FicWad

Chapter 66: Like father like daughter?

Gia didn’t remember seeing her father this happy in years when he dropped her off at Ray’s. It was like Gerard had his birthday, was granted three wishes, won the lottery, was given a puppy, and found cure for cancer all in the same day. Of course, to Gia, it wasn’t such a big deal.

She was just starting to play guitar. No biggie.

Of course, she did realize that to her father, this was a much bigger deal. To Gerard, this meant that they’d have more to talk about, and that she was actually excited about something that he liked, too. Piano had been a complete disaster as Gia had lost all passion for it, and Gerard never exactly encouraged her to keep playing it, so he had much higher hopes for guitar. Even though he himself sucked at it.

Ray, of course, had agreed to teach his niece how to play guitar. Imagine Frank’s rage when he found out that he wasn’t asked to be the teacher.

So, there she was, standing on the front of Ray’s house, waiting for him to open the door. Gerard drove off in his car, leaving Gia to her first lesson.

It didn’t take long for Ray to open the door, and he let her in.

“You ready for your first lesson?” he asked her when they’d gotten to the living room, where Ray had his two acoustic guitars.

“Yeah, sure,” Gia answered. “But I have to say, dad is way more excited about this than I am.”

“I’m not surprised. He didn’t like it much when you stopped playing piano,” Ray answered, and handed her one of the guitars. “You can borrow that guitar, by the way. You can take it home until you get your own one.”

“Really? Thank you. Although, I haven’t even thought about buying a guitar yet…”

“You may not have thought about it, but trust me when I tell you that Gerard has gone to a million music stores to find you a guitar.”

The thought wasn’t so surprising, but it still bothered Gia. Even though she knew that getting a guitar was kind of required if she was going to learn to play it, but still, she hated the thought that Gerard was most likely going to waste hundreds of dollars on a shiny, new guitar when they could easily get one much cheaper.

“Okay, first lesson. Chords,” Ray said, starting a long explanation of which cord was what and how she should keep her fingers when she wants to play a specific chord. They started off easy, but Gia listened intently to every word, trying to memorize them. This was what she was good at. Theory. When it comes to actual playing, it might be a bit more difficult.

_________________________________

Ryan was clearly very displeased when he handed his friend 20 dollars.

“Poor Ryan. And you were so sure you’d get to second base,” Henry laughed, carelessly stuffing the bill into his pocket.

Ryan, who had just lost the bet that he’d get to second base with Gia by the end of this week, glared at his friend.

“So how far did you get?”

"I haven't been able to get anywhere with her. She is a saint! Plus, her dad has her under constant radar and pops up when I try to do something,” Ryan complained. Getting Gia to do stuff turned out to be more of a challenge than he thought.

“You going to break up with her then?” Henry asked, swinging the baseball bat he stole at gym class in the air, and only narrowly missing the lockers.

“I think I’ll have to. There’s obviously no use dating her. But not just yet, I still want to give it a little time. Who knows, maybe her dad will get brain dead and I’ll have my chance.”

“It’s a shame. I mean, she obviously has no boobs but I’d still do her. I mean, if it were possible without being convicted for rape.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Ryan said.

“C’mon, cheer up! I saw that emo Max kid going to the study hall earlier, wanna go say hi?”

Ryan glanced at his friend, who was waving the baseball bat in the air and grinning mischievously. How could he say no?

“Yeah, let’s go,” Ryan grinned too.

_____________________________

Since Gia and Hazel had a free period, they went into the study hall to do their homework. Gia knew that Ryan had a free period too, but there was no way he’d be inside. Either he would leave the school grounds completely, or just smoke a hundred packs of cigarettes on the yard.

The recess had just ended, so most of the other students around them had disappeared to their classes. There were about ten other students there. All the others ignored the two girls, except for one.

Their peaceful conversation was cut off by a loud laugh coming from the two boys that just entered the study hall. One of the boys had a baseball bat to replace the football he had the last time Gia saw him. It was of course Ryan and one of his goons.

Gia had no time to wonder what on earth they were doing there, in a study hall, but she was glad Ryan didn’t see her. Instead, the two boys strutted straight to Hazel’s older brother Max, who was sitting on the other side of the study hall.

Gia glanced at Hazel when the two boys started picking on her brother. The girl’s eyes darkened and she looked like she was going to bounce up and march right over there to kill the people who were bullying her brother.

Ryan laughed as Henry took Max’s book and threw it away. Max tried to get it back without starting a fight, but eventually the situation seemed to start getting out of hand as Max’s temper started to reach it’s boiling limit.

