FicWad

Hello my lovelies! So, it's been a while since I've updated - I just got back to school from Christmas break and I've been drowning in homework. Updates will be less frequent, but i'm writing as much as I can! Big thanks to BleedingValentine and DisenchantedEnding for reviewing the last chapter! If I had 2 cupcakes, I would give them to you! Anyway, sorry for rambling! Enjoy!~

Emma’s POV.

I sighed to myself contently as the door to my new, pristine bedroom swung shut, clicking securely into place as I sat down lazily on the little old window seat on the right-hand wall. I settled Jinx onto my lap carefully, beginning to tune him up as I stared intently into the drizzly grey haze that was Belleville, New Jersey.

Countless cars were chugging down the polluted, grey, seemingly endless roads, chucking out smoke from their grimy exhausts as they dawdled along behind the other cars that lay in their path.

Rain pelted relentlessly at my window, the icy tears from the churning, steely sky slipping and sliding aimlessly down my new, slightly clouded window pane. I breathed onto the cool glass gently, raising a shaky hand gently off of my beloved guitar to draw a picture on the clouded pane.

I drew a line down the steamed-up glass with the tip of my index finger, sweeping the finger around the pane some more before I let it flop gently back onto my guitar.


I had drawn a small, wobbly smiley face in the centre of the hazy window pane. A circle for a head, lines for eyes, a ‘U’ for a mouth… Like I would have drawn as a kid. Like I would have drawn before my whole world crumbled to rubble and ash before my naïve little eyes.

I sighed, gently scrubbing away the little face with a sad smile and fumbling around in my pocket for a guitar pick. I produced one easily and aligned my fingers, strumming away the thoughts of my childhood quickly as I submerged myself into my music.

*
Gerard’s POV.

I drifted out of my darkened room in a zombie-like state when I heard my step-mom yelling for me, stumbling up the wooden stairs and blinking against the harsh hallway light that was invading my retinas. I managed to reach the top of the staircase without blinding or injuring myself, so preceded to find Donna.

“Donna?” I asked wearily as I entered the messy kitchen, scratching the back of my head absently as I looked around. The whole room smelled of pizza, which made me smile wearily. I loved it when Donna made pizza.

“Gerard honey, would you collect Emma and Mikey for me? I’m just about to serve up,” Donna asked me with a smile as she dropped some seemingly home-made breadsticks into a small, pristine white jar. I just nodded, leaving the kitchen to summon Mikey from his pit first.



“Mikes!” I called to him as I entered his room, looking around with a small smile still sat on my lips.

He was sat on his bed, headphones in, scribbling away at a piece of wrinkled paper. He appeared to be writing music.

“Mikey,” I murmured, pulling out one of his headphones gently. I could hear the music that was blasting from them from the doorway.

“Shit, Gerard!” Mikey yelped, stuffing the paper hastily out of my view and jumping up.

“Whatever, Mikes. Dinner’s ready,” I chuckled, ruffling his hair affectionately and walking towards Emma’s room. I heard him huff and mumble profanities aimed undoubtedly at me as he shuffled his way down the stairs.

I paused outside of Emma’s door momentarily, listening to her playing her guitar.

She was amazing. She definitely had a gift for playing, but... wow.

Just wow.

I knocked on the ivory door after a moment, hearing the music stop hastily and a scuffle of feet on carpeted floor. The door was yanked open, revealing a smiling Emma half-hidden behind a bright red fringe.

“Hey, Gerard,” She grinned, fiddling with the little black guitar pick that she was holding in her right hand as she smiled. Her guitar, Jinx, had been laid on her bed carefully.

“Hey, dinner’s ready. Donna told me to come fetch you,” I smiled back, watching as she pocketed the pick quickly and walked out of her room to stand beside me, shutting her door softly behind her.

“Let’s go,” She grinned, following me eagerly as I sloped off towards the stairs.

