FicWad

Nothing was spoken or done for about fifteen minutes. Suzanne cried a little more, but then stopped. I wasn't sure if she had fallen asleep or was just being quiet. I wanted in some way to help her. She was very scared, she didn't know what was going to happen now.

"We should be getting to class." She finally spoke. Her voice was hoarse from all the crying, and it was monotone. Poor girl.

I nodded, "Yeah, I guess we should. Are you sure you're okay to go?" I asked, being the concerned friend I was.

She pulled away from me and rubbed her face with her hoodie sleeve. Her eyes were red and puffy, people would notice - Tom would notice. She smiled weakly, "I'll be fine, I guess. I can't stay in here for the rest of the day... I'm gonna tell Tom after school." She told me hesitantly.

I widened my eyes a little, "Really? Are you sure?" She nodded, "You want me to be there?"

She shook her head, "No. This is between me and Tom." I nodded, not wanting to intrude any more. We both stood up and collected our bags, exiting the icky bathroom into the History hall.

"What class do you have now?" I asked Suzanne, who appeared to be deep in thought. I nudged her with my elbow, and she quickly looked up, "You okay? I was wondering what class you have now."

She smiled, "Oh, I'm sorry. I have English, then Math. What about you?"

I thought for a moment, then it felt like any color that was in my face, disappeared in a second, "Shit. I have double Art." Suzanne laughed a little. Shit, Gerard was going to kill me.

"You're like twenty minutes late. Mr Way is gonna freak." She laughed again. She seemed to be happy, but maybe it was just the change in subject. I noticed how weird it sounded for someone to call him Mr Way. I had grown used to the Gerard.

I nodded, in a hurry now, "Yeah, I'm gonna run. I'll see you later." With one last laugh from Suzanne, I ran in the direction of my Art room. Suddenly I felt scared. For some reason, I thought back to Saturday afternoon when Gerard had flipped out on poor Frank. Surely, he wouldn't react like that today. Though I tried to think positive, my heart leapt into my mouth when I stopped outside the room.

As always, the door was closed, and his picture glared at me. At least, it felt like it was. Taking a deep breath, I turned the doorknob, and entered the silent classroom. The students turned their gaze to me, as they usually did. I don't know why they did it, I was always going to be late. Like Gerard had said, it seemed impossible for me to get to his class on time.

All that I could hear was my Vans squeaking on the floor. Somehow, this made me more nervous.

When I stepped further, Gerard was already glaring at me. If I wasn't so scared I would be saying to him You know, if you keep doing that, your face will be stuck like that.

It must have been obvious that I had been crying because his glare softened a little, but only by a fraction. Not many people who have seen this change, but I had been told by Harry that I was good at reading people's emotions.

I stopped by his desk and opened my mouth to speak, but he got there first, "I don't care what you have to say Samantha!" He yelled, "I don't care that you come to my class late anymore! I'm not even going to bother giving you another detention because honestly, I don't want to spend night after night with you! Come to class as late as you want Samantha, because I. Don't. Care. Anymore! Go sit your ass down the hell away from me!"

My eyes widened at the volume he had used. I had never heard him speak so loud to me, or anyone. He always seemed so calm, yet in an angry way. This was just beyond scary.

I looked for a seat, noticing my seat at the front was taken by a boy named Johnny Smith, a jock. I knew his seat was at the back of the class, and I saw that it was empty, so I made my way over to the seat and sat down. The heat in my face slowly died away.

"Right. As I was about to say before I was rudely interrupted, you have one more week before Christmas break. I am going to set you a project to do over that time. This needs to be completed by your first lesson with me when you get back." His voice was calm again, as if nothing had just happened. He was being the teacher again, and not the complete asshole.

I felt like droning out his voice, but knew that I would get into more trouble if I did. He was setting a project, so I had no choice but to listen. If it had been any other teacher, I would have listened happily, but because it was him... he voice alone made me want to throw a chair at him.

"It's nothing too hard really, if you know how to do it. This project is based on emotion alone. Just... draw the emotion you're feeling. Simple. But, I know that there are people in this class who find it difficult to show or express their emotions. You'd rather have them bottled up." His eyes met mine as he said this. Why? I didn't have trouble with my emotions. If I wanted someone to know I was sad, I'd let them know. If anything, he was the one with emotion issues.

"Like I said, your first lesson with me after Christmas. Anybody who gives me their project unfinished... guess where you end up?" He gave a sarcastic smile, which is actually the first smile - though not a real one - I had seen from him. Though it was fake, it made him look slightly happier, but the darkness in his eyes told me he was anything but happy.