Gia watched in panic as Hazel stood up, as she had feared, walked up to the three boys.

“Stop that!” Hazel shouted.

“Stay out of this,” Max warned his sister.

Gia followed her friend, afraid that she will get pulled into the situation. She wanted to be a good friend, of course, but she didn’t want to get into trouble. What would her father say? Gia wasn’t ready for another bubble wrap speech.

Ryan and Henry seemed merely amused by the little girl that had started to yell at them, and when he spotted Gia, Ryan ignored the angry Hazel and grabbed his girlfriend’s hand, pulling her to him.

“Hey, what’s going on?” Ryan asked, giving his girlfriend a quick kiss. Gia had no time to react, so she had no other choice but to go along with it.

“Ryan, what are you doing?” Gia asked, gently removing the arm off from her shoulders.

“What?” Ryan asked in disbelief.

“What did Max ever do to you?”

“Hey, don’t get so worked up about this. He’s just some geek, it’s no big deal.”

“No big deal?” Gia couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She hadn’t been that angry, only sympathetic when she had came over here, but Ryan’s attitude towards this made her agitated. “You can’t just do things like that to people!”

“Well I did it, didn’t I,” Ryan grinned, obviously not getting that she was completely serious about this. “Come on, let’s go.”

He tried to grab her hand, but Gia just shook it off. “Ryan, no.”

“What?”

“I said no. I’m not going with you.”

Ryan was clearly getting a bit frustrated. “Come on, stop that act. You’re not getting into trouble. So stop worrying.”

“It’s not that,” Gia sighed. Even after all this, even though she didn’t really even like him that much, this was still difficult. “Ryan, I.... I don't think it’s working. I want to break up with you,” she squeaked out.

For a moment, Ryan was speechless. This wasn’t supposed to happen.

"What? You’re breaking up with me?"

He was getting angry, something that Gia could expect but was deathly afraid of happening. What made Ryan even more displeased with this situation was that she was breaking up with him in front of people. In front of his friend! In front of the geek who he had been bullying ever since the semester started. Ryan glanced at Max, who was looking away from the scene like he had nothing to do with it, and then at Hazel, who was smiling like an idiot.

"I'm sorry Ryan. I can’t be with you if you’re going to do stuff like that to people. And besides, this… relationship… You’re going a bit too fast. I can’t deal with it.”

"No,” Ryan said, staring at her like she’d gone crazy. “You can’t break up with me.”

“What?”

“I'm breaking up with you!” Ryan exclaimed, looking pissed off. By this point every person in the room, even those that weren’t included in the fight, were staring at the group. “You wanted to break up because you’re going to get with the freak huh? You and Hazel getting together? You cheated on me huh? Nah, you won’t break up with me. I'm breaking up with you Gia."

"Ass," Hazel started, rolling her eyes. Ryan was one of those people in the school that thought that she was a lesbian, just because one of her other friends was one.

“What did you say to me?”

"She beat you to it. She ended it with you, so what are you going to do now? Go have your way with a loose cheerleader? Go ahead. And I'm not a lesbian but given the choice between you and being a lesbian I would turn gay in a heartbeat."

“You know what, this doesn’t even concern you. I don’t know you, but if you’re anything like your brother, I’m pretty sure I don’t want to talk to you. And Gia, you’re an idiot. You won’t do better than me. I am the only guy that will ever get with you. You’re just a girl I used. And since you’re hanging out with these two, I think we now know why you wouldn’t do as much as make out. You’d rather fuck with Hazel, right? I mean, I can’t figure out any other reason.”

"That is not true,” Gia said, getting more and more upset. “But maybe Hazel is right. If other guys are at all like you, maybe it would be better to be one than to date you. You have no respect for anyone."

"You know what, Gia? You are a bitch and I bet you will eventually turn out like your dad. An alcoholic and a drug addict."

"I don't want to argue with you but I am nothing like my dad." Gia said. Her voice was starting to shake, which Hazel instantly noticed. Ryan however didn’t notice, but it wouldn’t have made a difference even if he had. Even if Gia did cry, he wouldn’t have stopped insulting her and her family.

"Screw you and your dad's gay band, too.”

For a moment she simply stared at Ryan. Her voice was no longer shaky, but instead she was starting to sound angry. “What did you call my dad?”

“I called him a fag. You got a problem –“

Before he could finish his sentence, Gia did something very, VERY surprising. Something inside Gia’s head just snapped. She balled up her fist, pulled back her arm and before she knew it, Ryan was on the floor, holding his bloody nose and staring up at Gia in shock.

