FicWad

A/N: This chapter contains a description of violence which may disturb your innocent mind. You have been warned.


One last thing, lets see if you can spot the Sons of Anarchy reference. If you can spot it, go you! I like you!

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My alarm clock went off. I groaned, I didn’t get much sleep last night. I would dose off to sleep only to wake less than a few minutes later in a panic. I just couldn’t stop thinking about Gerard and the way we left things. He must hate me for the way I took off. I wouldn’t blame him if he did.
I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and stared at the ceiling for a little while. I suppose I better get up and get ready for school… Or maybe I should just take the day off? I contemplated this for a while, and decided for it. I had an assignment to catch up on anyway.
I dragged myself out of bed and looked into my mirror. Yup, I’m definitely taking the day off. I had dark circles under my eyes that showed my lack of sleep. I looked at my dirty blonde hair. It was wavy and layered nicely. The longer layers just touched my elbows, and the shorter layers barely reached my shoulders. I liked my hair, but I didn't like the colour. I’d seen so many kids at school with their hair done so colourful and crazy styles, I wanted something new but I didn’t know quite what.
I grabbed some clothes for today, and looked at them. A lot of my clothes I had grown out of or didn’t like anymore. Thankfully my Aunty Marie was nothing like my Mum. If I ever needed anything she always sent me money to get it. I made a mental note to give her a call later.
I walked downstairs to the bathroom. My Mum was in there applying her make up for work. I’m assuming my Dad has already left. I put my clothes next to the shower.
“I won’t be home this weekend,” I said as I leaned against the wall. “We’re going on a trip to Manchester. For school, I mean.”
“Good for you,” she replied bluntly as she finished applying her eyeliner.
“Our new neighbours are American,” I said.
“What new neighbours?” She was starting on the mascara now.
“The neighbours across the road; they just moved here from New Jersey. The older boy goes to my school.”
“And what’s he like?” She looked at me sharply. This is one of her trick questions.
“Alright, I guess. I haven’t really spoken to him.” I kept a straight face.
“Good. I don’t want you to associate with boys.” She finished up her mascara and began to apply some lip gloss. I always hated lip gloss. It made people look like they had excess saliva in their mouth and it was beginning to overflow onto the lips.
“Why not?” I stood up straight and folded my arms.
“Because you are too young!” She snapped. “You think I don’t know what teenagers are like?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked in a snotty tone. I was offended.
“Don’t play stupid with me Rachel,” she turned and faced me. “Don’t even go there.”
“What about just friends?” I asked.
“Teenagers can’t be ‘just friends’!” She scoffed. “You’re easily influenced and hormonal. You just can’t make your own decisions yet, it’s science, you would know if you bothered to pay attention in class. That’s my final word on the matter. Don’t push me.”
She finished up with her make up and left the room. I closed the door behind her and sighed. “Whatever,” I quietly mocked. ]She’s either not home, asleep or too drunk to even notice me half the time, she would never notice if I had a boyfriend.
I had a quick shower and got dressed. I walked out into the kitchen. Mum had already left. Well goodbye to you too.
I grabbed my school bag from the corner of the dining room and chucked the books and notes that I would need for my assignment on the table. The topic was Volcanoes, very interesting stuff. I decided to give Aunty Marie a call before I forgot. I picked up the phone off the wall and dialled in her number.

“Hello Marie speaking?” Her voice was soft.
“Hey Aunty! It’s Rachel!” I said with a smile.
“Rachel! My darling niece! How have you been? It’s been too long.”
“I know Aunty, I’ve been meaning to call you and stuff but I’ve just been so busy with school work and stuff that I haven’t really had the time. I’m alright, how are you?”
“Oh, I’m fine. I’m on holiday. I take my work holidays when school is still in so I don’t have to deal with kids!” She laughed. My Aunty Marie had the heartiest laugh ever.
“Guess what Aunty!” I jumped up and down on the spot excited to tell her.
“What what what!?” She asked enthusiastically.
“I’ve kinda met a boy.” I wrapped the phone cord around my fingers and smiled.
She gasped. “Really? Tell me about him!”
“Well, I don’t much about him just yet.” I started. “His name is Gerard, he’s sixteen, he’s American and his favourite band is Iron Maiden.”
“Oooh Iron Maiden! I approve already.”
“You know Iron Maiden?” I asked.
“Oh sweetie, I was head banging to Iron Maiden before you even existed. You should come visit me in the school holidays or something. Bring a friend. I’ll pay for you both, and you can teach me how to be young again.”
“Pffft! You’re not old. You’re just… Seasoned.”
We both laughed.
“Look Aunty the reason I’m calling is that I was wondering if I could please borrow some money for some new clothes? I’ve grown out most of the ones I have.”
“Of course, you don’t have to borrow. How much do you need?”
I blushed a little. “Just whatever you can afford.”
“Alright, I’ll see what I can do.” I could hear her smile, if that makes sense.
“Thank you so much! I love you!” I shouted gleefully.
“You’re very welcome,” She laughed. “I love you too.”
“I have to go now, Aunty. Someone’s at the door. I’ll talk to you soon though, take care!”
“Alright then, take care darling and try not to get into too much trouble. Talk soon.”

