Categories > Celebrities > My Chemical Romance > The Translucent Eyeball
Chapter 5: That’s What Friends Are For
--Frank and Gerard get to know each other a little more as they work on a physics lab together, and Frank finds out the hard way about why energy drinks shouldn’t be mixed with medications
?Blocked
The Translucent Eyeball: Chapter 5: That’s What Friends Are For
I got into my car, and nearly tripped over my feet as my eyes were still focused on the tiny blur that was getting further and further away…
Gerard..
I grinned and stared off in the direction of the school as I took a sip of my drink. I know I’m not supposed to drink things like this when I’m on my medications, but….quite frankly….how much worse could I get at this point?…
Actually…Much worse…I remember last time I had a Red Bull it was like I was on something…to be honest.
I kinda liked the feeling though…It made me a bit jittery….yea….but I liked that it felt like I wasn’t so fucked up after all…just until the high sugar contents (and various other things that shouldn’t be in my system) wore off.
I parked in my usual spot, smiling to myself as I saw that it was free because normally I would have to drive around for another ten minutes before I just picked a random spot. But this was my spot….It was my cars place to rest while I was in school, it was what it was used to.
I grabbed my backpack and swung it over my shoulder as I held my can in my hand. I looked up towards the entrance of the school and smiled when I saw Gerard walking towards it. I grabbed my keys and slipped them into my pocket after making sure I locked my car properly.
When I looked up again, Gerard had gone inside and my smile faded. I really didn’t want to go to class, but at least I had one small thing to look forward to I guess…
I walked into the building and saw I had a good 5 minutes before the bell rang for glass. I went to my locker after glancing in the library for no reason really, other than to just see the contents of the small room. It never made sense to me why the most important room In my opinion in the whole school , turns out to be the smallest.
I always seem to be the only one there but I don’t mind, it’s the one place I know I can go and just be in the quiet. All the librarians knew me and when I walked by, the one at the desk gave me a small smile and I smiled back, continuing on my way to my locker.
I turned the dial on the lock to the appropriate numbers, and started to get frustrated that the damn thing wouldn’t open up.
6.……26.….48...Fuck…….6.…..26.…..48.…Whoa…stop moving your hand….6.…26...48.…FINALLY
I set my bag in between my legs because I just couldn’t set it on the floor…don’t even get me to explain that whole concept…I could go on for hours about why I don’t want my bag on this floor…but I’d rather not.
I hung my jacket up in my locker and my head snapped around quickly when I felt someone touch my arm softly.
“Oh I’m sorry…” I mumbled, thinking someone had to get to their locker, so I shuffled over a bit, but when I saw who it was I felt my whole face get hot as I felt myself losing the ability to think properly again.
“Hey…sorry I didn’t mean to scare you…” He apologized, bending over to help me pick up my bag that had slipped from between my legs when he touched my arm.
“You didn’t…Arghahmm…“I coughed, trying to clear my throat as he held the strap out to me.
“Thank you…” I smiled, slinging the strap over my shoulder as I gave him a nervous nod. I felt my face get even hotter, as I moved forward and back in my spot on the balls of my feet.
“I just came to pay you back for this morning…” He smiled, pulling out a few dollars and holding them out for me.
“Oh…no its okay….you don’t need to do that…you keep it…” I smiled, tentatively giving his hand a small push, slowly back towards him.
“No here you take it…I just got it back from my brother…I gave him too much for lunch this morning so here take it…” He laughed, taking my hand and putting the money in it.
I couldn’t even register what was going on…
I think my hand is supposed to close around the bills…my hand closes?…Argh…how?…
“Okay…I’ll take it then…I have a feeling you’ll keep handing it back if I don’t just take it…” I smiled, rubbing the back of my neck nervously as I finally took hold of the money.
“You coming to Physics then?…” He smiled, bending down again to grab the textbook from my locker, and I just tried my hardest not to make it look like I was staring at him.
Why’s he being so nice to….ME?….
“Oh…y-…Yeah….Yeah that’s where I’m going… “ I nodded, taking the book from him and tucking it underneath my arm.
“You’re funny…” He smiled, cocking an eyebrow at me as I nervously chewed on my lip.
