Author's Warning: Like everything else, this takes place in my series, set up by the events in my first story "More Than My Friend" where the big event is that Frankie adopts Mac as her "little brother". If you haven't read that story yet, I strongly suggest you do so now, or else you might get confused.
The instant the school bells clanged, the elementary school doors burst open almost immediately, allowing an immense herd of children to flow forth down the stairs in a massive human wave. Some rushed towards their parents waiting in their station wagons or mini-vans, a few simply began walking in the direction of home, while most instinctively charged towards one of the several school buses sitting out front with engines running, much to the irk of a certain redheaded driver.
"No! Nuh-uh! No! Not here! Not here!" Frances "Frankie" Foster bellowed at the inevitable four or five overexcited children who tried to charge headlong onto the bus, regardless of the fact that it was decked in a dazzling array of colors, had "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends" clearly written on the sides in massive flowing white letters, and was obviously not meant for public transportation.
"No! Not here! Wrong bus! Wrong bus! Shoo! Shoo!" Frankie continued to bark as she clambered down the bus steps, chasing away the last few slow-witted little ones. "No! Nuh-uh! No, not again! Not this time! Not today! No! No! Shoo!"
As soon as the confused children scattered off, the young woman sighed heavily as she sat back in the driver's seat. That wouldn't have been half as immensely irritating had it not become something off a routine every time she stopped by here at this point of the day.
Nevertheless, Frankie made herself comfortable and continued to wait patiently as she scanned about the area. After all, she had finished all her errands earlier than expected, and seeing what time it was she might as well pick up a certain eight-year-old little boy and save him an afternoon's walk home.
Fortunately, the other buses had just left, leaving only a bare handful of children milling aimlessly about the school property, making it almost laughably easy for the young woman to find-
"Mac!" She yelped excitedly as soon as she spotted the mop of dark brown out of the corner of her eye. "Hey, pal!"
However, much to her bewilderment, the child swiftly strolled right by, without giving the confused young woman so much as a second glance.
"Mac?" she called softly. "Pal? Hey! Hey! Kiddo, look! Over here! Hey! Hey, pal! Yoohoo!"
Despite her best efforts, through the bus windows she could clearly see the brown-haired little one continue to aimlessly plod off along the sidewalk without even looking up even once. Sorely perplexed by this point, Frankie clambered out of her seat and scooted outside.
"HEY!" she yelled, waving her arms wildly. "Mac? Mac! Mac, over here! Mac! Mac, you don't need to walk home today, I'm right here! See? Mac? Mac?"
No matter how noticeable the redhead made herself however, the brown-haired child continued to wordlessly stroll down the sidewalk.
"Mac? Mac! Mac!" she continued to call impatiently with no result. Finally, the caretaker paused and groaned in aggravation. Her charge was either being uncharacteristically impudent, his mind was simply wandering too much him to notice a single thing, or his after-school routine was hardwired into his system to a degree she didn't even think was humanly responsible.
Either way, she wasn't going to stand for it as her patience wore thin. Moving like a scarlet lightning bolt, Frankie tore off in pursuit and within moments she was trailing only inches behind the little one.
"For Pete's sake Mac, I'm right here!" the frustrated caretaker snapped as she expertly snatched the child up into her arms with one deft movement.
"EEEEEK!" the little one immediately squealed shrilly in tremendous fright.
"Oh, knock it off!" Frankie scolded as she hefted the squirmy little creature into her arms. "Okay Mister Wise Guy, what is this? Some type of stupid joke? First you act like you don't see me, then you pretend not to hear a single word from my mouth, and now this? Honestly, what on earth has gotten into you today? For once you don't have to walk home, but you-"
"Uh….Frankie?" A profoundly mystified Mac mumbled from where he stood smack at her side, tugging urgently upon her violet skirt. "Frankie? Frankie, what are you-"
"Not now, pal, I'm busy here." She grumbled distractedly, not even giving him a second glance as she patted his head absentmindedly.
"But Frankie-" Mac yelped as the young woman focused her stern attention back on the child in her arms.
"What's with this attitude problem, bucko? Mac, I'm trying to do something nice here, yet for some reason you have the nerve to blow me off like I'm a piece of trash in the gutter! What, are you too embarrassed to have your big sister pick you up…at...s-school…"
The words suddenly died on her lips when realization dawned on her that little boy she thought she was holding was in fact standing right next to her.
