FicWad

Three.

(Wondering who the mysterious italic font belongs to yet? Quite a while to go until you find out. AHAHA I LOVE WRITING. What am I doing with my life even.

Also, I’d like to give a big thanks to the couple of views and comments I’ve had so far! I really wasn’t expecting feedback this early on, so it was a nice surprise! Hopefully you guys will stick around. :3 I’m currently writing a chapter -or at least half- per day, but thanks to absolutely crappy internet I’m uploading slower than I want to. :c)


Scrunched-up paper flew past, bits of conversation floated around the room, pencils flicked back and forth, and Mikey rested his head on the table. There had been no D&D today, lunch conversation was mainly Gerard enthusing about The Smiths with Mikey as Ray, Matt and James decided which type of mythical creature they’d rather be. And coming back to such a dull lesson meant Mikey was less than unenthusiastic
“I honestly hate geography.”
Ray laughed, patting his shoulder.
“Could be worse. Maybe. I think.”
Mikey groaned, not even bothering to put his headphones in.
“No one even pays attention. And I don’t see why- it’s not like any of us are gonna travel the world.”
“That’s... that was unlike you, Mikey.” Ray sounded surprised. “You never know, right?”
“Sorry, I’m tired, man.” Mikey laughed, turning his head on the table to face his friend, “I just don’t see myself going anywhere abroad though. America’s big enough.”
“I’d love to get out of here.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.” Ray looked thoughtful now, “I live in a pretty crap area, I don’t know if I ever told you that... Syringes in the gutters, literally.”
That was a surprise... After hearing so much about Ray having a bass, guitar, drumkit, everything Mikey would love to have... And he’d heard plenty about Louie, Ray’s elder brother who introduced him to almost every classic rock band he knew- he never assumed he came from a bad background.
“I don’t know where I’d go if I could.” Ray continued, “Just... somewhere. Everywhere, maybe. A world tour.”
Mikey smiled.
“What’s the plan?”
Ray snorted.
“Join a band, get rich, get famous, win at life.”
“Everyone’s dream.”
Although, come to think of it, Mikey never had much of an ambition for anything. If he could make music, he would love to. But he had no plan for anything, no idea where he’d want to live in the future, what he’s like to do with himself, he was lost. He worried about it enough, but it always felt so rushed, like he was asking himself too early. Teachers, parents, everyone, always asking- where do you see yourself in ten years? What’s your ambition? There must be something you want to do, isn’t there?
No.
There was nothing.
“A girlfriend would be nice too, I guess.” Ray added, grinning.
“Huh?”
“In my life plan.”
Girls...
“But pretty much every girl is out of my league at the moment, naturally.” Ray said wryly, and then he started to pack up his things just in time for the school bell to ring.
Mikey was surprised yet again. Ray never mentioned things like that. Not seriously, anyway- of course they all made the odd dick joke, they were guys. Ray seemed much more focused on studies, or music, or.. other things. Just not girls, especially from this school anyway.
But before he could question it, the classroom was clearing and Ray was waiting impatiently as always, determined to beat the locker rush. And the occasional event that they were slammed against the lockers by Danny for the sake of the ‘popular kids’’ amusement.
Mikey still had the bruises from last week.