~
“I’m telling you, Emma, you have a gift for playing that damn guitar!” I laughed as Emma blushed violently and tried to disappear behind her fringe once again, telling me that I needed to get my ears checked.

“He’s right, I heard you playing from my office,” Dad butted in, laughing softly. “It sounded amazing,”

“Thanks,” I heard Emma mumble from behind her fringe as she took a nibble of pizza. “But you’re my family. You’re biased,”

I snorted.
“Me? Biased? You must be mad!” I laughed, grinning when Emma shook her head, a small smile visible behind her fringe.
“But seriously… wow. Do you play anything else?”

“I used to play drums, but it just wasn’t the same as playing guitar. My mom got Jinx for me a few birthdays ago,” She answered, fiddling with the slice of pizza she was holding. She seemed uncomfortable with talking about our mom.

I nodded as I picked up my last slice of homemade pizza and stuffed some into my mouth, dropping the subject quickly. I knew how she felt, really. When you didn’t want to talk about something, the worst thing someone could do was go on about it.

“Gerard! Manners!” Donna scolded me as I smirked around my full mouth.

“Sorry, Mom,” I laughed, gulping down the mouthful and taking another, more reasonably sized bite.

“Alright, you kids all have school tomorrow. It’s 8pm now, I want lights out by no later than 10,” Donna told Mikey, Emma and me with a small smile. “I’ll do the dishes for you tonight,”

“Thanks, Donna,” I grinned, hopping up and giving her a hug before dashing back down to my basement.
I flicked on the light by my door, letting my eyes adjust to the faint light that had flooded my messy, cluttered bedroom before walking fully into the room.

“Time to draw,” I grinned to myself, all but throwing myself at my desk.



~ The Next Day ~

Emma’s POV.

The little alarm clock that sat on my desk blared loudly; the raw sounds on Black Flag pummelling my eardrums as I rubbed my tired, puffy eyes and stretched.

I hit the snooze button on the little device, switching it to my iPod and blasting some Smashing Pumpkins as loudly as I thought was acceptable first thing on a Monday morning.

I dressed quickly, throwing on some black skinnies and a studded belt, a Smashing Pumpkins tee and a Misfits hoodie. I pulled on a pair of fingerless skeleton gloves that I had received for my previous birthday, looking out of my grimy window.

The weather was as dismally grey as it had been when I arrived, rain pelting down on my new home mercilessly.



As I pulled on my gloves, I began to think about yesterday, and how open I had been to my new family.
I mean, yeah, they were family, but I never really opened up to people that quickly. I usually just go all quiet instead of throwing myself at them and hugging them…

I guess it was because they looked like they understood me, Gerard and Mikey at least, and they wouldn’t judge me. They looked like they were outsiders.

Like me.

I could tell that Gerard knew there was something wrong with me, but he was just too damn polite to ask. Either that or he knew I would be uncomfortable telling him.

Which I would be.

I didn’t plan on telling anyone about my life, really. I’m more of a suffer-in-silence type. Nobody really understood my problems anyway. I doubted anyone here would.



I sighed, shaking my head and coming back to the present.


I was used to this kind of weather anyway, they churning grey skies and dull light.
Generally shit weather.

England was never sunny.



I quickly brushed my teeth, combed my hair and put some purple eyeliner on my eyes before hopping down the stairs, my old checkerboard backpack –filled with my school necessities - over one shoulder.

Luckily, I was starting my new school a week into term, or semester, as Gerard had called it. I wouldn’t have much to catch up on.

Maybe Karma was in my favour today.



I switched on my thousand-megawatt smile as I entered the kitchen - the thoughts from earlier pushed into one of the smallest corners of my mind - hugging Donna.

“Morning!” I sang, drifting away from her and giving her a huge smile.

“Morning, darling,” She laughed, handing me a large, sticky plate of waffles. “Here’s some breakfast,”

“Thanks, Donna!” I grinned, tearing into a waffle and stuffing it into my mouth. It was delicious!

