FicWad

When the bell rang I tried to give Paul back his jacket. He told me to keep it, that he'd get it later. Later? Rrgh. I don't want to see him later. I don't even want to see him now. He took off so fast after class that I didn't get a chance to argue.

As I came out of the Home Ec room I saw Gerard across the hall. He looks at me in Pauls coat and makes a face. A face like what the hell are you wearing... I walk towards him a little.

He just looked down at me and didn't say anything. He reached over and touched the collar. "What's this?" He says raising his eyebrows slightly as he touched it.

"I forgot my bra so Paul gave me his coat." I say plainly. He got a real puzzled look on his face for a second. I open the coat slightly and show him my shirt. He smiled a little.

"I woke up late. Lia must've fucked with the alarm clock or something, I barely made it on time." I say and he shakes his head a little. "Do you want me to take it off?" I say to him softly.

"No Elle." He says reaching over and putting his arm around me.

"You know he only gave it to me cause he thought it would piss you off to see me wearing it." I say and he squeezes me a little.

"Yeah well, If I knew you needed a jacket baby, I would've brought you mine." He sighs a little as we head into the cafeteria for study hall. Wow. I was surprised by his reaction. It was so... calm...

"I'm gonna go home and change during lunch." I tell him sitting down at the table in the back where we usually sit. Jessica wasn't here yet. Maybe she wont sit with us today...Gerard was standing behind me he had his hands on my shoulders and then he slowly ran them down the sides of my arms.

"This is so wrong." I hear him say and I look over my shoulder at him. He pulled the hair from my neck and touched my cheek lightly with one hand. His other hand was on my shoulder rubbing it lightly.

"What?" I say looking up at him.

"I'm getting turned on touching his jacket!" He says making a face, choking on the words. I laughed and pulled him to sit down next to me. I leant against him a little. "You even smell like him Elle." He laughs pressing his face into my neck a little, kissing me lightly.

"Well maybe we can squeeze a shower in during lunch too." I tease but before he can even answer Jessica comes up and drops her books on the table. And just like that my headaches back... Was it the loud smack of the books against the table? or was it just the sight of her?...I'm not sure...

"Nice coat!" she says making a face at me.

"What?" I say pulling back from Gerard a little. Is she making fun of me again?

"I mean that's a varsity jacket right?" She says leaning over and looking at it. "Pauls in fact." She says reading his name from it and smiling a little. She looked over at Gerard. "You guys use to date right?" She says to me with out taking her eyes off of Gerard.

"Yeah a long time ago." I say pulling out my notebook. I'm not sure what's she's up to but I don't like it...

"Oh well that's sweet that you're um still such good friends." She smiles at me fakely.

"we're not friends." I correct her.

"Well you're wearing his coat!" She laughs a little.

"Its not cause I want to...I mean I..." I look over at Gerard. Fuck she's right... No matter how much I hate her she's right? Why am I wearing his coat? In front of Gerard no less...

"Leave it alone Jess." He sighs leaning back a little. I go to take it off and Gerard stops me. Does it really not bother him? I mean I've been telling him over and over again Paul just likes winding him up. Is he finally letting it go?

"No really." She says leaning forward. "I'm just saying that its good that you guys can be friends and all after all that- I mean you guys went out for a long time right?" She says looking over at me. I nod. "Its good that you're all getting along." She says smiling a little. "He seems like a nice guy." She adds.

"He's not." Gerard says roughly opening up his English textbook.

"Well he's real cute at least." Jessica smiles at me. I just looked at her blankly. Is she trying to get me to agree? I don't say anything.

"Stay away from him Jess." Gerard tells her with out looking up from his book. "He's bad news." He says rubbing his hand along my thigh under the table. I look over at him. He doesn't look up. Jessica shrugs and leans back a little watching him intently as he reads.

It went on like this the rest of the period. He'd look up and she'd look away. Every so often she'd make a comment to him about something that happened when they were together. He would shrug it off. I put my head down on the table and shut my eyes. My head was throbbing still. I don't know how much more of her I could take...But what was I supposed to do. Gerard was being mature about the whole Paul jacket thing. Honestly I was surprised too in a way. I mean I'm glad that Gerard has finally realized that Paul only does these things to aggravate him and I'm happy that Gerard is finally able to let it go in a way. But why am I having such a hard time ignoring Jessica?

I wonder if this is what Gerard felt like whenever Paul was around. I lift my head and look up at him as the bell rings. He smiles a little at me. "You feel better now?" He says softly stroking my hair.

"mm hmm." I say stretching a little. Jessica's giving me a nasty look out of the corner of her eye as she walks away. Now I know what the problem is Paul never pretended. He would come right out and say crap to Gerard. Jessica's fucking pretending like she's happy that were happy when its so obvious that she's not.