~

“I wish I’d taken French.”
Gerard laughed, pencilling in the gaps in the letters of his Spanish notes.
“I’m part Italian, so it’s not a huge stretch for me.” He mused, and the two girls looked at him instantly.
“It’s-a me, Gerardo?” Katrina grinned, a slight giggle in her voice as Gerard pulled a face.
“I’m not exactly gonna grow a moustache, Kat. I mean, ruin my beautiful face?”
“I don’t think you’re even capable of facial hair,” The other girl, Amber, interjected. “You have such a babyface it’s not even funny.”
He grinned. It was true, he’d barely changed from what he saw in his baby photos. That was probably one of the things that attracted bullying- his slightly piggy (and apparently cute) nose, pale complexion, heart-shaped jawline, and the baby giggle didn’t help... Neither did the fact he spent most of this class talking to girls.
They were two of the tiny group of girls that were decent, though. Good music taste, sense of humour, never critical aside from the odd ‘You’re so gay, and it’s adorable’ comment.
Katrina, for example, was never seen without some form of merch. She wore a band hoodie whenever she could, fingerless skeleton gloves, always had some Fall Out Boy or Blink-182 lyrics in her head, and on top of that, she was a grade-A student. Lucky for some. Gerard always admired her hair, the ridiculously long curtain of dark brown hair that almost never knotted, and every so often slapped him or someone else in the face. She had a million different laughs, all infectious, and she was a great cook. Gerard had sampled too many of her multicoloured cakes and other food creations to know that she was talented.
Amber, on the other hand, barely ever wore merch. Not for the lack of trying, but she had next to no money. Instead, every day she would scrawl lyrics, logos, stitches- anything she felt like- across both her arms. It attracted attention (the unwanted kind) from everyone, including the teachers, but the girl didn’t seem to care. Her grades were below average, from what Gerard had seen, even though she was as intelligent as the rest of them. She was simply the type to work independently or not at all, much unlike Katrina who seemed neutral with most other people- including the ‘popular kids’. Gerard guessed someone had to be, anyway.
Despite their differences, the two girls were as close as sisters, and Gerard had become a third sister since he first started talking to them.
“Stop it.”
Gerard snapped out of his thoughts to find them arguing. Or more like, Kat teasing Amber, anyway.
“What’s wrong?” Kat asked, trilling her ‘r’s deliberately.
“You know I can’t do that!” Amber pouted, and Gerard laughed.
“R-r-r-r-eally?”
“Gee!”
Him and Kat giggled.
“Sorry, couldn’t help it. What are you doing in Spanish class, then?”
“I didn’t wanna be alone in French,” she grumbled, “Lizzy was there, too.”
Being a girl didn’t mean Amber got any less shit than Gerard did, he’d seen her almost shaking with anger before- as much as she’d insisted he stayed out of it- at a group of girls fronted by Lizzy Crew.
Lizzy Crew was a prime example of girls Gerard wouldn’t be within 10 miles of, willingly. She was stick thin, blonde, racist, had an even worse piggy-nose than he did, and wore at least three layers of makeup each day. She argued with the teachers, holding up the class for everyone who cared, got herself in detention daily, and- of course- picked fights with Amber. It was exactly the type of attitude that disgusted Gerard. People who screwed up their own lives, criticising the ‘nerds’ or people who they thought weren’t as cool or attractive as them.
What was the point of it all?
And that was why he had to help Frank Iero. Gerard couldn’t let him think he was alone, not ever. He couldn’t help everyone, but now that he had the opportunity to help one more person, he damn well was going to take it.
As soon as the bell rang, Gerard was up and pulling his back strap onto his shoulder. He hadn’t seen Frank today, but he couldn’t see why tracking him down was a bad idea.
“I’ll see you ladies later.”
“Where are you going so fast?” Amber asked, and Gerard just shrugged.
“I owe someone a favour.”
~

