FicWad

Gerard’s POV
“…stupid idea…”
“…will never work…”
“…you sure?”
“…goes wrong?”
“…course not…”
“Gerard, you okay?”
I jumped as a hand came to touch my shoulder. I looked up quickly, immediately defensive. The mob of curls I was met with made me relax. It was just Ray, his smile big as he looked at me. I didn’t smile back just nodded slightly. He sat down next to me on the grass. I glanced over at the others where they sat on the other side of the den, hunched over and whispering. I could only catch parts of what they were saying but wasn’t really trying to listen. They had all been nice enough to start with; Ray and Bob had hugged me while Alisha had jumped on me, causing me to fall over. We laughed but the pain in my neck where the stitches still sat caused me to stop pretty quickly. Mikey had gently prised Alisha off me sensing my pain. Then there had been a few nervous glances at my neck which had made me feel self-conscious but after that everyone had pretty much gone back to normal. No one really tried to make conversation with me but that was okay because I felt glad just to have been accepted into the den with them again. Or at least so I’d thought. Slowly one by one they had got up to gather in the corner, first Ray and Bob hunched together, Bob sitting on Ray, their heads together but not kissing this time just whispering very quietly. Then Alisha had casually walked over and after a few moments, Mikey had too. The others talking about me I got but Mikey too. It did hurt a bit especially as he had insisted we got to school early so that we had at least an hour to spend in the den with the guys before lessons. I wasn’t looking forward to the stares and the whispers I would get but at least it would be maybe a week or more before the nastiest of the populars began to make jokes about the kid who had tried to kill himself. Then everyone would start. But at least I have Mikey. I think anyway.
“Don’t mind them!”
Ray had followed my gaze to where I now realised I had been staring; at the group. Mikey had looked away from the others to give me a small smile. I didn’t smile back. Alisha had began to pull away and walked towards us again; her smile big too but this smile I could tell was fake. She came and sat on Ray; her hair in his face made him splutter suddenly.
“You two look very cosy over here!”
“Oh, shut up, Alisha!”
Ray glanced anxiously over at Bob who had heard and shoved Alisha off Ray’s lap so he could sit down. He looked at me a little frown on his face before turning to Ray.
“You are so adorably jealous!”
Ray’s words made Bob open his mouth to reply but Ray pulled closer and their mouths met. I smiled inside; it really was fucking cute! Alisha waited for them to start to use tongue before speaking.
“It’s just my luck to be stuck in a friendship group with four gay guys!”
Mikey chuckled at this and jokingly shoved Alisha, making her lose her balance and fall from her half crouched position after being pushed off Ray’s lap, onto her arse.
“Ow! That hurt!”
The high pitched cry made us all laugh, me too. Mikey smiled brighter to see me laughing too and I was just glad to have made him feel even a tinier bit better. God, I had missed my friends. And I now felt okay about calling them my friends too!
“Hey! Isn’t Frank back today?”
Alisha made the whole room go quiet and awkward suddenly.
“When will you learn to keep your mouth shut?!”
Bob’s outburst just seemed to make Alisha angry too.
“What? Are we just never going to talk about him again?!”
The room was silent and I felt several eyes on me and Mikey. Mikey caught my eye and gave me a sad smile.
“Oh course, you can talk about him. I’m even fine with him being here, if he wants to be! And if Mikey is obviously…”
Mikey nodded slightly and everyone around me seemed to be exchanging looks. I guessed it had something to do with what they had been talking about and decided to keep quiet. Because what they had probably been talking about was me. I looked up at Bob as he gave a little squeak. Ray’s elbow was half raised so I guessed he had elbowed him. Bob rubbed his side, frowning.
“What was tha- Oh!”
Bob and Ray exchanged a small smile before Ray muttered a ‘sorry’ and kissed him lightly. Bob looked a little dazed by the kiss but still managed to get out what he wanted to say.
“Oh, yeah, Gerard? Miss wanted to see you about some work shit you had to catch up with…”
I nodded, sighing as I stood up. At least I could see them all later. After the hell of lessons obviously. I might see Frank if he was back today; I wasn’t looking forward to that at all.
“Sure, what room?”
“Err … Your form room!”
I nodded again. Everyone jumped to their feet as I headed for the exit.
“What you’re all coming with me?”
I received four nods and smiles. I rolled my eyes and we set off walking to the form room. I walked in front, my head ducked, hopefully hiding my neck from people walking past. It didn’t seem to work though as I still received looks and I could hear the whispers a mile off. Someone actually laughed which made me blush red. I heard footsteps coming up behind me and assumed it was someone coming to give me a shove or maybe even to try to aim a punch to my neck. I tensed but was instead greeted with Mikey’s hand in mine. We didn’t need to say anything, he understood already. The others walked behind us in a huddle. When we reached the room, they all gathered around the door, looking pointedly at me to enter. I sighed and let go of Mikey’s hand; his clasp was tight in mine but I managed to pull away.
“Will you lot wait for me?”
They all nodded, all looking a bit bored, Ray and Bob leaning against the wall, hands clasped, already seemingly engaged in conversation. Alisha and Mikey nodded at me and Alisha’s eyes were lit up with an emotion I couldn’t quite read. I glanced at her sideways but she looked away from me quickly. I got one last look at Mikey’s slightly nervous looking face before stepping into the room. The light was off but there was enough coming from the window to see where I was going. I was about to take a step towards the teacher’s desk before I heard a sharp click from behind me. I turned to see all of them gathered at the door, smirking at my confused face. I realised they had locked the door. I didn’t need to turn around to know that there would be no teacher in the room. I was about to speak when another voice sounded in the quiet.
“Gerard, is that you?”