FicWad

My mood is so low by the time I get home, I simply go up to bed. As I'm putting on my pyjamas, mum knocks on the door. " Frank? Are you going to bed?" she calls through the door. She sounds tired. " Yeah, night." I call back. I hear her pause outside, as if she's deciding whether or not to come in, "...Frank?"
" yeah?"
"I love you"
"Love you too mum." I stand still, my t-shirt in my hand. I hear her hesitate for a moment, then she starts to pad quietly back downstairs. I breathe out heavily. If only she knew. I can't tell her though, it wouldn't be fair on her, and my mum shouldn't have to fight my battles for god sake. I pull my grey t-shirt on and get into bed. All I have to do tomorrow is keep my head down and blank out whatever they said to me. Easy.
Come on Frank. Who are you kidding?

I stub out my cigarette quickly as I reach the school gates. The sky is grey and filthy clouds hang over the building. I force my feet to start walking, and when I finally get inside the school bus has pulled up and kids are spilling out. Most walk past me, not paying me any attention. That makes a change. I relax slightly, maybe Aiden and his gang are skipping school today. I head for the hallway, placing one shaky foot in front of the other and next thing I know my homework is all over the floor and and there's an aching pain in my back. " Hey, Frankie, be careful!" A voice above me says, " You need to stop falling flat on your face like that" It's Aiden of course, I know it is just from his Nike's, which are the only things I can see from my position on the floor. " Better get up Frankie, don't want you being late for class do we?" He laughs, and walks away, his "crew" following behind. They each trample over my file which contains my English essay. Great, that will be nice and crumpled now. I scramble to get up, trying not to make eye contact with all the people staring at me. Some have pity in their eyes, but most are stifling laughter. My face burns as I try and stand up on my wobbly legs. Just as I'm about to give up completely and spend the entire day super-glued to the floor, I feel a hand on my arm helping me up. I expect its a teacher, and once I'm on my feet I start to mumble an excuse for being spread-eagled on the hallway floor. When I look up at the person who just helped me up, I realise it isn't a teacher, it's the girl from yesterday. She's stood beside me, my English folder and books in her hand. " I thought you might want these back before anyone else trod on them" She says holding them out to me. I take them shakily, " Thanks..."
She smiles, " No problem. So, I didn't ask your name yesterday. Mine's Grace."
" I'm Frank." I reply. Why is she being so nice? After all, I flattened her yesterday, most people would avoid me like the plague. " Well Frank, I'd better get going to class now. See you later" She waves and stops at the nearest door, turning, " And Frank?"
" Uh..yeah?"
"Don't let them push you around, okay?" She looks me straight in the eye before pushing open the door and entering her classroom.

I'm late for class, resulting in me having a lecture from my teacher. I nod my head, pretending to be listening, when all I can see is Aiden and Noah, grinning and laughing at the back. Bastards. When I'm eventually allowed to sit down, I start thinking about the girl this morning. So her name was Grace. She seemed to be the only person that didn't take the piss out of me, and that was strange. Resting my head on my desk, I count the seconds until first period is over, and I can go and have a smoke.

Well, that incentive never happens due to the immediate shove that sends me once again tumbling to the ground when the bell went. This time it was Steven, winner of the Mr Brawn and No Brains Whatsoever Competition. He's obviously too dim to think of an insult, so he just swaggers off, whistling to himself. I push myself up, only to be shoved down again by another member of Aiden's gang. " For fuck's sake" I mutter, and haul myself into a kneeling position, only to find that my teacher, Mrs Morrison, is standing in the doorway behind me. " Mr Iero, pick yourself up off the floor this minute. What are you doing boy?" I roll my eyes and stand up, walking away from her and her hairspray and stale body odour smell. I hastily make my way to the back of school again and light another cigarette. I look down at myself, finding my black skinny jeans are covered in dust and bits of food from the floor. I sigh and blow out a mouthful of smoke. The janitor should thank me for saving him a job. The back door to the girl's changing rooms flies open behind me, and I hastily drop my cigarette and stand on it. Great, now I was going to be known as the pervert who hangs around the girls changing rooms. Grace shuffles out, wearing her black and green school tracksuit, the waterproof top swamping her, the zip pulled right up around her chin and the sleeves tugged down around her knuckles. She had a disgruntled look on her face. She obviously felt the same was as I did about sports lessons. She saw me and her face relaxed a little, but she still looked seriously pissed off. " Hey! Jesus Christ, it's freezing..." she shivered, hopping from foot to foot in her trainers. " you're so lucky you don't have to go out in this and play netball. God, I hate that game." she grins and I grin back, " Well, I'd better get going or Miss Sykes will kill me. Bye!" She jogs off around the corner, heading for the netball courts. Another girl comes out the door, wearing her sports skirt and polo shirt. She looks at me, her spidery eyelashes freaking me out slightly. She curls her lip at me, " Ew, what the hell are you doing here? This is the girls changing room you weirdo." She turns and jogs the same way as Grace, her short, green skirt showing much more orange flesh than I wanted to see. I decide I'd better head to second period, hoping to get there early to prevent another meeting with the floor. Strangely, somewhere inside me feels a little less afraid. The quick, pleasant conversation I've just had with Grace seems to have calmed me slightly. I'm not used to people simply speaking to me, without all the insults. It feels good.