Chapter Text
The ball falls through the hoop with a soft swish, barely rustling the frayed fabric of the net as the ball falls. Only to bounce on the asphalt towards Frank. He catches it and dribbles a few times before taking another shot, sinking it almost exactly like the many before. Maybe if that reff wasn't such a flaming cunt he could have actually gotten into a college. Frank catches the ball, underhand tossing it back into the garage where it clatters and knocks a few of Clives tools over. Guy probably wouldn't even notice if a bomb went off over his roof he was so shitfaced. He presses the button on the inside of the garage and steps back, listening to the door close as he makes his way towards the sidewalk and down the street. School was about to let out and he hadn't seen most of the others all weekend. They had all been...busy.
He shivers as a sharp breeze rolls by, reminding him that winter was still kicking around. He zips his outer jacket more, wiping some snow off their usual picnic table taking a seat. He watches the school building as the minutes tick by, waiting for the bell. It was the first day back from winter break, at least for those still attending school. For him it was another day, for the others it was more. Less than three weeks ago they had all murdered a man and buried his body at the abandoned resort.
So far he was missing, and rumors were flying. He didn't expect people to care too much but hey, small town big news. He knew that he could keep a secret like that, but he was worried that they couldn't. These guys weren't used to pressure, and this was one hell of a stress test. The bell rings, and after a few moments students start streaming out of the building. He watches absently as three figures break off from the masses and start his way. He smiles, and waves a hand in greeting.
"Hey nerds, you learn anything in there?"
Joey kicks snow off the bench part of the picnic table next to Frank's legs and takes a seat, leaning back on the table and sighing, "Not a damn thing."
"Thankfully most of the teachers didn't actually want to teach anymore than we wanted to learn. You know how it is, eh." Julie adds, making the executive decision to stand.
Susie remains quite, clearing away snow from the other side of his legs and sitting down. She had a thoughtful frown on her face. Silence was quick to fall over them again, it happened more often these days and it was really starting to piss Frank off. Better address the elephant in the room.
"So...what's the word on the janitor." Frank asks casually. Immediately the others stiffen. Julie looks down at her feet, and he can see Joey and Susie pointedly looking away. Frank stares at them with raised eyebrows.
"Don't leave me in suspense." He presses, knowing they'll crack after a few moments.
"He's still missing, as far as everyone knows." Joey finally says after an extended silence, "Most people seem to think he ran off after robbing the store."
"Great! See now stop being pussies about it!" Frank says, jumping off the table and giving the three a mock stern glare, "No ones gonna find him, no ones gonna care. So lets go get a few double-doubles and fuck around, eh?"
He can see them all relax ever so slightly. Good, good, now they would all stop acting like suspicious morons. He quickly leads then away from the school, immediately starting in on topics to keep their minds of their guilty conscious. They're not usually so easily distracted, but considering the alternative topic Frank is able to steer the conversation to mock normalcy.
All is going well until roughly eleven at night. He's laying on the floor of Joey's room, listening to his parents watching TV downstairs. Joey is sound asleep when the news drops.
"The body of missing person Patrick Doe has been discovered buried in the abandoned Ormond Ski Resort. Police say the victim has been dead for at least three weeks, the cause of death from multiple stab wounds. So far no suspect has been identified and the culprit remains at large-"
The TV clicks off, and Joey's mom sighs, "Oh how awful. That poor man, who would do such a thing?"
He can't help a manic grin tugging at his lips, and a weird warmth in his chest bubbles up. In a nineteen shitty years of his life, he had never felt such pride over something he had done. He had killed that janitor, he buried the body, he was going to get away with it. These small town cops could barely figure out who kept tagging the school, despite the culprits being obvious. They would never come close to cracking this cold case.
The others would do their best to ignore this shit, they wouldn't crack under the pressure from the cops since they weren't suspects for now. Franks sits up slowly, crawling over to Joey's bed and gently shaking the sleeping forms shoulder.
"Joey." He whispers, eager to tell him the news and see him panic, "Joey, wake up."
Joey grumbles and cracks his eyes open, face barely visible in the dark room. Frank puts on a serious expression, and waits for Joey to sit up and look at the clock.
"What is it?" He asks, sleep and innocence heavy in his voice.
"Cops found the body." Frank replies, managing to keep his tone somber.
An almost palpable chill runs through the room. He watches in fascination Joey's brown eyes widen in panic, his pupils dilating in sheer terror. He can hear him gasp ever so slightly, and wonders if he could hear his heart racing or if that was just his own.
"A-are you serious?" Joey hisses, leaning forward and grabbing Frank's shoulder in a vice. He can feel the other shaking through his hand.
