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After school that day, Mikey invited Jem back to his place. "We could play XBOX or something..." Mikey said "Come round. Gerard's never any fun anymore."

"Why not?"

"Because as soon as we get in from school he goes upstairs to his room and he-" Mikey went bright red before lowering his voice "You won't tell anyone, will you Jem?"

"Who would I possibly tell?"

"Not Ray or Bob. Not even Frank."

"If you can't tell them, then how come you can tell me?"

"Because they wouldn't believe me. They'd tell me I was making it up. So promise you won't tell?"

"I promise."

"What do you promi-"

"I promise not to tell anyone the thing you're about to tell me!" Jem said impatiently "Now come on, are you gonna tell me or what?"

"He goes up to his room every night and he smokes all these illegal drugs and he gets drunk... This one time he tried to commit suicide and I had to phone for an ambulance. And sometimes I go in to check on him but he's not there, he's climbed out his bedroom window. Then I get all scared and sit on his bed and wait for him to come home. When gets in, I ask where he's been but he won't tell me. At home he's so different than he is at school."

Jem thought about it for a second and decided she wasn't entirely sure she believed Mikey. "But don't Frank, Ray or Bob see what Gerard does when they come back to yours after school or at weekends?"

"I don't invite them over. Gerard won't let me."

Jem still didn't believe him though. At both break and lunch Jem had been unable to keep her eyes off of Gerard. He was always laughing, making jokes and making general conversation. He couldn't just go home and be completely different... Could he?

Gerard didn't really re-act when Mikey told him Jem was going to come round making Jem believe even more that Mikey's story wasn't real. The three of them walked home in silence. Mikey because he could sense Jem didn't believe him. Jem because she didn't know what to say after what Mikey had just told her. Gerard because he was thinking of what he planned to do when he finally got home.

As soon as the three of them entered the house, Gerard kicked off his shoes and ran up the stairs two at a time. Mikey bit his lip and looked at Jem. They stood in the hallway for a moment before Mikey took Jem's hand "Come on, let's go and play XBOX for a bit."

Mikey pulled Jem into the living room and the two of them played a random game for about an hour. There was no noise upstairs but even so, Mikey turned the sound up on the TV really loud. Suddenly Mikey's phone bleeped and he pulled it out of his pocket. He went pale "Uhh it's my Mom. She wants me to run to the shop for something. I'll be gone about half-an-hour. You'll be okay by yourself right?"

"Maybe I should just go with you?"

"Someone needs to be here in case Gee does something stupid." Mikey gabbled, grabbig his jacket and shoving on his shoes, not pausing to tie them up "I'll be back as soon as I can, okay? Phone me if you have any problems."

"But I don't have your phone-" Jem didn't bother finishing her sentence because Mikey was already gone. Jem sat back against the sofa. At first she tried to play the game her and Mikey had been playing as one player but it wasn't as fun and after two minutes, she paused the game and chucked the remote to one side.

She took a deep breath before standing up and walking down the corridor. 'I'll just go see if he's okay...' Jem thought to herself, stepping onto the first stair.

She walked up the stairs, slowly at first but she soon lost patience in this. So she clattered up the rest of the stairs at normal pace. Although Jem wasn't sure which was Gerard's room, she didn't waste any time. She reached for the first door handle and shoved the door open.

Not until she'd stepped into the room, she forgot that she hadn't knocked the door and hadn't been very polite. Jem blinked at the sight in front of her. It was indeed Gerard's room. Gerard was sitting on his bed, bottle of alchohol in one hand, knife in the other.

"What are you doing?" Jem cried, running at him. She snatched the knife out of his hand.

Gerard didn't really re-act. He blinked at her, his eyes looking slightly dull. Jem put her hand on his shoulder "What did you do?"

"Nothing." He replied in a flat voice.

Jem didn't really believe him. She grabbed his hand, lifting up his arms to check if he had tried to cut himself. When she couldn't find anything, she let his hands go "Why are you doing this?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Gerard's eyes suddenly clouded with anger and he leaped up to his feet "Who let you in here anyway? Why don't you get the fuck outta here?"

"Why are you doing this?" Jem repeated louder "Do you know how much you're hurting your little brother the more you do this?"

"Oh boo fucking hoo!" Gerard snapped "He doesn't really care about me! Nobody cares about me!"

"How can you even say that?" Jem started screaming at him "Your brother fucking adores you! Your friends all look up to you! I've never met your parents but I'm sure they give a fuck about you too! And do you know what? I care about you!"

Gerard paused and looked at her for a long moment "You care about me?"

"Of course I do."

"But you've only just met me."

"That doesn't matter." Jem took his hand and sat down on the bed. He sat next to her "I think you're amazing, super talented at everything you do and you're really smart. Smart enough to see that what you're doing isn't right."

"You really think that about me?"

"Yes. I really do. And so do the others, I can tell. Especially Mikey. He thinks the world of you."

Gerard blinked at her before smiling "Wow. Thanks so much."

"It's no problem." Jem smiled back at him, looking into his beautiful brown eyes.

Before Jem knew what was happening, Gerard's lips were on hers and his bedroom door burst open. "Okay, I'm fucking confused..." Jem heard Mikey say.