“Oh no what did I do,” Gia asked Hazel, who looked about as shocked as Ryan did.

Her hand was hurting like hell, and Ryan’s face clearly hurt as well… These two had to be linked somehow.

“Well, if you hadn’t done it, I would’ve,” Hazel pointed out. Gia shrugged, she had no problem believing that.

“What is going on in here?” a teacher asked, running into the study hall. She gasped when she saw Ryan’s bloody nose. “Oh my, what happened?”

Gia was still too shocked by her own actions to answer, but if she hadn’t been as shocked, she would’ve been panicking. This wasn’t good, not good at all. Gia wasn’t all that familiar with school rules, but she was pretty certain that hitting another student was a pretty good reason to get kicked out of school.

Before she knew it, she was sitting in front of the principal’s office with Hazel, Max and Henry. Ryan had been taken to the school nurse because his nose didn’t stop bleeding.

“I’m dead,” the girl said, shaking her head. Gia felt like crying. “I am so, SO dead.”

“Would you stop saying that, I don’t think the principal is that scary,” Hazel said, rolling her eyes.

“You don’t understand! The principal doesn’t scare me! It’s my dad... Quick! Let’s switch places! Be me!”

“The worst he can do is ground you, so I think you can relax.”

Gia groaned. “We are talking about the man that put metal bars on my window, barricaded my room when I was going on a date, the man who hit my best friend and has the temper of the Hulk himself.”

Hazel shrugged. “Alright, I’ll give you the bars on the window thing, but the rest of that doesn’t matter. Trust me, he will be fine with this. He’s Gerard Way for god’s sake, he’s COOL.”

However, Hazel’s words were proved wrong when Gerard burst into the room, looking anything but cool. Steam was coming out of his ears and his face was redder than a fire truck.

“YOU HIT ANOTHER STUDENT?!” Gerard shouted the second he saw his daughter. “What the HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!”

“But dad, I –“

“No buts! What could have possibly compelled you to do that?! Haven’t I taught you anything?! We do NOT resort to violence! Oh, I bet it’s somehow Lucas’ fault! Who did you even hit?!”

“It was Ryan.”

“What?! RYAN MADE YOU HIT SOMEONE?!”

“No!” Gia argued. “It was Ryan who I… nudged a tad too fiercely. In the face.”

For a split second, Gerard actually looked understanding. “Oh, we then it’s okay,” he said, but then remembered that he was supposed to be angry, no matter how much he despises Ryan. “It was still wrong! You are in big trouble.”

Gerard sat down in one of the chairs, and didn’t speak again until the principal invited him into the room.

The principal was a tiny woman with pictures of her grandchildren all over the office walls. If Gerard wasn’t so angry, he would’ve been freaked out. Gerard shook hands with the principal, and then they sat down.

“So, I have to say I’m quite surprised by Gia’s behavior. I mean, she is a straight A student, there have been no other problems before… When I asked what made her do such a thing, she wouldn’t tell me.”

“I think we should concentrate on the important here,” Gerard said.

“And what is that?”

“What exactly does the law say about murdering one’s daughter in a situation like this?”

The principal laughed nervously. “Mr. Way… I hardly think the situation is that extreme. However, there will be consequences.”

“Will she be expelled?”

“Not yet. The least I can do is suspend her for a week and give her another three weeks of detention. And this can’t happen again.”

“It won’t. I will personally make sure that doesn’t happen.”

Outside of the office, the kids were sitting in silence. Ryan came in with his parents, and his nose was covered with a white plaster. It obviously hurt. He glanced at Gia with a very mean glare, shooting daggers at her. Gia almost wished that her dad would hurry up.

When Gerard finally did come out of the principal’s office, he still looked furious.

“Come on Gia, let’s go,” Gerard growled, and Gia had no other option but to follow. She was a little bit scared of her dad, since he had some problems with his temper at times. This was not good. Not good at all. Gia started to prepare herself for the yelling.

Once they were in the car, she expected him to shout, yell, scream, cuss and swear to kick her ass once they get home. But he didn't. Instead, he just stared at her, still looking pissed off.

“Well?”

When Gia didn’t know what he wanted her to say, she just settled for looking confused.

“What happened?!”

Gia flinched when he raised his voice. There’s the yelling. “Nothing.”

“Why did you hit him, Gia?!”

“I don’t want to say,” she mumbled, and felt like she was shrinking under his wrath and booming voice.

“Gia Mikaela Way, you tell me right now or I swear to god I will make sure you never leave this house again!”

