Chapter 7~Tell Me?

 

- - - - -Frankie- - - - -

 

            “Frankie, what happened?” Chris asked pointing to my scars on my arms during rehearsal.

            I looked down at my arms and remembered yesterday when Robyn was trying to fight out of my grip. She had a lot of muscle and managed to create bruises on both my arms.

            “You promise not to tell?” I asked Chris. I knew that I could trust Chris. I could trust him with my life, but I wasn’t sure if I should trust him with a Robyn’s life.

            “Yeah, what’s wrong?” Chris asked concerned.

            “Robyn’s been on anti-depressant pills and remember how she left her bag at my house? Well, she forgot her pills in them and so she had a breakdown,” I started to explain. Chris had dropped his mouth at least 10 times before I finished explaining the whole truth.

            “Shouldn’t she go in…rehab?” Chris asked worriedly.

            “Hope not,” I instantly replied.

            “Chris! Frankie! Pay attention! You still have to learn your moves,” Claudia yelled at us. I had to focus on my dancing moves then. I wondered if Robyn really needed to go to rehab.

 

 

            “Hey Robyn!” I called up Robyn later that day.

            “Oh hey! What’s up?” Robyn answered on the other line.

            “Guess what opens tonight?” I asked anxiously.

            “Hmmm….what?”

            “The carnival! You’re taking me. Did you forget?” I started to laugh.

            “No one in the right mind would forget that,” Robyn said reassuring me.

            “So are you up for it?”

            “Of course!”

            “Awesome. I’ll pick you up in 15 minutes?” I questioned.

            “Yep! See ya!”

            Click

            Click

 

            We quickly arrived at the carnival and damn was it packed! Robyn took my hand and pulled me all the way to one of the roller coaster rides. She made me go on it with her 5 times. By the time we were done, I was deaf from people screaming in my ears.

            “Oh, c’mon it wasn’t that bad! It was fun!” Robyn laughed. She had that smile that I could get lost in for hours. I caught myself staring at her face for a while.

            “What are you looking at?” Robyn asked, as she seemed confused.

            “Nothing,” I shook my head and smiled.

            “Ooooooohhhhh! Cotton candy! Oh my gosh! I need to get myself some of that!” Robyn grabbed my hand again and ran towards the candy stand. She seemed awfully cheery that night. It made myself kind of glad, too.

            “Can I have one large cotton candy, please?” Robyn screamed at the person running the stand. The man quickly brewed up some cotton candy and was ready to give it to Robyn. Robyn was too busy looking for her money to pay for it. I suddenly made half a smile.

            “Hey, Robyn…” I started.

            “Yeah? Hold on, I can’t find my money!” Robyn said quickly.

            “So you want this cotton candy, huh?”

            Robyn suddenly realized what I was thinking and looked up at me. I made a huge grin and took the cotton candy from the man at the stand. I started to run quickly so Robyn couldn’t get it.

            “Ahhhhh! Frankie! GIVE ME MY COTTON CANDY!” Robyn screeched behind me.

            “Hey! You two have to pay for that!” I heard the man say behind the candy stand.

            I started laughing so hard while I was running that it hurt. I looked behind me saw that Robyn was catching up. She was a really fast runner.  

            “I WANT MY CANDY!” Robyn whined while laughing.

            “Come and get it!” I screamed while running into the parking lot. I stopped and looked behind me. Robyn wasn’t there. I couldn’t see her anywhere. Unexpectedly, Robyn jumped on top of me and grabbed the cotton candy out of my hands.

            “Thank you!” Robyn laughed as she lied down next to me on the soft grass. I kneeled down next to her and started to lean closer to her. I gently pressed my lips against hers. I pulled away and grabbed the cotton candy from her palm.

            “Haha!” I started to laugh at Robyn.

Once more, she chased me for the cotton candy. When she finally caught up with me, we stopped at the Ferris Wheel. I looked up at the huge wheel and looked back at Robyn. I was breathing heavily, trying to catch my breath.

“You (breath) up (breath) for (breath) it?” I finally asked.

“Sure!” Robyn screamed. She never seemed to get tired of anything.

As soon as our cart on the Ferris Wheel made it to the top of the wheel, Robyn lied her head on my shoulder.

“Tell me something about you,” I requested.

“Like what?” Robyn questioned curiously.

“Why do you take pills?” I simply questioned.

“Long story,” Robyn replied immediately.

I looked down to the bottom of the Ferris Wheel and saw a long line of people waiting to go on. “Well, we have a long time up here.”

Robyn sighed. She seemed to think for a while before responding. “When my mom died a couple months ago, my dad was crushed. He stayed home from work and my relationship with my dad died, as well. I started to fall apart. I had a breakdown everyday. I started to have temper tantrums. Josh, who was my boyfriend at the time, noticed the change in me. I had a breakdown in front of Josh, and he sort of freaked out. He broke up with me after that. Not long afterwards, I became self-conscious and started to throw up my food. If I didn’t throw up my food, I didn’t eat at all…”

Robyn looked into my eyes at that moment to see my reaction so far. My face was blank. I had no idea that Robyn had to go through that. Before when she told me her mom died, she acted as if it was no big deal. She hid a lot of feelings then.

Robyn continued as her voice became scarce, “…of course, nobody knew anything about it. My dad had a few hints, but he was going through his own depression at that time, so he couldn’t focus on me just then. I was scared. I started to lose all my friends, at least the snotty ones. My best friend Morgan stuck with me, though. I convinced myself to take anti-depressant pills. Things got better, but I still lost a lot of friends.”

“Wow,” I said in shock. No other word could have described my amazement. She seemed so strong and independent.

“Yeah, I know,” Robyn whispered. I noticed that she was wiping tears away from her eyes. “But I’m off it. I stopped taking the pills and I’m confident. I’m over that stage now. Something that happened a couple days ago helped me get through it,” Robyn explained clearly.

“What happened a couple days ago?” I asked peculiarly.

Robyn grinned at me and whispered, “I met you.”

As I sat there and stared into her eyes, I didn’t see a person who was crying for help like I did before. Instead, I saw a person who was relieved from stress and filled with comfort. I smiled because I couldn’t believe that it was me who made that change in her.

The Ferris Wheel finally came to a stop. I came out of the old cart first and lent Robyn a hand to help her get out. We held hands tightly and walked around the rest of the sites of the carnival. When our feet got sore, we found a bench to rest on. I sat down at the right end while Robyn lied down on the rest of the bench with her head lying on my legs. Her bright blue eyes turned to look into mine.

“Did you get enough pay yet?” Robyn asked, sounding like she was annoyed.

I glanced at her and replied with a grin, “Yes, no, maybe so.”

“Aww! You suck!” Robyn whined. She punched my stomach playfully. I gave her a vulnerable smile.