FicWad

Chapter 4- Raise your voice

(Frank’s Pov)

“Okay so after Art it’s music.” I said as both I and Gerard-sorry- Gee walked towards Mr Britons’ art class, ignoring the stares and whispers we were attracting as we walked down the corridor.
“Sweet, we got a free period in music today, being Friday.” Gee grinned, “Might be able to finish that song I’ve been working on for like, a century.”
I laughed, remembering how Gerard would often get into trouble for writing in his notebook during class, or writing lyrics he came up with on his folder or arms. The guy was an awesome songwriter and from the songs he had let me read in the past was extremely gifted in that department.
“Hey, uh if you want, I can write some music for it, just the rhythm part mind you.” I offered, running a hand through my hair distractedly while smiling shyly.
Gee grinned again, “Yeah that would be cool, thanks Frankie.”
I smiled as we stepped inside class and we both simultaneously made our way to the back of the room, causing more whispers and even pointing as we sat down beside each other.
“Wish people would quit it with the staring, getting on my nerves.” Gerard mumbled, placing his bag down at his seat.
“Well we did just have a public argument in the dining hall an hour ago.” I pointed out fairly putting my feet up on the desk.
“And now we’re talking and sitting together, yeah okay, I got it.” Gee chuckled in amusement.
Suddenly the door slammed; many people jumped but I and Gerard didn’t even flinch. Instead we looked at each other smirking, and then rolled our eyes.
“Always has to make a dramatic entrance.” Gee muttered.
“Should teach drama class.” I added in under my breath making Gee giggle slightly.
“All right boys and girls.” Mr Briton called out loudly, “Shut up and listen.”
He slapped a long wooden ruler on the desk and glared at us.
“I don’t want any of this rubbish, people saying they can’t draw, can’t do this, can’t do that, you’re in my class for a reason and that’s because you can draw!” Mr Briton glared at us furiously, pride in his eyes.
I tried my best not to laugh but both me and Gee caught each other’s eye and we both giggled.
“Ouch!” I yelped, lifting a hand to my head as an eraser bounced off it. Gerard burst out into a fit of maniac like giggles and I grinned at him, “Shut up.” I said, punching him gently across the shoulder.
“Nice to see you two finally getting along and not ripping out each others throat.” Mr Briton called over to us, throwing and catching another eraser, “But, Art is not a class to flirt in, so quit it before I write a detention slip saying I caught you two playing tonsil hockey.”
Both I and Gerard went scarlet and spluttered indignation while some class mates started to laugh.
“Now!” Mr Briton declared, slapping the ruler down on the desk again, “You guys are the best of the best in this whole entire school and I want you guys to reach your potential otherwise I’ve wasted two years teaching you lot!”
It was silent. I was still rubbing the side of my head, annoyed and Gee was biting down on his lower lip.
“So! Today, we’re all about causes! Causes that we feel passionate about! Anyone got any ideas?” Mr Briton demanded us.
I put my hand up along with a dozen other people.
“All right Iero, let’s hear it, cause and reason shoot!” Mr Briton pointed his ruler at me.
“Protesting against animal cruelty, because you know, many animals are used and abused by their owners or to produce certain foods like dairy and meat.” I answered, “And used for product testing such as make up, hair spray, moisturisers, stuff like that, and causing unneeded pain on innocent animals which I see as sick, pointless and just plain cruel. I mean, a human being wouldn’t want to be treated that way so why should animals?”
A few people snorted in mocking laughter which I ignored. Mr Briton was looking at me approvingly and Gerard was smiling at me admiringly.
“Very good Iero, very good, WAY!” Mr Briton barked at Gee who jumped and slipped off his chair.
