FicWad

The time for school had come and gone, and summer was here. The sun shone, it was hot, and school was out. Frank, Gerard, and Tiara were all at the community pool, having a good time in the water. A plus was that the pool was large, so there was room to not have to be careful for the little kids, their parents, or other teens. About a week before school ended, Frank and Jamia had broken up. Truth is, Jamia had become a huge bitch since she’d made the cheer squad. Then, she broke up with Frank in front of her new team, saying that she was on to bigger and better things. Which had two meanings. The poor kid had been humiliated.
It was around 3, and Tiara was drying her hands off on her beach towel, trying to get her fingers to de-prune. Gerard glanced at her from his pool seat, trying not to chuckle. It only got worse when Frank walked over, his sloppy dark hair in his face. “I’m gonna go get some food from the concession stand, wanna come?” He asked them, grinning largely. Gerard denied by a shake of his head.
“No, but get me some nachos, would ya?” He asked, handing him a five.
“Sure thing, Way.” Frank nodded. Gerard had not only become closer to Tiara, but to Frank as well. Him and Frank even had this thing where they only acknowledged each other by their last names. It was a cool friend thing. Or just a guy thing. Probably the latter. “What about you, wanna come?” Frank asked Tiara, who swatted a bug off of her leg.
“Ok.” She nodded, rising easily. As both she and Frank made their way to the concession stand, Gerard watched them closely. Waiting.
“Oh, sweet.” Gerard vaguely heard Frank say, as he walked away from the edge of the pool to collect something. Something that wasn’t really there. As he straightened back up, Gerard called out to them.
“Hey, Tiara!” He called, rising from his chair. As she snapped her head toward him, Frank ran at her. Distracted with Gerard, she only noticed Frank when it was too late. As Frank ran toward her, at the last minute, he grabbed her waist and launched them both into the pool. They plunged deep under the water, and soon their figures resurfaced. At first, Tiara was mad, but then when she saw Frank give her the puppy face, they both giggled like fools. Gerard watched all of this happed according to plan, and laughed hard, tears almost forming in his eyes. Tiara smacked Frank, and they appeared to be play fighting. Gerard chuckled once more and ran his fingers through his fire engine red hair.
A young girl, probably 16 approached him, tapping on his shoulder. She had straight black hair that hung past her shoulders that looked nice against her olive skin. She also wore an ocean blue string bikini that contrasted against nicely. She smiled at him confidently, but not too much that it made her seem cocky. “Hi. My friends and I are getting a game together for beach volleyball. Wanna play?” She asked suggestively. Ever since his hair cut, Gerard had been getting more female attention than he was used to. Not to say that every girl he saw hit on him, but it was definitely bothersome.
“I would, but my friends and I are leaving.” He said, lacing faux-sadness into his voice.
“Aw. That’s too bad. I was thinking we could play together… On the same team, you know?” She asked, making it obvious what she meant. “Next time?” She asked.
“Sure thing.” Gerard grinned.
“I’m holding you to that.” She smiled, waving and retreating back to her friends. Gerard sat back on his chair and rolled his eyes. Shortly after, Frank and Tiara arrived with his nachos.
“Thanks, Iero.” Gerard said gratefully. He was hungry. Swimming always did that to him. He wasted no time shoving the messiest nacho of the bunch into his mouth, the delicious cheese now on the corners of his mouth. He left the oozing cheese where it was, and ate another.
“You must be really hungry.” Frank chuckled. “Oh, hey did you see it?” He asked as Tiara (For the millionth time today, it seemed) checked her makeup to make sure it was in place.
“Yes, Tiara’s face was priceless.” Gerard laughed, swallowing his nachos. They were almost gone. What a rip. Tiara gasped.
“You were in on that too? Oh... It makes sense now. You two are evil.” She laughed, tying her hair back. “So can we go now?” She asked eagerly.
“Yeah, let’s get out of here.” Frank nodded. The trio gathered their towels and sunscreen and headed to their next destination: TCBY.
*
“Mmm.” Gerard hummed, savoring his frozen yogurt. Tiara was right, it was delicious. Both Frank and himself were skeptical at first, but this was great. TCBY was a local self-service frozen yogurt bar with a variety of flavors and toppings, and you paid by weight, not quantity. Gerard had chosen Peanut Butter Cup (He assumed for legal reasons the shop wasn’t allowed to attach the name Reese’s to it, but that’s what it was) and Toasty Roasted Marshmallow yogurt with Sour Patch Kids, marshmallow sauce, sprinkles, and cheesecake bits. Worth every penny. Frank being the little fuck he was got every yogurt with every topping. His total was a lot. Tiara had gotten something white with a lot of strawberries on top that looked pretty good.
