Categories > Celebrities > Fall Out Boy > Kerosene
We walked through the crowded hallway I made sure Patrick was still in sight. Once we made it past a swarm of people, we made our way to the cafeteria. Patrick had gotten a little caught up in the sea of people, and was looking around for me when I sat down. I let my bag plop onto the table and went to retrieve him. He spotted me and I motioned for him to follow. We sat on the far side of the room, in the corner, my favorite place.
“So when does the bell ring?” he asked.
“About twenty minutes from now, our bus is always a bit early.”
“Oh cool.”
“Hey, lemme see your schedule.”
Patrick pulled his messenger bag off his shoulder, setting it aside and produced his schedule to hand it over.
“Here, I have no idea where any of these are.”
“Thanks where I come in. I’m your greeter, I show you around. Pluck you from each class ten minutes early to show you to your next one. I get an extra credit and I get out of class.”
“Sounds good to me.”
“Yeah unless I get the annoying freshmen.”
“Freshmen can be a pain.” I nodded in agreement.
“Lets see here. English first, history second, math third. Band for fourth, then lunch. Fifth, music appreciation, sixth theatre two, seventh cooking.”
“Do I have anything with you?”
“Yeah, lunch and theatre two with me, Pete, and Joe. You have seventh with Pete.”
“At least I know you.” Patrick replied.
“What about Pete and Joe?” I looked up to find Pete and Joe standing there about to sit next to me, across from Patrick.
“Oh, hey. I was just saying that Patrick here has sixth with us, and seventh with you.”
“Oh, right on. Hey man, I’m Pete. This is Joe.” Joe nodded in recognition.
“Patrick, nice to meet you.”
“Likewise, so where you from.”
“Here originally, but I’ve lived in San Francisco with my dad for the past year. Just now making it back home.”
“That’s rad. Hope you like it here. Best stick with us though.” Pete gave a crooked smile.
“Why’s that?”
“They’ll eat you alive.” Joe said speaking up. Pete hit him upside the head, the same thing I wanted to do, Pete was just closer.
“Idiot. Don’t scare the newbie.”
“Ow, you didn’t have to hit me so hard.”
“Suck it up, jewfro.” I said laughing.
“Why don’t you suck my big fat dick, cousin?”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Chill out, man. This isn’t Arkansas.” Patrick and I laughed at him.
“Besides, we’re probably the most decent people in this hell hole.” Pete continued.
“Yeah, you’re either a stuck up slutty bitch or a douche bag.” Joe said, while sticking a piece of gum in his mouth.
“Dually noted. Hopefully my greeter won’t steer me wrong.”
“Who’s your greeter?”
“Celeste.”
‘Consider yourself lucky, you’ve got the prettiest girl in school to show you around.” Pete smiled at me.
Pete always said things like that, but it still made me blush. I blushed even more at Patrick’s response.
“Believe me, I do.” He flashed a smile at me. I tried to avoid eye contact. A few seconds later, the bell rang. I gathered my things and stood up.
“Check ya later, cuzzo.” Joe saluted and walked off.
Pete hugged me, and said goodbye to us both. Patrick and I ventured on.
“They seem cool.”
“Yeah, pretty much the best guys I know. There used to be four of us, but the other guy graduated.”
“Oh, you still friends with him?”
“Don’t wanna talk about it. Sorry.”
“No big deal, case closed then.”
Silently, I led him to class. I smiled at him reassuringly, and was on my merry little way. In my next class, I couldn’t concentrate worth anything. I was thinking about him again. Back in the so-called glory days. Joe is a grade above me so by the time Pete and I made it to Wilkes freshmen year; he had already made an ally. Terrified at how I might turn out, Joe took me under his wing. That’s how I met him. Justin Ayers. We instantly hit it off. We had just about everything in common. We became good friends fast. Joe warned me, but I brushed it off as overprotection. I tried so hard not to fall for him. The harder I tried, the stronger my feelings were. Shaggy, curly long hair, and thick framed black glasses, with a red and black nautical star on one side. He was tall and lanky, not typically cute. Others would refer to him as the “strong silent type”. Which I found amusing, because he was anything but silent when he was around me. I found him immensely attractive, mainly for his personality. He always made me laugh, regardless of the circumstance. He held me as I cried, and was there every single time I needed him. He was there for me when my father got abusive, just before the divorce. I couldn’t tell Pete or Joe. I simply couldn’t bear it. He got it out of me after a few days, I trusted him that much. Justin made me feel safe. I was untouchable with him by my side. Everything was perfect until she showed up. His girlfriend. He had been dating her for a while and neglected to tell me. I found out second semester, when her lunch schedule was changed to his, our shift. She was short, stubby, had a big head full of chesnut hair, polluted with badly dyed blonde highlights and brown eyes. Her features were too small for her face. Abigail Smith. Hell, even her name was unoriginal. Abigail laughed at things that weren’t funny, and never had anything important or relevant to say. She seemed to never have an opinion of her own. Abigail was naggy, pushy, controlling. Just an all around bitch, honestly. She manipulated him and Justin let it happened. Joe and his other buddies teased him about being whipped, but I knew it was more serious. It made no sense. Whatsoever. It still doesn’t. As far as manipulation went, I figured two could play at the game. I lured him, pried him from her grossly polished talons. I made him cheat, on a regular basis. I was under the false pretense I could win him over. Each time he went back to her, without fail. He’d even gone as far as to tell me he loved me. Bastard. I fell deeper and deeper into the grave, which I made big enough for two.