“No problem, honey. Coffee?” She laughed, pointing to a sleek looking coffee machine that sat on the spotless kitchen surface.

“Oh, yes please! I have it black, no sugar or milk,” I laughed as I made my way to the sleek little breakfast bar that sat in the corner of the kitchen.

“Sure thing,” Donna smiled, pouring me a mugful of the steaming black liquid that I was so hooked on.
“Here,”

“Thanks,” I sighed, inhaling the thick, calming scent of the black coffee and chugging it down quickly in a few large gulps. It burned my throat, but I didn’t care in the slightest.

“Morning,” A tired Gerard mumbled, stumbling into the kitchen dozily and grabbing a batman mug off of the spotlessly clean counter, pouring some coffee from the machine into it hastily and grabbing a seat next to me at the breakfast bar.

“Morning, Gerard,” Donna and I chimed as Gerard took a gulp of his coffee, looking up at the kitchen clock.

“Shit, we’re gonna be late! Donna, could you drop us up to the gates? I’m gonna grab Mikes,” Gerard babbled, springing up - his coffee forgotten – to go and grab Mikey from his room.

“Sure thing, honey. C’mon, Emma. I’ll go get the car started,” Donna sighed, slipping on a pair of shiny, black leather ankle boots and walking out of the front door swiftly.

I blinked once, kicking my brain into gear and finishing off my waffles quickly, hitching my bag over my shoulder and setting off grudgingly into the grey New Jersey drizzle.


~
“Bye, Donna!” Gerard called as Donna’s old, beaten up car pulled away from the grimy curb. He, Mikey and I all waved to the car until it went out of sight.

As we lowered our hands, we started up the steely grey, chewing-gum spattered steps onto school campus, chatting quietly.

“Alright, Emma. Seeing as it’s your first day, you’re gonna have to go up to reception and grab your stuff. We’re early, so I’ll tag along with you, if you’d like,” Gerard murmured to me, dodging around huddles of people and hiding behind his ebony fringe. Mikey was doing the same, so I followed their example.

I tried not to inspect the people around me as we walked, which proved slightly difficult as I shrunk behind my freshly-washed red fringe. It unnerved me not to be able to look at people. I guessed it was kind of a precaution I had unknowingly started using when I was younger. My childhood wasn’t exactly perfect.

“Thanks, Gerard,” I muttered to my brother, dodging around a scary looking jock with bleached-blonde hair that was laughing boisterously at a really shit joke.

Maybe I might not want to look at these people anyway…


“No problem. Mikes, do you wanna come? Or are you headed somewhere else?” Gerard murmured to Mikey, hiding further behind his fringe and trying not to catch anyone’s attention as the three of us walked across a grey, chewing-gum riddled pavement.


He reminded me of myself, trying to disappear behind that fringe of his. The reason that I hid behind my fringe was because of all of the scars and wounds that covered my pale skin. I hid behind it to conceal the stories behind them, but nobody really knew that. Nobody knew why I tried so hard to hide my face from every human being within sight. Nobody understood.

My mom was the cause of most of them, the scars and bruises that were scattered painfully and obviously across my face - what with her becoming abusive and unreasonable when she was drunk. I always took her blows on the chin – sometimes quite literally - and tried to forget about her, forget about the world and its obscene ugliness, but sometimes it just wasn’t enough.

I had tried other ways of forgetting, like playing Jinx and drawing, but those blades seemed to like biting into the fine skin of my wrists… Those blades liked to scrawl out the words ‘Fuck Up’ on my wrists and bleed the words away, leaving marks in various stages of healing on my skin. I hated myself for doing it, I really did. I just didn’t know how to stop. Nobody around me really did either, nor did they really care.

I hated people seeing the wounds on both my face and wrists. I didn’t need their sympathy. I didn’t need their help. I was fine, I just masked the darkness with a bright personality that everyone thought was the real me.


