FicWad

Kiss and don’t tell

Gerard frowned in his sleep and rolled on to his other side before a smile softly pushed his lips upwards and spread across his face. His nose crinkled a little as he curled up into a ball underneath the covers clutching the rim of his duvet tightly and tucking it underneath his chin; he was wrapped like a cocoon in his sheet and cover as if it was protecting him from the outside world.
He slowly began to reach consciousness as he caught the faint smell of cooking food; he smiled in appreciation as he realized his mother was making him and his brother breakfast.
He opened his eyes slowly and began to stretch inside his cover wrap, he felt his toes curl and his back arch as he reached his hands to the wall, he pressed his palms flat against it and pushed, He then plopped down back onto the bed causing him to bounce slightly.
Feeling slightly more awake he blinked up at his ceiling as he wondered of into thought, almost immediately he felt a jolt in the pit of his stomach as he remembered the events of Thursday. He sub consciously reached a hand towards his mouth and ran his fingertips over the bottom of his lip wishing Frank would’ve just kissed him, he screwed his eyes up at this thought as his girlfriend popped into his mind, her long blonde hair, shimmering blue eyes and her bitch of a personality. He had met Chrissie at one of Mikey’s house parties. She had come over twisting her hair between her fingers looking extremely shy, admittedly he had gone for looks rather than personality, he then soon found out she was a total control freak and clung to him like Clingfilm.
Gerard had wanted to dump her for ever but his insecurities always gnawed at him slowly, he knew that when she said she ‘loved’ him she was only lying but Gerard was too scared of being alone to get rid of her.
Then there was Frank he had appeared out of nowhere and literally knocked him of his feet, he smiled as he remembered how he had gotten all shy and repeatedly blushed. Gerard had immediately felt a surge of warmth towards him, he made him forget about Chrissie and his head simply swam whenever Frank so much as smiled in his direction.
He got butterflies every time Frank so much as brushed by him, he wanted so much more, but his conscious stopped him every single time. Ever since Frank had ‘taken control’ in the ice cream shop Gerard had worried constantly over whether or not you would class it as cheating, the funny thing was he only started worrying about that when Frank had gone home, when Frank was with him it was like none of that mattered as though there was no time for worrying about what was happening because he needed to concentrate on just being with Frank.
His ranting thoughts became distracted as he heard the familiar tinkling of the door bell ring.
“Donald could you get that please” he heard his mother’s muffled voice call to his Dad, he heard the heavy footfalls of his father exit the living room and make their way to the door, it opened with a clack.
“Hey don, permission to wake the beast?” Gerard laughed as his ears recognized the voice to be AJ’s, his father gave a hollow laugh and the next thing Gerard picked up was the sound of light footsteps making their way to his basement door.
The door covered in posters and magazine cut outs flung open and AJ grinned at her best friend before she flung herself onto the bed next to him. She was wearing a long black chequered shirt which was tied in at the waist, black shorts, knee length socks and her old converse.
“hey you” she smiled as she rolled on her side to face him, he grinned and waved in response while rubbing his knuckles into his right eye in an attempt to wake himself up a little more.
“Lazy ass, you’re not even ready” she shook her head at him and he stuck out his tongue as he scrunched up his face, she giggled and gave him a soft push.
He jumped as his door opened to reveal a buzzing Mikey; he entered the room and stood at the end of his big brothers bed with his arms out stretched.
“straightners please” he grinned, Gerard groaned and pointed towards his desk which was currently covered in pieces of scrap paper and curious little drawings of made up characters, as well as some classical ones such as the Mummy, Frankenstein and Dracula.
“Thank you” Mikey smiled he made his way over to the desk and picked up his object of desire before turning back to his brother.
“Hurry up mum’s nearly finished making breakfast, which goes for you to AJ” he pointed at her and glared making her laugh.
“Whatever Mikes” she gave him the middle finger and he imitated her before making his way over to a plug socket and mirror. It was extremely common for AJ to arrive at the Ways before school, Gerard and Mikey’s mother loved Alex and insisted that she came for breakfast every morning, thus a tradition was born and AJ hasn’t had breakfast anywhere else since!
“What do you think my mom would do if you stopped coming for breakfast?” Gerard suddenly asked AJ as he flipped onto his back and gazed up at the ceiling.
“Go insane” AJ suggested shrugging her shoulders; she then climbed over him so she was situated comfortably against him and the wall.
“Besides” she smiled wickedly “how else would you get ready if you didn’t have me?”
Gerard opened his mouth but before it could form any words AJ had flipped him off the bed.
He got up clutching his head and scowling up at her as Mikey roared with laughter; AJ giggled and looked at him apologetically.
“What the fuck?” Gerard glared.
“It’s one of my many methods”
“I hate your methods”
“I love your methods” Mikey snorted, the hair irons beeped letting him know they were ready and he began to fix his hair.
“Come on get ready” AJ told him, Gerard sat up and crossed his legs before letting his hands fall into his lap.
“I don’t know what to wear?” he pouted as he began fiddling with the end of his pyjama trousers, he then fell back so his batman t shirt rose slightly causing a thin line of pale flesh to be seen.
“Since when did you give a crap about what you wore?” AJ frowned nudging him with her foot.
“Since he met Frank” Mikey put in as he ran the irons over his hair making it fall over his nose in a point.
“Shut up girl pants” Gerard snapped before picking up a purple pencil of his carpeted floor and firing it at his brother’s head.
“Hey” the younger way rubbed the spot on his head where the pencil had found its mark, he gave a small huff before turning back to the mirror to make sure his hair was perfect.
Gerard got up and began to make his way over to the wardrobe feeling his heart hammer against his chest at the mention of Frank’s name. He knew he was blushing so decided to busy himself by looking for clothes.
“Awww Gerard you’re so cute” Alex giggled as she sat up and began to swing her legs off Gerard’s bed, he flushed and grabbed a pair of black skinny jeans then mumbled for AJ to ‘shut up’ before he opened a drawer and began shuffling through his shirts.
“I like Frank; he’s better than Chrissie by any amount”
“Yeah, me too!” Mikey agreed with her before he put down the straightners and turned, leaning his back against the mirror as he faced them.
Gerard sighed and slumped to the floor as he grabbed a shirt out of his drawer, he had heard this so many times, none of his friends liked Chrissie and they knew Gerard was too insecure to leave her but since Frank had come along it was like a glimmer of hope shone at the end of his dark little tunnel.
“Yeah he’s great.” Gerard told them as his lip twitched into another smile; he looked up and blushed to see Alex positively beaming.
“Give it time dude; you’re going to be great together”
“But what about Chrissie?” his smile drooped.
“Fuck Chrissie man!” he jumped and raised his eyebrows in shock to see Mikey pointing at him “as harsh as it sounds she doesn’t even love you dude and you know it! But you’re too insecure to do anything about it. Frank likes you so, so much and you just worry about what she’ll think.” Mikey’s face was slightly pink and he slowly came to the realisation that he was still pointing, he cleared his throat and made his voice considerably softer.
“Gerard...bro’...don’t throw this away because you’re scared, I’ve seen that happen before and you are not under any circumstances doing it again.”
Alex’s mouth was now hanging open slightly and her eyes were wide, she had never witnessed the two ways have a ‘brotherly moment’ and was completely awed by what she had seen.
Mikey got up and mumbled something about ‘getting bacon’ before he left the room leaving Gerard and AJ alone with their thoughts.
“Man that little dude is so wise” AJ whispered as she gazed through the door as if she could see Mikey making his way up the stairs.
********************************

“Bye Mom, bye Dad thanks for the breakfast” Gerard called as he opened the front door; he began to spin his car keys around his fingers waiting for their reply.
“Bye, Gerard dear say goodbye to your brother as well” his Mother called
“Later son” his dad called.
Satisfied with the reply he stepped out into the fresh air and shut the door behind him, he spotted Mikey leaning against the car door as AJ wondered around aimlessly.
“Thanks man” Gerard told his brother as he approached him. He clapped Mikey’s shoulder and unlocked the car door with a soft click.
Mikey nodded in response and scrambled in the front while AJ jumped into the back seat.
Gerard gave a large yawn before flicking on his stereo to let the sound of the Misfits’ ‘mommy can I go out and kill tonight’ fill the car. He drummed his fingers onto the wheel and hummed along as Mikey mimicked the drums with his hands.
AJ sang along quietly as she watched the trees zoom past at what seemed like a hundred miles an hour.
“Guys we sort of have to pick up Chrissie” Gerard winced as his best friend and sibling gave him horrified expressions.
“Why?” Mikey practically screamed, sure Chrissie talked to him but that was only because of two things; one, he was Gerard’s brother and two, he threw amazing house parties.
“Because you go to the same school”
“So! Make her walk.” He groaned and slumped back into his seat knowing full well that Gerard wasn’t going to make her walk.
“She’s not having the front seat” Mikey told him darkly and Gerard rolled his eyes as his brother folded his arms and continued to scowl.
He peeked into his wind mirror to see AJ giving him the exact same look; Alex hated her with a passion, every time they met Chrissie made snide comments about her hair, dress sense and the fact that she was a lesbian.
“AJ”
“Whatever”
“Alex come on man, Mikey lighten up”
They both glared at him and he swallowed hard and began biting his lip.
“Come on what can I do to make it up to you?” he asked pouting slightly; he attempted to use his puppy eyes and stuck out his bottom lip.
“Grow some balls” Mikey muttered darkly, Gerard rolled his eyes and slightly scowled at his little brother.
Mikey sighed then sat up quite suddenly making Gerard jump and almost swerve in the middle of the road.
“Come camping tonight” he grinned at him whilst wiggling his eyebrows.
“What! I have work and when in the heck did you decide to go camping?” Gerard exclaimed
“Last night with Lottie and you are so coming!”
“But I have work the next morning”
“So, it is now your responsibility to make it up to us” AJ chipped in.
“Exactly you owe us and you’re not getting out of it” Mikey sat back triumphantly and Alex squealed excitedly she clapped her hands before sitting back to stare outside of the window.
“Crap” Gerard hissed as he realised he was clearly not going to win the argument.
He sighed as he turned left down a street lined with neat white houses that all resembled something out of the fifties.
He parked in front of a particularly square green lawn lined with sprinklers and small dainty flowers, the sight of it made him feel sick, it was all to neat and trimmed for Gerard’s liking.
The door opened to the dolled up house and Gerard smiled half heartedly as his girlfriend began making her way to his car.
Chrissie strutted down her garden path wearing her knee length school socks and her pleated skirt which had clearly been folded over to make it shorter than necessary, she emphasised her hips as she walked and flicked her shimmering blonde hair out of her face.
In all honesty Chrissie was an extremely pretty girl, she was perfect yet there was something almost too perfect about her, like all androids however she had a malfunction which was the fact that she didn’t seem to have a conscience.
She made her way over to the front of the car and frowned when she saw that Mikey was sat in the front. She glared at him before strutting around to Gerard’s side; she opened the door, placed a hand on her hip and began sucking on her teeth in annoyance.