“You know you need to move your feet if you want to be on time…right?…” He laughed, nudging me a bit.
“I know that…I was just….thinking for a second….making sure I had everything…” I whispered, looking down at my locker.
“Okay…we can go now…thank you…” I smiled, looking up at him as he watched me close my locker.
I put the money in my pocket and gripped the textbook tightly in my hand as I thought to myself about what on earth I had done to deserve this.
I don’t have any friends, so I wasn’t used to someone being like this around me…normally I think I made people nervous, made them think they would do something to make me nervous actually, and they just didn’t even bother with trying to be my friend.
I made my feet move forward as I watched him slip a hand into his pocket and walk by my side.
“I think we have that lab today…You don’t have a partner do you?..” He asked as I held the door for him, thinking it was the nice thing to do.
I found it strange that my mind didn’t even go through the entire mini nervous breakdown about the thought of having to touch that knob.
“No…I usually…just…do the labs by myself..” I whispered, looking down as I sat down at my desk, hanging my bag over the back of my chair.
“I’ve noticed…” He smiled, grabbing my lab book from the drawer, and his own as he set them down on the desks.
“If you don’t wanna work with me just say so…” He said to me with a small smile, as I just stared at the book in his hands…well mostly at his hands.
“What?...Oh no…No…no…I do…I was just…sorry….yes…okay…I’ll be your partner…” I smiled, nodding shyly as I looked up into his eyes.
“Okay….good then….it’ll be fun..” He smiled, looking up as the teacher walked into the room.
Holy shit….This is not happening…I suck at Physics…I’m gonna screw up the lab…why the hell did you say yes!??!
“Alright class…this labs going to take a little longer than the first period…But after that for those of you who finish early…you can have the rest of the next period to yourselves…” He smiled, sitting down at his desk and turning on the computer to take attendance.
I looked over at Gerard who was drawing a little sketch on my lab book. I looked at him a bit confused because….I don’t know….maybe he didn’t know it was my book?…
No he definitely knows its my book…it has a big Jack O’Lantern I drew over the front…
He slid the book over to my desk and I looked at the little drawing, feeling my face grow flush.
“Aw…thank you…” I grinned, looking down at the little drawing of myself sitting at my desk, looking at my can of Monster as if it was the most interesting thing in the room.
I was so surprised he was even being friendly towards me that I just gave up on overthinking things.
“Its really good…you’re really good…” I smiled, looking down at the drawing.
“Except…what’s that on my lip?..” I asked, squinting as I tried to make it out.
“Ah…it’s a lip ring…it looks cute…” He smiled, shrugging his shoulders.
“Oh…right…uh…thanks..” I smiled back, still looking at the drawing.
Did he just say I was cute?…No he said the lip ring was cute…Right?…God Frank..
“Okay everyone…get into your lab groups then…and get to work…” Mr. Murphy smiled, as he looked over at me no doubt to make sure I would be okay working by myself.
I shook my head and got up, still grinning at the little picture Gerard had made for me. No one had ever done something like that for me, and yea I know it only took him a few minutes, but it meant so much to me.
My god he’s so sweet.
“You want to get the hot plates set up and I’ll go get the metal samples? “He asked, as we walked to a station all the way in the back of the room.
“Okay….yea…just…yea I can do that…” I nodded, giving him a small smile.
He smiled back at me and walked over to the side table to get everything else we needed.
I opened up my lab book, still smiling at the little Frankie on the front cover. I got to the page that explained the lab we were doing now and I read each line slowly to make sure I understood so I wouldn’t fuck up in front of Gerard.
The little words on the piece of paper in front of me started getting closer and closer together, and it wasn’t too long until I was unable to read the entire thing, as I had a mess of words and numbers strewn out before me.
I tried hard to read it so I could know what to do with the hotplate before Gerard got back, but I felt nervous as I blinked and nothing changed, still the same mess.
I saw a number that I figured was the number I needed to set the hotplate to in order for it to heat up properly.
I plugged it in and quickly set it to the number before Gerard came and sat down next to me, setting down the strips of metal in front of me.
