The following day, Frank was being escorted from class down to the visiting rooms after being informed that his mother was there to see him. He had stayed at his desk, ignoring the attending officer; not at all interested in what she would have to say, she wasn’t the type of mother who would drop in with a basket of muffins, she was the type of mother who would drop in with a bucket of disappointment. The officer wouldn’t have it though; he ripped Frank up from his seat and forced him down the hallway, ranting about the kids acting like they were all on a fucking holiday.

He scuffed his feet as he walked in, finding his mother seated on one of the tiny benches near a window. With her lips pursed and hands clasped tightly together, he could feel that she’d already poured the contents of that bucket all over him. He walked across the room and took a seat next to her, not daring to look the disenchanted woman in the eye.

“Well are you going to say hello Frank, or are you just going to ignore me?”

“Hello.”

She sighed, shaking her head softly. Frank lent his elbows on his knees and watched her from the corner of his eye as she scanned the area they were in; he assumed she was looking for something to pick at.

“Do you have any idea how embarrassing it is for me to have to tell my friends where you are?” She looked to her son with raised eyebrows, a harsh tone lining her voice.

Before answering Frank turned to her, resentment burning in his eyes as he wondered if she would like to trade places with him for the next six months. “Do you have any idea how that is not my problem?”

Her nostrils flared as she glared at him. Frank just turned away, now completely prepared for anything she might say.

“Don’t you have any remorse?”

“Don’t you?!” He spat, accusingly.

She looked at the side of Frank’s head for a moment a little confused. “I’m not the one stuck inside these walls Frank. Don’t think for a second that I blame myself for the way you’ve turned out.”

He scoffed. “Of course you don’t, you were never around to see where you fucked up. But I bet if I did wear a halo, you’d take all the credit.”

“Oh don’t give me that ‘not around’ shit. You know what you and Jeph were doing was downright stupid and not to mention, illegal. You practically ripped our lives away! You two are just lucky as all hell you’re not eighteen yet, or life would be a lot worse for you right now than what it already is.” She took a breath and went to speak again but Frank didn’t want to hear it. It was over now; they were caught out. He was doing his time and that was that, so she could shut her fucking mouth.

“Why did you even come here? To remind me that I can’t stand you?”

“No Frank…” She gritted her teeth and leaned in close to his ear. “…that’s not why I came here, you little prick. I came here to tell you that when you get out you can forget your address, I took all you stuff to your Aunt Claire’s since she seems to cherish you so damn much, so you can fuck off there, ‘cause I don’t want to see you anymore.” She leant back, looking over the boy beside her completely disgusted. “You’re lucky your father is too busy pissing the rest of the business up to wall to come in and see your rotten ass, I’m telling you now, those guards over there would’ve seen some action today.”

Frank felt his eyes swell with tears, unable to figure out if he was actually upset or simply livid with his mother. He wiped his cheeks and smiled maliciously at her, standing as he did so. “I always knew you encouraged his cruelty. If anything that makes you a worse person.” He walked away not giving her so much as another glare and nodded for the officer to let him out.

-----

After being lead back to the main part of the building, Frank waited for the officer to leave his sight before he continued walking. He didn’t feel like going back to class, he didn’t feel anything other than worthless after the episode he’d just had. Strolling down the corridors back to his room and watching his finger as he dragged it along the wall, he couldn’t quite grasp how his mother had managed to defeat him. Usually he’d just shrug her off and ignore how much she hated him at that particular moment, but the sound of her teeth grinding in his ear just kept repeating itself, like a song that wouldn’t leave his head and he felt deflated. He despised her truly, not only for the things she had said and done to him, but for all the things his father had done as well, which she had always turned a blind eye to.

The thought of his father’s abusive ways made Frank cringe as he keyed into his room. He flopped onto his bed and stared at the wooden paneling above him. Sure that he should still be upset and hurt, he gave himself some room; waiting for the feelings to flood in, they didn’t come though. Thinking about it, he knew that he had suffered a lot, but really it didn’t matter, he wasn’t there now, he was here, he didn’t have to listen to the constant bickering and screaming between them anymore. He smiled, coming across a slight snap in one of the panels of Jepha’s bed and rolled over with the thought that maybe, things were just better off broken.