Gerard smiled up innocently at her and gave her a small wave; she made a noise of impatience and shook her head before flicking her blonde hair out of her face.
It was a habit that had AJ grinding her teeth every single time, everything about Chrissie’s android body to her OCD neatness drove her insane.
“Gerard sweetie” she leant down to talk to him and smiled innocently, she then dropped her voice thinking the other two occupants in the car couldn’t hear and began her first complaint of the day. “What is your brother doing in my seat?”
Gerard resisted the urge to roll his eyes (which was becoming quite a habit) and felt his brother tense up beside him.
“Chrissie please, just sit in the back” impatience lined his tone as Gerard hoped his girlfriend would just give up and sit in the back.
“but baby if I sit in the back I have to sit next to...her, I know she’s your friend but seriously she is doing you no justice...I swear the other day when I came to your house she was totally checking out my areas if you know what I mean” Alex gritted her teeth at her stupidity, it seemed that Chrissie was under the impression that no one could hear her.
“Besides” she hissed “how can you let someone sit in your car when they put their feet on the dashboard” she scrunched up her nose as she nodded towards Mikey who indeed has his feet upon the dashboard. “It’s such a gross habit!”
“Look you are not getting the seat so please just sit in the back and shut the hell up!” Mikey snapped, she blinked at him before letting out a sickly sweet giggle.
“Jeez Mikey honey if you wanted the seat that bad you could have just said” she sighed and rolled her eyes before sliding into the back seat next to Alex who attempted to press herself against the door so she could be further away from the blonde girl seated inches from her.
Gerard ran his hand through his hair and turned to his brother, he mouthed the word ‘thanks’ but Mikey just shook his head and mumbled the word “whatever” before he took to staring at the scenery beyond the window.
Gerard swallowed and cursed himself for not being more of a man, he then turned the misfits up a little bit more and smiled to himself as he let the violent sounds of punk flow through him and pump him with energy. He then pulled the car away from the curb and set off again.
“Gerard” Chrissie called over the music, he groaned as he looked into his rear view mirror to see Chrissie leaning forward in her seat. “Could you turn off this music it’s giving me a headache”.
He sighed and flicked it off but Mikey almost straight away flicked it back on much to the dismay of the disgruntled blonde in the back, Gerard smiled to himself and gave a low chuckle as he heard Chrissie give out a high pitched whine.
She would never win against Mikey he didn’t take anybody’s shit, he was very much like Bob in that way except Bob was a lot more chilled out and could physically rip someone in half if they pushed him to the brink, then again to make Bob mad you would have to be an exceptional dick.
They came to a red light and Gerard slowed to a stop, he gave a large yawn and felt his eyes water slightly as he did so.
Alex leant forward in her seat and dropped her chin into the palms of her hands; she then looked up at her best friend with her large blue, doe eyes.
“Are we picking up Ray, Ray and Bobert??”
Gerard nodded as he concentrated on the traffic light stood before him, he watched as a couple of young girls wearing the same uniform as Mikey and Chrissie. One of them was wearing a messenger bag which looked like a giant rabbit and the other was wearing a rucksack which was in fact a womble.
“Do you think they’re distant relatives of Kelsey?” Mikey asked jokingly, he chuckled to himself and Gerard smiled from what he gathered, Kelsey was an outgoing person who dressed pretty unusual and very colourful.
“Nah they don’t look insane enough!” Alex laughed, Chrissie shot her a look and rolled her eyes whilst muttering ‘freak’ under her breath.
“Yeah but Alex and Lottie are more insane than her!” Mikey told them thoughtfully.
“How?” AJ asked as though she refused to believe anybody was crazier than her girlfriend.
“Well Alex blew up magnesium at the back of the school and Lottie tried climbing out of the window on the second floor and broke her foot”
“Mikey honey, why do you hang around with such freaks?” Chrissie’s voice seemed to come from nowhere and they all stared at her as she powdered her nose.
“I mean Hannah seems pretty normal but Lottie and Alex are seriously the weirdest people I know...well apart from that Frank kid, I mean don’t get me started” she let out a dry laugh.
AJ and Mikey slid their eyes to Gerard and bit down on their lips, Gerard was gripping the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles had gone deathly pale, his nose twitched and he stared ahead not really seeing anything in front of him.
White hot anger seemed to bubble up inside him as Chrissie began to divulge to the car about why she thought Frank was a total ‘freak’, with every word she spoke he found his throat getting tighter and his heart beat growing faster.
“I mean what is with the piercings man and those holes in his ears, not to mention the tattoos he’s like what seventeen gosh he’s such a fa-“
“CHRISSIE SHUT THE HELL UP” Gerard snapped, he slammed the palms of his hands onto the steering wheel and swivelled around in his chair to stare at her. “I am so sick of you taking the piss out of my friends so either shut your trap or get out of the dam car!”
Mikey, AJ and Chrissie all had their mouths hanging open; in all the time he had been going out with Chrissie he had never once contradicted her.
The light turned green and Gerard shot the car like a bullet through the traffic as Chrissie continued to look dumbfounded, she slowly turned her face into a scowl and glared at him through the rear view mirror.
“Oh you are so going to regret that” she hissed.
Gerard breathed in deeply and slowed the car down gradually until he had a normal speed going; he turned to his brother who was grinning at him madly holding up two thumbs.
He felt his chest swell with pride as he realized he had actually, properly stood up to Chrissie, he normally just sat back, quietly waiting for her to stop complaining.
The corners of his lips began to twitch upwards until a smile finally spread across his face; he wound the window down and stuck out his arm as he tapped lightly to the misfits’ fast beat.
********************************

Frank breathed in deeply as his hand hovered over the door handle he was currently hesitating to open. He swallowed and curled his fingers back into a fist glancing up at the door as his eyes were currently on his shoes.
Behind the door lay his music classroom and of course Miss Yarwood, now Miss Yarwood was not particularly scary she was actually rather pleasant and happened to be Frank’s favourite teacher of all time! When you crossed her when she was in a bad mood however she would eat you up within a second in front of the whole class so you had to walk around all day with your head hung low in pure shame.
So the reason Frank was standing outside the door slightly nervous to go in was simply because this was his third lesson and he had only just arrived in school, meaning he had missed his two other lessons and now he was half an hour late for this one.
He sucked down a deep breath and held it in his chest before he decided to be a man and opened the door. The class sat before him clearly listening to Miss Yarwood who currently had their back to them while she wrote a chord progression on the board.
Frank swallowed and decided he would take a chance on sneaking over to his place next to Kelsey, he began creeping quietly around the back of the classroom as Miss Yarwood explained how to write a diminished seventh, it was working rather well until he tripped up over one of his classmates bags, he tumbled to the floor and attempted to grab onto the desk in support, this caused the owner of the bag to scream out in surprise as Frank missed the table and pulled a heavy text book down onto his head.
He then realised the room had gone eerily silent so he got up rapidly fast, clutching his head in pain and wearing a nervous smile as he looked around at his fellow students and teacher who were all staring at him stunned.
A couple of girls at the front giggled and he could see Kelsey practically wetting herself at their desk, he turned his attention from her to Miss Yarwood who looked shocked and annoyed at the same time, he swallowed and let out a shaky breath.
“Err s- sorry I’m late” he gave a shaky laugh and rubbed the spot on his head where the corner of the text book had hit him.
“I’ll speak to you after class” Miss Yarwood told him as she pointed to his seat indicating him to sit he swallowed and made his way over to his it. “I need to speak to you and Miss Odachi anyway” she smiled looking directly at Kelsey who nodded and yawned loudly as Frank began rooting in his bag for his book.
“Why are you so late?” Kelsey hissed at him as Yarwood turned back to the board to carry on with her explaining.
“I over slept, I couldn’t sleep all last night” he told her as he placed his book onto the table and pushed his bag onto the floor so it landed with a dull ‘thud’.
“Well nothing new there then” she laughed causing Frank to scowl and punch her softly in the arm he then groaned and let his forehead fall onto the table. Kelsey patted him on the head and began to copy the chord progression Yarwood was about to finish when Frank began mumbling something, she couldn’t make out what it was due to the fact that his face was now plastered to the desk.
She sighed and then began to push the side of Frank’s head so that his face peeled of the desk enabling him to talk freely.
“Are you AJ’s girlfriend yet?”
“Umm” she smiled shyly and let his face fall back onto the table “well...no not yet” she bit her lip “I haven’t talked to her about that yet”
Again Frank mumbled something into the wood of the table and Kelsey didn’t quite catch it, she sighed and rolled her eyes before pressing her hand onto the top of Frank’s head, she pushed and managed to pry his head away from the desk.
“One of you will eventually, the question is who first?” he grinned sleepily
She laughed and smiled at her best friend whilst keeping her hand pressed against his forehead to keep his head off the table.
“Well...I don’t know about that, I can’t see myself asking her that, it sounds so lame.”
She looked up to see Frank staring at her while wiggling his eyebrows in a suggestive manner.
“What!” she smiled gently, he grinned sleepily back and let out a large yawn “maybe you can be lovers” he giggled and Kelsey rolled her eyes at him and let out a small laugh.
“Lovers?” she raised an eyebrow at him while he continued to wiggle his.
“Yeah...instead of having sex you make girl love”
“You’re an idiot”
Frank laughed and sighed before smiling gently at her as a soft blush appeared onto her skin.
“Just ask her I know you can do it, she’s bound to say yes I mean you’re practically going out now!”
“You think?”
“Definitely”
“So you think I should go for it?”
“Yes Kelsey I do, I’m behind you all the way because I’m your best friend and because there is no one on this planet I would rather you be with”
“Awww Frank that’s so cute and soppy, dude you need to man out!” she laughed causing him to scowl at her.
“thanks” she managed to croak out before she let go of his head so it fell back to the table with a slight bang, she winced as his head hit the desk but was reassured when he reached up a hand and gave her a shaky thumbs up.
The lesson continued and Kelsey took Frank’s book away from him because he had fallen asleep, she jotted down the notes he was missing as well as writing down hers as the lesson dragged on and on.
She pressed the bottom of her pen to her lip and attempted to work out why Yarwood wanted to see her and Frank after class, nothing came to her mind however as she sat and thought.
The bell rang signalling the end of their lesson and Frank jumped up from the table in surprise causing Kelsey to laugh at him, he glared at her and gave the back of her head a small slap which only made her laugh more.
They waited in their seats for the class to file out as Miss Yarwood cleaned off the board with its eraser, she then made her way over to the two best friends and smiled down at them which surprised Frank seeing as he was late this morning.
“right you two, we’ll just wait for the Melia twins to get here and I’ll reveal everything” she smiled, Frank looked puzzled and looked at Kelsey before turning back to Miss Yarwood who now had her back to him as she was marking what looked like a student’s coursework.
“Why do you think she needs Lottie and Alex?”
Kelsey shrugged then jumped as the classroom door flung open, Lottie came tumbling in and tripped over the upturned carpet in the door way, half of her face was dripping with water and as she got up Frank, Kelsey and Yarwood saw that her cheeks were bright pink and that she was out of breath.