“We cant do anything till the plate heats up..” He said to me, as he moved a bit closer, and took my lab book from me again.
“I’ve just thought of another picture…” He grinned, as he bit down on his lip and began drawing next to the little Frankie.
I watched him focus on his drawing as I looked at the hot plate , which did not seem to be working for shit.
“I don’t think this shit is heating up…” I said finally, after watching three other groups near us get right to work.
“No it is…you cant really tell but its working...don’t worry...just give it a couple more minutes…” He smiled, looking at my face for a moment before going back to his drawing.
I nodded and stared at the plate, watching it basically…do nothing, for another 4 minutes.
“Yeah its not going…isn’t the light supposed to go red…?..” I asked, prodding the machine with the edge of my pencil.
“Just give it a minute…I’m sure its working fine…” He laughed, looking at my neck, and drawing the exact shape onto the paper.
I sighed, and touched the side of the plate with my finger.
The shit is cold…what the fuck?…don’t tell me I fucked it up already….
I looked up at the time and saw that we had been sitting here for 15 minutes waiting for the crap to warm up.
I sighed, and placed my entire hand over the plate, only to pull it away quickly not even a half a second later, as I felt this terrible feeling like all my skin was being peeled off from my hand.
“ARGHHH….FUCK!…” I screamed, coddling my hand close to my chest, as I looked at Gerard worriedly.
Oh my god…Oh my god….Oh my god…my hand my fucking hand…holy shit
I whimpered, as I felt Gerard touch my arm and ask me if I was okay about a thousand times, and I felt as if every eye in the class room had fallen upon me. I couldn’t remember anything that happened in the next few minutes, other than Mr. Murphy running over and forcing me to hold my hand out and the moment I saw the raw flesh hanging off my hand, I felt my whole body grow hot….or maybe cold?….Both perhaps?…And next thing I knew, the whole room went black..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I woke up in this room with horrid green walls, and a bunch of monstrous looking machines scattered about. I sat up quickly and I saw Gerard sitting in a chair by the bed I was laying in.
“Er…Where….am…I…?…” I asked, but before he could even answer, I looked down at my hand and saw that it was wrapped in layers and layers of bandages, and I could hardly feel that it was even a part of my body.
“I guess the hot plate was working huh?…” I laughed, looking down at my hand and biting my lip.
“I’m such a fucking idiot..” I whispered, trying to move my fingers, and feeling like I should cry because of the pain I knew was there, but I was so heavily medicated that I couldn’t feel one bit of it.
“Don’t say that…we all make mistakes…you’ll be fine…and uh…they tried to contact your parents but I think they’re in Florida?” He said to me, as he got up to sit at the foot of my bed.
“They told them you’d be okay and it sounded like that’s all they wanted to hear…no…offence or anything..” He added, giving me an apologetic look.
“Well…no surprise there…” I sighed, setting my hand down on my lap as I looked up at him for a moment.
“You don’t have to stay here….it was really nice of you though…and I’m sorry about having you miss school…” I said to him, assuming he was with me the whole time.
“Don’t say sorry…you didn’t do anything wrong…I’m sure you didn’t plan on ending up at the hospital…its okay..” He smiled, looking at my hand and then my face, causing me to blush slightly.
“What the hell am I wearing?. It was my hand…Why’d the need to take off my clothes?..” I asked in horror as I looked down at the hospital gown I was wearing.
He laughed and shook his head before speaking again.
“I have no idea….I hate hospitals to be honest with you…but uh…I want to stay if that’s okay with you…I can help you out a bit…” He offered, tilting his head to look at me better.
“You don’t have to do that…I mean…I’m sure you have better things to do…” I said, shaking my head, looking at him a bit confused as to why anyone would want to spend time with me at all.
“No I don’t…and I know I don’t have to...I want to…” He replied, getting up to get something from the chair he was in, before setting it down on my lap.
“I’ve been drawing the whole time you were out..” He smiled, and I looked down at about a half a dozen drawings of me asleep at various times of the day in the hospital.
“God…no ones ever been this nice to me before…” I whispered, tracing my fingers across the spine of the book.
“Thank you…” I said softly, as I looked up at him, holding the book out for him to take.
