FicWad

Here's Chapter... what chapter is this now? Eight? Yes, I think so. Hmm. So, please read this chapter. I hope you guys like it! Durh, that was the most stupid request I've ever made. 'please read this chapter'... durh, you've read the rest of the story, why wouldn't you? Facepalm moment. Too much Derp.

Chapter 8; Everyone Has A Secret

“You can’t just walk away like that, you said you’d tell me what happened with Penina,” said Frank, catching my arm before I walked out of the classroom for break.

“I can’t just spill out everything about her, Frank,” I said. Frank sighed.

“What Miss James said was pretty fucking deep. Was what happened really that bad?”

“Yes, it really was,” I said. “I don’t think anyone apart from her family knows what happened.”

“So how come you know?”

“Well... she called me right after it happened. This was a few years back, what happened, but she sort of... I don’t know. Like, because what happened to her... it was in the summer. I think it was the three year marking point.”

“Oh. I guess it was bad?” asked Frank. I looked down at him, right into his black-lined eyes.

“Very bad.”

“Well... I suppose if you can’t tell me, I can’t tell you what was bothering me in class this morning,” he said, a small smile on his face. I couldn’t help but chuckle slightly.

“If I guessed, would you tell me?”

“No.”

“It’s a guy, isn’t it? You asked me if I was homophobic, and there’s often only one reason people ask that question,” I said. Frank’s face fell again.

“Stop asking.”

“Okay...? I didn’t realise it was such a big issue,” I said.

When he had come around to my house the day before he didn’t seem like the sort of person who was shy.

“Hey mum!” I yelled as I walked inside, throwing my bag on the floor. “Oh... she’s not in. Never mind.”

“Why not?” asked Frank, kicking his converse off.

“She only works at home on Mondays and Fridays.”

“Oh, awesome! We get to do stupid shit without getting yelled at,” said Frank, bouncing into the front room.

“Yeah, if mum comes home and the house is destroyed, I’ll let her murder you,” I said.

It’s okay, we didn’t end up destroying the house. Frank showed me a few pieces he’d written on the guitar, totally putting me to shame. Again. I now had two people to completely embarrass me whenever I picked up the guitar - Ray and now Frank.

So yes, he hadn’t exactly been shy about making himself at home, especially when my mum had arrived.

“Hi boys!” called my mum as she walked in. A grunt of assertion came from the front room where Mikey was playing Crash Bandicoot with Ray and Bob, and not paying any attention. However...

“Hey mum,” I said.

“HI MUM!” shouted Frank, jumping off the bench and giving my mum a high five as she walked into the kitchen.

“Okay...?”

Yeah, he didn’t seem to be the shy sort of person. So the fact that he was now essentially hiding away from something was a bit confusing.

Or perhaps he was in denial.
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I spent perhaps the whole next period, which I didn’t have with the lower years, trying to figure it out in my head. I think denial was the most obvious reason for shying away, because everything else he had done were not actions by a shy person. But what I had to wonder was why on earth he was in denial in the first place.

The contemplation carried out all the way until lunchtime, where I ignored my own friends in the mental haze. Okay, I admit I wasn’t just intent on working it out. I’d figured it out a while ago - either I was completely wrong (which wasn’t often) or he was simply very, very deep in denial. No, that’s not what I was thinking about for a whole hour on end. I’ll admit it, I was just spending the time thinking about Frank.

Or, if you want to put it bluntly, making up a whole night involving me, him, a beach and a tub of ice cream. I’m not going to go into details, I don’t want to make you guys too sick... or horny. Anyway...

“Do you like Frank, Gerard?” asked Penina suddenly, breaking my train of thought. I looked up to see that she was sitting next to me, both of us perched in our usual spot in our tree house at lunchtime.

“What makes you say that?” I asked.

“You’ve been watching him for the last five minutes and doodling a picture of him... since last period?!” said Penina, pulling the piece of paper out of my hand.

“Hey!” It was only a cartoon of his face, but I still didn’t want people just staring at it. “He’s only been here for a few days.”

“You do, don’t you?” she said.

“Perhaps. Jealous of something?” I asked, now slightly annoyed.

“Yes,” murmured Penina, her face falling. My grin disappeared immediately.

“Hey, come here,” I said, shifting over and pulling her into a hug.

“I don’t wanna lose you, Gee,” she mumbled into my chest.

“You’re not going to lose me. Don’t worry.”

“I keep seeing Kayla. And I lost her... I can’t lose someone else,” she said.

Yes. Kayla.

Jaden, Penina’s brother, was the oldest child in her family. He was twenty, three years older than myself. The next oldest was Skylar, who was eighteen. She was like an older copy of Penina, but her hair was thick and black instead of brown. Then came Penina, of course. The youngest was Aria, who was just thirteen.

Kayla was Skylar’s twin sister. Emphasis on ‘was’. They had been identical, but the two different in personality. She had been so different to Skylar; where Skylar fitted in, Kayla was just so slightly out of sync.

She had been targeted by the bullies. You know the thing; a teenage girl, slightly different from anyone else, very quiet, very smart, very shy. Kayla had never been able to stand up for herself, whilst Skylar was essentially magnificent. Soon enough, the bullying got really bad.

Penina was thirteen. She walked in and found Kayla in her bedroom, holding a rope around her neck. It was too late for Penina to made a difference, Kayla only had time to mouth the words ‘sorry’ before she took her own life. Penina still has nightmares about how she watched the life leave her older sister’s eyes. She’d called me, just moments after the incident, in tears. Since then I’d sort of taken it upon myself to become the caring older brother she needed. Of course she had Jaden, but he a) had more friends and less time than I did and b) was also in need of someone to help him through his grief.