“Alex...water...gun....bewaaare” her voice was raspy and she clutched her heaving chest as she attempted to get oxygen back into her lungs.
“Lottie breathe” Frank laughed as she collapsed onto their table, she nodded in response and began wafting her face with her hand as Yarwood and Kelsey blinked at her. Frank picked up his text book and attempted to fan her with it.
“Oh my god, I feel like I’m breathing in carbon dioxide” she gasped
“Yes it’s called hyperventilating” Miss Yarwood told her sarcastically whilst rolling her large chocolate eyes. “So where is your psychotic little brother?”
“here I am and you are all going down” he suddenly appeared clutching the biggest water gun Frank had eyes laid eyes on, Lottie gave a whimper and decided to hide behind Miss Yarwood. Alex followed the movements of his sister and soon clapped eyes on his teacher; he gave a squeak and attempted to hide the weapon behind his back.
“Anna- san, get him” Lottie turned to her teacher and pouted, Miss Yarwood glared at her.
“Don’t be so familiar with a teacher” she told her, Lottie gave an apologetic look and took a step back away from Yarwood who rolled her eyes then turned to Alex.
“hand it over” she held out her hand for the water gun and Alex reluctantly gave it to her, she placed it on her desk before turning back to the four students in front of her.
“Sensei he’s glaring at me” Lottie squeaked and Frank giggled at how Japanese she was, she was obsessed with it, she even freaked out when she found out that Kelsey’s second name was Odachi. That was one thing they both had in common, they were both in love with the culture and traditions of Japan and they also both drew anime.
“Listen guys the reason I’ve held you back after class and asked you two idiots to come down here is because of a charity event this weekend.”
Kelsey sat up a little straighter and immediately knew they were discussing the breast cancer event that her father had told her about.
“I’m sure Miss Odachi you know all about this” Kelsey nodded and Miss Yarwood smiled in her direction.
“Well your father has informed me that they slightly over booked on the acts for this weekend, so they are going to be holding it next weekend as well as this one. Still following me?”
They all nodded including Alex who was staring wistfully at his water gun.
“Right the problem is they didn’t over book enough acts for the next weekend, so this department has been asked to perform.”
One by one their eyes all lit up as they realised where this conversation was going, Frank mentally squealed and clapped his hands together causing Kelsey to give him a strange look and whisper ‘girl’ under her breath.
“We have an hour slot so here is what I’m thinking” she clapped her hands together and suddenly looked quite serious. “We do a nice acoustic set with bass and drums to fatten up the sound, what do you think?”
She smiled down at them all and knew the answer before they even gave it; they all nodded in unison and grinned like excited children. Frank grinned, Anna Yarwood was known among the students for being an amazingly cool teacher but at the same time she was also known for her love of acoustic music. Frank often stayed behind after school because like him she also played guitar, she would show him strumming techniques and showed him different styles of playing.
“That sounds awesome” Alex grinned he began jumping up and down clapping his hands together, Frank raised an eyebrow at Kelsey.
“And you call me a girl”
“You are”
“Hey I’m gay I have an excuse”
“okay Lottie I know you sing so you’ll be doing vocals but you’ll also be doing a bit of rhythm and Frank I know you sing even if you pretend not to so you’ll be doing backing, it’s up to you to pick the songs although I am definitely going to be throwing a couple of my favourites in their”
“sounds good to me” Lottie smiled and gave Yarwood a thumbs up, she laughed and shook her head before looking at the crisp white watch on her wrist.
“Okay you better be going I’ll write you all a note explaining to your teachers why you’re late”
As she made her way back to the desk the four friends turned to each other and grinned.
“This sounds awesome” Lottie laughed as she ruffled Kelsey’s hair who scowled and attempted to pat down the strands that he had caused to stand on end.
“Right here are your notes I’ll see you on Monday, I’ll have the practice room free for you at lunch and after school if I can manage it”
She walked back to her desk and began to write four separate notes when she was finished she handed one to each of them and began to shuffle them out of the door.
“Don’t be late okay I want you here at one o’clock on Monday!” she told them sternly, they all agreed and promised they would be on time, she grinned excitedly and closed the door with a soft click.
“Awww you know what sucks about this!” Alex told them as he pulled a face
“You happened to be stupid enough to get your water gun stolen off you?” Kelsey suggested, Alex scowled and glared at her.
“No! The thing that sucks is the fact that we don’t have valid excuses not to be in school!”
“When do we ever have valid excuses?” Lottie laughed, she was right they never made excuses they just didn’t turn up.
“I don’t think there is anything suckfish about this at all!” Frank smiled happily
“That’s because you are obsessed with music!” Kelsey laughed
“Suck....fish?” Lottie and Alex murmured looking thoroughly puzzled at Frank’s choice of vocabulary.
He yawned and stretched his arms up so the fingers pointed towards the ceiling as he made his way down the corridor lined with lockers.
“I’m going to phone gee at lunch” he told Kelsey as he rubbed the escaped tears from his eyes, due to the largeness of his yawn.
“Sounds like a plan” she smiled showing all her teeth, Frank laughed and wrapped his arm around her shoulder as they continued down the corridor.
“Right guys I go this way” Alex told them as he pointed with his thumb over his shoulder at two doors which were hiding the staircase which would lead him to his class.
“No you don’t!” Frank laughed
“We have English” Kelsey smiled, Lottie scowled stuck her middle finger up at him as a huge grin appeared on her face. Alex simply laughed and shrugged.
“You’re brother is weird” Frank told Lottie simply.
“Hey!”
“Yep he is weird, kind of psychotic but you get used to it” she smiled and patted Frank’s head, he laughed and slung his other arm around her shoulder.
“You look like a pimp” Alex pointed out causing all three of them to burst out laughing, Frank grinned.
“yo’ you ma’ bitches and....what...not”
He giggled causing Kelsey, Alex and Lottie to only laugh harder at the sound of his high pitched laughter; Lottie clutched her stomach and felt her eyes sting with tears as she carried on laughing.
“m- My god that...that was so funny!” she gasped as she let go of her stomach to fan her face which had become quite flushed.
“Calm down dude” Kelsey choked even though she was laughing just as hard as her.
“Hey I did not give you permission to laugh at my laugh” he told them trying not to laugh “as your pimp I command you to stop”
Lottie and Kelsey finally burst out laughing and their laughs cackled down the corridor.
“that...th- that’s not how it w- works” Lottie gasped as she returned to clutching her stomach, Kelsey was doubled over and seemed to be rendered of speech as Frank began to giggle along with them.
“Sh- shut up” he told them as he felt his eyes begin to water and his body shake as the laughter began to roll effortlessly of his tongue.
That was until Frank stood on the lace he had forgotten to tie and the three of them came crashing to the floor in a large giggling heap.
“Owie my brain” Frank squealed as he clutched his head, Lottie gave a groan and shoved Frank of her as she her laughing slowed down enabling her to breathe like a human being again. Kelsey just lay there with her eyes closed as she felt her body shake with laughter.
Alex was clutching a locker for support seeming unable to move he was doubled over and small choking sounds kept escaping from his mouth as he attempted to stop laughing, tears dripped down his face and he tried to stand up and say something to them but as their eyes met he doubled over once more.
“Wow you’re brother is a silent laugher” Kelsey told Lottie, she turned to look at Lottie who was pointing at her brother also bent over with laughter as silent as her brothers.
“And so is she apparently” Frank shrugged and let out a small giggle.
Kelsey and Frank sighed and got up from the floor, Frank put his arm around Alex and Kelsey put hers around Lottie and together they marched them down the corridor to their English class.
When they arrived outside their classroom (Lottie and Alex now fully recovered from their fit) they all braced themselves to go in, when Kelsey pushed open the door however they found that the class was sat around happily talking and that their teacher was in fact not there at all. He was late.
They all made their way to the back of the class where Hannah was frantically waving at them; they all waved back and sat down.
“ALRIGHT SUBSTITUTE” Lottie screamed as loud as she could from the back of the class causing everyone to turn and stare at her. The arm she had used to punch the air fell automatically to her side and she glared suddenly pointing at all of the faces staring at her.
“HEY I’M NOT CRAZY...DON’T LOOK AT ME LIKE I’M CRAZY” everyone then raised their eyebrows so she shrugged having given up and went back to leaning back on her chair so she could rest her head against the wall.
Frank who was seated next to her laughed quietly to himself and took up the same position as Lottie as he linked his fingers over his chest.
“Denial is a bad thing Lottie”
She turned her head sharply to stare at him making his laugh an even higher pitch than usual.
“I’m not crazy Iero I’m just excited...a substitute teacher means fun!”
“How do you even know we have a substitute?” he asked smirking
“Because smart ass Mr. Schechter is never late he is the most punctual teacher ever!”
Frank nodded before turning to his side and smiling at Kelsey who smiled and rolled her eyes, Kelsey then decided to lean back just like Lottie and Frank and she folded her arms beneath her head.
“This is actually quite comfy”
“is it?” asked Mikey who was seated next to Kelsey, he then took up the same position as Kelsey nodded to answer his question, Hannah who was sat next to Mikey decided on the same thing before Alex who sat in between her and the window clapped his hands excitedly at the sight of them all and decided to do the same pose.
Lottie giggled before pulling out her camera and snapping a shot of them all leaning against the wall taking up the width of the classroom at the back all pulling the same pose.
“That picture was epic” she squealed and shoved it back in her bag before going back to leaning against the wall.
The door then swung open and a short man came in, he was slightly built with short black hair and pale skin. Frank raised his eyebrow as he saw the man actually had a nose ring and plenty of tattoos.
“Hey” Frank raised his other eyebrow; normally teachers were more formal with their greetings. “I’m Brian Schechter...yes that means I’m your teachers son...I’m the substitute...you know what?...just call me Brian I’m only here for today anyway” he smiled before letting himself fall into the black leather chair behind the mahogany desk piled with sheets and folders.
“Yeaaah!” Lottie suddenly yelled then blushed as Brian stared at her before letting out a light laugh. Frank stared at him he had never seen a substitute like this; they were normally old with brown cardigans and library glasses, but this guy was extremely young, in his early twenties Frank was guessing and he was so relaxed. In fact he was so chilled out he had his legs resting on the desk in front of him.
“Well let’s start by taking the register...who wants to do it”
“ME” Alex and Lottie shouted at the same time, Lottie giggle before she crawled over the table to get to her brother before she dived on him and they began wrestling. Hannah sighed before stepping around Mikey to approach the teacher’s desk. She took the register out of Brian’s hand with one quick flick as he was currently trying to stare over the many heads to see who was winning the sibling war.
“Okay okay lets see” Hannah muttered to herself, picking up a pen and pressing the lid to the page she began to call out names.
“Ah...Aster, Amy?”
A shy girl with long brown curls and freckles raised her hand and smiled tentatively; Hannah beamed at her and ticked off her name in the register.
“Adroy, Chrissie”
Hannah looked up as Chrissie the head cheerleader scowled at Hannah and her thick eyeliner and flicked her blonde hair; she showed all of her pearly teeth towards Brian clearly trying to get his attention.