Summer. It was the worst season, especially for Ray as he weaved his way through the locker corridor. Too many people, too many damn people...
Something hit the back of his head, presumably paper or some other crap, and stuck itself in his fro.
Ignore it, keep going, Ray urged himself, anyone would think it’s a Friday...
No, on Fridays, he would usually wait at least ten minutes before even thinking about getting to his locker. He didn’t know how it was in other schools, but here.. It was like the usual amount of kids had multiplied by six, and they all had junk to throw at him just for the hell of it, even though he was taller than most.
Of course, the girls never did anything but laugh at him. That was still enough to make him feel crappy for the rest of the day... Girls just seemed to have that power, especially in groups- and that was why Ray stayed as far away from them as he could. Except earlier “Rawr.” Someone whispered in Ray’s ear suddenly, and James’ face was right in his.
“Uh.”
James laughed, and nudged him with his free hand, the other holding a soda can.
“You’re as bad as Mikey sometimes, kid.”
“And you’re either batshit insane or some kind of mastermind.” Ray shot back, stopping as they reached his spot.
“Mastermind..” He twisted his mouth to the side, “I like that title, but I have to give some credit to all the glue I sniff.”
“Right..”
“Moving on,” James leaned against the lockers while Ray clicked open his own and retrieved his things, “What do you think of this let’s-stalk-the-short-kid plan of Gee’s?”
That was odd. He was expressing concern, AND coming to Ray about it? Oddly, Ray found himself glad that someone seemed a bit less enthusiastic about it.
“Honestly? It’s a bit forward.”
James sighed, taking a swig of soda.
“It is. I mean, there’s this poor little emo guy minding his own business, getting stuffed into lockers, and the last thing he needs is more attention. And then Gee’s all ready to drag him over and make him open up to us.”
It could have been phrased better, but it did sum up Ray’s thoughts.
“You know Gerard though, once he gets an idea-“
“He’s not gonna be able to do this all the time.” James said seriously, “One day, there’s gonna be a situation where he’ll have to leave someone behind. What happens when we all leave school? Or if I fail again, get held back for another year? There’s not gonna be anyone here to ‘save’ me, and I’m just gonna have to deal with it. Gerard needs to realise he’s just a man, not a hero.”
Ray was stunned. Where did that come from?
James had never shown any sign of stress, or annoyance, or just negativity in general. He was the guy who went, ‘hey everyone, just fucking chill!’, no matter what happened...
“You want some?” James sighed again, offering his can to Ray- which he noticed smelled strongly of alcohol. Definitely not soda.
“I’m alright.”
“Yeah, you are. I’ll see you tomorrow, man.” James gave him a smile, weak but genuine, and headed off down the still-crowded corridor.
Ray had a feeling he’d never really understand James Euringer, not completely. But as far as people went, he was someone worth knowing.