“Ye-yeah sir?” he said standing up as I sniggered.
“Cause and reason.”
“Um…gay rights.” He muttered, hiding his eyes behind his hair.
I looked at him surprised and noticed a faint shade of pink on his cheeks. Some students laughed but Mr Briton was gazing at Gerard thoughtfully, “Sorry Mr Way, what did you say?”
“I said I stand for gay rights.” Gee said loudly, looking up.
“Ah reason?” Mr Briton asked promptly.
“Well because, because homosexuals face a lot stereotyping and abuse just because of their sexual preference right? Which can lead to people feeling depressed or even suicidal and in fact, the rise of teenage suicide has risen in the past year, with 78% of cases being caused by homophobic abuse.” Gerard said, looking straight at the teacher and ignoring the sniggers. Me on the other hand, was hanging on to every word he spoke, admiring the passion that had been lit in his eyes, “And to be perfectly honest I don’t see any need for it as homosexuals aren’t really different from people who are straight are they?”
“No they’re not, very good Way, and out of interest are you…gay yourself?” Mr Briton raised an eyebrow.
“Yes, sir I am.” Gerard answered promptly, sitting in his chair a bit straighter and looking proud.
“And your brother is openly…”
Gerard hesitated before answering just as proudly as before, “My brother’s bisexual sir.”
I smiled slightly, my respect for Gerard rising at how open, honest and proud he was of his own and younger brother’s sexuality.
“Ah young Michael Way.” Mr Briton said brightly, flicking through his register, “Yes very talented, more of a technical drawing person, very creative, and just as passionate for gay rights as you are, just last period Mr Henderson was telling me he had to split him and another student from fighting after Mikey was provoked by a homophobic comment.”
“Yes, he does get…a bit violent sometimes.” Gerard said softly, a small smile on his lips.
I bit back a laugh-barely. A bit violent?
Mr Briton made no more enquiries then asked other students their causes and reasons before putting us in pairs and setting us a task to draw out a sign or poster, stating our causes. Thanks to our headmistress, I and Gee were automatically paired up.
“All right so, gay rights, gay rights.” Gerard muttered, tapping his pencil on his thigh, “What can I do for gay rights?” he asked himself.
I bit my lip ring, “How bout a slogan?” I suggested.
“Yeah that sounds good.” Gee nodded then lapsed into silence, twisting his fingers in his hair.
I bit back a laugh and went back to my blank sheet of paper, biting down on my lip ring as I tried to come up with something.
“Frank…what kind of slogan?” Gee asked me quietly.
I looked at him, and then thought of something. A small grin reached my lips, “How bout, homophobia is gay?” I suggested, laughing slightly.
Gerard looked at me, and then a grin appeared on his lips, revealing his small sharp white teeth as he laughed, “Yeah that could work, great one Frankie.”
I smiled, pleased with myself.
Art class started to fly by with me and Gerard talking and laughing, generally getting along and comparing our drawings. Gee had used my idea and had drawn out the slogan in blood red, the writing in spiked lettering with the background in inky black, making the words stand out. He had also drawn a few red roses and green vines with thorns strangling the roses and curved leaves at the corners. It looked wicked.
I on the other hand had done a roughly drawn face of a dog with black and white fur, with wide innocent eyes, with blue tears falling and the slogan ‘I’m a being too’ written in silver fancy writing on a black ribbon underneath the head.
“That’s wicked Frankie.” Gee complimented me, peering over my shoulder.
“Heh, not as cool as yours man.” I said, grinning sheepishly and nudging him in the ribs.
He turned pink as the bell rang.
“Music!” we both yelled then laughed; we quickly packed up our things then, without thinking, I grabbed Gerard’s hand and we both ran out the classroom laughing.