“Present”
Brain growled as Hannah continued down the register as he couldn’t see who was winning the wrestling match.
“Chrissie” he yelled and Hannah stopped reading from the list and looked up at Chrissie as she smiled and fluttered her eyelashes at Brian, before she let out a soft giggle.
“Yes”
Frank rolled his eyes and scoffed, he found Chrissie Adroy to be the most annoying girl he had ever had the misfortune to come across. It was like her goal to be one better than everybody else, every cute guy she came across, she would immediately attempt to snatch them under her spell and trap them in her web so that other girls would be jealous and she would automatically become more popular. It was clear to Frank and all his friends that her only priority was social status.
“Can you move to the left please” he whined waving his hand to show her that he wanted her to move quickly, she scoffed but did as she was told and moved her chair to the left. Brian then grinned and motioned Hannah to carry on with the register; Hannah shook her head and rolled her eyes before she continued down the list of students names.
Brian continued to watch Lottie and Alex as Hannah continued down the list occasionally stopping as Chrissie and her friends began to make snide comments whenever she reached someone they didn’t like.
“Frankie I already know you’re in” she giggled and Frank let out a loud ‘whoop’ causing Chrissie to scoff.
“Freak” she hissed at him and smiled as she saw his wide grin fall into a frown. Kelsey scowled, picked up her pencil case and launched it at Chrissie’s head. It found its mark and Chrissie let out a horrified squeak as the pencil case collided with her head. Brian stared for a moment before he burst out laughing.
“What is wrong with you?” Chrissie shrieked as she clutched her head and pointed at Kelsey with her free hand.
“My finger slipped.” Kelsey replied innocently.
“Oh of course it did” Chrissie snapped before turning to Brian “and you you’re supposed to be the teacher you’re supposed to do something.”
Brian raised his eyebrows and Frank began to giggle silently because just by looking at Brian’s face he knew Brian couldn’t give two fucks about what had happened he clearly just wanted to make sure no one died so he could get his pay check!
“oh fine” he rolled his eyes and Chrissie’s mouth fell open as it became apparent to her that Brian wasn’t going to do a thing “Hannah could you continue roll call please” he said sleepily before giving a yawn. Hannah continued with a small smile on her face as Chrissie sat there looking like a goldfish attempting to gulp down air.
Frank rolled his eyes and pulled out his phone as Kelsey began to burn holes in the back of Chrissies blonde head. He let his mind wonder as Kelsey then began to mutter dark curses about things she would love to torture Chrissie with. He thought back to the ice cream parlour when he had stolen Gerard’s caramel in the most inappropriate way possible, without even realising it a slow and soft blush began to creep its way across his skin as he remembered the feel of Gerard’s tongue against his. He bit his lip as he remembered how Gerard didn’t really speak to him for the rest of the day. Frank had been dwelling on this all last night and all this morning he couldn’t stop wondering whether he had made Gerard mad because he had gone too far.
“Lottie and Alex shut the fuck up stop rolling around and answer your dam name!” Brian jumped as Hannah yelled across the classroom and he laughed as Lottie managed to stand up patting her hair down which was currently a complete mess from fighting with Alex.
“You already know we are here!”
“Yeah why did you have to stop us I was kicking her mother fucking ass then!”
“Language dudes” Brian yawned and Frank laughed at Brian for calling them dudes. “And besides from here it looked like she was in fact kicking your ass”
Hannah laughed and ticked them off just as Frank began to melt back into his own world, he tapped Kelsey on the shoulder and she turned around recovering from her laughter at the sight of Lottie’s hair.
“Do you think Gerard’s mad at me” he whispered so Mikey wouldn’t hear.
“Why would he be?” she asked leaning back to close the proximity so they could continue to talk quietly.
“Because of what I did at AJ’s ice cream parlour” he winced and began chewing his lip again as his nerves began to grow inside him.
“Maybe he was just embarrassed...because he likes you and he has a girlfriend...he seems like a really nice guy....maybe he felt guilty.”
“But then it’s my fault if he does...oh god no wonder he’s mad at me” he whined and Kelsey shook her head and patted him on the shoulder.
“Look Frank if you really want to know then phone and ask him, or ask Mikey” she whispered as she pointed her thumb over her shoulder to Mikey who had his arms folded behind his head and his eyes closed while his glasses rested on the end of his nose. “but I doubt he is, he likes you too much to do that, plus it’s impossible to get mad at you” Kelsey smiled before shifting forward to plant a kiss to Frank’s forehead, Frank giggled and pushed her away like a small boy who had just received a kiss from his mother.
“Okay, okay” he smiled and then jumped as Mikey’s face suddenly appeared from behind Kelsey.
“Fancy going camping tonight?” he asked randomly as he tilted his head back to peer at them through his glasses which were still perched on the end of his nose.
“What!” Kelsey asked swivelling in her chair as she pushed herself forward so all four legs on her chair were now placed firmly on the floor.
“I said” Mikey sighed twiddling with his glasses but refusing to push them back up. “Would you like to go camping tonight? Ray and AJ are in”
“Um...well are you still coming to the charity even this weekend?” Kelsey asked and Mikey nodded eagerly, Kelsey beamed and clasped her hands, resting her elbows onto the table she nodded.
“Yeah sure I’ll come”
“What about you Frank?”
“Umm” Frank blushed and was about to ask Mikey a question when Mikey answered it before he could even ask it.
“Yes Gerard’s coming” he smiled and laughed at Frank as he turned beetroot, Frank nodded slowly before he too let his chair fall forward with a loud click as the two front legs of his chair hit the tiled floor.
“Wow I haven’t been camping in so long” Kelsey smiled looking upwards “me, mom and Dad used to go every summer”
“I bet that was fun” Mikey smiled putting his arms around her shoulder as Kelsey let out a deep sigh, she smiled sadly and Frank could almost feel his heart breaking for her, he had never lost anyone close to him and he didn’t want to imagine losing his mom, she was his rock.
“Yeah you bet”
Frank grinned and wrapped his arms around her waist before burying his face into her hair, Mikey sensed it was a best friend moment and decided to sneak off towards Hannah and Alex to see if they would also be joining them on the camping trip.
“Frank?”
“Yeah” Frank mumbled
“I’m really worried about dad” she whispered and Frank suddenly tensed up, he grabbed the bottom of his chair and pulled it with a loud scrape right up against Kelsey’s so he could hug her better.
“Why, what’s the matter?” he asked, concern layering his voice thickly. Kelsey made her hands flat and began rubbing the palms of them together in a slow steady motion.
“he...he’s just always tired, he keeps saying it’s work but...I’m sure it’s something more, he’s not eating properly and he almost always goes straight to bed as soon as he gets in”
“well you never know it might just be work” Frank smiled trying to make his friend feel better “but if you’re still worried then persuade him to go for a check up, I know you both hate the doctors but...it’ll be worth it right?”
“Yeah you’re right...I’ll let it go for now but if it keeps happening then I’m marching him down to the doctors myself...but you have to talk to Gerard today!”
“Then it’s settled” Frank chuckled and Kelsey smiled before gripping Frank and snuggled into his chest.
“Thanks Frank ...you know, I’m so glad I have you, you’re more than my best friend you’re my big brother and I fucking love you”
She smiled and broke out of the hug to kiss him on the top of his head.
“Well yes I am the great Frankenoodle” she rolled her eyes as she sat back down, then picked up her book and let it fall onto his head, Frank laughed then smiled as he clutched it to his chest.
“I love you too Kelsey...I’d still be in that locker now if it wasn’t for you” he grinned and put the book back onto the table, Kelsey let out a soft laugh before she pulled him into another hug.
Frank grinned and clutched her if possible even more tightly to his chest, he then looked up as he heard a loud click and saw Lottie clutching her camera too her chest staring at them as her eyes glistened, Hannah was stood next to her with her head tilted to the side and a soft smile pulling at the corner of her lips, Alex and Mikey grinned widely before they all made their way over.
“That is so cute” Lottie whispered and Hannah silently agreed, Alex nodded and ruffled Kelsey’s hair, Mikey laughed and shook his head causing his glasses to cascade down his face and fall to the floor luckily unbroken.
********************************


Frank yawned and stretched as he exited the History classroom with Mikey following him looking rather sleepy. They had just spent an hour listening to Mr. Whitehead droning on about the weapons, the soldiers had used in World War 2. What made it worse is that Mr. Whitehead had the most unemotional voice Frank had ever heard, he could unintentionally send a whole class into an eternal slumber without even realising it.
Frank had found himself asleep drooling across his text book before Mr. Whitehead had even opened his mouth. He turned to Mikey and they exchanged a sleepy smile knowing neither one had a clue what had gone on in that classroom. A bomb could have landed right in front of his nose and Mr Whitehead would have continued regardless of the ticking killer in front of him.
“What’s next?” Mikey asked trying to hold down a large yawn, he lifted his arm and balled his hand into a fist as he rubbed at his eyes which had began to water with the unsuccessful effort of trying to hold the yawn down in the back of his throat.
Frank cleared his throat and shook his head as he tried to remember what day it was, as soon as he remembered that it was Friday, a large and excited grin spread across his face. Mikey seemed to catch on as he gave a small ‘yes’ of rejoice and punched the air violently.
“Dinner” Frank happily told Mikey even though he already knew and the two of them began making their way up the corridor to get to the classroom in which they regularly ate with their friends.
When they arrived they found that Kelsey and everyone else were already seated at the back of the room playing a game of Go fish. Mikey and Frank took up either end of the Table they were currently occupying and began to watch the game.
Alex made a grumbling noise in the back of his throat as he picked up a card from the deck in the middle of them. Kelsey then turned to Lottie and smiled.
“Lottie do you have a...”
“Go fish” Lottie cut her off without even looking up from her cards and Kelsey blinked at her in surprise.
“But how did you know what I was going to...”
“Five?”
Frank raised his eyebrows then made his way around the table to peek at Kelsey’s cards; he then saw with shock that she did in fact need a five as she had three of them.
“Dude...you...you’re right!” he exclaimed in astonishment as Kelsey’s mouth continued to hang open in shock.
“I’m psychic man” she told them matter of factly, Frank exchanged a small confused glance with Mikey before shrugging and making his way back to his seat.
Kelsey shook her head as she picked up a card from the pile and then let out a small groan as a small red two peered up at her.
“But I don’t need you” she hissed at the card and Lottie wiggled her eyebrows across the table at the frustrated red head.
“What?”
“Can I have that two you just picked up?”
Kelsey’s mouth dropped open for the second time and Alex produced a small chuckle as he watched Kelsey blink almost stupidly at his sister.
“How the fucks... do you do that?”
Lottie just smiled Tapped her nose and without looking away from Kelsey’s face she picked up the number two card smiled and placed it in-between the splayed cards in her hand.
“How did you know where it was?” Mikey blinked, and Lottie turned to him and rolled her eyes.