"You know Bob and Lia broke up." I say to Gerard as we walk out. I didn't want to talk about this in front of Jessica.

"I kinda figured that was coming." He says plainly.

"How?" I ask in disbelief. They were perfect together.

"Well they were never really together and then when she said she was moving in with Crystal, I just assumed." He shrugged. What's that supposed to mean?

Assumed what?

"Yeah but something happened last night Gerard, I wanted to tell you. It was weird." I tell him as we approach the corner. This is usually where he goes one way and I go another. "Lia was real drunk last night and she-"I start to tell him as Marie comes up to us.

"Elle" She says and then covers her mouth a little. "I'm sorry am I interrupting?" She says softly.

"No." Gerard tells her and kisses my cheek lightly. "We'll talk about it later Elle." He says as he walks away. I frown a little as he leaves.

"Um what time should I come over?" Marie says softly smiling a little.

"Oh you're coming Marie!" I say excitedly. Well that's one less thing I have to worry about. I mean I still had no idea how much that hooker would've cost for Mikey...

"Yeah I told my mom I was going to stay over, um if that's all right." She says softly.

"Oh yeah no problem." I tell her and she smiles. "Do you want me to pick you up or something?" I ask her remembering she's not old enough to drive.

"Um yeah that would be great." She says peeking in at Mikey in the math classroom. "You did tell him I was coming didn't you?" She whispers.

"Um did you want me to?" I ask her and she turns a little pale. "Don't worry Marie, just be ready at umm 7ish?" I say and she nods.

Hmm. Maybe I better tell Mikey Marie's coming... I mean what if Mikey shows up with someone. Or doesn't show up at all? I walk into the math room and kneel in front of Mikey's desk again.

"What is it now?" He moans. I smile at him.

"You are coming to Lia's party right?" I say. How the fuck this became Lia's party I don't know...

He just looked at me. "Huh?" He says pushing his glasses up a little.

"Tonight Mikey." I moan. "You are coming over tonight right?" I insist. He shrugs. "You have too!" I whine.
"Fine Elle." He tells me shaking his head a little.

"And you have to come alone." I tell him as the bell rings. He gives me a look like he's trying to figure out what I'm up to. I ignored him the rest of the class. Kinda like he did to me yesterday...

Fuck. I really wanted to talk to Gerard... I wonder what happened with Bob and Lia yesterday... I mean she was drunk. I don't think she meant to kiss me. She was probably just upset about losing Bob...Aaah. I got to focus here. I promise Donna I'd graduate. I want to graduate too.. And then... I don't know...I can only handle one thing at a time.
I tried to pay attention in class.

It was so boring though. I mean I understood the lesson the first time we went over it. But yet she's just repeating it over and over again. And people are still asking questions like they don't understand. Just put the fucking X over here and divide... God damn Algebra. It's fucking useless anyway. I don't see how this is gonna help me in life. Not ever...

The bell finally rings. Mikey wouldn't give up asking me what I had planned. I told him to just trust me and he laughed. Right in my face too. Well, we'll see whose laughing when he and Marie are all snuggly and cute in love tonight wont we...I hope...

As I walk into social studies Mr. Richards is handing out the tests from yesterday. Big fucking surprise. I got a zero.

"So when do I take it again?" I ask him as he stands in the doorway.

"Excuse me?" He says like he doesn't know what I'm saying.

"Well I obviously cheated." I tell him holding my answer sheet up. "Soooo-"

"So you got the grade you deserved." He said shutting the door as the bell rang. He started to walk towards his desk. I followed him.

"You're kidding right?" I say.

"Do I look like I'm kidding?" He says dryly.

"Well, when I cheated and got a hundred you made me take the test again-twice!" I say loudly.

"And?" He says arrogantly.

"And I want to take this one again." I say handing it back to him. He shakes his head.

"That's not fair!" I yell.

"You can complain to Mr. Bonner later, if you'd like. But for now you're gonna need to go sit down Elle." He tells me tapping his fingers on his desk.

"I wantta go see him now." I say and he smirks a little.

"You can't go now. Now go sit." He repeats.

"This is fucking bullshit." I say loudly. A few people snicker behind me.

"That's it. I'm sending you to the office." Mr. R says shuffling through the papers on his desk. Looking for a slip.

"I thought you said I couldn't go." I say sarcastically as he hands it to me.

"That attitude is going to get you in a lot of trouble one day." He says as I walk out. Yeah one day...

I make my way to the office. Mr. Bonner is in some meeting. He can't see me. I stood there arguing with the lady for like 5 minutes when Mr. Samuel walks in. He wants to know what's gong on so I tell him. He brings me back to his office and tells me that he agrees with me. Surprise surprise. He says he's gonna talk to Mr. Bonner about it. That the rules for cheating should apply the same in all situations.

