Kissed All the Boys | Frerard + COMPLETE ! |

➵ TWENTY ONE

Gen led Frank back into the woods, but instead of veering left back towards the school, she took a sharp right turn. Frank didn't ask any questions. He was glad things were back to normal and the tense air had dispersed.

Everything he had known about Genevieve was changing. She was no longer her quiet, composed self; she was now skipping school and going on adventures – adventures that she had gone on before. She had something to hide. Before, Frank assumed she was the simplest girl ever. He'd also learned some things about her that day. For one, that she called herself G. There had to be some weird explanation behind that. All in all, there was just something different about her. It wasn't that he didn't like it, but that he was curious as to find out why he did.

Frank was thinking this as Gen dragged him through the woods, the misty sunlight dotting the earth around them. Having just moved there, he'd never even known of this mysterious forest she was so familiar with. This worried him, the fact that she knew it so well. Was she that lonely? Was this the only place she felt safe in? Frank wanted to change that. He wanted her to feel safe around him.

Animals chirped and scurried in their homes as the teens quietly invaded them. There was a rhythm to the quietness, almost like the wilderness was putting on a concert for them. Their feet crunched into the fallen leaves, the breeze whistled through the branches, the birds cooed, the bunnies hopped, the soothing hum of the stream tied it all together – wait, that hum wasn't there before, was it?

He tore himself from his thoughts and realized that Gen had taken him to a little oasis and was now dipping her finger tips in and out of the water. A large rock formation stood above it, shading the water and keeping it cool. "Wow..." he breathed out, taken by the sight.

"I know right. It's even more beautiful at night," she told him knowingly.

"Wait, you come here at night?" When she nodded, he said, "Isn't that a bit dangerous?"

Gen shrugged and said, "I'm still in one piece, aren't I?"

"True. How do you come here so late?" Frank asked, still curious and wanting to know more about her connection to this place.

"Usually I walk here when my mom's at the arena," she says distractedly, carefully walking across the line of water on rocks.

"Huh?"

"Oh, hey!" she exclaims, nearly slipping and falling into the water but catching her balance and making it to the other side. "Today's Friday, she's working tonight. We can come back and I can show you."

The idea of coming here with Gen in the middle of the night made Frank's stomach tighten.

"Okay."