“We’ve been through this Mikey, I’m physic remember”
“No you can’t be you must be cheating” Hannah pointed at her scowling.
“Say what you want oh masterful Hanna banana”
Hannah opened her mouth about to say something back when a small blue skittle landed on her tongue; she lowered her eyes and stared at it as Alex shot up from the table with his arms raised in what was obvious triumph.
“YEEES MOTHER FUCKER I RULE” he then let his arms drop to the side as Hannah glared at him chewing the skittle slowly. He swallowed and whimpered before darting out of the door. Hannah followed him quicker than a bullet on target.
You have to admit that was a fucking shot” Lottie addressed them in a bored voice as she yawned and rested her chin into the palm of her hand. Kelsey smiled and patted her on the head; she then yawned and dropped all of the cards in front of her so that they were in plain view of everyone.
“Wait you quit?” Lottie suddenly sat up making Frank and Mikey jump in sync, she stared at Kelsey looking thoroughly disappointed.
“Well what’s the point, you’re psychic so you know all my cards, and Hannah is busy mutilating Alex.”
They all laughed and Lottie shrugged before dropping her cards.
“Just say I win and I will say no more” she grinned.
“You win” Kelsey yawned; Lottie laughed and gathered up her cards before neatly placing them back into their box and tucking them inside her pocket.
Frank rolled his eyes and pushed his bag onto the top of the table, he proceeded to route through it while his tongue peeked mischievously out of the corner of his mouth.
The others watched curiously as Frank began yanking his chosen object out of his bag, he was struggling because it had gotten caught under some of his books.
“Stupid...box”
Kelsey raised an eyebrow wondering what kind of ‘box’ Frank was after. Finally with a large yank something Dark green was pulled out of the bag and Frank was nearly flung out of his chair by the force of it.
The others laughed as Frank shook his head and recovered himself, he grinned happily to himself and placed the object onto the table.
One by one his companions gasped, there on the table lay a dark green lunch box, but of course it wasn’t any lunch box it was a Hulk lunch box.
“Frank” Kelsey whispered his name with awe as she stared at the lunch box before her.
“It’s beautiful” Mikey whispered as he pushed his glasses up from the end of his nose to get a proper look at it.
“It’s....MINE” Lottie yelled before grabbing the lunch box and running unfortunately for her Frank had been expecting something like this, he narrowed his eyes and stretched his legs forward underneath the table and tilted his feet so that his ankles prevented the chair from moving and smiled to himself.
Lottie gave an evil laugh and attempted to shove her chair backwards, Frank’s ankles burned but it was worth it as Lottie and the chair went backwards and Lottie tumbled to the floor, the lunch box flew out of her hands and Frank let go of the chair and jumped up quickly and caught it safely in his hands.
Kelsey and Mikey blinked in shock as they stared into space while their brains tried to register what exactly had happened, they were abruptly brought down to earth as Lottie began yelling.
“CURSE YOU AND YOU’RE BRAINS IERO”
Frank wasn’t listening, he hadn’t even noticed that Mikey and Kelsey were staring at him and his friends he was too busy staring at the object in his hands and he was completely frozen to the spot unable to believe his plan had actually worked.
He sat down slowly and carefully placed the lunch box on to the table and let out a slow breath of relief as Lottie picked herself of the floor glaring at him.
“That...was...the...MOST AMAZING THING I HAVE EVER SEEN!” Mikey exclaimed with wide eyes, he let out a sigh and grinned at the lunch box before him as though it was the single most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
The cards lay scattered around the table and Alex suddenly arrived out of breath with pink tinted cheeks.
He opened his mouth to speak then caught site of Frank’s lunch box, his eyes where the widest they could be and his mouth formed a straight thin line.
“Where did you get that from” Alex asked as he slowly turned his wide eyes to Frank’s.
“m-my mom g-gave... me it” he stammered, Alex’s gaze was making him extremely nervous and his expression was over all creepy.
“I like it” Alex told him as he slowly sat down and stared at the lunch box; Frank swallowed and pushed it towards him.
“You can look after it if you want; I need to make a phone call” Frank raised an eyebrow as Alex laughed manically; he turned to Mikey with a stern look.
“Don’t let him lick my box and don’t let her steal it”
“Okay” Mikey nodded sharply and puffed out his chest as Kelsey let out a loud laugh before Frank dragged her from the table and out into the corridor. Hannah walked around the corner and smiled when she saw her friends, she then gave them a puzzled look
“Why are you sitting out here?” she asked
“phone” they chimed and Hannah stared at them blankly before Frank started waving Kelsey’s phone in front of her clearly thinking Hannah hadn’t understood when in fact she was just freaked out by their ability to speak at exactly the same time, she walked past them and entered the classroom as Frank turned to Kelsey.
“Okay breathe” she told him as she took a deep breath herself as if setting an example, Frank sucked in the air through his nose and let it out slowly through his mouth as he began dialling Gerard’s number.
“What do I say?” he squeaked as he stared at the phone in front of him as though it was a small monster gnawing at his hands.
“How about hello” she told him sarcastically, Frank glared at her and scoffed at her sarcastic comment. He could feel his palms sweating slightly and a lump forming in his throat, he gave her a wide eyed look that screamed ‘terrified’ and pressed the little green phone icon, his breath began to become shallower as he realised it was actually ringing.
Kelsey had begun to bite her nails and Frank slapped her hand away as he stared at the white washed walls in front of him, he knew she too was holding her breath.
“Hello” the curious voice answered from the other end, Frank was using Kelsey’s phone because he had no credit there for Gerard had no idea who was calling. As soon as the voice reached Frank’s ears he panicked.
“HiGerardit’sFrank”
“What...sorry...who is it?” Gerard asked in clear puzzlement
Frank slid his eyes to Kelsey whose hands were clasped together in excitement, she mouthed for him to ‘breathe’ so he took a deep breath and immediately felt his senses relax.
“Hey Gerard, its Frank”
There was a small silence and Frank began to bite his finger nails only to have Kelsey slap his hand away just like he had done to her.
“Oh...hi”
Frank swallowed, he normally got a more excited greeting and Gerard sounded almost regretful that Frank had phoned him. He took another breath, it was quicker than last time but it let him feel more confident.
“Listen Gerard”
“Gerard!?” the response was almost immediate; Frank sat there with his mouth slightly open not really knowing what to say, that was his name wasn’t it!
“Um...yeah?”
“Oh it’s just you...never mind” he heard Gerard sigh heavily and Frank bit down on his lip wondering what he was going to say before he had stopped himself.
“Okay, anyway listen I wanted to apologize for being an asshole” he blurted out quickly and held on to his breath waiting for Gerard’s response. There was silence and Frank could hear it taunting him with ever minute he sat repeatedly slapping Kelsey’s hand away from her mouth.
“Gerard?”
“Oh sorry...I’m just...confused”
“About what!” how could he be confused Frank had said he was sorry what the hell was there to be confused about!
“When were you an asshole?” Gerard asked and it was clear to Frank that he wasn’t being sarcastic he was in fact actually confused.
“Well...you know!” Frank stammered feeling his cheeks burn, there was no response so Frank took a deep breath and attempted to explain himself. “W-when I you know” he swallowed and squeaked the last bit as quietly as possible “stole your caramel”
Frank waited and Kelsey leaned forward from her kneeling position to press her head against Frank’s so she could hear the answer that Gerard was about to form But nothing came and they sat in silence for five minutes.
Kelsey leaned back and shot Frank a puzzled look who shrugged and swallowed as he listened for any sign of life from the other end of the phone.
Frank then jumped slightly as Gerard suddenly began to giggle uncontrollably, Kelsey gave another confused look as she heard the giggles float from the phone to her eardrums and Frank again shrugged as Kelsey grinned.
“I told you he wouldn’t be mad!” she laughed and Frank scowled at her, he didn’t know whether to smile or frown, it sounded like genuine laughter.
“W- Why are you laughing?” Frank asked slightly angry that Gerard would laugh while he was attempting to apologize for his deliciously atrocious act.
“W- Why are you apologizing?” Gerard asked through small bursts of laughter.
“Because!” Frank exclaimed unable to believe that Gerard could be so carefree “you have...a girlfriend so...because I thought you were mad at me!” he swallowed and focused his eyes onto his shoes, he began contemplating whether to draw on the white ends of his old beat up converse in an attempt to take his mind of the nerves circling his veins.
Gerard sighed and Frank was promptly taken back to earth.
“Frank I could never be mad at you...it’s impossible” Frank smiled then winced as he realised Gerard had been calling him Frank and not Frankie since they had greeted each other.
“Why aren’t you calling me Frankie?” he asked quietly and he suddenly had the image of Gerard smiling softly at him while his eyes glittered.
“Why aren’t you calling me gee?” he asked causing Frank to chuckle
“Okay, okay... so you’re definitely not mad at me?” Frank asked cautiously wondering if it was safe to celebrate, Kelsey had already gotten bored and was lying on her back whilst she kicked her legs in the air in a wheeling motion, as though she was riding a bike upside down.
“No Frankie I’m not mad at you! Yes I did feel guilty when I got home, I mean I don’t want to be a bad person...but...I couldn’t shake the feeling of you...I have never...wanted anyone or anything so much in my entire life…i- I know it sounds lame but you make me smile”
Frank felt his face flush; he could feel his intestines wiggling and squiggling and the butterflies flapping around in his stomach with ever word Gerard spoke.
“I don’t think it’s lame” Frank smiled softly in spite of himself and then sighed heavily “but you should feel mad, I made you feel guilty and I-“
“Frankie shut up!”
Frank immediately stopped talking and Gerard let out a small giggle of triumph.
“I- am- not- mad- at- you” he said it slowly as though Frank was a mental patient and who had trouble understanding words, Frank pouted as his body screamed with relief and excitement.
“Jeez I’m not stupid”
“Then shut up about it already” Gerard laughed and Frank let out a high pitched giggle, he was about to ask Gerard a question when he remembered the green box his mom had given him this morning.
“OHMYGODGEEIHAVEAHULKLUNCHBOX”
“Okay...what...I heard mom and box, please do elaborate on this strange tale.”
Frank giggled, squealed and began bouncing on the floor as Kelsey gave him a strange look before lying on her stomach.
“My mom gave me a hulk lunch box this morning!”
“OH WOW you have to show it to me!” Gerard squealed and Frank began laughing in sheer glee, he was so relieved that Gerard was not mad at him and that he had a hulk lunch box that he felt he had to share the happiness with everyone who could hear.
“Are you coming camping tonight?”
“Hell to the yeah” Gerard grinned, enthusiasm lining his words unlike earlier when Mikey had told him to come.
“yay me too!”
“I’ll tell you what, I’ll pick you up and you have to show it to me then!” Gerard grinned
“Sure what time were you thinking of?”
“Around six”
“That is perfect!” Frank smiled shyly he gave a big thumbs up to Kelsey who shook her head at him, she pointed her finger to her own head and began moving it in a circle whilst making stupid faces, clearly pointing out that she thought Frank was crazy.