I let the cheating continue and had fun with it. I figured half of him; half of the time was better than nothing at all. One fateful day, one of Abigail’s lackey friends, caught us kissing in the courtyard. Abigail was sick that day; we were foolish enough to think that we were safe. I should have known she would have her vultures on the look out. We stopped; separated ourselves for a while. Only the occasional phone call or instant message seemed allowed. He had managed to convince her that it was only a kiss on the cheek. To my dismay, she took him back. She kept him on a tighter leash from then on. Pete got his lunch shift changed to keep an eye on me. Justin and I went downhill from there. Our friendship sadly dwindled; we barely talked. I couldn’t stand the pain of seeing them together. Pete took pity on me and convinced Joe to sit with us elsewhere. I can’t quite explain it, but he broke me. Smashed to pieces;I was an absolute wreck. It still hurts. I hate that I can’t hate him. We haven’t spoken to each other in months. I heard a while back, the couple severed ties. Ignorantly hopeful, I attempted to strike up conversation over text, only to find out he had another girlfriend. Not only a girlfriend, but also his fiancée. God, karma is a bitch. I glanced at the clock just in time. Time to go fetch Captain Kirk. I flashed my pass and made my way to Patrick’s class. I stood in the doorway, waiting for the teacher to notice.
“May I help you?”
“I’m here for Patrick.”
“Ah, Mr. Stump. You may leave.”
I didn’t say a word until we made it to the hall.
“So how was it?” I smiled his way.
“Different, he’s like a modern day Shakespeare. Even looks the part.”
“Yeah, I know, but Mr. Kales is cool.”
His next class was just a few doors down, so I dropped him there.
“There you are, enjoy.”
“See ya.”
This process repeated itself until lunch, where we could unwind and I didn’t feel so business like. We sat in the same place in the room but this time against the wall on the floor. The table was for mornings. The three of us always brought our own lunches. School food repulsed us. Surprisingly, I spotted a brown bag in Patrick’s hand as well. I didn’t have much to say, I was still kind of lost in thought. I just occupied myself with food.
“So, Patrick, what kind of music are you into?” Pete said, unwrapping his straw to his juice box.
“A bit of everything really. I was raised around some crazy shit. Jazz, indie, classical, swing, rap, techno, blues, folk, heavy metal, and of course rock and roll.” He smiled at his last comment.
“Nice.”
“My favorites are probably Sinatra and Bowie.”
“That’s what I’m fuckin’ talkin’ about! Kudos to my man in the argyle sweater!”
“You play anything?” Joe interrupted.
“Drums mostly, I dab around in piano occasionally but I suck.”
“I hear you man, my mom forced me into lessons for 5 years and I can’t even play fucking Mary Had A Little Lamb.”
“Dude! We need a drummer!” Joe exclaimed.
“You have a band?” Patrick managed to get out while trying to swallow a bite of his sandwich.
“Yeah, we’ve been trying to convince Celeste to be our vocalist for fucking ever.” Patrick turned to me.
“You sing?”
“Not really.”
“Bullshit, you’re amazing.” Pete said.
“She’s just being modest.”
“I have to hear this.”
“No. Hell no.”
“C’mon Pebbles! For me?”
“Pete!” I shouted angrily, I hated it when he called me that in public. Patrick looked to Pete, confused.
“Childhood nickname. I’m Bam Bam, Joe’s Dino.” Pete answered
“I love The Flinstones. Pebbles is adorable. Besides, its better than my nickname.”
“What is it?”
Patrick sighed before answering. “Poof.”
I burst into laughter along with the other two.
“How’d you get that?”
“Well when I was little, for some reason unknown, when I threw fits I would scream POOF! TAKE ME AWAY! My mom thought it was funny so she started calling me poof.”
“And I thought Pebbles was bad, makes me feel better.”
“Anytime.”
The bell rang; I played my greeter role the rest of the day. I met the guys at the stairs, along with Patrick.
“Hey. You ready?”
