FicWad

Chapter 57: Apocalypse

One of the reasons Gia had feared high school so much was that she had thought everything would be harder and she wouldn’t understand anything anymore. But those fears were proved so wrong. High school hadn’t shown any kind of academic challenge. Yet. Well, art class was kind of difficult, and P.E, but Gia would hardly call those academic.

In art class, Gia’s mind always started to wander. She didn’t manage to get anything on to her paper, while this guy on the back of the classroom had already made two versions of his artwork.

They were supposed to pick out an emotion and somehow transfer that onto the paper. Impossible. Gia didn’t even know what she was feeling.

But to her luck, it seemed like neither did many of the other students. Like that girl Gia had seen often, the one from her P.E class, homeroom, and locker. Yeah, the one who had pictures of Gia’s dad slapped all over her locker door…

The girl was sitting two seats away from Gia, and somehow Gia ended up staring at her again. She was just looking down on the paper on her desk and absentmindedly doodling on it.
When she noticed she was being stared at, her pen stopped and she looked right back at Gia.

Startled, Gia instantly turned back to her own paper and picked up a pen. Too bad that the teacher appeared right behind her at that very moment.

“Oh, did you finally decide what you will make?” the teacher asked curiously and leaned forward.

“Um… No. Sorry,” Gia answered, her cheeks flushing crimson. She had just been sitting there for at least three classes without actually doing anything. In any other class she would have already finished the assignment, but art was different. Somehow it was very difficult for her to do anything artistic.

“If you’d like a tip, just start drawing whatever you feel like drawing, just doodle. It’ll come to you.”

Gia nodded, and the teacher moved on to the girl two seats from Gia.

“Hazel, that is beautiful! But how does it link to your feelings?”

“Uh, it’s not finished yet,” the girl, Hazel, answered, and after the teacher nodded understandingly, she moved on to the next student.

Gia thought she could concentrate on thinking about completely art-unrelated stuff again, but the other girl has different plans.

“Hi,” she said, and it took Gia a while to ponder if she had been talking to her or not.

“Um… Are you talking to me?”

“Yeah. Is that okay?”

“Of course, why wouldn’t it be?” Gia asked, and then quickly added: “Hi.”

“Is it okay if I come sit next to you?”

Gia was kind of surprised by the question, but nodded anyway. She didn’t have anything against it, and besides, the girl seemed nice, and not at all scary and intimidating like she had thought at first.

“I’m Hazel,” she said when she had moved all her stuff to the seat next to Gia.

“Gia,” she answered with a smile.

“Okay, I have to ask. And don’t get me wrong, please. Is your dad…” Hazel started, and lowered her voice at the finish: “Gerard Way?”

Gia got the same feeling that she got when she had just started to get to know Lucas and found out that he was a big My Chemical Romance fan. She had started to wonder if he was just trying to befriend her because of who her dad was, and she couldn’t help but start doubting Hazel’s motives too.

But despite all that, she had to nod and answer: “Yeah. How’d you know?”

“There are some pictures on the internet about you with Gerard. You haven’t seen them?”

“No, but I did know about them.” Gia had been told about the pictures by Lucas, but the whole thing freaked her out so much that she refused to look at them.

“I know you’re probably thinking that I’m just talking to you because of who your dad is, right?”

Gia had to admit that she was right.

“Well, don’t worry. Actually you’re pretty much the only sane one I’ve seen here so far…”

“Thanks,” Gia answered, not sure how to answer.

The teacher appeared behind them again and said: “Girls, I’m not saying you’re not allowed to talk, but try to get some work done, okay?”

They promised to try to draw something, and then the teacher left again. The two continued to chat for the whole art class, and they left the room together when the bell rang.

________________

Gia slumped down on a bean bag chair and sighed audibly. She was glad about making a new friend, but it was everything else that sucked. No, it more than sucked. It downright vacuumed.

A baby?

Angrily Gia kicked the stuffed elephant toy that Jersey had left lying around.

A freaking baby?

Who do they think they are, making new kids?

Yes, this still bothered her. A lot. She hadn’t really talked about it with Gerard and Lindsey, mostly because she tried to avoid them in order not to have that awkward conversation, but also because Gerard seemed to be so guilty that he could hardly function without starting to cry every time he saw his daughter.

The first thing that came to Gia’s mind was to call Lucas. But she couldn’t, at this hour he’d be surfing. Damn him and his new healthy ways. Gia put away her cell phone which she had already gotten out, and started wondering if she should call Frank instead.

But, like magic, her cell phone started ringing almost immediately after she put it down. And Gia felt a heavy rock roll off of her heart when she read the caller ID, only to have an almost slightly lighter rock replace it.

“Hello?” she answered to the phone.

“Hi. Are you doing anything?”

Hearing Lucas’ voice made her feel like complaining everything that’s wrong about the universe, and just talk.

“Actually I was just thinking about calling you. So freaky.”

“Yeah, I just suddenly felt like I should call you. I’m at the beach. Surfing. The waves aren’t that good today. But there’s going to be this beach party tonight over here though so I should go home and sleep for a few hours before it. But how are you? How’s school?”

“Well I have a friend now.”

“Not some dude right?”

“No,” Gia smiled. “Her name is Hazel and she’s really cool.”

“That’s awesome.”

“But hey, there’s something I wanted to talk to you about…” Gia said, hoping and praying that he’d tell her what to do about everything.

Hearing the change in her tone, Lucas got worried. “What is it?”