“ Gee, Gee Kelsey is calling me crazy” he whined as Kelsey rolled her eyes and laughed before she flipped him off, his mouth dropped open in mock horror and she began laughing.
“I’ll tell on her”
“He said he’s going to tell AJ what you’re doing so that she never sees you again!” Frank told her in a matter of fact tone, her mouth dropped open in horror and Frank laughed.
“Frankie I didn’t say that!” Gerard said exasperated
“I know but it’s funny to watch her squirm” he laughed and Kelsey glared at him
“One more word Iero and the phone is being cut off!”
“eep she’s threatening me!” Frank squeaked and Gerard burst out laughing, Kelsey giggled.
“He’s a loud laugher” she grinned and Frank nodded, Gerard did laugh loudly in short bursts of childish giggles that Frank absolutely loved.
“Don’t lie to her then” Gerard managed to choke out, he cleared his throat and Frank could hear him take a deep breath as if to rid himself of the laughter that had momentarily consumed him.
“Gee”
“Yeah”
“Don’t ever stop laughing” Frank sold him softly; it was true he wished that Gerard could laugh forever.
“But that’s impossible I have to breathe sometimes” Gerard smiled and Frank sighed.
“Fine” he huffed.
“Awww sugar don’t scoff” Gerard told him and Frank smiled gently, he sighed as Kelsey began poking him in the arm and pointing at her watch indicating that they needed to get going.
“Okay, Gee, Gee I need to get going so I’ll see you tonight!” Frank told him whilst wishing they had more time to talk.
“Okay sugar I’ll see you tonight and don’t forget the lunch box!”
Frank giggled and they said a few more goodbyes until Frank caught sight of Kelsey’s glares and he finally put the phone down.
“oh my gosh Kelsey!” he exclaimed and she laughed as he embraced her into an extremely tight hug, all of his worries had been lifted and he felt as though his brain had floated off somewhere as he headed back into the classroom.
********************************

Breathing in deeply Gerard rested his cheek onto the palm of his hand and blinked as his eyes stung and watered from trying to stay awake. Math wasn’t his strongest subject and he was sure his biggest challenge of the day would be to try and stay awake in this lesson.
He opened his eyes and found that his vision was now blurry, he brought up his free hand which currently held a biro neatly between two fingers and began rubbing at his eyes almost brutally, sighing he dropped his hand heavily to the table letting the pen crash loudly against the wooden surface and taking no notice of the sound.
He was vaguely aware of a few faces turning to find where the noise that had disturbed them was located, he tapped the pen absent minded against the table and the curious eyes landed on his hand telling them exactly who had made the loud cracking noise.
He cleared his throat and felt his eyes burn with water as he tried to stay awake, feeling his concentration slipping he lifted his head off of his hand and gave it a small shake causing his soft black locks to fall across his face, resuming the position of leaning against his palm he turned his head and golden eyes to the musty window of the classroom, wondering vaguely if anyone had bothered to clean them since the day they were fitted.
He stopped bouncing the pen and felt his eyes wonder across the large green field he had ran across to meet Frank and his friends.
The blades rippled underneath the light wind and it captured Gerard’s mind as he sat in silence letting his mind wonder. Just beyond the green river he could see the small hole in the schools fence; a soft smile came to his face as he recalled almost falling on his ass.
His hand let go of the pen and it clattered to the desk before it began rolling away from him only to be stopped by the edge of his text book.
His fingers curled subconsciously into his palm as he remembered the warmth of Frank’s hand in his, it was all perfect from Frank’s misfit gloves to the way they moulded into one another’s embrace, something began to swirl in his stomach and he felt his heart swell as the memory flooded his brain creating a beautiful distraction from the boring lesson and a grin on his supple lips.
He closed his eyes and breathed in when a shrill voice shattered his thoughts like a brick to a window, he snapped his eyes away from the school grounds and found his teacher standing over him. She was a small lady with steel grey hair tied back into a bun at the nape of her neck, her glasses were lowered to the end of her nose and she was peering sternly at him making Gerard the deer caught in her head light, he opened his mouth and closed it realising he had nothing to say.
“Mr. Way I have been calling your name for the last five minutes” she spat at him, Gerard winced as he stared up at her wrinkled face and cringed when he noticed a particularly large hair proceeding out of her chin.
He kept his mouth shut from the fear of throwing up at this ghastly discovery and shot her an apologetic look.
“Do not let me catch you drifting off in my lessons again do you understand”
Resisting the urge to tell her that he in fact didn’t understand a word and didn’t particularly give a shit he nodded and fought back a wry smile as she shuffled back to the black board in clear annoyance.
Gerard mumbled a few insults darkly to himself as he heard a couple of people chuckle in front of him; he caught two girls muttering to one another, staring in his direction.
“What” he hissed and they both turned around, disgruntled by his hiss of defence. Their muttering increased speed and Gerard turned back to the window rolling his eyes with a small frown now etched upon his face.
He sighed and closed his eyes only to feel them burn and sting as they began to water from the tiredness this lesson layered upon him.
Frowning he began thinking of all the other things he could be doing, looking up at the clock he watched as his life ticked away second by second. Sure he loved to learn but this lesson was pure insanity he didn’t need math, he was an artist and that was exactly what he planned to be and he was certain that he didn’t need math to help him create.
He opened his eyes and shuffled in his seat to keep his body from going numb, he couldn’t wait to get out of this place. All they ever did was tell him who to be and what to do, it was like being in a horror movie, it wasn’t a teaching facility it was factory which tried to churn out clones and he refused to be one of them.
His frown deepened as he recalled a conversation he and Ray had taken up on the steps leading into the school. Gerard himself had been ranting about how robotic the whole place seemed to be and Ray who to Gerard seemed to be under the influence the teachers had bestowed on them had tried to reason with what Gerard detested so much.
“You like D and D, Audrey Hepburn, Fangoria, Harry Houdini and croquet, you can’t swim, you can’t dance and you don’t know karate face it, you’re never going to make it.”
Gerard, who had been focusing on watching the world stroll by outside of the school gates had frowned automatically and replied without even looking at Ray, seemingly annoyed that Ray was telling him that his own life wasn’t going anywhere and had not understood a single word he had said.
“I don’t want to make it, I just want to live”
The sharp sound of a bell rang through the classroom and Gerard jumped and smiled ever so slightly as the announcement of a ten minute freedom seeped into his deep thoughts and distracted him.
Grabbing his text book and pen he was one of the first out of the door, pushing past his classmates he rolled his eyes at their disapproval as he pushed them out of the way desperate to get out of the prison cell formally known as a classroom.
As he walked down the corridor slowing his pace and making his short freedom last, his mind wondered to the words he had uttered to Ray “I just want to live!” he furrowed his eyebrows and wondered if he was committing to that statement. Was he living? He stopped dead in his track causing a few people to push past him in a rush, a blur of colours.
He barely noticed them however as he came to the realisation that he was in fact not living at all, he was being controlled whether he liked it or not.
Firstly by his parents who had split him and his brother up without even hearing his side of the story, they wouldn’t even listen to Mikey they just blocked out the noise in their own social embarrassment and decided that their image in the neighbourhood was more important than their own son’s opinion.
However much he loved his parents he knew they couldn’t bear to be disgraced and thus had split them up, the two brothers who had stuck together since birth had been ripped apart.
Secondly by the government though everybody was more or less controlled by that he desperately fought against it, deciding he would rather die than become one of those un emotional sheep his parents had been carved and crafted into, he wanted to be different he wanted to stand out and scream that no one could ever take away the freedom he sought after.
And in third place of course came his girlfriend although really she ought to be first place in the controlling competition.
Every step he took she questioned without hesitation, constantly coming to the conclusion he was either cheating or finding ways to leave her sorry ass.
Slowly he began walking again; his mind reeled as he thought more and more about his relationship. The only reason he was with her in the first place was due to his fear of being alone, ever since he was a child he would wake in the middle of the night screaming from nightmares of everybody dear to him dying and leaving him alone and thus the fear was born, embedded in his skin.
He saw many therapists afterwards almost around five at a time and he would even skip school because he feared he would come home to an empty house.
And Chrissie of course had the same fear, she would never divulge on it though she hid it extremely well and it was the main reason she valued social status more than anything.
Although her reasons for it were completely different the fear was still there warped into her gut refusing to go away. To her being popular was the key to unlock a lifetime of loneliness, she would never have to be alone if she surrounded herself with people.
Gerard knew this, all of it and Chrissie knew all about Gerard and that was the real reason they were still together, the fear bound them in invisible chains and pulled them together, Chrissie was too scared to let Gerard be away from her for too long and Gerard just wanted her there as a comfort of hope that he would always have someone to be with whether they hated each other or not it was better than being completely alone.
He sighed heavily as he approached his locker door and began fiddling with the combination until he finally got it open to stuff his book inside.
“Gerard man”
His deep thoughts were interrupted again, this time by a male voice.
Ray stood next to him wearing his award winning smile and Gerard nodded to him as a form of greeting. It was always a relief to see Ray, to see that smile on his face that nothing seemed to penetrate and he soon found himself wearing the small smile he had been wearing that morning before his teacher had yelled at him.
“Are you ready for science?”
Shutting his locker he shot Ray a bright eyed look and they set off down the almost deserted corridor.
“What’s this I hear about camping tonight?” Ray asked turning to Gerard as he tried to trap a yawn in the palm of his hand.
“I’m not really sure all I know is that I’ve been bullied into going” he scowled down the empty hall and began wondering how in the hell he was going to get up in time for work tomorrow.
“But camping’s cool man, it’s fun”
“Not if you have work at nine o’clock in the morning!” Gerard told him as he pinched the bridge of his nose in-between his thumb and finger and gave his head a shake of despair. He hated getting up in the morning and it was never his strong point hence the reason he had his own personal AJ alarm clock to wake him up before school.
“Then call in sick”
Gerard looked up in thought; he had never once called in sick even if he had been out all night and hadn’t slept he would somehow always manage to crawl into work.
“I could but”
“But what dude”
“I’ve never once been off sick; I always manage to get to work.”
Ray rolled his eyes at his friend for being so uptight about work; Gerard caught him and frowned up narrowing his sharp golden eyes at Ray’s soft chocolate ones.
“Look, just come camping then see how you feel in the morning then make the decision”
“I suppose”
“Besides” Ray chuckled lightly and Gerard felt his lip twitch upwards at the corner of his mouth at the rich sound of it “you apparently promised your brother and AJ so I really don’t see a way out of it”
Gerard laughed as Ray grasped one of his shoulders giving it an encouraging squeeze and he appreciated the friendly gesture, he reached an arm around Ray’s and returned the gesture before they broke apart.
“Guys”
They both stopped and span around to see AJ waving at them furiously and grinning widely; as she caught up with them she greeted them both with a warm smile.
“that essay isn’t due until next week right?” she asked Ray with a worried expression he nodded, she let out a breath she had clearly been holding and opened her mouth to say something when she stopped suddenly staring at Gerard.