"I wouldn't lie to you about this." Frank replies firmly. Joey curses under his breath, voice starting to shake as he brings his hands up to run over his face. Frank watches him take a few shuddering breaths, keeping a mask of worry and concern on his face.
"Fuck...fuck Frank w-what do we do?" Joey whispers, voice shaking and desperate.
Frank moves off the floor and sits on the bed to rest a comforting hand on Joey's shoulder. Joey looks at him with pleading brown eyes, Frank squeezes slightly and feels him relax.
"We don't do anything. We act surprised, but don't talk about it. Don't draw attention to yourself, don't talk to cops."
He feels Joey tense, and curses himself for obviously saying the wrong thing.
"Fuck Frank I just got fired from that store! He worked there to! Th-they're going to think it's me, Frank!"
Shit. He really hadn't thought about that. The cops surely would make that connection themselves, especially considering that Joey was black. It would be an open and shut case if they got to him. Frank bites his lip and thinks fast.
"Here, here. If the cops come and talk to you, just say you were over at Susie's' with us that night. We'll back up your alibi, and you can pretend to be scared that you're gonna be targeted next." Frank says quickly. They all had an alibi that night, Susie's parents saw them arrive and they would say they stayed there all night.
Joey nods, breath slowing down to a normal rate, "Ok...ok...I can do that. I can do that."
"I know you can." Frank assures him, giving his shoulder another squeeze, "We're gonna be okay."
"Thank you, Frank."
He pulls away, getting off Joey's bed and grabbing his shoes. The clock flashes eleven thirty and he knows Susie would at least be awake.
"Where are you going?" Joey asks, moving to get out of bed. Frank motions for him to sit down.
"I gotta go tell Julie and Susie, they can't find out from someone else. They might panic too much." Frank explains, tying up his shoes and grabbing his jacket off the back of the desk chair along with his overnight bag, "I want them to know the alibi too. In case the cops come round early."
Joey nods, pushing his dreads back and crawling across the bed to open the window. Frank looks out happy to see there were plenty of footprints in the snow to cover his own.
"Frank."
He glances over at Joey, raising his eyebrows.
"Mask down, might look suspicious if the cops see you out after the news broke."
Frank grins, pointing at Joey playfully, "This is why we gotta stick together."
He fishes his mask out of his bag and throws it on, flipping his hood up and bag back on before stepping out the window. He lets his legs dangle before dropping the last couple feet down to the snowy earth. He hears the window close halfway and starts off towards Susie's house. Thankfully she lived only a few houses down the street, while Julie lived an entire neighborhood over. He sticks to the shadows, trying not to run through backyards and look suspicious. It ends up taking ten minutes as opposed to the usual three. He sneaks around the side of her house to her window and taps on the glass four times.
As he waits for her to open the window he catches a movement out of the corner of his eye. He pushes the mask up, squinting into the leafless bushes. It was hard to see out of the peripherals of the mask but he could have sworn-
"Frank?" Susie's voice interrupts his thoughts and he looks up to see her looking down at him curiously, "What's up?"
He turns and starts to hoist himself through the window, Susie backs up and allows him to tumble ungracefully onto the beanbag placed conveniently under the opening for times like these. He sits up reaching back to close the window behind him.
"Julie here?"
"Yeah, she's in the bathroom right now. Why?"
"Bad news." Frank replies, standing and making sure to look adequately concerned and worried.
Susie's face falls, and he can see her mind start to race with dark thoughts. Julie turns into the room, jumping slightly at the sight of him. Her eyes dart between Susie and him, immediately sensing the mood.
"They found the guy, didn't they." Julie says solemnly, closing the door gently behind her.
Susie drops onto the bed, and immediately bursts into tears. Julie sits next to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and gently comforting her. It was real sweet. He walks over and kneels in front of them, lowering his voice to a comforting murmur.
"Its okay, we're all going to be fine." He says carefully, waiting for Susie to calm down before explaining his plan to them. They react similar to Joey, calming down and smarting up as he talked. Julie stands, motioning for Frank to follow her across the room to give Susie some space to cry.
"Are you going back to Joey's tonight? I don't want him to be alone right now either." She says, glancing over to Susie sitting on the bed with her hands folded in her lap and bouncing her foot.
"Yeah, if he's up I'll sneak back in and walk to school with him tomorrow. You two just try and get some sleep."
Julie nods, crossing her arms over her graphic tee and sighing softly before mumbling, "This is all so fucked."
"You're telling me." They share a smile, and Frank pulls his mask down. He ruffles Susie's hair as he passes, giving her a thumbs up when she looks at him. She smiles sadly, and wishes him goodnight.
