FicWad

A/N: More fillerish, like the last chapter... Live with it.

Chapter 17: Invitation to hell

Gerard picked up an ornament from the box and sighed. “These are all so boring”, he said and put the red and silver ornament back where he got it from.

Gia on the other hand was trying to choose between an angel and a star. “They’re not boring, they’re traditional”, she explained, and added: “I think.” She furrowed her brows, deciding that they angel looked a little too angelic to be on their Christmas tree, and ended up choosing the golden star with lights inside.

“When I was young, we made our own ornaments”, Gerard complained. “Well, mom made me and Mikey make them. Until I turned twelve and made a skeleton ornament, that is.”

“Why do I have no problem believing that?” Gia laughed and started pushing the cart onwards.

Christmas was only two weeks away, and since they didn’t want to be late decorating the house, they were buying the decorations now. And because of the fiasco last Christmas, Gerard wanted to make this Christmas special. I bet you’re wondering what happened last year, right? Let’s just say that Gerard thought it was more important to hang out at the bar and drink his brains off than to spend time with his daughter. Gia hadn’t experienced a proper Christmas in years.

“Oh, and we still have to decide whether to get a green or a white tree”, Gia said thoughtfully when they walked past a table full of those small Christmas trees.

“It’s got to be green”, Gerard announced. “And besides, we are not getting one of those crappy plastic trees, there’s no way.”

Gia rolled her eyes. Ever since they got to the mall, all Gerard’s been doing is complaining. Sure, he didn’t mean to, Gia figured that it was just a habit. “Fine. You’re in charge of getting a real green tree then.”

“By the way”, Gerard said, suddenly cheering up. “What do you want for Christmas? Whatever you want, I’ll get it for you.”

“World peace”, she answered and held up two different kinds of ornaments for him to choose from.

“Oh come on”, Gerard scoffed and pointed at one of the ornaments. “Could it please be something that can be bought with money?”

“Don’t waste your money on me”, Gia said. “That’s silly. I have everything I need already, so don’t bother getting me anything.”

Gerard stopped walking after her and looked at her thoughtfully. Gia was nothing like other kids. Any other fourteen-year-old would be jumping of joy if they could get anything they wanted, but not Gia. Not that it was a bad thing, no. Gerard was happy that she was so responsible, but he couldn’t help but wonder if she would still be so serious if her childhood had been different.

And right there, in the middle of the store, surrounded by hundreds of Christmas decorations, Gerard decided to find his daughter the best gift even if it kills him.

___________________________

“Where are those golden balls?” Gia asked, looking down from the ladder she was standing on.

Frank giggled at the question. “Golden balls... You crack me up, kid.”

Totally ignoring his friend, Gerard threw Gia the tube of the golden decorations and then continued setting up the lights. “You know Frank, you really didn’t have to come help us.”

“No that’s fine, I’m happy to help”, Frank answered, took another chip from the bowl, and laughed at something funny someone did on the TV. “And besides, I thought it was unfair that you let the other guys come and not me, so I just had to tag along.”

“Actually I didn’t invite them either”, Gerard mumbled.

Decorating the tree was something Gerard and Gia didn’t need help with, so it was completely unnecessary for the four men to come and ‘help’, when they could have been at their own homes and do whatever it is that they do. Well, they had tried to help, but Gia had yelled at them to stop when they decorated ‘wrong’.

And speaking of the devil, or rather, devils, they came into the living room just in time to hear Gerard’s comment.

“If we didn’t invite ourselves to hang out with you guys, we would never see you!” Ray complained, and actually went to help them by handing out the decorations to Gia who couldn’t reach them herself.

“And I have to see Gia, it’s all part of my lawful rights as her uncle”, Mikey said and went to sit down next to Frank with Bob. They had been there for an hour already, so there were empty beer and coke bottles and chip bags everywhere.

Gia, who was completely ignoring the conversation they were having, looked around the messy room and shook her head, and said “I pity the women who have to marry you.”

“Any chick would be lucky to have me”, Frank announced from the couch, his mouth full of potato chips.