Immediately the startled caretaker went as mute and frozen as a statue as for a few awkward moments she kept her gaze fixed straight ahead while she silently prayed what had just happened was nothing more than some bizarre mind trick. Alas, as soon as her jade pupils darted downwards, she paled in horror as lo and behold, there the profoundly bewildered Mac stood right at her side.
"…M-Mac?" the tremendously shocked young woman whimpered breathlessly.
"Yeah?" Mac managed to reply as he gawked incredulously. For a few moments, the mortified redhead wordlessly stared unblinkingly in his direction, slack-jawed and speechless in her shock.
"You're…y-you're….you're there." she finally murmured stupidly.
"Yeah…yeah, I had to ask my teacher about a few things, and…and I went outside and I saw…I saw you…uh…" he stammered uncontrollably in befuddlement.
"Mac?"
"Yeah?"
"If you're right there…th-then…then who is this?"
Her question proved to be completely redundant however, for no sooner had she begun speaking, Frankie began craning her neck until she was gazing right into the baby-blue eyes of one oddly short-haired and immensely terrified little girl, garbed in cardinal red t-shirt and khaki skirt.
"Uh oh…" The unfathomably embarrassed redhead murmured as her skin began to glow with a burning scarlet.
"Y-you're not m-m-my mom…" the mysterious spooked child squeaked softly as she trembled wildly from head to toe in blind fright and fidgeted anxiously with her curly brown locks.
For a few horrendously awkward moments, the entire trio remained dead silent and frozen as could be, with the exception of the little girl's uncontrollable quivering.
"EEEEEEEEEEEK! PUT MY STEPHANIE DOWN, YOU MONSTER!"
The hideous ear-piercing shriek suddenly cut through the air like a hot knife through butter. Frankie glanced up and almost immediately went as pale as a ghost with fright the instant she spotted the burly soccer-mom storm out of her SUV and charge like a rogue elephant.
"MOMMY!" The child known as "Stephanie" screeched and burst into tears the seconds she spotted her hysterical parent.
"I'm coming, honey! I'm coming!" the middle-aged brunette almost sobbed before she fixated a murderous glare upon the unfortunate lanky redhead. The horror-struck Frankie took one glance into the twin infernos raging in the woman's eyes and began to murmur softly under her breath,
"Oh, f-"
"You put my baby down right this instant, you psycho!" the enraged mother howled bloodthirstily at the top of her lungs. "You here me? I swear to God, if you don't had her over right this insta-OOF!"
Without thinking twice, Frankie hurled the shrieking little girl squarely into her parent's arms with a mighty throw. The startled mother had barely caught her offspring before the spooked redhead was off in a flash.
"GET IN THE BUS! GET IN THE BUS! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, GET IN THE BUS!" Frankie bellowed so deafeningly she nearly set off a few car alarms as she sprinted to safety. Mac needed no second bidding, or didn't really have a choice for that matter, for his guardian had barely started screaming before she scooped him up, tucked him under her arm and sprinted headlong towards the bus in a desperate retreat.
"KIDNAPPER! KIDNAPPER! KIDNAPPER!" The horrified mother just hollered like a chorus of howler monkeys as she made the futile attempt to give chase. She had barely put one foot in front of the other before Frankie had darted to safety, slammed the bus doors so quickly the glass panes nearly shattered into a thousand shards, and in an split second the bulky vehicle was tearing out onto the street with the screech of tires and the pungent stench of burning rubber.
Had she not been afraid for her very life, Frankie was sure if she could she would've keeled over and died of embarrassment right there in the driver's seat. Fortunately, her gut-wrenching terror kept her focused, and the slightly traumatized young woman sat rigid and tense as a steel beam, with eyes the size of saucers unblinkingly starring dead ahead on the road.
The caretaker drove in a dead quiet, with one arm on the steering wheel and the other still instinctively wrapped around Mac in a protective vice-grip. The atrociously shaken Mac meanwhile didn't utter a word of protest over this, for the terrified child had been clinging to her like a baby koala to its mother since before they had vacated the school parking lot.
Only after what felt like an eternity of awkward silence, the eight-year-old glanced up and whimpered softly,
"S-Stephanie's only been going to the school for about a week or two…I-I guess she got a haircut yesterday, and-"
"If the rabbit or Grandma asks, I picked you up, and that's all we're saying!" Frankie squeaked hoarsely as she kept her gaze locked dead ahead. "Got it?"
Wordlessly, he nodded in compliance as another deafening silence descended upon the duo. However, the dead quiet barely lasted five seconds before Mac couldn't help but whine,
"Please don't tell me this means I look that much like a girl…"
The End