Gia decided to just spill it. It was easier that way. Like a band aid. “Lindsey is pregnant.”

“Wait, what?”

“I don’t know, they told me it just kind of happened and… I don’t know. I’m serious. What should I do? Can I just declare that I don’t approve and they will… undo it?”

“Well that’s what I did but as you probably noticed, it didn’t work. Dad and Tina are still married and getting a new kid. Look, I know you feel like dying or something, and that this is the end of the world. And yes, you’re probably not going to be your dad’s precious little girl anymore but hey, that’s what daddy issues are for! If I were you, I’d try to get back at him somehow. Just don’t start dancing around a pole and let old greasy men stuff dollars, or anything else for that matter, into your panties, okay?”

Normally a comment like that would have made Gia slap him around a bit, but in this kind of a situation, she took any piece of humor she could get. And besides, slapping him was considerably harder when he was on the other side of the country. When that thought occurred to her, it made her miss Lucas even more.

“Oh, I wish you were here,” Gia sighed.

“To stuff your panties? Haven’t got any dollars but—“

“So you’re a greasy old man then?” she interrupted him before he could finish.

Lucas was silent for a while, but when he answered, his tone was very amused. “Touché! Very good. I’ve trained you well.”

“Thank you. So, what do you think I should do?”

“Well, seeing as you can’t do what I did and move to live with your mom, I guess you’ll have to suck it up. You’re strong, you survived all that shit your dad put you through before, so you’ll get out of this alive as well.”

“I’m just worried. I mean, he’s my dad. I know that’s selfish but –“

“Hey, don’t say that! You have the right to be selfish every now and then!”

Gia was so happy he’d called her. And she did end up complaining to him about everything that’s wrong about the universe. She had never talked so much.

And, Lucas did give her one possible way to show Gerard just how crappy he made her feel. Revenge was the only answer. She just had to figure out exactly how to put the revenge plan in action.

_________________

“Hey, can I sit here?”

The gentle voice made Gia jump in surprise and drop her fork. She looked up at Hazel and nodded. “Yeah, go ahead.”

“I’m sorry if I scared you.”

“It’s okay, I was just thinking.”

It was lunch break at school. Gia had been sitting there for five minutes, just staring at the plate and moving the food around with a fork. The truth was that she had no idea how she could get back at her dad. The only way to do that was to do something he didn’t want her to do, right? And what was the one thing that she could do without doing herself any harm that would give him a stroke?

“What were you thinking about?”

“How I should give a stroke for my dad as a late wedding gift,” Gia answered, and then realized what she’d just said. Gerard and Lindsey hadn’t told her to be quiet about the baby and getting married thing, but she assumed that it was kind of a secret for now. And now she just blurted it out to a half-stranger! To a fan! Gia had known Hazel for a week; she couldn’t know how reliable she was yet.

“Wedding? He got married? To Lindsey? Wow, that’s great! Huge!” Hazel gushed, but the overjoyed look on her face faded when she saw that Gia wasn’t nearly as happy. “But of course, you don’t have to worry. I won’t tell anyone.”

Gia wasn’t sure whether to trust the girl or not, but after a moment of brain-struggling, she decided that it wasn’t worth it. If Hazel decides to tell everyone about it, then so be it. Gia turned out to be wrong about Lucas, and no offence to him or anything, but Hazel seems much more reliable than he ever did.

“Thank you,” Gia finally smiled.

She stared at her food for a moment, but since it had already gotten cold, she didn’t attempt to eat it. Just as she was about to start talking to Hazel again, another person joined them at their table.

“Hey, here’s your baby. You can have it for the rest of the week,” Ryan announced, slamming the plastic doll on the table.

Gia frowned. “Don’t manhandle Edmund. He has feelings, you know.”

“He’s plastic,” Ryan said. “So, how about that date?”

About a week or two earlier, Ryan had asked her on a date. Gia politely declined, but he’d told her to think about it. Gia hadn’t really thought about it, knowing for a fact that she didn’t want to go out on a date with him, for multiple reasons.

One, he was scary.

Two, he kept abusing their plastic baby. What if things got serious and they’d eventually get real babies?

Three, she just wasn’t ready for dating and all that. Gia didn’t plan on repeating the Lucas incident.

But now, Gia found herself actually considering it.

Gerard would never allow it. He’d never let her go on a date with someone like Ryan, who wasn’t exactly the ideal gentleman company for a young lady. Unless of course, said young lady’s father had gone off and got married and made babies without even telling her about it.

“You know what. Okay,” Gia said, nodding.

“Really?” Ryan asked in disbelief.

“Yeah, why not.”

“Okay… How’s Friday?”

“Perfect.”

“Well, if I want to skip gym, which I do, I got to go before the coach catches me, but text me with your address later.”

Gia nodded, and once he’d left, she sighed deeply. Hazel, who had been watching the whole scene, feeling like a third-wheel, figured that she’d have to say something.

“I thought you had a boyfriend? That guy you keep talking about,” Hazel said.

“Lucas? He’s not my boyfriend. He’s just… A friend, I guess,” Gia muttered. She had no idea what the deal with Lucas was, but because he lived on the other side of the country, she assumed that if there had been anything, then it’d be now over.

“Um… Well, Ryan. He seems nice.”

“Oh, I don’t know. He kind of scares me actually. But I mean, we do have Edmund, so…”

Hazel decided not to ask about the story behind Edmund, and just ate her lunch in silence while Gia was in a deep thought, playing in her mind the different possible ways her dad might freak out once he hears about this.