He swallowed and suddenly felt rather uncomfortable as she leaned forward onto her toes wearing a concentrated expression before she suddenly leaned back and tilted her head to the side causing her fringe to fall away from her face.
“Your eyes changed again”
Gerard stared for a moment before rolling his eyes and smiled before he set of walking down the corridor with the two of them following behind him.
She had always been fascinated with the way his eyes seemed to change randomly depending on his emotions and the temperature of certain rooms. Ranging from a light muddy brown, green, yellow and golden his eyes would flash different colours without warning causing AJ to peer at him in amazement whenever they did so.
They would turn a soft brown colour if he was feeling down or if he was introduced to a warm temperature and then of course the more happy he got the more they would turn to a more brighter green until they reached the stunning yet unusual golden colour he now held in his eyes, but of course it didn’t necessarily mean he was happy as it also indicated that he was freezing his ass off.
“Man your weird” Ray laughed causing Gerard to glare at him mockingly while AJ wrapped her slim arms around his middle, he slung an arm around her shoulders enjoying the warmth of a friendly embrace.
Looking down he noticed a small beaded bracelet on her left wrist and he felt his insides suddenly surge with a warmth as he looked down at his own arm and saw the exact same thing on his own, they had made them for each other in art class over two years ago and neither had taken of their bracelets.
As Gerard stared down at the bracelet he felt his heart swell slightly and he knew that as long as that beaded bracelet stayed attached to his skin he would never be truly alone, even if AJ moved half way across the world on some mad impulsion (more than likely to be caused by Kelsey) she would still be there with him, looking out for him through the string of beady eyes hanging of their wrists.
“man how long ago did we make these” AJ’s voice made Gerard blink and shake his head in as he came back from his own thoughts, he realized in surprise that he had been holding up his wrist in front of his face clearly inspecting the bracelet and now AJ was doing the same.
“Two years ago we made these” AJ commented quietly more to herself than anyone else and Gerard smiled as he raised his eyebrows slightly, just like her best friend she was an extremely deep thinker and enjoyed studying the intricate details of everything.
She was staring hard at the bracelet and twisting her wrist so she could see it from every angle, her head leaned towards the side and her mouth was slightly open as she began to trace the beads with her finger tips.
Gerard smiled down at the top of her head and felt his insides buzz with joy as he saw they held as much importance to her as they did to him.
They were much like Kelsey and Frank in their friendship though there was a significant difference.
Frank and Kelsey were like family so wound together that they knew instantaneously what the other was thinking or feeling just by looking at one another for a split second and they almost said everything in sync. Their relationship mimicked Gerard and Mikey’s brotherly one where as Gerard and AJ were best friends.
The relationship was more defined that way, sure they had the same views and their thinking was more or less the same they didn’t have the connected vibe that a family would.
Not that it was a bad thing it was just the fact that Gerard already had Mikey for that and AJ had her big brother Jordan (who lives in new York) to take that place.
Frank and Kelsey had no siblings so there for they had found each other and had formed a connection that allowed them to fill that void.
“Yeah” he sighed and pulled her closer to his side “who knew something so small and seemingly insignificant could mean so much”. AJ nodded and finally dropped her arm while Ray watched the two of them with his eyebrows raised and an awed look melting onto his face.
“Man you guys are deep” he whispered causing Gerard and AJ to laugh, Ray shook his head and shared in their laughter as they finally arrived at their destination.
Pushing the door open the room buzzed with the sound of multiple conversations taking place inside the classroom.
Smiling to himself from the laughter Gerard spotted Bob snoozing happily with his head rested on the palm of his hand as a group of giggling girls whispered amongst themselves as they watched him snoring quietly to himself.
As they approached the table each of them holding in their giggles unlike the girls seated opposite him who were all failing at trying to cover their sniggers behind their hands. He recognized one of the girls immediately, she was a short girl who was in a couple of his classes they were casual friends and her name was Rhiannon though she went by them name;
“Hi Nannonz!”
She smiled brightly when she saw who had addressed her, she was a very pretty girl who had a tendency to eat skittles and momentarily go off the rails from the sugar rush until her friends calmed her down. She was also extremely friendly and talkative which was how Gerard had met her, she was in his history class (which none of his friends shared) and for some reason had planted herself next to him and told him all about the imaginary friend she had, had when she was little.
Stretching her arms out in front of her she tilted her head to the side and closed her eyes while still smiling and Gerard embraced her while AJ and Ray took their seats behind Bob.
“Hey Gerard”
Letting go of her he seated himself next to Bob and twisted himself around so he could see AJ and Ray as well as Bob and Rhiannon.
“when did you get moved into this class?” he asked her curiously she had never been in any of his science classes and now suddenly here she was chatting away happily to a exremely pretty girl who looked terribly shy.
“Well I got moved up because apparently my brain grew” she laughed then motioned to the friend sitting beside her, “this is Annelies she’s one of my friends, she got moved up to”.
Gerard smiled and waved then stretched out his arm as he gestured towards Ray and AJ.
“This is AJ and Ray and this” he added poking Bob in the ribs “is my very sleepy friend Bob”
Bob grunted in response and his face slid down his palm a little, AJ and Ray waved happily and Rhiannon waved back merrily while Annelies smiled shyly and blushed.
Letting them both go back to the conversation they had been sharing with the three other girls at the table Gerard turned away from the two girls and sighed as he looked down at his sleeping friend.
Bob Bryar was an exceptionally hard person to wake up even more difficult than waking Frank and Gerard had found that challenging enough.
“Bob” he called softly as he placed a hand onto his friends shoulder, shaking it slightly he frowned as his friend grunted and shuffled in his seat.
“Bob” he growled shaking him harder, Bob didn’t stir this time he just sat slumped in his seat looking extremely comfortable as he slept. Gerard groaned and ceased shaking his friend he let out a frustrated breath and jabbed his friend in the ribs.
“CHEESE!” Bob cried suddenly causing Gerard to yelp and almost fall over as his body jerked from the shock. Bob looked down at him with his eyes wide and surprised, he looked thoroughly dishevelled as Gerard clutched at his heart and glared at his large friend.
“What the hell Bob” he hissed as the chuckles of AJ and Ray reached his ears he shot them a look then turned back to Bob waiting for him to answer.
Bob didn’t answer he simply let out a boisterous yawn and rubbed his eyes before blinking and smiling serenely at Gerard.
“You know what” he sighed simply as Gerard relaxed and leant back in his chair “that is the first time I have dreamt of cheese” Bob finished thoughtfully; he looked back at AJ and Ray nodding as though to emphasise his point.
“Was it a good dream?” Gerard asked through gritted teeth and Bob nodded enthusiastically with bright eyes.
“Cheese is always good”
“I like cheddar” AJ added thoughtfully and Gerard began to zone out as his friends began to discuss the different types of cheese, he looked to the front of the class and rested his chin on the palm of his hand as he began to wonder what lesson Frank was in at this moment.
He could see him now sat at his desk with Kelsey; he was probably asleep like bob with his arms tucked underneath his head as he drifted silently away from the lesson.
Smiling he remembered how he had looked when he and Mikey had tried to wake him up after the party, he looked so peaceful even as Mikey attempted to shake him awake.
Rather than help his younger brother Gerard had stood by his door watching in complete awe as his small friend slept with a small smile on his face, his cheeks had been flushed with a pink colour and it was obvious he had obtained pillow hair.
Mikey had left rolling his eyes and Gerard had walked forward in an attempt to wake the sleeping boy but as he approached his bed Frank had let out a tiny mewl and Gerard had spotted his pillow tightly clutched to his chest.
He smiled widely at the memory and then felt a blush creep across his face as he remembered the fact that Frank had mumbled his name, it was quiet but he was sure a small ‘Gerard’ had crept past those supple lips.
Biting his lip he couldn’t help but grin stupidly at the sheer thought of himself possibly appearing in Frank’s dreams even if it was only for a split second, the minute his name had fallen from Frank’s lips he had found it extremely difficult to frown for the next two following days.
Everything about him was adorable, the way his hair fell over his large eyes, the fact that he got excited over tiny and simplistic things to the way he blushed repeatedly every ten seconds.
He was so dam cute in every possible way that Gerard mentally squealed when Frank’s face appeared in all its warm glory at the front of his mind.
“What the heck are you smiling about?”
Gerard jumped as Bob’s slightly hairy face appeared in front of his; he narrowed his eyes as Bob sat back down in his seat waiting for Gerard’s answer.
“Nothing, I was just thinking” he replied simply.
Bob studied his face for a few more seconds then shrugged and slid forward in his seat blinking at the back of Rhiannon’s head.
“Bob are you camping tonight” Ray called and Gerard looked to his large strawberry blonde friend to see his eyes look up in thought; he smiled and sighed as he finally began to relax about the idea of camping out. It couldn’t be all bad if his friends were going.
He imagined sitting around a large fire with Ray’s acoustic guitar, they would all be seated in front of Bob’s nine man tent wrapped in the cotton blankets his own mother would Have forced him and his brother to take despite the sleeping bags and his car parked somewhere in the distance so they could easily travel back the next morning.
Bob turned around slowly to face Ray he blinked for a few seconds seemingly thinking it over then nodded suddenly smiling as he turned back around just as their teacher entered the classroom.
He was a small, young male with auburn hair which was short and styled. Underneath his arms he carried two files and in his spare hand he carried a brief case.
“Come on guys get to your seats” he called and everybody slowly returned to their seats, Rhiannon said goodbye to the three girls she was talking to and sat down in her place with Annelies.
Half an hour into the lesson Bob was apparently bored as he had now begun to fold a single piece of paper over and over again.
Distracted by the noise Gerard looked over at him and raised a slender eyebrow as he glanced at Bob’s hands, each of his knuckles were covered in small paper cuts something which Bob seemed to be completely oblivious about.
“Bob” Gerard hissed and Bob abandoned his folding to glance at him, he jerked his head in interest and Gerard pursed his lips slightly as he stared at Bob’s knuckles.
“Paper cut” he said finally after staring at a particular cut which had started to bleed. Bob looked down at his hands and let out a small ‘oh ‘of realisation before he took his bloodied knuckle into his mouth. Much to the distaste of Gerard he began to suckle on it but despite the nauseating scene before him he still managed to chuckle and produce a small smile before turning his attention back to the front of the class.
Mr. Harrison was in the middle of explaining the effects of various fungi, in his hand lay a heavy and dusty text book and he began to read from an extract.
Gerard frowned and pouted because no matter how cool Mr. Harrison was as a teacher nothing could make fungi exciting. The only real thing that could make fungi interesting was if someone in the class had eaten a magic mushroom at the time of the lecture and Gerard highly doubted that would occur.
He had tried a magic mushroom only once in his life at one of his brothers house parties and it was an experience he didn’t want to repeat. From what he could gather he had gotten wasted and some unknown stranger had dared him to eat a certain amount, of course Gerard obliged and from what Mikey had told him he had thrown up all over the bathroom completely missing the toilet only to be found perched on an open window sill with his arms open wide claiming that he was flying.