Hesitantly, Gia started to speak. She was ashamed of what happened, so she didn’t particularly want to tell him. She had some will to live left, though, so she figured it’d be best to tell. "Um… I broke up with Ryan. He didn’t take it well, and started shouting… He called me and Hazel names, and it wasn’t pretty. That I could handle but… Then he called you and your band… well, homosexual, to put it nicely, so I just snapped, I don’t know. It got a bit out of hand..."

Gerard sighed. He felt the anger subside, and he no longer wanted to rip her head off and feed it to the dogs. “Gia… I’m glad that you feel like you need to defend me, but I don’t care if some teenage kid calls me gay. That’s not even an insult! I’ve heard worse, you know.”

Gia looked even more ashamed.

Gerard thought for a moment. "So you got rid of that horny creep?"

"Yes." She knew that he was experiencing some sort of an emotional turmoil. Gerard didn’t know whether to be angry because she had been involved in a fight or happy because she had broken up with that suspicious looking creep and defended him.

Finally, he sighed. "Why can't you be like before? Quiet. Obedient. Good. You get in fights. You’re dating.”

“Dad, I swear to god, if you mention that plastic bubble one more time, I will kill myself.”

“Don’t even joke about that. Do you know how high suicide rates are in this country?”

Gia rolled her eyes.

“Anyway… Promise me that you won’t get in anymore fights.”

“I promise.”

“Good. Then I won’t kill you now. But if there is a next time, I will kill you for sure.”

“So, suicide is banned but murder is okay?”

“Oh, shut up,” Gerard retorted and started the car. “I miss the time when you didn’t talk back at me.”

Even though he had calmed down a little bit, Gia still knew that she hadn’t heard the end of this. Gerard didn’t let things go easily, and this would be one of those things that he could actually kill her for.

________________________

As Gia suspected, Gerard didn’t let go so easily. As soon as they got home from the principal’s office, he grounded her for the weekend that she would be suspended. She didn’t mind that so much, because she had a ton of homework and Ray had turned out to be a very strict teacher, so she was forced to practice guitar every day.

Gia spent the whole weekend up in her room, strumming the guitar, trying to learn the part of the song that Ray had assigned for her. Gerard pretty much avoided her as much as possible, and Lindsey was freaking out about some pregnancy stuff Gia knew nothing about, so she didn’t really see Lindsey either.

But on Sunday, when she was in her room with Ray’s acoustic guitar on her lap and the song notes in front of her on the bed, her cell phone rang. It was a miracle how Gerard didn’t think of taking away her cell phone. He did take away her laptop.

“Hello?” she answered the call, without checking the caller ID.

“Hey.”

“Lucas?” Gia asked, shocked. He hadn’t called or texted in a few days, so this was pretty unexpected.

“Did I call at a bad time?”

“No, I wasn’t doing anything,” she answered, and felt a bit guilty when she glanced at the guitar. “What’s up?”

“Um… I have something to tell you.”

“What is it?”

“Well, you know how my mom’s work requires her to move around a lot?”

“Yeah?”

“She’s being relocated to Texas before Christmas,” he said. “So… We were talking, and we figured it’d be best if I moved back to Jersey to live with dad.”

Gia’s heart skipped a beat from excitement. “Really? That’s great! When are you moving?”

“In a few weeks. I want to finish this semester here, so I’ll move right before Christmas.”

“That’s awesome. I miss you.”

“Well, who wouldn’t,” she heard him laugh. “So what’s up with you?”

“I’m grounded,” Gia groaned.

“You? Grounded? What the hell did you do?”

“I got involved in this fight at school… Got suspended, too. It’s no big deal, really,” she answered. That of course was a complete lie.

Gia still felt guilty about hitting Ryan, and for getting in trouble and making her dad’s brain nearly explode.

“Okay, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” he said. “What else is new?”

“Um… I had my first guitar lessons. Ray is teaching me.”

“Wow, guitar? Your dad must be like ready to die of happiness.”

“You have no idea. He’s already talking about becoming my manager. It’s okay though, I understand why he’s like that. And because he’s happy, my grounded time was already reduced by half, so it works out great.”

They chatted for about a half an hour until finally Gerard came to check up on her and Gia had to hang up. As if she would give up her phone, her only connection to the outside world. No way. Hopefully by Christmas he will have cooled down enough not to freak about Lucas returning to New Jersey. But for now, it was probably best to keep it a secret.

______________________

A/N: Gosh, I just realized... Long story is long. Sigh.