POV: Rowan

I stand in the middle of the cabin, anxiously waiting for Frankie. I'd just taken the girls from breakfast to arts and crafts where they were learning to crochet. If it were any other day, I might have sat down and showed off my crochet skills, but right now, nothing else in the world seemed to matter except for Frankie.

In all honesty, Frankie and I were supposed to be deep cleaning the bathroom-- janitor duty and all, but Frankie was fucking trapped with a demoness and the law, and my brain wouldn't slow down long enough to even mix bleach properly.

The bathroom could wait. Maybe. It could wait as long as Dylan's cabin didn't have showers. They were notoriously messy.

What the hell were we going to do?

I pace back and forth for what feels like an eternity, until Frankie finally bursts through the door. Her face is tear-stained, her hair disheveled, and she looked like she may have made a pit-stop on her way here to vomit. I rush towards her, instantly feeling the urge to hold her.

"Are you okay?" I ask, my heart sinking as her already sad expression deepens when we make eye contact. She didn't even have to answer. She wasn't okay. She hadn't been okay-- and maybe if I'd just paid a little more attention I could have noticed what Taylor was doing sooner. I could have stopped this.

She stares at me numbly as I pull her into an embrace, responding robotically to my touch. I try to meet her gaze, but there's nothing behind her eyes. Frankie, who was usually so full of fire, was suddenly made only of smoke.

"I'm leaving tomorrow," She finally utters-- her voice dry and raw. I halt, processing the information. She herself looked like she could barely believe the words that had just left her mouth

"You're leaving camp?" I ask, needing to hear it twice to believe her.

"Not just camp. I'm leaving my group home. Probably go to some orphanage where I have to say a fucking prayer before every meal," She mutters. I lead her over to her cot, and we limply sit down, side by side. As close as two people can physically be.

"But-- you didn't do anything," I squeak, already knowing that she would have done everything that she could of to convince Marley to let her stay. Confirming my suspicions, she shakes her head.

"Doesn't matter," She whispers. I grab her hand, and she gives it a squeeze. Half of me wishes she would squeeze and squeeze until I explode.

"We can fix it," I murmur, pushing a strand of her hair behind her ear and stroking my fingers against her face. She leans into me, her energy waning.

"We can't," She replies, her voice dripping in resignation. I sigh.

"Frankie--"

"I love you," She says abruptly, the words falling out of her like she can't stop them. She's turned towards me fully, and looks me warmly in the eyes. Startled, I widen my eyes, and then blink. My vision is clouded with warm, effervescent stars, beams of golden light, whispers from a chorus of sirens.

She loves me?

"Maybe it's too early to say that, I don't know-- I'm uh, new to this. I was going to tell you.. somewhere better. Somewhere romantic." She starts rambling, the nervousness creeping up into her voice. "But I can't just leave without--"

"I love you, too," I quickly exhale, cutting her off, not wanting to waste another second. But how can such a simple sentence really convey how much I admire her, long for her, adore her? I lean over, kissing her gently on the lips, then pressing her into the cot, where I lay my head on her chest. She instinctively wraps her arms around me, and we let ourselves drown peacefully in those three words. The only words that seem to matter. I love you. I love you. I love you.

"Please don't go," I whisper, so quietly I'm not even sure that she can hear me. Her chest heaves.

"Okay," She replies after a moment of silence. I sit up.

"What?" I gently furrow my brow. She sits up, too.

"I said, okay." She repeats, pulling my hair back into her fist and kissing me slowly on the neck.

"Okay, what?" I laugh, shivering at her touch.

"Okay, I won't go. We'll figure this out. Okay? I'm not leaving you," She grabs me by the shoulders and looks me intently in the eyes, her tone completely shifting from resolved to desperate. Was that really all it took?

"Everyone in my life has left me. Everyone. I'm not going to let Taylor do it to me again. I'm done," She stands up suddenly, her thinking face on-- every muscle pulled taut. "I'm tired of being passive in my own life. I want to--"

"Radically fucking succeed?" I cut in, watching her from the cot. A grin stretches across her face, and she laughs.

"I want to radically fucking succeed!" She exclaims-- the fire in her eyes returned as though it had never been put out.

"Then we better start thinking-- and fast," I remind her.

"Actually," She smirks. "I have an idea. But I'm going to need you to trust me,"

"Aye aye, captain," I mime a jokey salute.

"Aaaand," She rushes towards me, pushing me once again back downwards onto the cot. "If my calculations are correct, we have just enough time to make out," She murmurs, already brushing my hair out of my face.

Well shit. How could I possibly say no to that?