Gia decided that she would have to get higher if she wanted to get the star to the top of the tree, so she attempted to climb even higher on the ladder. But when she did that, she accidentally rocked the ladder enough to make her lose her balance. And before she even realized what happened, she was falling. But the fall was shorter than she expected.

The first thing she realized when she looked up was that the ladder was no longer there. Then she realized that Ray must’ve caught her before she fell on the floor.

“Wow”, she huffed after clearing her thoughts. “That wasn’t fun.”

“Okay, she is not using that ladder anymore! It’s dangerous!” Mikey said, jumping up from the couch and coming over to them as if the ladder was going to attack any minute. Frank and Bob had also decided that for once, reality was a bit more interesting than TV.

“Well I wouldn’t have had to use it in the first place if someone got a smaller tree”, Gia accused, looking directly at her father. “And Ray, you can put me down now. Thanks for not letting me crack my skull.”

Gerard looked offended. “Excuse me, but I was in charge of getting a Christmas tree, and I wanted to get a proper one. This was the only one I could find that was close to good! And I don’t understand what you’re complaining about, the tree is perfect!” He looked up at the tree’s top, which slightly had to curl up because it couldn’t fit inside all too well. Getting it into the house had been a real pain too, and all those fallen needles from the tree nearly drove Gia crazy.

“If you’d just let us help decorate the tree, we wouldn’t have this problem,” Ray said.

“Okay, no, you can’t touch the tree,” Gia protested. “You’d just mess it up.”

“Fuck that, I’m decorating now!” Gerard announced, and totally ignoring his daughter’s murderous glare, he threw a silver string around the tree.

Gia, who hated arguing and especially with her dad, frowned. “Fine. I’ll go make dinner.”

After she was out of the room, Gerard glared at the other guys and hissed: “Now look what you did. I blame you.”

Before anyone could answer, the doorbell rang and they heard Gia shout: “I’ll get it!”

“I bet it’s Santa”, Frank said, running to the living room door to spy. But when he got there, he gasped. “Hey Gee, there’s a really sparkly lady at the door!”

“Frank, don’t insult people”, Gia scolded, coming back to the living room. “It’s Tina. She wants to talk to you”, she said to her dad.

Gerard groaned in annoyance but went to the door anyway. He stayed there for a few minutes, and Tina laughed loudly a couple of times. And when he came back, he looked like he was feeling the biggest pain there ever was.

“What did she want?”

“She...” Gerard started and gulped, as if it caused him great emotional pain even just to think about it. “She invited us to a Christmas party.”

“Oh cool! Can I come?!” Frank asked excitedly.

“You said no, right? We’re supposed to go to grandma’s on Christmas”, Gia asked.

“Of course, and I told her that! But she’s having the party on 20th so everyone could come! I didn’t know what to say, I was so confused, and I just... I’m sorry.”

“Wait, who exactly is Tina?” Ray asked. He, Bob, Mikey and Frank had never met her.

“She’s the neighbor. Her son is Gia’s friend from school so Tina thinks that makes me her friend”, Gerard sighed. He didn’t feel at all Christmas-y anymore.

Mikey was immediately alarmed. “Gia has a boyfriend?” Sometimes he acted more like a father than Gerard did.

“Dad, don’t forget, you have a meeting with my teacher tomorrow at three. And by the way, Lucas is not my boyfriend”, Gia said and left again to make dinner. As if she would ever have boyfriends if guys really are like these five goons. What a silly thought.

_______________________

Gia was sitting in history class again and Lucas was scribbling something on a paper. Every now and then he would scratch his head, glance up with the most suffering look on his face, and then erase whatever he had just written. He repeated this process a few times, until he apparently gave up and put his pen down, groaning.

“What’s wrong?” Gia had to ask. Anyone would be curious at this point.

“It’s my stupid book report”, he explained. “Would you read it? It’s not finished yet, but it’s just too difficult.”

Gia took the piece of paper and read the text written on it. Lucas examined her expressions nervously as she read it. And by the looks of it, she did not like his book report.

“Well?” he asked when she returned the paper.

“Well... First of all, I’ve read Romeo and Juliet, so I’d say that based on this, you haven’t. Did you read it?”

