Thursday, morning

     Frey had become the laughing stock of the town overnight, and while he already felt bad enough for what happened, Samuel posted a series of pictures from the night before in which Frey was alone, depressed and visibly panicking.

Frey was going to take his revenge for this, but not that day.

That day—since his father wasn't even aware he was there—he hid in bed, and texted his father he was going to school, while in secret, he wasn't going to leave his bed.

His father wasn't even going to be home during the day, having an appointment to take a look at several apartments around town with more space.

Frey had the apartment to himself, and he didn't plan on leaving any time soon. Even though Jenna tried to help him out by pretending to be his date, Samuel still had plenty of footage to humiliate him anyway.

And he had nothing to pretend he had an actual date indeed.

Besides, it didn't even really matter, since Frey was panicking in the pictures, and that was evident. It showed people how weak he could be, and that, he hated.

Frey stayed in bed until somewhere after noon, only getting up because he was getting hungry. He checked his phone just than, after ignoring it for hours, while grabbing himself some yoghurt and water.

He frowned, when Facebook notified him that he was tagged in a message, and he opened it, expecting more mocking, finding a tagged picture of him and Jenna, that she had snapped without his knowledge, while they were both laughing over something.

She commented by tagging him, and thanking him for 'a lovely date', including a couple of kisses and a heart-emoji.

Frey felt his face heat up a bit, as he noticed she already had dozens of likes for the picture.

She had also sent him a friend-request and a private message. It was a short message, asking him how he was doing.

It was little, it was innocent, but it made Frey smile nonetheless.

Especially after he went to Samuel's page, to see the pictures had been removed.

Frey replied by telling Jenna he wasn't doing all too well, and that he had stayed home.

He cut up an apple and a banana, throwing the fruit in his yoghurt, kind of waiting for a reply from Jenna—not really knowing why he was so eager to hear from her again.

Did he like her?

She did make him laugh in his worst moment. She did calm him down just by showing up. And besides obnoxiously stubborn Arun and Hendrik, she was the only one so far who had checked in to see how he was doing.

So, maybe he just appreciated her kindness.

That had to be it.

Still, he smiled as soon as she replied, asking him if he wanted to laugh.

Of course, he replied that he wanted to laugh, wondering what she could tell him that would make him laugh.

She sent him a picture in response, and in the picture, Samuel was sleeping. And he wasn't just sleeping; he had his thumb in his mouth like a fucking toddler.

Frey laughed at the picture, and he couldn't stop for a while, before he was able to reply a 'hahaha' back to her, and then decided to send her a picture of himself, still laughing a bit, to show her that she had actually succeeded.

Frey took in a deep breath, still smiling, sitting down on the couch with his yoghurt—now also a bit of honey in it—and his phone in his hands.

For the next hour, he chatted with Jenna, and laughed over her stupid humour. By the time she told him she had a test in school, he felt a lot better. He wished her luck, and took a shower, before he cleaned up his bedroom and went to the supermarket to buy decent food—his father still had a habit to order in every night.

By now, school had ended, and Frey hadn't really thought it over until he ran into Daniel in the store. He already felt embarrassed for the pictures that went viral even though they had already been removed.

They had been public long enough for the world to see.

And if he ran into Daniel, he could easily ran into other people from school too.

But he pushed the thoughts aside when he saw Daniel, obviously uncomfortable, while his sister was impatiently pulling his sweater to gain his attention.

"Can we do ice cream as a desert?" She looked up towards her big brother, he bit his lip and stared down at her, shaking his head.

"Eh... no..." Daniel drawled, while Frey stared at the two of them, forgetting what he was planning to buy himself.

"We never have desert. Joyce always has deserts after dinner."

"Hannah... I can't even buy a decent meal right now. Maybe this weekend."

"But I want it now!"

"Well, that's obviously not going to happen." Daniel sounded both annoyed and sad. "I don't have the money."

Frey felt his stomach clench as Hannah looked down at her feet with a sad frown on her face. "Why don't we have enough like others?"

Daniel was now visibly struggling to give an answer, and Frey decided to save him from the situation, by showing himself.

He stepped forwards with an awkward smile and gestured towards Daniel's jaw. "I eh, I'm sorry about that."

Daniel's eyes widened, and his hand reached up to his jaw subconsciously.

"Hope it doesn't hurt too much."

"It doesn't..." Daniel mumbled, watching Frey as he stood in front of the section with ice cream.

"See?" Hannah whispered as she watched Frey curiously. "He gets desert too."

"Yeah, and we're not..." Daniel grabbed his sister's arm, while Frey reached for the chocolate flavoured ice cream.

"The Cherry one is better." Hannah gestured to the ice cream she had apparently been lurking at, while Daniel pulled her away.

"Is that so?" Frey turned and smiled at the girl. "Is it your favourite?"

She nodded, and Daniel stopped pulling her away since he was obviously the decent guy that didn't want to stop his sister mid-conversation. "Danny says we can't have desert. But you should try it."