“Yeah, the guys are gonna chill with me at my house, wanna come?”
“Sure, let’s go.”
All the students piled into the bus and we were homeward bound. Some day I thought, Patrick is turning out to be more than I expected.
“So when does the bell ring?” he asked.
“About twenty minutes from now, our bus is always a bit early.”
“Oh cool.”
“Hey, lemme see your schedule.”
Patrick pulled his messenger bag off his shoulder, setting it aside and produced his schedule to hand it over.
“Here, I have no idea where any of these are.”
“Thanks where I come in. I’m your greeter, I show you around. Pluck you from each class ten minutes early to show you to your next one. I get an extra credit and I get out of class.”
“Sounds good to me.”
“Yeah unless I get the annoying freshmen.”
“Freshmen can be a pain.” I nodded in agreement.
“Lets see here. English first, history second, math third. Band for fourth, then lunch. Fifth, music appreciation, sixth theatre two, seventh cooking.”
“Do I have anything with you?”
“Yeah, lunch and theatre two with me, Pete, and Joe. You have seventh with Pete.”
“At least I know you.” Patrick replied.
“What about Pete and Joe?” I looked up to find Pete and Joe standing there about to sit next to me, across from Patrick.
“Oh, hey. I was just saying that Patrick here has sixth with us, and seventh with you.”
“Oh, right on. Hey man, I’m Pete. This is Joe.” Joe nodded in recognition.
“Patrick, nice to meet you.”
“Likewise, so where you from.”
“Here originally, but I’ve lived in San Francisco with my dad for the past year. Just now making it back home.”
“That’s rad. Hope you like it here. Best stick with us though.” Pete gave a crooked smile.
“Why’s that?”
“They’ll eat you alive.” Joe said speaking up. Pete hit him upside the head, the same thing I wanted to do, Pete was just closer.
“Idiot. Don’t scare the newbie.”
“Ow, you didn’t have to hit me so hard.”
“Suck it up, jewfro.” I said laughing.
“Why don’t you suck my big fat dick, cousin?”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Chill out, man. This isn’t Arkansas.” Patrick and I laughed at him.
“Besides, we’re probably the most decent people in this hell hole.” Pete continued.
“Yeah, you’re either a stuck up slutty bitch or a douche bag.” Joe said, while sticking a piece of gum in his mouth.
“Dually noted. Hopefully my greeter won’t steer me wrong.”
“Who’s your greeter?”
“Celeste.”
‘Consider yourself lucky, you’ve got the prettiest girl in school to show you around.” Pete smiled at me.
Pete always said things like that, but it still made me blush. I blushed even more at Patrick’s response.
“Believe me, I do.” He flashed a smile at me. I tried to avoid eye contact. A few seconds later, the bell rang. I gathered my things and stood up.
“Check ya later, cuzzo.” Joe saluted and walked off.
Pete hugged me, and said goodbye to us both. Patrick and I ventured on.
“They seem cool.”
“Yeah, pretty much the best guys I know. There used to be four of us, but the other guy graduated.”
“Oh, you still friends with him?”
“Don’t wanna talk about it. Sorry.”
“No big deal, case closed then.”
Silently, I led him to class. I smiled at him reassuringly, and was on my merry little way. In my next class, I couldn’t concentrate worth anything. I was thinking about him again. Back in the so-called glory days. Joe is a grade above me so by the time Pete and I made it to Wilkes freshmen year; he had already made an ally. Terrified at how I might turn out, Joe took me under his wing. That’s how I met him. Justin Ayers. We instantly hit it off. We had just about everything in common. We became good friends fast. Joe warned me, but I brushed it off as overprotection. I tried so hard not to fall for him. The harder I tried, the stronger my feelings were. Shaggy, curly long hair, and thick framed black glasses, with a red and black nautical star on one side. He was tall and lanky, not typically cute. Others would refer to him as the “strong silent type”. Which I found amusing, because he was anything but silent when he was around me. I found him immensely attractive, mainly for his personality. He always made me laugh, regardless of the circumstance. He held me as I cried, and was there every single time I needed him. He was there for me when my father got abusive, just before the divorce. I couldn’t tell Pete or Joe. I simply couldn’t bear it. He got it out of me after a few days, I trusted him that much. Justin made me feel safe. I was untouchable with him by my side. Everything was perfect until she showed up. His girlfriend. He had been dating her for a while and neglected to tell me. I found out second semester, when her lunch schedule was changed to his, our shift. She was short, stubby, had a big head full of chesnut hair, polluted with badly dyed blonde highlights and brown eyes. Her features were too small for her face. Abigail Smith. Hell, even her name was unoriginal. Abigail laughed at things that weren’t funny, and never had anything important or relevant to say. She seemed to never have an opinion of her own. Abigail was naggy, pushy, controlling. Just an all around bitch, honestly. She manipulated him and Justin let it happened. Joe and his other buddies teased him about being whipped, but I knew it was more serious. It made no sense. Whatsoever. It still doesn’t. As far as manipulation went, I figured two could play at the game. I lured him, pried him from her grossly polished talons. I made him cheat, on a regular basis. I was under the false pretense I could win him over. Each time he went back to her, without fail. He’d even gone as far as to tell me he loved me. Bastard. I fell deeper and deeper into the grave, which I made big enough for two.