Lucas groaned. “No, of course I didn’t! It was so boring that I just kinda... shuffled through it. Okay, so I only read the back cover.”

“At least that explains why you wrote that they lived in Paris. Paris is a character and the setting is in Verona. Why did you even choose Romeo and Juliet if you weren’t interested in it?”

“Because the teacher only gave us two options. The other one was Pride and... something, and since most of the girls picked that one, I figured this would be more... manly”, he explained, and he was obviously a little embarrassed.

“Well, you’re screwed”, Gia said and tried not to sound too happy about it. She had that same assignment a few months ago and she got an A on it.

“Gia”, Lucas said, suddenly sounding excited. “Hey, Gia.”

“What?”

“You’ve read the book.”

“I know, I just told you that.”

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“Probably not.”

“Oh I think you are. I’m thinking that you should tell me what happens in the book and help me with my book report. What do you say?”

“I say you’re out of your mind if you think I’m going to help you cheat.”

“Oh come on! You’re coming to Tina’s Christmas party, right? If you help me with this, I’ll let you hide in my room during the Christmas carols.”

Gia’s face got pale. “There’s gonna be singing?”

“Yeah. Lots and lots of singing. And mistletoes and even a Santa whose lap you would surely be forced to sit on. I can save you from all that.”

Gia couldn’t believe it, but she was actually considering his offer. Sure, cheating was bad, but... she really hated singing. “Okay”, she finally said. “I’ll help you. But you better keep your promise.”

Lucas grinned from ear to ear and said: “I knew you were cool.”

After class ended, and Gia had managed to get out of the classroom, she was immediately dragged away by Lucas. It was lunch break, but Gia didn’t mind that she couldn’t go eat. Gerard had cooked breakfast, and when he cooks, it is such a rare occasion that you have to eat everything. If you don’t, he’ll just swear on his life that he’ll never cook again. What a drama queen.

“So when exactly is this book report due?” Gia asked when they got to the study hall, which luckily was empty. Well, not completely empty, but Gia refused to acknowledge the young girl and boy in the corner. They were practically glued together by their mouths. To Gia their behavior was completely rude and she would never do it. At their age, too. Well, they were her age, but like I said, she would never do what they were doing.

“Well... Last week”, Lucas admitted, putting his stuff on the table.

“Last week?! You are so irresponsible!”

“I know”, he sighed.

“Wait, so when are you going to return it?”

“I was thinking today. And I was gonna write it yesterday, but then my friend Danny had this problem and I had to help him, and I was just so busy that –“

“Alright, I believe you”, she cut him off. “Why don’t I just tell you what to write?”

“Works for me”, Lucas answered, grabbed a pen and got ready to write whatever she told him to. Thank god for Tina’s stupid Christmas party, otherwise Gia would have never helped him and he would’ve failed the class and his dad would’ve killed him.

____________________________

Before school ended and the kids got to go on Christmas holiday, there were these parent-teacher meetings, which Gerard just couldn’t wait to go to. Note the sarcasm.

“Why do I have to go?” Gerard groaned and had to use all his willpower so he wouldn’t run off. “Teachers hate me and I hate them. I never got along with them!”

“Well this is a little different since you’re not the student anymore”, Gia rolled her eyes. “And besides, you’re my legal guardian, so yes, you have to go.”

“Why didn’t I put you up for adoption when I had the chance?”

“Yeah, I love you too dad.”

They were already at the school, walking on the corridors towards the principal’s office. That’s where the meetings are held, but the principal won’t be there, just the homeroom teacher. It was after school hours, so the halls were empty besides the two of them.

“This is it”, Gia said when they came to a door that had a glass window and the text ‘Principal’s office’ on it. “I think we have to wait here.”

“Okay, let’s wait. And when I go in there, if I don’t come out alive in twenty minutes, call the cops. And homeland security.”

“Don’t worry, I promise to arrange your funeral”, Gia assured and sat down on one of the chairs that had been put there for the people to wait.

Gerard hadn’t had very good school experiences, so he dreaded going back to that place. What he was really afraid of was Gia going to high school next year. That would be the end of him. Not only would the parent-teacher meetings kill him, but he would also die of worry that Gia would be bullied too. She had Way-genes, so it was totally possible.