-----

Unintentionally Frank had drifted off to sleep. It mustn’t have been for too long though, he was woken by Jepha barging in announcing, rather robotically, that was ‘time to go outside at play’. Frank groaned and lazily let his body flop out of bed. He was lucky it was his roommate that had come in because napping during the day was something the boys were definitely not allowed to do.

Arriving outside at the basketball courts, Jepha made his way over to Pete who was already having a game with a group of other kids and joined in with them. Frank took a seat on a bench close by, opting to watch and randomly wondered if he could get Mr. Way to smuggle cigarettes in for him. After fiddling around for a while, drawing pictures in the dirt with a stick, Frank was distracted by the small sound of a commotion going on in the courts. He looked up to find Pete being shoved around by a person unknown to him. He just observed them, letting it go; he knew if anything serious was to happen Jepha would jump in and then Frank would have a reason to. They seemed to settle down quickly though and the two made their way over to Frank.

“What was that?” He asked as they approached.

Pete scoffed, taking a seat and still trying to catch his breath. “Dickhead. I wasn’t out hey?” He looked to Jepha for reassurance and Frank caught on.

Jepha shrugged. “Don’t worry ‘bout it man, it’s a game.”

“He didn’t think so. I will burn him.” Pete squinted over to the courts.

“Haven’t you learnt your lesson yet Pete?” Jepha laughed at just how annoyed his friend had gotten over something so trivial.

“I’m never going to hate fire.”

“Hey, where’s Bob?” Frank had zoned out of their conversation, only to realize the blonde was missing.

“Hey ladies!” A voice quickly called from behind. The boys turned to find Bob approaching with a cheesy grin on his face.

“Aww, don’t you look cute when you smile?” Frank scrunched up his nose adoringly.

Bob’s expression didn’t falter as he took a seat next to Pete on the table, making him rather nervous. “What are you all smiley about?” He asked, trying to shift over unnoticeably.

“I’m smiling to distract myself from the resentment I feel for Mr. ‘I really hope you cry’ in there.” He explained happily.

“Why what’d he say?” Jepha asked. All of them turning fully in their seats to face Bob.

“He doesn’t say anything! He just sings! I’m sick of it. I go to bed every night with painful covers of Liza Minnelli songs etched into my head. I can’t take it. He’s insane!” Bob covered his ears with his hands to block out the sound, his excited state now completely washed away.

Jepha and Pete laughed out loud at him, while Frank sat still, squinting in deep thought. “You know why man?” He asked, tapping Bob softly on the thigh.

“YES! Because he’s insane! He’s crazy. He’s actually a crazy person!” Bob ranted as if Frank might also be insane for not knowing that already.

Frank laughed. “No, it’s because you don’t answer his questions.”

“He asks you questions too?” Bob looked at him wide eyed, like he’d just received a clue to an investigation.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure he’d ask everyone question’s Bob, why don’t you just answer them and I bet he won’t sing.”

“I would, if I knew the fucking answers. He was singing to me ‘cause I didn’t know the answer to, ‘How many ‘sperm men’, or so he calls them, are released per ejaculation.’ How the fuck am I supposed to know that?”

“Guess.” Pete added, not quite sure if it would work or not, but figured it was worth a shot.

“I did. I swear, I yelled every number possible, he still wouldn’t shut up.”

“Well maybe it’s because you dealt drugs and therefore consumed drugs. You should have said none, because all your ‘sperm men’ are probably dead.” Frank suggested, as if it was a sure possibility.

Pete and Jepha laughed again at Bob’s expense. It was mostly likely the case too, Bob had dealt and addicted himself to so many different types of illicit drugs he wondered himself how the fuck he was even still walking.

“Damnnit! I didn’t think of that. You’re probably fucking right to you know. Fuck!” Bob punched to wood next to him, annoyed at his own stupidity.

“Let’s get lunch before our next class.” Jepha said, getting up from the bench.

They all silently agreed and made their way inside, the three of them making little swimming actions around Bob as they did so.