"I just don't understand why you felt the need to cheat Elle." He says sighing a little. "You're obviously a very bright girl and you should have no problem getting your grades up." He says leaning over and typing something into his computer. He's pulling up my grades. I roll my eyes. "See here, um last year you had-" He's pointing at the screen.

"Look I'm not really in the mood." I sigh leaning back in my chair. "I just couldn't concentrate that day, That's all. That's why I filled it out like that. I wont do it again okay." I say and Mr. S pushes the keyboard back a little.

"Are you still worried about your father?" He says opening his folder and scribbling a little. "I mean does that distract you in class?" He says and stops writing awaiting my response.

"I don't know." I shrug. "I guess sometimes." I say.

"Well I see you're um back together with your boyfriend now." He says nodding towards my jacket.

"Oh no!" I say loudly shaking my head. "I'm not with him... this is just.,." I stutter a little. Mr. S raises his eyebrows at me. "This was just cause I forgot my coat. I was in a rush this morning. I wasn't thinking." I explain.

"Well what were you worried about this morning?" He says scribbling again.

"Can you please stop doing that!" I tell him.

"Hmm?" He replies.

"I mean what the fuck do you keep writing?" I say leaning forward trying to see.

"Its not about you." He says and I laugh. "Well. It is." He says laughing too. "You know I'm just a temporary replacement Elle." He tells me and I nod. "Well. If I am to get a permanent slot, um the superintendent will evaluate me based on..."

"On what you put in the file." I say and he nods. "About me?" I say a little upset.

"It doesn't have names or anything identifiable Elle." He says and I kinda believed him. "Its just case study type examples." He sighs a little.

"So you figure I'm fucked up enough that you can use me to get a job?" I say staring at him. He just stared back. I was teasing him but my face was expressionless. He wasn't sure what to say. "I'm just kidding." I smile and he relaxes a little. "But I already told you you're not gonna be able to help me." I say and he frowns. "No I'm serious if you're counting on me, you best start looking for a new career." I say and he laughs.

"There's got to be something minor that I could possibly help you with." He says. He sounded a little pathetic too.

"Its due today. Isn't it?" I say nodding towards his folder. I could tell by the look on his face that it was. "Mr. S have you been slacking off?" I say smiling a little.

"Its very hard to establish a relationship with a student Elle." He says shaking his head a little at me.

"Okay fine." I sigh. "I'll give you something to put in your folder report." I tell him and he gives me a funny look. "I'm serious." I say handing him his pencil off the desk.

"It will all be the truth?" He says hesitantly.

"Yeah." I laugh. "I mean how would they even know anyway?" I say smiling.

"Elle. If its not gonna be true then don't make me submit it." He says nervously.

"I'm just kidding!" I laugh. He looks at me for a moment..."Okay so here's a nice simple problem that's been kinda bothering me, its perfect for your little report." I say and he opens his folder up.

"Okay." He says nodding for me to go on.

"So I have a friend who I've been friends with for a long time and now I'm starting to wonder if maybe they feel something... more..." I say and he smiles a little and starts scribbling.

"And this has been bothering you because you're not sure that you feel the same-" He says leaning back a little.

"Well no, I know I don't feel the same way but see last night we kinda kissed and-" I say and he nods and scribbles again. "And I don't know if it meant anything." I tell him. "I mean it was probably just nothing, but then again if it wasn't then how can we stay friends?" I ask him.

He's got this excited look in his eye. "Give me one second." He says scribbling ferociously. This was exactly the kinda crap he needed in his 'report'. "Okay" he exhales a little putting his pencil down. "Elle." He says very seriously leaning forward again. "Teenage boys can be-" He starts to say and I shake my head no.

"Teenage boys?" I say a little confused.

"Its not a teenage boy?" He says jaw dropping open a little.

"Um no." I say making a face. He reaches for his pencil again. He's got a real concerned look on his face now.

"Elle um - I know you're 18 and all" He says softly leaning forward again." And it may seem like an older man can offer you the attention you miss getting from your father but-" He's shaking his head at me.

"What the hell are you talking about?" I say making a face.

"I'm not exactly sure anymore." Mr. S says looking at me funny. That might have been the most honest thing he's ever said to me. I smirk a little at him.

"Are you sure this is the right career path for you?" I tell him and he smiles.

"Can we just start over please?" He says picking up his pencil again as the bell rang.

"Ummm, I gotta go to lunch now." I tell him as I get up. "Really I gotta run home and change" I say to him " Uh, maybe I'll see you later." I tell him and he frowns closing the folder up. "Just fucking make something up." I tell him and he shakes his head a little. "Hey I gave you a 'problem' just put down that I agreed with everything you said." I laugh a little opening the door.

He laughs a little and calls out after me. "If only it was that easy to get through to you Elle...if only!"