Gerard went over to his desk, looking in what I assumed to be a teacher's planner. He stared at it for a while, occasionally turning a page. I don't know why I watched him so much. He was such a jerk, yet I found something so interesting about him. He drew me in somehow, in a way I didn't like.

It was weird. Gerard could be the nicest guy I ever met, or my Math teacher, Mrs Waterman could be more horrible than he is, but I would still be drawn to him. It was like God made some sort of plan for us to meet and make my life hell.

Finally, he looked up from the planner, "You next see me after Christmas on a Tuesday. January third. If for some reason I am not in school that day, leave your work in the closet. Does everyone understand that?" When asking his question, his voice raised as if not sure whether everybody was listening. But of course they were, who would be stupid enough not to listen?

In any other class, with any other teacher, the students reply would be a groan of 'yes sir', but no, not in this class. Every single one of these students, except me said those two words clearly. I felt bad for the kids who had any class with him. It was like school in the fifties.

Gerard turned his head to his left and walked over to a girl. She looked quite small and had red hair. I could see the side of her face. She looked painfully shy. Poor girl.

"Cassandra!" The increase in volume of his voice startled everyone. I almost fell off of my chair. The girl named Cassandra shook slightly, "Do you understand what I just said?" The girl shook more but never replied, "ANSWER ME!"

I heard a mumble, but unfortunately, that's what he heard too, "I'm sorry, speak up!"

She raised her head and just barely looked into his eyes before saying loud and clear, "Yes sir!" Okay, so maybe school in the fifties was wrong. Let's try military school.

Gerard stared at her for a second more before walking away. He sat down at his desk. He picked up a black pen and spoke one last time that lesson, "Continue with what you were doing last time." The only sound after that was from his pen meeting the paper.



Eventually, after what felt like forever, the bell rang signalling the end of the day. The students rushed to put their things together and pretty much ran out of the door. I picked up my bag and went for the exit, and saw Delilah waiting for me. We exchanged a few words, but mostly she was laughing at how funny it was that I always turn up late. It amuses her greatly when she sees Mr Way freak out. If she had seen what I saw on Saturday, she wouldn't be so amused.

Delilah left soon after, saying her mom was picking her up, so that left me walking down the empty hall by myself. Well, I thought it was empty, until I saw a red haired boy and a blonde haired girl - Tom and Suzanne. By the look of things, Tom was pretty angry and Suzanne was crying, her face buried in her hands. She was talking to him, just as she said she would. I just didn't think it would be at school, where anybody could be listening.

I hid behind a wall, so that they couldn't see me. I couldn't hear what was going on, but I could see. I watched closely. I think Tom was half-yelling, and it was upsetting Suzanne a lot.

"Hey! I wanna talk to -" I cut the person off by grabbing their arm and pulling them behind the wall with me. I hoped the siblings hadn't seen us, "What the fuck was that for?" I looked behind me and my eyes widened when I saw it was Gerard. He looked about as shocked as I was.

I opened my mouth to say something, but instead closed it again and peaked back round the wall, watching again. I felt Gerard hover above me, watching also. It made me very uncomfortable feeling his hand on my hip as he balanced himself, "What are they doing?" He whispered.

"Talking. Well, he's talking, she's... listening." I answered. I don't why I answered, I should really learn to ignore him.

It must have been ten minutes later when something changed between Tom and Suzanne. Tom appeared to have calmed down and Suzanne was no longer crying. I was shocked and happy when they hugged. They clearly worked things out. I smiled, wishing I had an older brother.

I was still smiling when they disappeared out of the front doors of the school. I went back behind the wall. My smile faded when I noticed Gerard was staring at me, "What?"

"You're smiling."

I rolled my eyes, "Yeah, so? Not everyone is a miserable asshole like you." He said nothing, just kept staring. No glare this time. I sighed, rolling my eyes again and went to walk away when he stopped me.

"Hey." I turned back, "I said I wanted to talk to you." I waited for him to continue, but he didn't. Instead he gestured for me to follow him, much like last week in detention. I followed, but walked away from him. I didn't want to walk with him. He had other plans.

He slowed his pace and walked with me, "You know, you should smile more often. I was starting to think you were born as a miserable bitch." I looked up at him, attempting a glare, but he wasn't even looking at me, though I could see the smirk plastered across his face, a smirk that only drew me in more.

I decided to take Gerard's comment as a compliment, knowing it would probably be the only one I get.