“I’m meeting Suke, actually. I’m just gonna head off to form and meet her,” Mikey whispered, pushing his geeky glasses up his nose with his index finger and glancing about nervously as I came out of my thoughts abruptly.

Who was Suke?

“I’ll see you later, Gee,” Mikey sighed, splitting away from us uncertainly.

“Bye, Mikes. Be careful,” Gerard muttered, turning his attention to me as Mikey steered is way through the throng of early school students.

“Girlfriends, huh?” Gerard joked to me half-heartedly.

Oh. Suke must be Mikey’s girlfriend. Insert mental face-palm here. I just nodded, giving him a meek smile from behind my fringe.
There were so many cliques scattered through this school, and it didn’t look like I’d fit in anywhere at all so far.


“C’mon, here’s reception,” Gerard murmured to me with a sigh as he shoved the door that stood ominously before us and walked into the little room. I coughed nervously as I entered the room behind him, making sure that my face was well and truly covered as Gerard shook his hair out of his face.

“Can I help you?” A receptionist barked irritably, making me jump slightly and flatten my fringe with one hand automatically.

“Uh… yeah. My Name’s Emma Hayes – I’m starting today?” I said quietly, the way my voice trailed off made the statement sound like a question. The woman smirked at me – probably finding my accent amusing - and opened her mouth to speak before Gerard cut her off.

“Actually, this is Emma Way, Miss Rolfe. She should be in Miss Cherrison’s form,” Gerard corrected me with a small smile. The receptionist nodded, her sourly puckered mouth turning downward as she began rifling through some paper that was sat in a little wicker basket on her wooden desk.

They’d registered me as Emma Way? Huh?

“Alright, here’s your timetable,” The receptionist named Miss Rolfe grumbled to me, shoving a piece of paper my way and breaking me from my thoughts. “And here is a temporary homework planner. You’ll receive a permanent one soon,”

“Thank you,” I muttered from behind my vibrant fringe as I scooped up the papers and followed Gerard hastily back out of the building.


“Hey look everyone, emo boy’s got a friend!” some twat guffawed as the old door swung shut behind me, pointing towards myself and Gerard with a cruel, gnarled finger and a sickening smirk on his cold, disgusting face.

Gerard seemed to visibly shrink into his own skin, hiding behind his raven-black fringe again and steering us hastily away from the group of taunting Jocks.

“Yeah right! She’s probably a fuck buddy,” Another voice laughed, making me squeeze my eyes shut momentarily and spin around, gaining a look of terror from Gerard as I glared at the people that were humiliating him.

I detested bullies, and knowing that a brother of mine that I didn’t know existed a few days ago was bullied made me want to scream at the top of my lungs.

Someone as sweet as Gerard didn’t deserve to be bullied. I mean, come on, I completely dropped my usual careless, teenage attitude and hugged him and Mikey like we were the best of friends on day one. I suppose that they’re my brothers, but it was still pretty odd… It was kind of alien to me.

“I’m his sister, you twats,” I hissed as I broke out of my thoughts sharply, giving them all a steely glare before catching up with Gerard who had began slinking away from the scene hastily.

“C’mon, Gerard. Ignore them. Let’s go to home room,” I whispered to him urgently, shaking his shoulders quickly to bring him back to the present as we began to walk away again.

“Quickly, watch your back,” Gerard whispered in a strained tone, taking my arm and briskly walking me towards a music room before he was abruptly pulled away from me.

“Gerard!” I yelped as someone grabbed my arms from my sides, pinning them behind my back harshly. I made sure my face was still hidden behind my fringe quickly before becoming extremely pissed off and bitchy.

“Fuck off, you jerk! Let me go!”

“Don’t waste your breath, Emma,” Gerard ushered me as we were bustled into a precariously empty corridor.

“They’re not worth it,”




Sorry about the cliffhanger, I couldn't resist haha! I'm writing the next chapter as we speak!~