He suddenly began laughing quietly to himself at the memory causing Bob and a few others to stare at him. He felt his face flush, he cleared his throat and suddenly in his embarrassment found the table top quite interesting.
“Creepy mother fucker” Bob muttered and this time Gerard really did burst out laughing.
Mr. Harrison stopped reading and raised an eyebrow as Gerard covered his blushing face with his hands, his giggles seeped through his fingers and his fellow students turned their faces towards him one by one.
“Is there something amusing you Mr. Way?”
Gerard shook his head as he felt his eyes water behind his hands. A few people began to laugh and snigger and AJ was in stitches as they watched him laugh himself silly. Removing his hands and wiping at his watery eyes and tear stained cheeks he looked up at his tutor and he thankfully saw that he was cracking a small smile.
“I trust it is relevant to the lesson?” he asked and to the surprise of his friends Gerard nodded.
“Yes actually it is”
Mr Harrison sat up a little straighter and leaned forward in his seat as he pressed his finger tips together, his smile curled up further and he rested his chin into the palm of his hand.
“I’m going to guess that this is an experience you’ve had with the mushrooms we’ve been discussing.”
The whole class seemed to murmur and Gerard could feel their excitement radiating around the room, he had now successfully stopped laughing but the traces of it were still plastered across his face in the form of a huge grin.
He began to divulge his story about the magic mushroom experience and by the end the whole class were in stitches even Mr. Harrison was sharing in the chuckles.
AJ now had her forehead pressed to the table shaking with laughter, Ray had his large hands placed on his stomach and Bob was clapping Gerard on the back with tears in his blue eyes as though he had just been awarded something.
The class gradually calmed down and Mr. Harrison thanked Gerard for his tale before getting the class to fully settle down.
“Dude I forgot you did that!” Bob chuckled and Gerard smiled.
“What a night”
He could vaguely remember waking up in his room with what could only be described as the worst hangover in the history of the world; he was only fifteen at the time so it was lucky that his parents had been away that particular weekend. He smirked as he remembered the day they had come back.
His mother had entered the kitchen where he and his brother were sat drinking coffee, when she had spotted Gerard she had stopped dead in her tracks staring him straight in the eye making him feel for sure that he and his brother were busted.
He was relieved however when she cupped his face gently into her worn out hands and asked if he had been eating properly because apparently he looked a little pale.
The bell rang signalling the end of their second lesson and the beginning of their first break of the day, grabbing their stuff Gerard bid goodbye to Rhiannon and Annelies as the four of them left the classroom.
Once they were finally outside Gerard immediately pulled out a box of Marlboro cigarettes, sparking one up through a blue lighter they headed for the school bleachers. As they arrived he shoved his cigarettes and lighter back into his pockets and sat down on one of the benches.
As soon as Bob was seated he pulled out a hand held video game and began blasting the aliens on it into oblivion, he reached out a hand towards Gerard who rolled his eyes before handing him the cigarette his lungs had half devoured.
“Thanks” Bob mumbled as he placed the butt in-between his lips and continued with his game.
“So how many shrooms were you dared to eat?” AJ asked with a smile lining her voice, Gerard lifted his head in thought and tilted it to the side.
“I’m not sure” he began sucking on the inside of his bottom lip as he struggled intensely to remember how many he had consumed. “Mikey told me that it was a thousand but I’m pretty sure he was lying”.
She gave a short laugh and nodded as she gazed across the school grounds, Gerard watched her as she raised her eyes to the sky and began watching the clouds drifting there.
“Come on spill it” He suddenly grinned as she snapped her head in his direction.
“What?” she furrowed her eyebrows and frowned in confusion as Gerard rolled his eyes.
“Whatever you’re thinking” He smiled gently and noticed how she slid her eyes to their other two friends, clearly whatever she was thinking she didn’t want to share it because it was either extremely personal or embarrassing.
Fortunately for her Ray was engrossed in shouting instructions at Bob as they apparently both found killing Aliens extremely exciting.
“Well...” she cleared her throat nervously and her cheeks turned bright red as she turned her attention to her black beat up converse.
“wait a minute” Gerard told her, he held up a finger as she shot him a quizzical look , he pulled out his box of Marlboro and smiled as he handed her one and took a second out for himself, cigarettes always helped him relax when he felt under pressure. He winked at her the lighter and she smiled before lighting it and pulling him into a hug.
“Right” he sighed as he let her go “what’s on your mind?”, Shifting her weight as if to throw off the uncomfortable nerves, she ran a hand through her hair and drew back on her cigarette.
Gerard spread his legs open and leaned his forward to rest his elbows on his knees letting his arms dangle and his hair fall across his face as he turned his face to the floor, running a thumb over his forehead he waited for her to speak.
AJ was thankful that Gerard had moved because his body was now blocking Ray and Bob out of her sight allowing her to feel more comfortable with sharing her thoughts with Gerard. Closing her eyes she took a deep breath and stated what was on her mind.
“Kelsey is a virgin” she muttered quietly but loud enough so only Gerard could hear, he tucked the hair hiding AJ from his eyes behind his ear and clasped his hands together.
“So are a lot of people” He turned his head and squinted at her through the sun’s rays, licking his lips he asked the question that had just popped into his mind.
“Have you...” he gestured his hands trying to find the appropriate words “done anything yet?”
AJ shook her head and began biting down on the nails she had already chewed off.
Gerard nodded and took a drag from the cigarette balanced in-between his fingers; he blew out the smoke and waved it away with his hands.
“So what has you worried then?” he asked as he turned his eyes once again towards the school grounds. She didn’t say anything and Gerard would defiantly not push her to, so he sat and waited while he watched different groups of people.
“ACK this is so embarrassing” AJ exclaimed, throwing her arms up in the air and shaking her head. Gerard laughed and scratched his nose as he turned back to his friend.
“Come on it’s me you’re talking to; it can’t be as embarrassing as having your brother find you in a sick covered bathroom claiming that you can fly!!”
She laughed loudly and nodded in agreement as she felt her body and mind relax a little, she turned to him and smiled shyly before she let out a long breath and attempted to flatten her fringe over her reddening face.
“Come on AJ” Gerard said softly as she dropped her hands heavily into her lap letting him brush the hair out of her face.
“okay” she took a deep breath in and let it out slowly “we haven’t done anything, I mean we’ve fooled around but it was nothing major!” she told him waving her hands as if to stress that fact, he nodded and flicked his cigarette so the grey ash fell to the ground, she took another breath and continued.
“I was just wondering” she began slowly “when the right time would be to you know move forward.”
Sucking on his gums Gerard lifted his head to stare at the sky as he thought about what she had said over in his mind.
“Well” he breathed keeping his gaze on a particularly large cloud that seemed to catch his eye without him realising it “when it was your first time, how did you know it was right?”
He stayed watching the cloud as he remembered when he had lost his own to Chrissie last year. At the time it had felt perfectly fine and natural but now as he looked back and thought about how much they secretly annoyed each other it just seemed wrong and completely rushed.
He was distracted from his thoughts however as AJ voice has made him jump and fall back to earth.
“I don’t know” she chewed her lip and wrinkled her eyebrows in concentration as she tried to figure out how she had known. “It just felt right I guess” she looked up at Gerard as if she needed conformation and he smiled.
“Well there you go then” he grinned as she looked at him in puzzlement “when the time comes you’ll know, you’ll both know” his eyes brightened in conclusion and she smiled shyly before she threw the cigarette she had finished to the ground. Gerard did the same and then stood on both butts as though it was a symbol. They had successfully stomped out AJ’s worry.
Ruffling her hair Gerard lifted up his free arm to glance at the watch on his wrist cursing as he saw the time he let go of AJ’s hair.
“Let’s go breaks over” he muttered before standing up.
“Awww crap” Bob cursed as he noticed Gerard getting up.
“Chill dude you have plenty of time to save the universe” Ray chuckled as Bob began saving his game with a small pout on his thin lips.
“Stupid break being over” he murmured darkly causing the others to chuckle.
Gerard slung an arm around AJ as they began to make their way back towards the school.
“Everything, okay with you guys?” Ray suddenly asked them both “it’s just you seemed to be having a pretty serious conversation” he scratched the back of his head and laughed nervously. Gerard looked at AJ and Ray followed his gaze for the answer to his question.
“Everything is absolutely fine Ray” She grinned widely more towards Gerard than her curly haired friend. “Don’t worry about us”.
Ray smiled and nodded to them both before turning to Bob to converse more about the game they had been playing.
“Is that what happened with you guys?” AJ asked quietly.
“What do you mean?” he replied in sheer confusion
“You know when you said that I’ll know when the times right. Is that what happened with you and Chrissie?” Gerard stared ahead of him as he drifted off into thought once more about the time and reason he had lost his virginity to the girl he honestly couldn’t stand anymore. The more he thought about it the more the whole experience seemed rushed. In the beginning Gerard had really liked Chrissie he had found her to be sweet and beautiful though now he knew it had all been too good to be true.
It had been Chrissie who had asked him if he was ready and at the time Gerard had presumed he was going to be with Chrissie forever seeing as their insecurities seemed to chain them together with invisible ropes.
“I think so” Gerard answered and AJ raised an eyebrow.
“You think so?”
“Well it felt right at the time but” he stopped there and bit down on his lip as his body seemed to stiffen.
“But what?” AJ Pressed, Gerard sighed and ran a hand over his face before dragging it through his thick black locks as he felt himself itch with uncomfortable nerves.
“Well now it just seems as though it was for all the wrong reasons.” AJ and Mikey were the only people who knew about Gerard’s fear of losing the people he cared about most, they also knew that it was the reason he and Chrissie were together.
“This whole relationship is wrong it’s just based on fear!” he muttered and AJ wrapped and arm around his waist and gave him a comforting squeeze and in that moment Gerard regretted ever meeting her never mind asking her out! It was the most miserable and exhausting romance he had ever been in if you could even call it that. All they did was use each other as shields against their own fears.
“Why can’t you just end it Gerard” AJ sighed, she sounded a little worn out as though she was begging him to just get rid of her just like he was begging himself.
“I can’t” he sighed “it’s like Mikey said I’m too insecure, too scared!”
“But things are different now” she reminded him “now there is Frank” Gerard’s lip twitched upwards at the sound of his name.
It was true someone had sent this beautiful boy crashing into his life like a weapon to use against the fear inside of him and now he had to make a choice. It was Chrissie or Frank, him or her!
“And you can’t have both of them!” AJ continued as though she had been reading Gerard’s mind “whether it’s now or later you’ll have to make a choice” she told him sternly before shooting a smile up at him “and I know you’ll make the right one in the end!”

Author’s Note:[hey guys this is the first part to the eleventh chapter, I decided to do it in halves because I don’t want you to wait any longer because it’s not fair Thank you so much for being patient dudes and I love you all :D ficwad wont let me name you all for some reason D: okay I also just want to say that I noticed two of my chapters have gone green, i nearly fainted at the sight of it ^^…so please keep rating and reviewing because I’d die of happiness if my story went green, so think green lol
right I really hope you enjoy this xoxo Lottie oxox]