“Fuck you,” she hissed. She’d never been one to swear much—neither of her parents liked when she did—but this was one case when she didn’t even try to hold back. “You’re both idiots. That word is so repulsive and offensive, but you don’t care, do you? Of course you don’t. Frankie is deaf, not mentally disabled.”
“And look, he’s got some sort of antenna on his head. You talking to aliens or something?” Silas asked, ignoring her explanation.
“Yup. And I just gave them your names as the first two people to pick up and do anal probes on,” Frankie said without missing a beat.
Silas looked surprised for a second at Frankie’s comeback, then rolled his eyes. “I’m not surprised Annie can’t do any better than a freak like you.”
That was it. Annie dropped the bag she was holding and turned to Frankie and quickly signed. Please let me take him out. I can do it, no problem.
No, Frankie signed back, not even needing to let go of the bags he was holding to speak. He’s just baiting you. Besides, I don’t give a shit what an asshole like him thinks about me, or us.
“Are you guys having a spasm? Should we call 9-1-1?” Mikey taunted.
Annie turned to him, and slowly and clearly signed, You’re an asshole. I hope you fall into a pit of fire ants and die a slow, torturous death.
It felt good to tell him exactly how much she hated him, even if he couldn’t understand her. Frankie chuckled from next to her, and Annie looked up at him and smiled.
“What’d you just say to me?” Mikey demanded.
“Oh, but I was just having a spasm,” Annie told him in a patronizing tone.
The lady standing in front of them in line chuckled, making Annie smile even wider.
But that obviously pissed off Mikey. He hated not having the upper hand, and even though he was a jerk and not all that bright, he definitely understood that the woman was laughing at him.
He took a step toward Annie—and Frankie immediately morphed from the laid-back, easygoing guy he’d been seconds earlier into a pissed-off, protective boyfriend.
He dropped the bags he was holding and pushed Annie behind him a step. He held up a hand palm out, as if to block Mikey, and said, “I don’t think you want to take us on. First of all, Annie could kick your ass with one hand tied behind her back, and I think you know it. Maybe you and your friend could overpower her if you worked together, but it would be all over your school that the only way you could beat a girl was if you ganged up in an unfair fight.
“But more than that—you know who her dad is. And who his friends are. Trust me, you don’t want to be on the wrong side of Cormac Fletcher and his buddies. Not to mention the fact that wanting to hit a girl makes you repulsive, and says a lot more about you than it does her. Step. Back. Asshole.”
Annie stared at Frankie in disbelief. She knew she shouldn’t take her eyes off Mikey and Silas, but she couldn’t help but see Frankie in a new light. She’d never seen this side of him…and had to admit that she liked it. A lot. He was right, she could totally take Mikey. Probably both him and Silas. Her dad had taught her self-defense, and she’d spent years learning from him and his friends how to fight, even when the people she was up against didn’t fight fair.
But having Frankie stand up for her made her love him all the more.
“Whatever,” Silas mumbled. “Come on, Mikey. We’ll leave the bitch and her retarded boyfriend alone.”
Annie’s teeth clenched. She hated that word.
Mikey narrowed his eyes in her direction and said, “Watch your back, Annie. You’ve got an ass-beating coming—and I’m gonna be the one to put you in your place.”
Annie wasn’t scared of Mikey. “Bring it,” she told him defiantly.
When the two boys had stalked off, Annie sighed. “I’m sorry,” she told Frankie.
“You have nothing to be sorry about. But you do need to be careful.”
“I will. It seems that just because I’m tough and can take care of myself, it makes me more of a target for guys like them, who think all women should be meek and mild.”
“I, for one, love that you’re tough.”
Annie smiled up at him. “Thanks.”
Frankie leaned over and picked up their bags. “Come on, the line’s moving. I need to get my girl some ice cream.”
“With sprinkles?” Annie asked, putting the two bullies out of her mind. They weren’t worth the brain space to worry about.
“Of course,” Frankie said. Then he blew her mind by leaning over and kissing her temple, as she’d seen her dad do to her mom a million times. “Only the best for my girl.”
Frankie might not be the kind of boy many girls would be attracted to. He was tall and skinny, with the cochlear implant device on the side of his head and his unusual speech pattern. So at first glance, he didn’t seem like much of a catch. But Annie was sure he would grow into his body. And she didn’t care one whit about his being deaf. She knew the heart of this man was pure gold, and if she lived to be four hundred and thirty-one, she’d never meet another person who she loved as much as she did him.
Twenty minutes later, they were sitting at a table in the food court. They’d finished their ice cream and were killing time before Annie’s mom came to pick them up in fifteen minutes or so. Besides Mikey and Silas being jerks, the afternoon had been perfect.
They were talking about nothing in particular when a strange noise caught her attention behind her.
Annie turned to see Mikey had stood up so fast, his chair had crashed to the ground. She immediately rolled her eyes and turned back around, determined to ignore whatever stunt Mikey was pulling to try to get attention now.
But Frankie’s gaze was glued over her shoulder.
“Ignore them,” she pleaded. “They’re just trying to be in the limelight, as usual.”
Frankie didn’t answer her, instead abruptly standing and heading for Mikey and Silas.
Shocked, Annie turned to stare after him, wondering what in the world he was doing. He’d been the one to encourage her to brush off their words, and he hadn’t seemed all that affected by their crude words earlier. Had he changed his mind, wanting to get into a fight with them now?
Confused about what was happening, Annie stood, ready to defend Frankie and fight at his side if need be.
But Frankie wasn’t heading toward them for a fight. Far from it.
Mikey was standing by a table with his hands clutched around his throat. His eyes were huge, and even Annie could see the panic on his face.
“He’s choking! Someone do something!” Silas exclaimed.
Frankie was there in seconds. He physically turned Mikey so his back was to his front, then he wrapped his arms around the other boy. He quickly and efficiently performed the Heimlich maneuver. After several thrusts, a piece of food flew out of Mikey’s mouth, landing with a disgusting splat on the tile floor.
Frankie kept his arms around the boy for a heartbeat, making sure he wasn’t going to fall to the ground and hurt himself, before slowly letting go. He kept one hand on his shoulder and moved around him so he could see Mikey’s face. “You okay?” he asked.
Mikey nodded as he took in great big gulps of air. His lips had begun to turn blue, but as Annie watched, color slowly seeped back into them.