He reopens the window, and jumps out landing in the cold snow with a soft crunch. Something other than cold causes him to shudder, and he looks around. The wind ruffles the branches of the pine trees, and the shadows shift lecherously. Slowly he starts walking towards the treeline, squinting into the small forested area and the darkness. Nothing but shadows. Frank turns away, walking back in his own footprints towards the street. He was acting paranoid, he needed to calm way the fuck down. First things first, he needed to get back to Joey's, as much as he wanted to tune into the news and see what the cops knew but he couldn't leave Joey alone yet.
He makes it back to Joey's house in a record six minutes of sneaking through the shadows. Unable to shake the feeling of being watched, but no matter how many times he looked over his shoulder he didn't see a damn thing. Frank climbs up the rain gutter, opening the window the rest of the way and swinging in with practiced ease. He closes the window all the way, pulling the mask off and staring out into the street. He swears he can see something out there. A cop car rolls by and he ducks down. Closing the curtains he looks over to Joey, relieved to see him sound asleep. On his way back to his sleeping bag he tugs Joey's blanket up before laying down and closing his eyes. It was almost one, and these nerds needed to be up early.
--
The alarm jerks him from sleep and he groans, sitting up and shoving his bag under Joey's bed and stretching. He looks over to the other man yawning, he could see heavy circles under Joey's eyes. Breakfast was going to be a real test for him, but he knows Joey won't crack as easily when given time to prepare. He collects his things while Joey shuffles out to wash his face and get dressed. Frank proceeds to drop down to the ground. As one could imagine, Joey's parents didn't like him too much. He trots around to the front of the house and leans against a tree near the sidewalk. It gives him a good view of Joey's and Susie's house. He shivers slightly, staring up at the cloudy sky above and wondering if it was going to snow again. Wouldn't surprise him this early in the year.
"Love you!" Joey calls behind him as he jumps off his porch and jogs over to Frank. He looks down the street to see Julie and Susie a few houses away.
"Aww thanks." Frank teases, taking the thermos Joey offers and taking a sip. He winces at the bitter taste and passes it back.
Joey flips him off before taking a drink. Julie gives Frank a friendly shoulder punch that actually fucking hurts a lot, and with that the gangs all here. Frank shoves his hands in his pocket, and trails behind a bit to walk next to Susie. He knew Julie was tough and she could put on a brave face. He doubted she'd crack under anything short of torture. Susie on the other hand was a little more delicate, she almost got out their bonding experience.
"Hey Pinky, how you feelin?" Frank asks, keeping his voice down so the others won't notice.
Susie shrugs, shoving her hands into the pockets of her blue hoodie. He watches her bit her lip pensively. He pulls his hand out of his own pocket to gently rub Susie's back in an attempt to comfort her.
"I'm scared, Frank." She finally admits, lisping slightly. She had recently gotten her braces adjusted and was still adjusting, "I don't wanna go to jail."
He understands, Susie was hardly cut out for their petty vandalism let alone murder. But he also knew she would do anything for him, they all would. He had to pressure he enough to keep her demure until this blows over. No cop would suspect or target her, she was just too innocent.
"You're not going to jail," He pauses for effect, "I'm not gonna lie to you, Susie but they're more likely to send you on a Starlight Tour instead of jail."
He feels her stiffen under his hand, and knows he went for a really low blow. He debates doubling down and bringing up Joey's predicament, but decides that the threat of death was more than enough.
"I won't let it happen, Susie. We're in this together." He adds, patting her back a final time before letting his hand fall. Susie lets out a slow breath that fogs up and floats upward.
"Friends forever?" He adds, holding up his arm and showing the bracelet on his wrist. Susie smiles, and brings her hand up to tap her bracelet against his.
"Friends forever."
Frank smiles, and stops before the entrance of the school. He waves, wishing his nerds a good day at school before turning around to head home. He swings by the gas station to swipe a newspaper from the rack and shoplifting a chocolate bar which he eats on his way back. Thankfully Clive was at work when he gets there. His car is gone and the house was empty and silent as usual. Once his door is closed and locked Frank takes a seat on his desk chair and unfolds the paper.
'Body Found At Mount Ormond Resort.'
A grin spreads over Frank's face, and he grabs a pair of scissors from his desk. Carefully he cuts out the section of the newspaper. He wasn't a sentimental guy, but then again he never actually had anything to be sentimental or proud of. Some would argue this was a fucked up or awful thing to be proud of, but he never really was one to give a shit about society as a whole besides blending in. He takes the clipping and digs an old shoe box out from under his bed. He spills the tapes onto his desk and places the clipping gently inside before shoving it back under his bed. Couldn't have the others finding it. As for the rest of the newspaper he dumps it in the kitchen trash can and flips on the TV, immediately changing to the news. He wanted to see his work on TV for himself.