~

“You’re fucking dead, you little prick!”
Gerard flinched and stopped dead automatically, knowing it was better to defend himself than run and take a harder beating later. But he felt no collision. Confused, he turned to the direction of Danny’s voice.
There he was- lanky, brown hair, school football jersey, posse made up of the rest of his team, it was the arrogant jock that was Danny Hayden. Except, he wasn’t beating the shit out of Gerard for once.
Instead, he had none other than Frank Iero cornered. What were they all doing by the car park?
Gerard always used this route to the lockers so he could avoid the end-of-school rush, but he assumed he was the only one who would bother to climb the gates that fenced this section off for the staff. It was weird seeing other students here, but he supposed it was secluded enough for Frank to hang around.
He ducked behind a car before anyone could catch sight of him, and to get a better look.
Frank was out of breath, obviously having run here to get away, and his headphones were dangling loose from his shirt. Even then, his fists were balled and he had a look of rebellion on his face, staring right back at Danny.
Danny, however, was more pissed off than Gerard had ever seen him. His nose was bloody - though none of it had dripped onto his precious jersey- and he was advancing on Frank like a shark on its prey. No more forewarnings. No attempts to trap Frank any more than he was. Just pure anger.
Before Gerard could even react, Danny had Frank by the front of the shirt and slammed his fist into the side of his face. And with no pause, again. And again. Gerard was horrified, never having seen him beat up another person. Ray got shoved around and had shit thrown at him, Matt minded his own business, Jimmy knew how to defend himself nowadays, and Gerard always protected Mikey from harm. But this... All he could see was blood from Frank’s mouth.
“Fucking freak, not gonna hit me back?”
The rest of the jocks started laughing, and a couple held Frank up as he started to collapse.
Fuck.. What am I doing, standing here? Gerard realised, still ducked behind a Volkswagen, he’s getting his ass kicked...
Without a second thought, he dropped his bag, kicked it under the car and ran straight for Danny.
No one saw him coming. He sprang clumsily at Danny, managing to drag him away from Frank with the advantage of surprise.
“What the-”
“Get away!” Gerard screamed as Danny threw him off, staring at him and Frank.
“It’s one of the Gay brothers.” Luke, one of the jock idiots, spat as he grabbed Gerard by the shoulder. Gerard bit his hand, and he yelled angrily.
“The fuck’s wrong with you, twerp?”
“Leave me alone, and Frank.”
“Oh,” Danny was his usual arrogant self again, nudging Aaron, the one who usually held Gerard down, “he knows the midget! Sorry, did we ruin your date?”
Gerard ignored the whoops and kissing noises. He was in front of Frank, who was still bloody and lying on the ground, either unconscious or just helpless- and he was prepared to fight. Okay, he didn’t know how to fight. But swinging his arms around violently enough was bound to hurt at least one of them, right?
And just as well, Danny stepped towards him, signalling the other three to stay back.
“That’s fine, Way. If you want to take over for your little friend, I’m game.”
Gerard was winded suddenly as Danny rammed his knee into his stomach, and he fell over with a gasp- he’d been preparing himself for these things ever since he’d run over to the fight, but he always underestimated how much this guy cared about football and his appearance. He was out already, a failure.
No.
Lurching forwards again, he pulled Danny down by his head and smashed his own forehead against him, and everything was spinning... But still, Gerard swung his fists at Danny, and they collided with his jaw twice until the disgruntled jock got a grip on his arms to twist them around painfully.
“You think you can fight me, fucker?” he hissed at Gerard, but the surprise was poorly hidden. This was the most he’d defended himself in three years. “Luke.”
Luke was at his side, pinning Gerard down with his foot.
“Say goodbye to that pretty ass face of yours.”
Wham! Gerard yelled as pain seared across his face, but Danny was still punching him- maybe harder than he’d beaten Frank- and hissing the usual ‘you like that, punk?’ phrases he used. And every time Gerard tried to get up again, Luke stamped his foot down as hard as possible on his arm. It was definitely over this time. There was no use trying to take on four football-crazed assholes at one time; even if he did lay a finger on Danny, all he had to do was call over Luke, Aaron or Bryan and Gerard was finished in no time.
It went on and on, until Danny moved away and the weight from Gerard’s now-useless arm was lifted.
“Huh.”
What could he want now? Gerard had no dignity, he’d failed to save Frank and he’d taken an even worse beating than usual, and now Mikey would be wondering where he was.
“No money for me, Way? You forget or somethin’?”
Oh. Gerard silently thanked himself for hiding his bag on such short notice. Danny was known to recompensate himself for the effort it took to beat people up by taking whatever they had on them. Money? Sure. Valuables? Even better. It didn’t matter if you went to the school about it, there was always the excuse of ‘Well, unless you have anyone else who witnessed it, we can’t exactly court-martial him’.
“It’s fine, I’ll make sure I take all you’ve got next time. Come on, guys.”
Gerard waited until the footsteps were gone to exhale. It could have been worse, he guessed, Frank might have been hurt even worse if he’d just left while he could- after all, he obviously gave Danny a bloody nose before he got herded into the car park, and defending yourself against him wasn’t taken lightly.
“You okay, Frank?”
“Go away.”
...What?
His voice was defeated, almost monotone. But why was he...
“It’s okay, I know what they’re like. I’m here to hel-“
“I said, go away.”
Gerard couldn’t see his expression under the blood-caked fringe that shrouded Frank’s face, but his voice was icy cold. Why was he acting like this? Maybe he was upset that Gerard didn’t come earlier...?
“Look, you’re in better shape than I am.” He tried again, holding out a hand to Frank’s, “We’ll go to the nurse- actually, she’s probably gone home by now- but we can fix you up in the bathroom if you want. Come on...”
Frank didn’t move, so Gerard placed his hand on his arm, urging him up gently.
“Don’t fucking touch me.” His voice rose sharply, and he shoved Gerard’s hand away, getting to his feet by himself with a tiny grunt of pain.
Gerard was stunned, still on the floor and staring up into his angry face.
“Okay... I was just-“
“Don’t. Why did you even come over?”
“He kept hitting you!”
“Yeah? So what?” Frank hissed at him, wiping the blood from his nose unsuccessfully.
“I’ve been there before and... I thought maybe you wanted some help..” Gerard’s voice was quiet as he finished his sentence. His throat was tight, like he was about to cry. But why? Why was Frank being so... Hateful? It was all backwards. Helping was his natural reaction, especially when he’d looked after Mikey for as long as he could remember...
“Well, you thought wrong. I don’t need you or your help. Do me a favour and just... Leave me alone.”
Frank Iero limped away in what seemed to be disgust, leaving Gerard bloodied, on the ground, and wondering just what exactly he did wrong.