bewildered by the situation going on.

“No…” Anna trailed off, looking at the ground. “The break up was fine, it was mutual. It’s what happened after the break up…”

“And that would be?” Frank asked, wanting her to continue.

Anna took a deep breath and sat down on the curb, ready for everything to come pouring out.

“Well, we decided to break up when my parents got divorced and my dad announced that we were moving. It was mutual; neither of us wanted anything long distance. But Mikey said he still wanted to be friends, and that we could call each other all the time and it would be like before we started dating when we just talked about stuff. I told him it was a great idea, but I didn’t know what our new number was going to be, and I didn’t have a cell phone yet, so he gave me his number and I promised that I would call him as soon as the phone was set up. And…I just never called him,” Anna finished and looked up at Frank who had an eyebrow raised.

“I know!” she shouted suddenly, covering her face with her hands. “I’m a terrible person! I was just so confused about the divorce and about relationships, and I was scared that we would decide to get back together and that it would fail miserably like my parents’ relationship did. I was a stupid middle schooler and after I realized how stupid I had been I figured it would be even worse if I suddenly called a year later and was like ‘What’s up Mikey? Sorry I haven’t called in a year, we just got our phone set up.’ That would have probably pissed him off even more!” Anna ranted.

Frank kneeled down in front of her and shook her shoulders lightly, making her look at him. “Calm the hell down, woman! You’re freaking out over nothing. Mikey’s not going to be pissed off. He might be a little hurt, but I know him, he’s not going to hate you. Especially if you explain it the way you did to me,” Frank said, trying to calm Anna down.

“You really think so?” Anna asked, biting her lip.

“Yup,” he replied simply. “And if it’s too weird for you to hang out around him right now, then we can just hang out without them. But you’re going to have to eventually make nice with him, I wanna show the guys how awesome my new friend is, got it?”

“Ok…”

“Good, now let’s go back to the park or something,” Frank said as he stood up and dusted himself off.

“Well, I actually do need to go home. I told my dad that I was just going on a walk, so he’s probably ready to call the cops or something by now, so you can stay and hang out with your friends,” Anna said as she also stood to dust herself off.

“If you say so, but I demand that we hang out this weekend!”

Anna laughed and shook her head. “I’ll try. I have to practice this weekend, but if I can manage to get away for a bit I’ll let you know.”

“Practice? Practice what?” Frank asked, tilting his head to the side.

“Oh, I didn’t tell you. I joined the orchestra at school. My first practice is Monday, and I haven’t even looked over the music, so I need to practice a lot this weekend,” Anna explained.

“Well if your dad actually leaves the freakin house, you should let me know. I want to hear you play,” Frank said and smiled down at Anna.

“Ok, will do,” she promised and waved goodbye after Frank pointed out the real direction to the park.

******

Frank stepped through Gerard’s front door and shouted, “Mikey!”

Mikey leaned into the hallway from the living room and looked around. “Where’s Annie?” he asked.

“She went home. Look, you two need to have a serious talk. She thinks you hate her,” Frank explained as he walked into the kitchen to get something to drink, Mikey following him closely.

“I don’t hate her. I could never hate her. I mean, it sucked and all, but I’m kinda happy that she’s back,” Mikey said as he fiddled with the string on his hoodie.

Frank watched Mikey for a moment, feeling an odd sinking feeling in his gut. “Mikey,” he said, gaining his friend’s attention, “do you still like Anna?”

Mikey’s face turned pink and he bit his lip. “I dunno, I think I might. It could just be because I haven’t seen her in years and then BAM she’s sitting in my living room. But I have always wondered what would have happened if she hadn’t moved.”

Frank forced a smile at his friend and patted him on the shoulder. “Well, you have to get back to being friends before you can think of anything past that. Good luck dude,” he said as he walked back into the living room.