“It’s okay, Penina. I’m not going to just leave you for someone else, chances are he doesn’t like me anyway. I’ve seen him eyeing up someone else,” I said. Penina frowned.

“Oh. Sorry.”

“Hey, don’t apologize. It’s just been confusing me, trying to figure it out. He blushed when I asked him about... the person. He didn’t seem to want to tell me,” I said.

“What are you two whispering about? It’s not... Penina, what the fuck’s wrong?!” asked Jenna, hurrying over and crouching down in front of us. Penina’s eyes were welling up with tears as she remembered that day she saw her sister day, those three years ago.

“It’s... um, long story,” she said, wiping her eyes. I put my arm around her as everyone else stared at me in confusion.

“Care to explain?” asked Anna, sitting cross-legged in front of us. I just looked down at Penina, waiting for her to give me permission to tell the story. She caught my eye and just nodded. I sighed, readjusted my position, and began to explain what had happened.


“Well fuck,” said Bob, as we walked back towards the building after I’d finished telling the story. Penina, Frank and Ray were walking towards the field, where their year was gathering for sport. Anna and Mikey were on their way towards the music blocks, and Bob, Jenna and I were making our way towards the main building.

“That’s why you two are so close, then,” said Jenna. I smiled sadly and nodded.

“I was the first person she called after what Kayla did, and so I had to take care of pretty much the whole family afterwards.”

“Owch. That’s gotta hit home pretty hard,” said Bob. I sighed as we walked together towards our next class.
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Frank’s POV

“Hey, Hang on!” I shouted, watching Gerard make his way out of the gates on the way home. He turned and looked at me, smiling without warmth, but he slowed down his pace so I could walk beside him.

“Penina’s story suit what you were looking for?” he asked.

“I didn’t really realise it was that bad,” I admitted, adjusting my bag over the shoulder. I had thought Penina had gone through a bad bout of bullying when she was younger. I didn’t realise she’d gone through the sadness of watching her older sister commit suicide - and not being able to do anything about it. Talk about guilt.

“Well, that’s what happened. She called me and told me what happened; I was around her house in about two minutes, and we’ve been pretty close ever since.”

“You really care about her, don’t you?” I asked. A little bit of jealousy bubbled up a little bit as I asked, especially when I saw Gerard’s face soften when I asked the question.

“Yes. She’s like a little sibling. Well, apart from the fact that she’s not annoying as fuck, like Mikey,” he said. I smiled and was about to reply to that, when I suddenly stumbled sideways as three girls in short skirts pushed between Gerard and I, marching forward with their arms linked. I scowled at their backs and was about to march forward and give them a piece of my mind, before...

“What the fuck?” came a quiet voice from in front of us. A tall, male figure appeared in front of the three girls, who had evidently been knocked down by them. It was Ash, the odd, quiet boy who Gerard had interrogated me on earlier. I blushed again as I remembered it, the way Gerard had just stared down, waiting for my answer.

But back to the point. Ash’s sharp blue eyes were fixed on the three girls, who instantly cowered away and scurried past him. He continued watching them until they’d disappeared around the corner, before kneeling down and gathering up everything he’d dropped. I’d stepped forward, Gerard close behind, to help him.

“Are you alright?” I asked. Ash looked up at me, again unsmiling, and just nodded. Gerard was standing quite awkwardly behind me as I helped gather up all the contents of Ash’s spilt pencil case.

“Look, Frank, I... I really need to go and finish that project that I refused to do over the summer, I’ve been... I need to go,” he said, scratching the nape of his neck. I nodded and looked up at him.

“The project your mum kept nagging you about?”

“Yeah, that one,” he said, smiling. “Well, see you tomorrow. Bye.” With that, he turned around and hurried down the path. I watched him for a moment, a tiny smile on my face, before a deep voice came from beside me.

“I will be needing my stuff back,” said Ash. I grinned stupidly and handed the pile of his belongings that I had in my arms back to him.

“Sorry about that. I...”

“Gerard has that affect on people,” said Ash. I frowned.

“What do you mean?”

“You were sort of staring at his butt as he walked away,” said Ash, the pokerface dissipating to be replaced with a tiny smile. I blushed again.

“Uh... sorry, I guess?”

“Don’t apologize. He doesn’t even seem to notice the looks most girls... and half of the guys in this school give him.”

“Everyone’s all over him, then?”

“Have been from the start.”

“I can see why...” I said, without even thinking. I wished I could take it back as soon as I said it, blushing red as a smirk split across Ash’s face.

“I think you’re a bit smitten,” he said. I just blushed even further. “I take that back. Not a bit... a lot.”

“Oh, shut up,” I said, averting my gaze to my shoes.

“HEY FRANKIE!” shouted Mikey suddenly, leaping on my back.

“Oy! Get your fat ass off me!” I said, trying to wrestle him off. Ash smiled at me, before turning and striding away. Mikey began to walk beside me, talking nineteen-to-the-dozen. Well, at least that meant I couldn’t get a word in sideways; if I had, I probably would have said something really awkward. I mean, if I was Mikey, I would appreciate myself if I had a crush on my own brother.

I mean, if I was Mikey and some weird kid came in and decided my brother was hot...

Oh, you know what I mean. But really, his butt did look good in those jeans.

I mentally hit myself.

So yah, I hope you liked it. It's the summer holidays now! That was totally unrelated to the story. Now, I'm pretty sure there's a bit in this chapter that happened to me in real life, but I can't remember what. Hmm. OH WELL. Please Rate and Review, my lovelies, I love you guys! Plus, go and leave a review on my latest one shot, called 'Pain'. And bring a box of tissues with you. It's quite touching.

BleedingValentine xx