He was brought of his thoughts when he felt Gia’s elbow hit him on his side, and that made him realize that the teacher had probably stood there for a while, telling him to come in.

“Are you alright?” the teacher asked. She was a woman, about 30 years old, and if the situation had been any different, Gerard would’ve thought that she was kind of attractive. But now she was just his worst enemy.

“Yeah I’m fine”, Gerard assured and got up.

“Good. If you would just come in then. Gia, I’d like to talk with your father alone for a moment, and then you can come in as well.”

Before Gerard went into the room after her, he whispered to Gia: “Remember, twenty minutes.” His daughter just gave him a mean glare.

In the room, the teacher was waiting for him beside the desk. “You can call me Molly, I am Gia’s homeroom teacher.”

“Gerard”, he answered and shook her hand before sitting down.

“It’s really nice to meet you. Though I am surprised that we haven’t met before.”

“Yeah, I’ve had some... problems in the past.”

“Oh, we know all about it. Someone from the social services came by to speak with me a while ago about your and Gia’s situation. Her name has slipped my mind unfortunately.”

If possible, Gerard got even more nervous and worried. It was that Emily character, he was sure of it. What exactly had she told about them? All horrible lies, no doubt.

“Alright, well why don’t we start?” Molly asked with a bright smile and took a file from the desk drawer. “First of all, Gia is an extremely smart girl, but I’m sure you know that already. She’s doing well in almost all of her classes, especially in mathematic subjects. But there is a small problem with her history class.”

“What is it?” Gerard asked, getting curious. Had the bullying already started? Gerard swore that he would transfer Gia to another school if that was the case, even move to a whole another country! How dare they be mean to his daughter, steal her lunch money and –

“It has to do with another student at our school, Lucas Parker. Are you familiar with him?”

The boy next door. Gia said she knew him from history class. Gerard nodded and wondered what the damn boy had done Gia.

“It is very unlike Gia to talk in class instead of paying attention to what the teacher has to say, but in history class that is exactly the problem. She and Lucas seem to be more interested in their own conversations than they are in learning.”

On the other hand, Gerard totally understood why Gia would prefer ignoring the teacher, since that’s pretty much all he did when he was still at school. But Gia wasn’t like that. And what’s up with this Lucas kid? Ruining Gerard’s daughter, that’s what he’s trying to do! Soon Gia will be pregnant, out on the streets, eating from garbage cans and dancing around a pole for money to buy more drugs and baby formula.

But how could he ask Gia about this whole thing? He knew what would be her answer. “You’re one to talk”, she would say, and Gerard wouldn’t know how to answer. So he would have to be careful about this. He’d have to spy and make conclusions. Sure, Gia wouldn’t like that either, but what she doesn’t know can’t hurt her.

___________________________

“What am I supposed to do?” Gerard groaned.

“I really don’t know Gee”, Ray answered and didn’t even look away from the magazine he was reading.

The other three didn’t even bother answering. The five men were currently in a band meeting and Gerard had come straight from the meeting with Gia’s teacher. Of course, that being the case, all he could think about was what could possibly be going on between his daughter and the boy next door. Gerard started to regret ever moving to that house.

“Come on guys! Tell me what to do! Gia could be out there doing drugs and boys from next door for all I know!”

“Maybe you should just confront her about all this and find out what’s going on”, Mikey suggested, feeling that he should at least say something since it was about his niece. He wasn’t very worried, since Gia was allowed to have boy friends. As long as she didn’t have a boyfriend, everything was okay.

“Or! We could disguise ourselves as teenage girls and invade her circle of friends, tricking them into trusting us and then they’ll tell us everything!” Frank said happily, already wondering what he should wear as a disguise.

The other four looked at each other. “Hey, I dealt with it last time”, Mikey said.

“I’ll take this one”, Bob said and looked at Frank who looked like he was in seventh heaven. “Frank, do you ever think before you speak?”

“No, why?” Frank asked, oblivious to where he was getting at.

“Yeah that’s what I thought…”