Wednesday, evening

     With Julia at ballet practise, and his mother working, Frey had all freedom to decide what he was going to cook for supper to feed himself and his brothers. He decided to take them to the snack bar to get them fries and snacks. Their mother would never approve of such unhealthy food, which as why it was always their secret, and luckily Victor and Rudy understood that if they would tell their mother, they wouldn't ever get unhealthy food from Frey again.

So, they had a silent agreement not to tell about their usual Wednesday evening habit of eating fast food.

They walked the couple of blocks over to the nearest snack bar, while Victor and Rudy both speculating about the birthday presents that they were getting, while Frey had trouble to force a smile on his face half the time.

He resolved in pretending to smile whenever they looked at him to see if they were getting close. But they weren't.

Victor was sure he was getting a Nerf-gun—which their mother would never approve of due to her opinion of weapons being violent, even the harmless plastic ones for children.

Rudy, however, was more realistic, and was speculating about getting gifts that had to do with history. He was close to their mother's present, but not to Frey's and Julia's, so Frey kept telling them they were both not even close to the truth, until they reached the snack bar and both of them hurried to a table to sit down.

Frey would've normally ordered in, but he felt a bit suffocated in their house, which was why he decided—against his better judgement—to take the twins out for dinner for once.

Which he instantly regretted as soon as he made eye-contact with none other than Daniel Quinn.

He was standing behind the counter, packing in a take-away order, while a co-worker was behind the register.

Daniel was frozen in his spot as soon as his recognized Frey.

Frey was wearing an oversized hoodie, and the hood of it was over his head, as if he tried to shield himself from the world as much as possible.

He knew he looked pale, tired, sick even a bit.

Which might explain why Daniel didn't instantly recognize him. But now that he did, he swallowed, forced a smile on his face and greeted him as if he was greeting a stranger.

"Hi," Frey greeted him back, feeling awkward. He knew Daniel didn't want to talk to him, but he also was aware of the fact Daniel was one of those people who would never be rude to a customer, even if they were fighting.

Mitchel once showed up in the club, shortly after their break-up, and Frey remembered how Daniel had been on the verge of crying, and he still forced himself to ask Mitchel what he wanted to drink.

Did Daniel forget Frey—who never really cared about other people's issues—had stepped in at that moment, and made sure he was the one to get Mitchel drinks for the rest of the night, so he wouldn't bother Daniel?

"Can I help you?" Daniel asked after wrapping up the order he was working on, handing it to a customer.

"Oh... eh." Frey quickly looked towards Rudy and Victor. "I should ask what they want..."

"Are those the twins?" Daniel asked curiously, yet with a bit of a grumpy tone. He was just making casual conversation like he was supposed to.

"Yes."

"Cool..." Daniel tapped his fingers on the counter while he seemed to feel a bit awkward, and Frey smiled unsurely, before he slowly turned and headed over to his brothers to see what they wanted to eat.

After discussing, since they wanted way more than they would be able to finish, Frey went back to the counter, where Daniel was now talking to an elderly woman, who he seemed to know better than just any customer.

Daniel paused their conversation shortly to take Frey's order, but then went back to talking to her while preparing the food.

Frey lingered in front of the counter for a while, questions at the tip of his tongue, but he eventually sat back down with Victor and Rudy, who were now discussing a history test they had in school that week.

They were disagreeing on one question in particular, but Frey didn't feel bothered to listen and maybe correct them.

They might be intelligent, Frey wasn't stupid either, and he was 7 years ahead of them in school, so he still was smarter now.

"Your food," Daniel monotonously made him aware he brought over the order, setting down a tray with food on their table. "Enjoy your meal."

"Thanks," Frey mumbled in return, while Victor and Rudy more or less attacked their food. "Danny?"

"Daniel." He corrected him, and Frey felt a sting of pain.

"Right... Daniel?" Frey looked up, and found they were now alone in the small snack bar, and Daniel was standing halfway between the table and the counter, probably because he was waiting for Frey to continue talking.

"Yes, Frey?" Daniel crossed his arms and tapped his foot impatiently.

"I didn't know you had another job. You didn't quit in the club, right?"

"I did not, no." Daniel shrugged. "I've been working here for about two years now. Why?"

"Well..." Frey cocked his head, scratching the back awkwardly. "How come you have two jobs but no money to give your sister what she wants?"

"That, Frey, is none of your fucking business." Daniel's attitude changed within seconds, and he turned away from Frey in a hurry. "Just remember just because you're a spoiled brat with rich parents, doesn't mean we all are blessed."

"Excuse me?" Frey chocked on his bite, turning to look at Daniel again. "I'm not a spoiled brat. You have no idea what my life is like."

"Oh, Frey, I know." Daniel swirled around on his feet to send him a cold look. "You have a bit of a controlling mother, about which you like to whine and complain a lot. But you always and ever forget to mention the fact your father lets you do whatever the fuck you want, whenever the fuck you want. And you hurt my friends in the process, and you even are a condescending shithead to me while I helped you out a lot."