Frankie's plan wouldn't be able to come to fruition until the evening, during the nightly campfire-- so the rest of the day was spent laying low. Frankie didn't want to make any waves-- and didn't want Taylor, Marley, or Darlene to catch on that she wasn't exactly planning on leaving, so we bid our time latched together and moping.

At dinner, Blake managed to corner us out of earshot of Taylor.

"What the fuck happened?" They hiss, sliding their dinner tray next to mine. Frankie shrugs, digging into her chili. Blake glances at me for some sort of explanation, and I groan.

"You didn't see Taylor's black eye?" I ask, playing around with my food. I was still nervous to eat anything that Malik served me.

"Duh, I fucking saw it. What-- did you give it to her?" Blake asks, giving me a pious glance. I snort.

"Obviously not!" Frankie mumbles, her mouth full of chili. I give her a look, and she swallows before continuing. "She probably had Cal give her a good bop. Fucking psychopath. Anyways, she showed Marley, said I did it-- basically, I'm out of chances," She explains, still hushed. I continue to watch Taylor to make sure she's not attempting to listen in. If she catches on that we have a plan, we're fucked-- but we needed Blake.

"So-- Marley believed Taylor over you?" Blake snorts, incredulous. "We all know half the shit that comes out of her fucking mouth is a lie," Blake continues. I put my hand over theirs to quiet them down.

"It's not so much that she believed her.. more that I'm out of chances," Frankie shrugs. Blake rolls their eyes.

"Fucking bullshit," They mumble under their breath. I smile.

"But we have a plan!" I announce in whisper fashion. Blake raises their eyebrows at me, and Frankie sits back, smirking at my excitement.

"Of course you do," Blake mutters under their breath. "Seriously, though, I'd die before watching Frankie get hauled away. What's the move?" They quickly bounce into super-sleuth mode to match my energy, and Frankie lets out an exasperated sigh.

I mean, come on. If we took everything in life seriously, all three of us would be hospitalized with ulcers by now.

"At the campfire tonight, I'm going to need your help to distract Taylor, okay?" I mumble, smiling softly. Blake nods.

"Easy. Nobody can piss Taylor off like I can," They grin, puffing out their chest.

"Dunno if I would brag about that if I were you," Frankie scowls.

"Pack it up, Dwayne The Rock Johnson," Blake shoots back. What? Without missing a beat, Frankie comes right back.

"If you're referring to my punching problem, I'd go for Mike Tyson first. Wrestling is just acting,"

"You're not cool enough to be compared to Mike Tyson. Even Dwayne is a stretch," Blake sits back, flipping their curls to the side.

"Okay," I cut them off, not even sure what kind of tangent they'd fallen into. "Are we all good for tonight?" I ask, giving them each a glance. Frankie nods, and Blake shrugs.

"Well, I got virtually no details, but I think if I rearrange a few things, I can make it work," They smirk.

"Hallelujah, we're saved," Frankie mumbles, standing up. "I'm going to use the restroom, be right back," She leans down and kisses me, causing a blush to form on the peaks of my face. I watch her intently as she walks away, before Blake snaps to grab my attention.

"We both know her ass ain't fat enough for you to be drooling over her backside like that," Blake jokes, their eyes twinkling.

"And you're one to talk," I reply, referring to the fact that Blake was the literal definition of a string-bean. Blake smiles at me, and then their expression turns sour.

"This is going to work, right?" They ask quietly. I frown, pushing my tray away and turning towards them.

"I-- I guess I don't really know," I whisper back. "It's our only shot," I give them a small smile, but it fades as Blake's face saddens.

"I know.. that she's leaving for good soon, anyways," Blake starts, taking a deep, strained inhale. "But I'm not ready to lose her. I still have a whole year before I age out-- and, god, dude, I dread every single day without her," Their voice turns raspy, and I grab each of their hands.

"No matter what happens, Frankie will never abandon you, okay?" I search their eyes, knowing that losing Frankie would be like Blake losing their leg.

"I know. But, god, I don't know if Frankie could fucking survive another home, Rowan. I mean-- she's been pushed past her breaking point over and over again, she's been in orphanages, she's been fostered, she's been homeless, she's been in and out of group homes--"

"--She was homeless?" I interrupt them. Blake shrugs.

"A lot of us have. Point is-- Frankie is supposed to be worrying about her future. Not where she's going to sleep, who might decide to violently haze her, which nuns will try to send her to conversion therapy..." They trail off, watching my face as I cringe. "We just... this has to work," Blake finishes, now unable to meet my gaze. I swallow.

"It's going to work," I mumble, stubborn. But I wasn't sure.

Nothing is guaranteed.

All I could say for certain, is that I would do fucking anything for her.