(Gee’s pov)

“And give me all your poison, and give me all your pills”
“And give me all your hopeless hearts and make me ill”
”You’re running after something that you’ll never kill.”
”If this is what you want then, fire at will.”


“Nice Gee.” Frankie grinned at me.
“You think?” I asked, frowning thoughtfully.
“Yeah, really catchy.” Frankie persisted as he wrote down a few more chords and tried them out, “Okay now, can you sing the first verse and chorus again? I’ll play, make sure it fits.”
“Sure.” I shrugged.

”Sister, I’m not much a, poet but a criminal and you never had a chance.”
”Love it or leave it you can’t understand, a pretty face but you do.”
”So carry on and on and on and on.”
”I wouldn’t front the scene, if you paid me!”
”I’m just the way that the doctor me! On and on, and on and on.”
”Love is the red, the rose on your coffin door.”
”What’s life like bleeding on the floor, the floor, the floor.”
”You’ll never make me leave, I wear this on my sleeve.”
”Give me a reason to believe.”

”So give me all your poison, and give me all your pills.”
“And give me all your hopeless hearts and make me ill”
”You’re running after something that you’ll never kill.”
”If this is what you want then, fire at will.”

I finished and Frankie strummed the last note.
“That sounds fucking awesome.” I grinned at Frank, who went a faint shade of pink.
“You can keep this copy if you want.” He offered, “Maybe Mikes can write some bass chords down.”
“Yeah that’s a wicked idea.” I grinned, “Maybe Ray can put in a few lead guitar rifts in too.”
Frank nodded then flicked through his notebook. I frowned curiously.
“What cha doing?” I asked innocently.
Frank let out a small giggle and I grinned widely, somehow feeling pleased that I had made him laugh.
“Oh come on tell me.” I persisted, slumping in my chair and crossing one leg over the other.
“Looking.”
“Oh.” I made a small popping noise-then clicked, “Oh real funny Frankie, real witty.” I snapped tartly as I pouted.
“Well.” Frank dragged the word out, looking up at me with a smirk, “You did ask.”
“Yeah.” I dragged the word out mockingly making Frank roll his eyes, grinning, “But, you could have elaborated a little. Wouldn’t exactly hurt you know.”
“I forgot how much of a smart ass you were.” Frank replied, smirking slightly in amusement.
“No, you mean how much of a smart ass I am” I corrected him, “Big difference.”
“Touché.” Frankie grinned at me, crossing his leg over the other, mimicking my position.
“But seriously, what are you doing?” I asked abruptly.
“Told you; I’m looking.” He smirked.
“Yeah and an elaboration would be nice.” I shot back tartly.
“Okay then; I’m looking through a notebook, happy?”
“I forgot how annoying you were.” I mumbled, pouting crossly with my arms folded.
“No, you mean how annoying I am” Frank corrected me, laughing, “Big difference.”
I laughed myself then we both lapsed into silence. Surprisingly, it wasn’t awkward like it usually would be. It was just…comfortable. Like the way it used to be.
Frank took his pen which he had tucked behind his ear and wrote something down, his tongue sticking out the corner of his mouth, tucked his pen back behind his ear, took his plectrum from his belt, then strummed a few more chords on his guitar, his golden brown eyes narrowing in concentration.
I just sat there watching him, remembering how we used to do this at his place. We usually sat in his attic bedroom, with music playing, me writing some lyrics down, Frank playing his guitar and adding music notes to sheets of paper. Then I would drag out my sketchpad and draw while he would look at my lyrics and add melodies. Personally, I thought we made a pretty good team when it came to song writing.
Frankie stopped playing then added another set of chords then looked up at me.
“What?” he asked, grinning.
“Oh nothing, just thinking.” I shrugged indifferently though I could feel my face heat up slightly.
“Well, if you’re looking at me while thinking, then I guess you’re thinking about me, so I hope it’s something nice.” Frank smirked slightly.
“It is about you actually, and it is something nice.” I replied, smirking in amusement as Frank’s face went pink as he blinked in shock, “Remember we used to do this?”
“What, you staring at me while I played guitar?”
“NO! Well yeah sort of.” I realised making Frank laugh, “But remember when we used to hang out at your place? In your bedroom? And we used to sit and listen to music while you made up song melodies and I would write lyrics or draw?”
“Yeah…I do.” Frankie said slowly, looking thoughtful as he strummed his guitar distractedly.
“You do?” I looked up in shock.
“Course I do.” Frankie frowned at me, “Why wouldn’t I?”
“Why would you?” I shot back harshly.
Frank blinked in surprise and I bit my lip, regretting my tone of voice instantly. Nice one Gee, you start to get along then you go and talk like that. Trust me to fuck things up.
Frank bit down on his lip ring and I hid my face behind my hair, looking around anywhere and at anything but Frankie who was again strumming his guitar distractedly.
“I don’t know.” He spoke up suddenly in a low voice.
“Don’t know what?” I asked softly.
“Why I remember.” He said shortly, “Admittedly, when we…you know.”
“Stopped talking.” I finished for him.
“Yeah.” Frank nodded, sweeping his hair out of his face, “I tried to forget, well, everything about you to be honest, hoping to make the fact we weren’t friends anymore less painful.”
He was speaking slowly, as if he was choosing his words carefully, hoping he wasn’t offending me, but he wasn’t. I knew what he was saying, I had tried the same thing.

