Chapter 5:

Francis's Untold Stories

Jewel Reina's POV:

It was lunch break and Francis just arrived. His face was scratched and bruised.

"Yo- what happened to you?!" I exclaimed as I stare at his face.

"Did you get into a gang fight again?" Chloe whispered.

"Again? I've never been on a gang fight before." Francis whispered back and rolled his eyes on her.

"Now I understand why some girls still like you even after being rejected. You look quite attractive with that tough image." Gwen said which made me chuckle.

"Maybe you'll look more attractive too after a bruise on that talkative mouth of yours." Francis hissed and showed his fist on Gwen.

I grab that fist and scoffed. "You really were on a fight." I said as I saw some wounds on his fist too.

"This one and the one on my face are not related at all. Can you all shut up? I'm trying to eat." He complained and start eating again.

We continued eating and someone put a strawberry milk in front if me. Francis, who's beside me, lift his head even before I did.

"Oh, you're that guy last week, right?" I asked him. The one beaten up by Oli and his friends.

He nodded. "I never had the chance to say thanks."

I smiled at him. "Don't worry. They won't lay a hand on you again. If something like this happened to someone you know tho, and they're involved, you can tell me. I'll figure it out."

"What are you two talking about?" Francis asked while glaring at the guy.

"It's not a big deal." I replied.

"I noticed that Francis keeps giving you strawberry milk so I assumed that it's your favorite. But that's not enough, so I'll tell you what I've heard that night. Skye was planning on checking Francis's infos. That's all I know." He said.

I nodded. "Thank you." I smiled and he left.

"What's that all about?" Gwen asked.

I shook my head. "Nothing." I smiled.

—later that evening

I was getting ready for bed when I received an odd text message from Francis.

[Ashton Ketchum: Where can I find strawberry milkshake at this hour?]

Why is he finding a milkshake place at midnight? I called him.

"Where are you?" I asked.

[Some cold dark place.]

"Just tell me where you are. I'll be there."

[Nevermind.] and he ended the call.

How would I sleep knowing that he's somewhere craving for some milkshake?

I didn't bother to change and just put a jacket over my pajamas. I went out and wow it's cold.

Where would I find that guy? Some cold dark place... I couldn't find him anywhere and I also can't find any milkshake shop open so I just bought some ice cream and strawberry milk so I can make my own milkshake at home.

I realized that I'm kind of far from home since I've been looking around for quite sometime now.

I saw that bridge. That cold dark place... What if he's here? I look below the bridge and the river was as peaceful as before. But I saw a human figure sitting near the river.

Is that Francis? I went there to confirm and yes, it was him. Is he crying..

"I couldn't find some milkshake." I greeted.

He looked up to me and quickly wiped his face. He really was crying.

"How did you find me?" He asked.

"I didn't. I just accidentally saw you while reminiscing my birthday. I celebrated it here." I scoffed.

I sat beside him and that's when I realized that he has some knew bruises and wounds on his face.

"I'm here to listen." I said.

I put the straw inside the box of strawberry milk and gave it to him. He accepted it. I also opened the lid of the ice cream. I gave him a plastic spoon and we shared the ice cream.

"My dad... gambles a lot. He also, drinks a lot." He sighed. "He said that I was a curse to him. When my mom was pregnant, their business collapsed. I was born and my mom died. Since then, my dad hated me. He would hurt me every time he would see me. It gets worse when he's drunk."

I just stared at him while he's telling me his story. He was kinda tearing up yet he's still keeping it in.

"I needed to stop joining the varsity team so I can work and earn my own money because he stopped giving me allowances. When I was scouted by Sir Yazon, my swimming coach, when I was about to start middle school, he took care of me like his own kid. But of course, I didn't want to take advantage of him. I didn't want to stop going to school when I was just starting high school so, I need to work extra hard." He sighed again. "I was always late because of work. I would actually rather spend the night working than at home because he might hurt me again if something goes wrong... Like today."

I took a spoonful of ice cream and offered it to him. He smiled and ate it. I playfully left the spoon inside his mouth.

"Funny." He scoffed as he took it out and returned it to me. "Can you stay longer? I don't want to be alone."

"I'm not in a hurry." I replied.

Francis stared at me intently. "Why is it so easy to open up to you?"

"I don't know. But my lips are tight and there's no judgement here. I can assure you that." I smiled at him.

We spent another hour talking about his family and his life. It seems like I got caught up in his entire 18 years of existence in those 2 hours we've been talking.

"Okay, so this entire time, you're just too tired to befriend anyone?" I laughed a little.

"Yeah. And some people started these rumors about me and it got worse. I just stopped talking to everyone. I mean it's annoying. They get scared for no reason." Francis scoffed.

"Who could blame them? I mean, you do look intimidating when you're not smiling. And somehow you're like a cat... Moody and unpredictable. You'll be really caring and protective one time and then you'll be so cranky the next time. But it's fine. We're all different."

"You also have a pretty intimidating resting face. But it's so different when you're smiling. Anyway, I've told you everything about me. How about you? What's your story?" Francis asked while staring at me.

"My story? Hmm..." I hesitated.

"C'mon. You can trust me." He insisted.

"Can I call you Ash?" I asked.

He smiled. "Only if you let me call you Rei."

"Deal." We both said.

"Will you tell me now?" He asked again.

"The only thing you should know about me is, I have an avoidant attachment style. The less you know about me, the closer we can be. The more you push me to share more to you, the higher the risk of me avoiding you." I said and laid back down the grass as I stare up at the stars.

"I won't give up on you. Everyone needs at least one person that they can open up to." Francis said as he stood up and offered his hand to me. "I'll walk you home."

I accepted his hand and he pulled me up.