I let the cheating continue and had fun with it. I figured half of him; half of the time was better than nothing at all. One fateful day, one of Abigail’s lackey friends, caught us kissing in the courtyard. Abigail was sick that day; we were foolish enough to think that we were safe. I should have known she would have her vultures on the look out. We stopped; separated ourselves for a while. Only the occasional phone call or instant message seemed allowed. He had managed to convince her that it was only a kiss on the cheek. To my dismay, she took him back. She kept him on a tighter leash from then on. Pete got his lunch shift changed to keep an eye on me. Justin and I went downhill from there. Our friendship sadly dwindled; we barely talked. I couldn’t stand the pain of seeing them together. Pete took pity on me and convinced Joe to sit with us elsewhere. I can’t quite explain it, but he broke me. Smashed to pieces;I was an absolute wreck. It still hurts. I hate that I can’t hate him. We haven’t spoken to each other in months. I heard a while back, the couple severed ties. Ignorantly hopeful, I attempted to strike up conversation over text, only to find out he had another girlfriend. Not only a girlfriend, but also his fiancée. God, karma is a bitch. I glanced at the clock just in time. Time to go fetch Captain Kirk. I flashed my pass and made my way to Patrick’s class. I stood in the doorway, waiting for the teacher to notice.
“May I help you?”
“I’m here for Patrick.”
“Ah, Mr. Stump. You may leave.”
I didn’t say a word until we made it to the hall.
“So how was it?” I smiled his way.
“Different, he’s like a modern day Shakespeare. Even looks the part.”
“Yeah, I know, but Mr. Kales is cool.”
His next class was just a few doors down, so I dropped him there.
“There you are, enjoy.”
“See ya.”
This process repeated itself until lunch, where we could unwind and I didn’t feel so business like. We sat in the same place in the room but this time against the wall on the floor. The table was for mornings. The three of us always brought our own lunches. School food repulsed us. Surprisingly, I spotted a brown bag in Patrick’s hand as well. I didn’t have much to say, I was still kind of lost in thought. I just occupied myself with food.
“So, Patrick, what kind of music are you into?” Pete said, unwrapping his straw to his juice box.
“A bit of everything really. I was raised around some crazy shit. Jazz, indie, classical, swing, rap, techno, blues, folk, heavy metal, and of course rock and roll.” He smiled at his last comment.
“Nice.”
“My favorites are probably Sinatra and Bowie.”
“That’s what I’m fuckin’ talkin’ about! Kudos to my man in the argyle sweater!”
“You play anything?” Joe interrupted.
“Drums mostly, I dab around in piano occasionally but I suck.”
“I hear you man, my mom forced me into lessons for 5 years and I can’t even play fucking Mary Had A Little Lamb.”
“Dude! We need a drummer!” Joe exclaimed.
“You have a band?” Patrick managed to get out while trying to swallow a bite of his sandwich.
“Yeah, we’ve been trying to convince Celeste to be our vocalist for fucking ever.” Patrick turned to me.
“You sing?”
“Not really.”
“Bullshit, you’re amazing.” Pete said.
“She’s just being modest.”
“I have to hear this.”
“No. Hell no.”
“C’mon Pebbles! For me?”
“Pete!” I shouted angrily, I hated it when he called me that in public. Patrick looked to Pete, confused.
“Childhood nickname. I’m Bam Bam, Joe’s Dino.” Pete answered
“I love The Flinstones. Pebbles is adorable. Besides, its better than my nickname.”
“What is it?”
Patrick sighed before answering. “Poof.”
I burst into laughter along with the other two.
“How’d you get that?”
“Well when I was little, for some reason unknown, when I threw fits I would scream POOF! TAKE ME AWAY! My mom thought it was funny so she started calling me poof.”
“And I thought Pebbles was bad, makes me feel better.”
“Anytime.”
The bell rang; I played my greeter role the rest of the day. I met the guys at the stairs, along with Patrick.
“Hey. You ready?”
“Yeah, the guys are gonna chill with me at my house, wanna come?”
“Sure, let’s go.”
All the students piled into the bus and we were homeward bound. Some day I thought, Patrick is turning out to be more than I expected.
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