“That’s what friends are for isn’t it?…” He said with the cutest grin I’ve ever seen.
“Yeah…yeah….that is what friends are for…my friend…” I whispered, with a stupid smile.
A friend…
I got into my car, and nearly tripped over my feet as my eyes were still focused on the tiny blur that was getting further and further away…
Gerard..
I grinned and stared off in the direction of the school as I took a sip of my drink. I know I’m not supposed to drink things like this when I’m on my medications, but….quite frankly….how much worse could I get at this point?…
Actually…Much worse…I remember last time I had a Red Bull it was like I was on something…to be honest.
I kinda liked the feeling though…It made me a bit jittery….yea….but I liked that it felt like I wasn’t so fucked up after all…just until the high sugar contents (and various other things that shouldn’t be in my system) wore off.
I parked in my usual spot, smiling to myself as I saw that it was free because normally I would have to drive around for another ten minutes before I just picked a random spot. But this was my spot….It was my cars place to rest while I was in school, it was what it was used to.
I grabbed my backpack and swung it over my shoulder as I held my can in my hand. I looked up towards the entrance of the school and smiled when I saw Gerard walking towards it. I grabbed my keys and slipped them into my pocket after making sure I locked my car properly.
When I looked up again, Gerard had gone inside and my smile faded. I really didn’t want to go to class, but at least I had one small thing to look forward to I guess…
I walked into the building and saw I had a good 5 minutes before the bell rang for glass. I went to my locker after glancing in the library for no reason really, other than to just see the contents of the small room. It never made sense to me why the most important room In my opinion in the whole school , turns out to be the smallest.
I always seem to be the only one there but I don’t mind, it’s the one place I know I can go and just be in the quiet. All the librarians knew me and when I walked by, the one at the desk gave me a small smile and I smiled back, continuing on my way to my locker.
I turned the dial on the lock to the appropriate numbers, and started to get frustrated that the damn thing wouldn’t open up.
6.……26.….48...Fuck…….6.…..26.…..48.…Whoa…stop moving your hand….6.…26...48.…FINALLY
I set my bag in between my legs because I just couldn’t set it on the floor…don’t even get me to explain that whole concept…I could go on for hours about why I don’t want my bag on this floor…but I’d rather not.
I hung my jacket up in my locker and my head snapped around quickly when I felt someone touch my arm softly.
“Oh I’m sorry…” I mumbled, thinking someone had to get to their locker, so I shuffled over a bit, but when I saw who it was I felt my whole face get hot as I felt myself losing the ability to think properly again.
“Hey…sorry I didn’t mean to scare you…” He apologized, bending over to help me pick up my bag that had slipped from between my legs when he touched my arm.
“You didn’t…Arghahmm…“I coughed, trying to clear my throat as he held the strap out to me.
“Thank you…” I smiled, slinging the strap over my shoulder as I gave him a nervous nod. I felt my face get even hotter, as I moved forward and back in my spot on the balls of my feet.
“I just came to pay you back for this morning…” He smiled, pulling out a few dollars and holding them out for me.
“Oh…no its okay….you don’t need to do that…you keep it…” I smiled, tentatively giving his hand a small push, slowly back towards him.
“No here you take it…I just got it back from my brother…I gave him too much for lunch this morning so here take it…” He laughed, taking my hand and putting the money in it.
I couldn’t even register what was going on…
I think my hand is supposed to close around the bills…my hand closes?…Argh…how?…
“Okay…I’ll take it then…I have a feeling you’ll keep handing it back if I don’t just take it…” I smiled, rubbing the back of my neck nervously as I finally took hold of the money.
“You coming to Physics then?…” He smiled, bending down again to grab the textbook from my locker, and I just tried my hardest not to make it look like I was staring at him.
Why’s he being so nice to….ME?….
“Oh…y-…Yeah….Yeah that’s where I’m going… “ I nodded, taking the book from him and tucking it underneath my arm.
“You’re funny…” He smiled, cocking an eyebrow at me as I nervously chewed on my lip.
“You know you need to move your feet if you want to be on time…right?…” He laughed, nudging me a bit.
“I know that…I was just….thinking for a second….making sure I had everything…” I whispered, looking down at my locker.