Daniel's words kind of hit home, since he too told Frey he was whining and complaining a lot. Wasn't that what his mother repeatedly told him too? So, was he whiny?

But even if he was, Frey didn't need Daniel to judge him for his behaviour. Daniel didn't know what kind of storms were raging through his mind every now and again. He had no right to judge him at all.

"And you're just a jerk who thinks he's better than anyone else, and never sees it when anyone does anything to help him un return." Frey grumbled angrily, while Victor and Rudy fell silent beside him, eating their fries while looking back and forth between the two arguing boys.

"Excuse me? As if you ever do anything in return."

"Oh, I do! You just never see it!"

"Like what, Frey!? What did you do that is even remotely close to making up for all my waisted energy of dropping you off at home, week after week?"

"I always make sure you never have to help Mitchel in the club, because I know you hate his guts..."

"I don't hate Mitchel!" Daniel called out in anger. "And you do that, until you decide you're bored and go and get drunk while you're on a shift. That's hardly any helpful, Frey! Leaving a drunk Mitchel for me to handle..."

"Oh, fuck you. That isn't true." Frey knew it wasn't true. He even once stayed fully sober to make sure Mitchel wouldn't bother Daniel, and when Mitchel got drunk and annoying, he even got the security to throw him out because he was eyeing Daniel like a hungry lion, and Frey wanted to protect his friend.

Or, who he considered a friend.

"Just... leave me the fuck alone." Frey grumbled in anger, turning back to his food.

"It'll be my pleasure." Daniel spat at him, before he turned and walked away, leaving behind an awkward silence.

They weren't friends. They were simple co-workers, and that was all there was too it.

Frey just wished his stomach would stop clenching at the thought of just being co-workers instead of friends.

     Frey had managed to sit through dinner with his brothers, without exchanging another word with Daniel, and while making sure they would get most food in their mouths instead of starting a food-fight.

When Frey told them to behave and not to make a mess, Rudy had asked him why.

When Frey told him that he didn't want them to make a mess that others had to clean up, Victor chimed in and wondered aloud why Frey would mind bothering the guy 'he just had an argument with'.

Frey ignored them, though he wondered if his bad moods were affecting them in a negative way. He knew he behaved bad at times, but that didn't mean he wanted his brothers to behave the same way.

They wanted to deliberately make a mess, so Daniel would have to clean up after them, and since Frey at least was decent enough not to let trivial fights bother others at work, he cleaned most of the mess himself, before he took them home.

By now, they were showered and in bed, and Frey picked Julia up from ballet like he promised.

She didn't look happy, and that had Frey worried. He knew the look on her face all too well; despair.

"What's wrong?" He asked, as soon as they came home.

"Ugh, Frey!" She called out, throwing her head back dramatically. "I hate ballet. I really don't want to go anymore."

"Than don't."

"Mom already paid for 20 classes and I hate to admit it, but it's actually helping me with my balance and coordination..."

"Than why do you hate it?"

"Because there's a couple of bitches that I can't stand being around any longer."

Frey frowned while Julia sat down on the couch next to him. "You never call other people 'bitches'. What did they do?"

"Well, one of them is like, really good. But she made a mistake a couple of times, and miss Simone asked me to show her what she had to do different. So, I did, while I don't even like her. You know, to help... But she didn't even look. She just ignored me! How rude is that?"

"Rude. You were just trying to help, right?"

"Exactly. I don't want to teach one of my bigger rivals anything that could mean she'll win in a competition. She is a competitor in my competition. But I do it because the better my competition is, the better I push myself to be."

Julia secretly was really competitive, and she strived to be the best of the best, even if she didn't want to make a living out of dancing like their mother wanted. It was still her hobby to dance, and she loved everything about it.

"Next time, just call her out. Insult her, or whatever." Frey shrugged carelessly.

"No, because that would only add fuel to the fire of rumours about us."

"Rumours about us?"

"I heard them talking about us as a family. They spewed shit about you and how they dislike you, and I think they just automatically assume they won't like me either because I'm your sister."

"Who are they?"

"One is called Jenna, she's the talented one. I don't know the other two." Julia shrugged carelessly, and Frey couldn't put a face to the name Jenna, so he had no idea who was giving his sister a hard time just because they disliked him.

But as soon as he would find out who they were, he would be sure to step in when they went to far when it came to treating Julia poorly. They could dislike him for treating others bad; they did the same to his sister.

So they weren't any better either.

He hated the people who judged him for his behaviour yet acted the exact same themselves. Only people like Arun, who would never harm anyone, had a right to be judgemental, and even than they still had no right to be too judgemental without knowing the full story.

If they knew about the demons in his head, they would probably react different, but he wasn't ready for people to know about those demons, so for now, he just accepted the gossip, as long as it wouldn't bother his family. And since it now did bother Julia, he needed to find out who they were, and warn them to leave her alone.

Girls or boys, Frey made no exception to hit when it came to gender and defending his family.

Julia sighed deeply and looked sadly at Frey. "I just hate being a Sanders."

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