“But if anything, forgetting you was even more painful.” Frank admitted softly, gently strumming a quiet, sweet melody, “I just couldn’t forget and anyway when I did, it hurt like hell, like trying to, I don’t know, decapitate a limb from myself I guess is one way to put it, and it felt like I was trying to rip myself apart, sounds pretty melodramatic I know.” He said laughing quietly, “So, I just gave up. Trying to forget you. I mean, it was hard enough, what, with seeing you in this shit hole every day.” I couldn’t help but laugh slightly at that statement and Frankie grinned, “And sharing classes with you, not to mention being best friends with Mikey made it even harder to forget you because you are brothers and obviously share the last name so it’s not as if I could erase you from memory completely is it? Because some of the best memories in my life was with Mikey-and you. So I reasoned with myself, it wouldn’t be fair to erase memories of you and Mikey all because I wanted to forget you. Besides, I always had that, well, little bit of hope that me and you could go back to the way things were, and so there was no point in erasing you was there?”
“When you put it like that, no, not at all.” I muttered, “I felt the exact same to be perfectly honest.” I admitted.
It was silent then the bell rang. I got up and packed my notebook and pen away, my hair framing over my face. Behind me, I could hear Frank muttering swear words as he tried to put the guitar back on its stand without putting it out of tune. I smiled softly remembering Frank’s frequent complaints about not being able to bring his own guitar to school and having to put up with the music departments’ ‘shitty, wrecked and underappreciated piece of art guitars’. I put my bag on my back and went to take out my cell to text Mikey to see if he would meet me at the school gates, when I felt a soft tug at my hair again. I turned round to see Frank looking down at his shoes and a faint pink tinge to his cheeks.
“Hey, um, you wanna walk home together? Maybe grab a coffee or something?” he asked softly.
I blinked in surprise, “Yeah, sure, I’ll text Mikey and Ray and we can-“
“No, I mean just.” Frankie said quickly, then stopped and took a deep breath, “I mean just us two, you know, so we can talk, about us, I mean.” The faint blush on his cheeks had heat up rapidly, “You know, about stuff that’s been going on, not like a date or anything, just to-“
“Catch up?” I suggested, raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah.” Frankie breathed relieved, nodding and sweeping his hair out of his face again, “Yeah, to, to catch up.”
“Sure, sounds like fun, and.” I dragged the word out, tucking a strand of Frank’s hair behind his ear without thinking about what I was doing, “I think we need to talk.”
“Thanks.” He breathed softly.
“C’mon, let’s go.” I smiled gently, taking his hand in mine.
I heard his breath hitch up and I expected him to snatch it back, but to my surprise, I felt a gentle squeeze, as if seeking reassurance that he was doing the right thing. I squeezed it back and gave him a soft smile. Frank looked up at me, and smiled back before we let go and walked out the classroom. I slipped out my cell and sent a message to my brother.

Gonna go and get a coffee with Frankie, don’t wait up, won’t be back home for awhile. Love you bro. Gee xo