“Okay…we can go now…thank you…” I smiled, looking up at him as he watched me close my locker.
I put the money in my pocket and gripped the textbook tightly in my hand as I thought to myself about what on earth I had done to deserve this.
I don’t have any friends, so I wasn’t used to someone being like this around me…normally I think I made people nervous, made them think they would do something to make me nervous actually, and they just didn’t even bother with trying to be my friend.
I made my feet move forward as I watched him slip a hand into his pocket and walk by my side.
“I think we have that lab today…You don’t have a partner do you?..” He asked as I held the door for him, thinking it was the nice thing to do.
I found it strange that my mind didn’t even go through the entire mini nervous breakdown about the thought of having to touch that knob.
“No…I usually…just…do the labs by myself..” I whispered, looking down as I sat down at my desk, hanging my bag over the back of my chair.
“I’ve noticed…” He smiled, grabbing my lab book from the drawer, and his own as he set them down on the desks.
“If you don’t wanna work with me just say so…” He said to me with a small smile, as I just stared at the book in his hands…well mostly at his hands.
“What?...Oh no…No…no…I do…I was just…sorry….yes…okay…I’ll be your partner…” I smiled, nodding shyly as I looked up into his eyes.
“Okay….good then….it’ll be fun..” He smiled, looking up as the teacher walked into the room.
Holy shit….This is not happening…I suck at Physics…I’m gonna screw up the lab…why the hell did you say yes!??!
“Alright class…this labs going to take a little longer than the first period…But after that for those of you who finish early…you can have the rest of the next period to yourselves…” He smiled, sitting down at his desk and turning on the computer to take attendance.
I looked over at Gerard who was drawing a little sketch on my lab book. I looked at him a bit confused because….I don’t know….maybe he didn’t know it was my book?…
No he definitely knows its my book…it has a big Jack O’Lantern I drew over the front…
He slid the book over to my desk and I looked at the little drawing, feeling my face grow flush.
“Aw…thank you…” I grinned, looking down at the little drawing of myself sitting at my desk, looking at my can of Monster as if it was the most interesting thing in the room.
I was so surprised he was even being friendly towards me that I just gave up on overthinking things.
“Its really good…you’re really good…” I smiled, looking down at the drawing.
“Except…what’s that on my lip?..” I asked, squinting as I tried to make it out.
“Ah…it’s a lip ring…it looks cute…” He smiled, shrugging his shoulders.
“Oh…right…uh…thanks..” I smiled back, still looking at the drawing.
Did he just say I was cute?…No he said the lip ring was cute…Right?…God Frank..
“Okay everyone…get into your lab groups then…and get to work…” Mr. Murphy smiled, as he looked over at me no doubt to make sure I would be okay working by myself.
I shook my head and got up, still grinning at the little picture Gerard had made for me. No one had ever done something like that for me, and yea I know it only took him a few minutes, but it meant so much to me.
My god he’s so sweet.
“You want to get the hot plates set up and I’ll go get the metal samples? “He asked, as we walked to a station all the way in the back of the room.
“Okay….yea…just…yea I can do that…” I nodded, giving him a small smile.
He smiled back at me and walked over to the side table to get everything else we needed.
I opened up my lab book, still smiling at the little Frankie on the front cover. I got to the page that explained the lab we were doing now and I read each line slowly to make sure I understood so I wouldn’t fuck up in front of Gerard.
The little words on the piece of paper in front of me started getting closer and closer together, and it wasn’t too long until I was unable to read the entire thing, as I had a mess of words and numbers strewn out before me.
I tried hard to read it so I could know what to do with the hotplate before Gerard got back, but I felt nervous as I blinked and nothing changed, still the same mess.
I saw a number that I figured was the number I needed to set the hotplate to in order for it to heat up properly.
I plugged it in and quickly set it to the number before Gerard came and sat down next to me, setting down the strips of metal in front of me.
“We cant do anything till the plate heats up..” He said to me, as he moved a bit closer, and took my lab book from me again.
“I’ve just thought of another picture…” He grinned, as he bit down on his lip and began drawing next to the little Frankie.