“See? I told you guys.” She remarked, swallowing another bite. This was the most Gerard had seen her eat in front of him. “My mom took me here a little while ago for the first time. The best thing is that it’s not that bad for you! Well, unless you add all of bad stuff on top. Anyways, it’s low in fat and calories.”
“What’d you get?” Frank asked her, taking interested in her bland (compared to there’s at least) yogurt combo.
“New York Style Cheesecake with Strawberries.” She swirled the strawberries in with her hot pink spoon. That was another small but cool thing about this place. Multicolored spoons.
“Mm, bite.” Frank said opening his mouth expectantly. Tiara rolled her eyes and fed him a small bite of her yogurt. “But that was only a small bite!” He complained, opening his mouth once more.
“No, you’re not getting any more. I didn’t pay for this to give it to you.” She replied, sticking her tongue out at him. “Want some, Gee?” She asked, offering her container to him. He shook his head.
“No thanks. No offense, but my yogurt kicks both of your yogurt’s asses.”
“Wanna prove that, Way?” Frank challenged.
“No. You have your own.”
“You guys abuse me.” Frank pouted. “I’m gonna run away.”
“Yes, because making you eat your own yogurt is so horrible.” Tiara said, finishing off hers off in satisfaction.
*
Later that night, at 11:30, Frank and Tiara laid on separate pool chairs watching the stars. The pool was closed, vacant of people. They were going to invite Gerard, but he had a strict curfew, so they didn’t bother. Frank turned on his right side and looked at her.
“Have you thought about college?” He asked, voice normal, not loud or over excited like it usually was.
“Yeah. I wanted to go for so many things.” She sighed. “I wanted to be a pastry chef, a cosmetologist or a tattoo artist, to name a few.”
“A tattoo artist?”
“Yeah.”
“What happened?” Frank asked softly.
“My mom wouldn’t let me. She said she outright refused to help me with my tuition unless it was for something she approved. She approved of nothing I wanted to do.”
“But couldn’t you always get loans and grants?”
“I could.” She agreed. “If my grades were good enough for the good ones. The small ones are ok but they just don’t make that much of an impact. So now I’ve decided to go into nursing.” She made a face. “It’s not that bad I guess.”
“Yeah, but that’s no tattoo artist.”
“True. What about you?”
“Oh, I’m not going to college.”
“Why not?” Tiara asked, still staring at the stars while he stared at her.
“I’m not smart enough.”
“What? Frank yes you are!” Tiara protested, sitting up and facing him. He sat up as well.
“Are you serious?” He asked incredulous. “Did you not see my grade this year?” He asked, a fair point made. He’d did horrible this year, but still managed to pass.
“This year doesn’t matter, though.” Tiara reminded him. “It’s all about next year. Junior year.”
“If I did so horribly this year, what makes you think next year will be any better?” He asked, face crumpling in worry. She felt bad for him. Mostly, because he tried really hard this year. He’d worked his ass off. He just didn’t get it.
“Simple. I’ll help you.” She promised.
“You will?” He asked.
“Of course. It’ll benefit both of us.” She said, really looking at her friend. His beautiful eyes, and cute nose. But it went deeper than looks. She liked Frank. Genuinely liked and wanted to be with him, the only factor had been Jamia. And now that they were no longer friends, and that he and Jamia were no longer dating, she had an opportunity to at least try.
“But how can-“ She silenced him with her lips in a very chaste, innocent kiss. The simple act was the scariest thing she’d ever done in 9 years. She had absolutely no idea if he’d give her the time of day. “Now,” She whispered once the kiss broke. Their eyes met. “Stop doubting me and race me to the other side of the pool. Through it, not around it. I win, you owe me on a date. You win, I owe you a date. If you cheat, more of this.” She continued whispering, kissing him again.
“Deal.” He said, much to Tiara’s delight. She beamed. They got ready at the front of the pool, preparing to jump in. “3… 2… 1…” He counted down. As soon as she heard one, maybe even a bit too early, she jumped in and swam as fast as she could (Which, bless her heart, wasn’t very fast) to the other side. Once she felt the wall, she came up for air, grinning.
“Ha! Beat you!” She gloated. But as she looked across the water, she saw nothing.
“Boo.” Frank said, extremely close to her ear. She turned and saw that he was completely dry. He’d cheated. Before she had time to think about much else, he was cupping her face with such gentleness it was hard to believe it was Frank and kissing her.


I'm trying to have this story done and posted by Thursday, which will be hard. There's more. A decent chunk more. And tomorrow's wednesday. It wouldn't be such a big deal if I didn't have to turn my netbook in Thurday, and my iPhone had a word processor. But, this is my reality. Oh, you guys should check out Kimbra. She's who I listen to when writing this stuff or doing homework. If you do check her out, listen to the song Settle Down. C'est magique!