"How about we share?" Frey suggested—not in the least planning on having ice cream himself.

Hannah's eyes widened, and she looked up to get Daniel's approval, who awkwardly shuffled a foot.

"We're not a charity case."

"I didn't say that." Frey rolled his eyes. "But it would be rude to try Hannah's favourite ice-cream while she can't have any." Frey grabbed a couple of the cups, tossing them in his basket. "I'll pay, but then you'll have to promise not to ask Daniel for anything else for the rest of the week, okay?"

Hannah nodded eagerly, biting her lip to fight back a smile, while Daniel still seemed to feel really awkward.

Frey got up and faced Daniel with a smile on his face. "They say you should put ice on a bruise. Let's consider this my apology."

"That's not exactly the ice they mean..." Daniel started protesting, but Frey was already ignoring him, kneeling in front of Hannah. "Can you help me picking out a meal for tonight? You obviously know your flavours."

Hannah giggled and nodded and dragged Daniel with her to show Frey the ingredients to her favourite meal.

     Frey had listened to the girl and bought every ingredient to make her favourite meal. And he would be a jerk if he would've payed for the stuff, thanked her for her help, and then left while knowing they were practically starving because Daniel couldn't afford to buy themselves a decent meal.

Daniel was obviously annoyed because Hannah now too wanted to eat the same meal, and he was sending Frey angry looks.

So, when they walked over to their bikes, Frey handed him the bag full of groceries. He could easily go back inside and buy another meal for him and his father and giving them the food felt like the right thing to do.

"What?" Daniel stared at the bag, that he held towards him.

"Here. Take it." Frey nudged the bag forwards a bit more. "I'm not a jerk that lets a hungry girl pick a meal and not share. I'm not always a jerk."

"I know that." Daniel grumbled, while still staring at the bag.

"Oh! Danny, are you going to cook it!?"

"I don't... I—" Daniel stumbled over his words, visibly getting uncomfortable.

"Frey can join, right? So he can eat it too, and we can have deserts together! He can tell me if he agrees that cherry is the best flavour." Hannah was droning on, and Daniel and Frey stared at each other, now both a bit uncomfortable.

"Danny, why aren't you taking it?" Hannah yanked his sleeve annoyed. "You always say we need to accept the food people offer us, even if it's not what we normally would buy..."

"Yeah, that was about the food package, not... this."

"Well, consider this a food package." Frey chuckled a bit awkwardly. "I helped packing those packages last week too."

"You did?" Daniel frowned, and Frey nodded with a smile.

"Are you going to accept this, or not?"

And as if he needed another push, right in that moment, his sister's stomach started to make sounds in protest of hunger.

"Fine..." Daniel grabbed the bag and rolled his eyes. "But we're not a charity case, okay?"

"I know. But Hannah needs proper nutritional food." Frey shrugged and smiled at Hannah. "Looks like you're going to eat your favourite meal tonight."

Hannah eagerly nodded with a wide smile plastered on her face. "But you're eating with us, right? It's your food."

"I just gave it to you guys, now it's yours."

"But..." Hannah pouted, shuffling a foot. "We never get guests anymore..." Now she looked up towards Daniel, who swallowed. It was evident that his little sister was his weak spot. "If I can't have the doll for my birthday, can Frey at least join us for dinner?"

"You want him to come over, and you're willing to stop asking me that doll if I invite him?" Daniel frowned, and Frey rather went home and ordered a pizza, but then Hannah grabbed his hand and nodded, and he too couldn't say no to the innocent little girl.

"You know mommy loves company too."

Daniel sighed deep, before he turned to face Frey again. "So... would you like to join for dinner?" It didn't sound sincere, as if Daniel really wanted him to join. It was mere the politeness to satisfy his sister.

But if he reclined, he would ruin what she wanted—and she already wasn't going to get the doll she wanted so badly.

"Do you... should I..." Frey hesitantly asked, scratching the back of his head.

"Just say yes." Daniel rolled his eyes.

"Eh, okay, I guess?"

Well, this was awkward.

But at least Hannah was pleased with the outcome, and she skipped happily towards her bike.

"Do you really want me to say yes?" Frey made sure to ask, leaning towards Daniel a bit, while both were following Hannah with their eyes.

"If that makes her happy, I do." Daniel sighed again. "Just... she considers you her friend now. You do realize you can't treat her as shit as anyone else after this, right?"

"I wouldn't dare..." Frey pulled up his eyebrows and shrugged.

"Oh god, she's probably going to invite you to her birthday now..." Daniel rolled his eyes.

"Oh..." Frey smirked, and then started laughing. He didn't even have real friends his own age besides Arun and Hendrik. Yes, many people knew him, many talked to him and if he wanted, he could sit practically anywhere during lunch. But that weren't his friends.

But apparently, an eight-year-old girl now considered him as his friend, and he didn't exactly know what to expect of that.

This could be interesting.

Words: +/- 2014