I watched him focus on his drawing as I looked at the hot plate , which did not seem to be working for shit.
“I don’t think this shit is heating up…” I said finally, after watching three other groups near us get right to work.
“No it is…you cant really tell but its working...don’t worry...just give it a couple more minutes…” He smiled, looking at my face for a moment before going back to his drawing.
I nodded and stared at the plate, watching it basically…do nothing, for another 4 minutes.
“Yeah its not going…isn’t the light supposed to go red…?..” I asked, prodding the machine with the edge of my pencil.
“Just give it a minute…I’m sure its working fine…” He laughed, looking at my neck, and drawing the exact shape onto the paper.
I sighed, and touched the side of the plate with my finger.
The shit is cold…what the fuck?…don’t tell me I fucked it up already….
I looked up at the time and saw that we had been sitting here for 15 minutes waiting for the crap to warm up.
I sighed, and placed my entire hand over the plate, only to pull it away quickly not even a half a second later, as I felt this terrible feeling like all my skin was being peeled off from my hand.
“ARGHHH….FUCK!…” I screamed, coddling my hand close to my chest, as I looked at Gerard worriedly.
Oh my god…Oh my god….Oh my god…my hand my fucking hand…holy shit
I whimpered, as I felt Gerard touch my arm and ask me if I was okay about a thousand times, and I felt as if every eye in the class room had fallen upon me. I couldn’t remember anything that happened in the next few minutes, other than Mr. Murphy running over and forcing me to hold my hand out and the moment I saw the raw flesh hanging off my hand, I felt my whole body grow hot….or maybe cold?….Both perhaps?…And next thing I knew, the whole room went black..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I woke up in this room with horrid green walls, and a bunch of monstrous looking machines scattered about. I sat up quickly and I saw Gerard sitting in a chair by the bed I was laying in.
“Er…Where….am…I…?…” I asked, but before he could even answer, I looked down at my hand and saw that it was wrapped in layers and layers of bandages, and I could hardly feel that it was even a part of my body.
“I guess the hot plate was working huh?…” I laughed, looking down at my hand and biting my lip.
“I’m such a fucking idiot..” I whispered, trying to move my fingers, and feeling like I should cry because of the pain I knew was there, but I was so heavily medicated that I couldn’t feel one bit of it.
“Don’t say that…we all make mistakes…you’ll be fine…and uh…they tried to contact your parents but I think they’re in Florida?” He said to me, as he got up to sit at the foot of my bed.
“They told them you’d be okay and it sounded like that’s all they wanted to hear…no…offence or anything..” He added, giving me an apologetic look.
“Well…no surprise there…” I sighed, setting my hand down on my lap as I looked up at him for a moment.
“You don’t have to stay here….it was really nice of you though…and I’m sorry about having you miss school…” I said to him, assuming he was with me the whole time.
“Don’t say sorry…you didn’t do anything wrong…I’m sure you didn’t plan on ending up at the hospital…its okay..” He smiled, looking at my hand and then my face, causing me to blush slightly.
“What the hell am I wearing?. It was my hand…Why’d the need to take off my clothes?..” I asked in horror as I looked down at the hospital gown I was wearing.
He laughed and shook his head before speaking again.
“I have no idea….I hate hospitals to be honest with you…but uh…I want to stay if that’s okay with you…I can help you out a bit…” He offered, tilting his head to look at me better.
“You don’t have to do that…I mean…I’m sure you have better things to do…” I said, shaking my head, looking at him a bit confused as to why anyone would want to spend time with me at all.
“No I don’t…and I know I don’t have to...I want to…” He replied, getting up to get something from the chair he was in, before setting it down on my lap.
“I’ve been drawing the whole time you were out..” He smiled, and I looked down at about a half a dozen drawings of me asleep at various times of the day in the hospital.
“God…no ones ever been this nice to me before…” I whispered, tracing my fingers across the spine of the book.
“Thank you…” I said softly, as I looked up at him, holding the book out for him to take.
“That’s what friends are for isn’t it?…” He said with the cutest grin I’ve ever seen.
“Yeah…yeah….that is what friends are for…my friend…” I whispered, with a stupid smile.
A friend…
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