I hung up and ran to the door and opened it. It was Gerard.
“You ready?” He asked. He was wearing his army jacket again, and a different Iron Maiden t-shirt. He had black jeans on that were being held up by a belt that had a silver bat for a buckle. He had sun glasses on, and was leaning against the wall in the porch. The butterflies consumed me.
“For what?” I managed to get out a couple of words.
“School. We’re walking together,” He said.
“I’m taking the day off.” I said informatively.
“No you’re not,” He stood up straight. “Go get your bag.”
I was taken back. Someone I had barely met a day before was telling me what to do.
“And if I say no?” I asked in a snotty manner.
“You can’t.” He stood there with a straight face. “You’re not staying home. You and I are walking to school together. So go get your bag, I’m gonna wait here.”
I thought about telling him he was wasting his time because I wasn’t gonna go, and he’d be waiting a while. But then I remembered Bonnie telling me that I couldn’t avoid him. She was right. So I decided against it.
“Fine. Give me a minute.” I walked back inside to the dining room and put my stuff back in my bag. I swung it over my shoulder and went to the bathroom and brushed my teeth. I caught a quick glimpse in the mirror. I suppose I look alright.
I walked back out nervously to the porch and locked the door behind me.
“Ready?” He asked. I nodded. We began the walk.
“So our stuff arrives from Jersey tomorrow.” He said.
“Oh yeah?” I began kicking the stones on the pavement.
“I think there’s a little CD player I got for Christmas one year. It’s a piece of shit but you can have it if you want?”
“Really?” I looked at him.
He smiled down at me. “Don’t get your hopes up, like I said, it’s a piece of shit. But you’re gonna get into some really good music so you’re gonna need a CD player.”
“Thank you so much!” I shouted. “I’ve never owned a stereo before!”
“It’s alright,” He smiled. “I’ve sorted a stack of CDs I’m going to lend to you. You will like them.”
“Awesome!” I said excitedly. “I probably won’t know who they are but you can tell me the name of the bands now if you want to.”
“Oh, heaps of different shit really.” He stated. “Obviously Iron Maiden. I’m gonna start you off on the Powerslave album, and we’ll go from there. They have a lot of albums by the way. Uh.. What else? The Misfits, Metallica, Black Flag, The Smiths, Pantera, Lamb of God… Uhm… What else? I think I put Slayer in there, too. But they’re pretty hard out, so you might uh… Go into shock.” He chuckled.
“What do you mean ‘hard out’?” I asked.
“Fast guitars, impossible BPM, screaming vocals, stuff like that.”
“What’s BPM?” I asked.
“Beats per minute; drum stuff.”
“Oh, okay. And screaming?”
“Instead of singing.”
“There’s music out there where people scream and not sing?!” I couldn’t believe it.
“You have so much to learn.” He looked and me and smiled. “I think I’m gonna make you my personal little project.”
“Sounds good to me. I’ve never heard music with screaming in it before.”
“I love it,” He said. “It’s great when you want to kill somebody. You just put the music on and imagine it. It feels good. I’m always in a good mood when I’ve got music playing.”
“Have you always been musical?” I asked.
“Yeah my Grandmother who lived with us is a pianist, so I grew up listening to music of all types. Have you always been… Not musical?”
“Unfortunately. We’ve never owned a radio or stereo.” I sighed.
“Well, what are you into then?”
“I don’t know… I like drawing I guess.”
“Yeah? You’re into art? Me too. I draw as well.” He said.
“Really? What do you draw?”
“I like to draw comics and create characters that I haven't pieced together in stories yet. Like, I draw up a character and write up a character bio but I don’t have a particular story for this character.”
“That’s really interesting. Do you think you’ll piece them up into one story someday?” I never thought of doing anything like that before. I like drawing, but I haven’t really written a story outside of English class before.
“Not one story, no. But I’m working on some comics. Mainly just for fun but if I score myself a position as a comic book artist then that would pretty much be a dream come true.” He smiled. “What about you, what do you draw?”
“All sorts of stuff, really. I like drawing portraits. I think the human face, or body even, is absolutely fascinating. Like, we’re all made up of the exact same parts and stuff but we all look so different to each other. It all comes down to shapes, sizes and colour. You know what I mean?”
“I get what you mean, definitely.” He nodded.
“I also like to draw really dark stuff. You’ve seen one.”
“The dark shadowy thing?” He recalled.
“Yeah. I also like to draw crime scenes, particularly murder scenes.”
“What do you mean?” He sounded really interested.
“well, I think of a crime and I draw it up. It’s usually a made up job but I have occasionally heard of a brutal crime on the news or something and I’ve drawn it. The last one I drew was of a guy lying face down in the forest with his throat slit, and the wound was filled with maggots.”
Gerard looked and me and sadistically grinned. “I think you’re gonna really like Slayer.”

We arrived at the school. I spotted the group on the lawn so we walked over, and sat down with them. I glared at Bonnie as her eyes moved swiftly from Gerard and I. Bob and Ray were having an argument.
“What are they on about?” I asked Frank. He shrugged.
“Something to do with the difference, or in Ray’s case the indifference of weed and other drugs.”
“I’m assuming that they have been doing this since they left home because they arrived like this.” Bonnie reached into her bag and grabbed out her lunch box. I grabbed an orange, Gerard pinched the apple and winked at Bonnie.
“Do you SEE my point now?!” Bob exclaimed.
“Yeah, I do.” Ray sighed.
“You’re a fuckin’ idiot, you know that?” Bob got up and grabbed his bag.
“I accept that.” Ray said as he gathered his stuff.
We just laughed. It didn’t matter anyway, the bell rang and everyone started heading towards the front door. Gerard grabbed hold of my arm and gently pulled me back.
“Aren’t you glad you didn’t stay home today?” He grinned.
“Yeah, yeah I’m glad.” I rolled my eyes.
“Good.” He smiled. “Now get to class.”
“Aye, aye captain!” I said and headed off to my year class.