FicWad

"So class, is it appropriate for you to smother your child in order to save yourself and the other villagers?" My fifth period teacher looked around the room, in his mind, choosing who would be his latest victim when he chose them to deliver their answer in front of the class. My class is divided into two parts: one part being the people who are so convinced Mr. Acmes isn't going to pick them, so they sit back in their chairs all smug and relaxed; and of course the other half of the class, which consists of the students who pretend to look like they're thinking about it, so if perchance Mr. Acmes picks them, they can say they haven't fully developed their thoughts, when you know they're really too nervous to even come up with an idea.

Then of course there's me, who actually has an answer, and has no problem verbalizing her thoughts.

Immediately my hand shot up in the air, and I was very tempted to start waving it around. You see; my teacher was currently preoccupied with a one Mr. Frank Anthony Iero, who was passed out on his desk. Yes, even though Frank was in grade 12, he's taking a grade 10 course. I don't know if he failed it the first time he took it, but I seriously don't think he's going to pass it this time around either.

As I was contemplating whether or not to jump up and down to get my teacher's attention, I watched Mr. Acmes give Frank the good old hairy eyeball that Gerard loves to give me. "Oh you're never going to wake him up that way. One time when he passed out in my room, I had to -" When the entire class' attention was on me, I knew I had said too much. When I re-thought my thought, I realized it sounded like Frank and I had slept together which we so didn't, but the class didn't know that. They didn't know that Frank had stumbled to my house at three in the morning from the party Mikey and Gerard had still been at; they didn't know Frank had stood under my window yelling he was sorry and that we should get married; they didn't know that because of a random act of kindness, and just pure embarrassment for my neighbors that I brought Frank into my house, and my room was the closest room I could get to before I dropped him on the floor.

Come to think of it, Frank didn't really know about the yelling episode either. It wouldn't be fair if I didn't exploit that with every fiber of my being.

I smirked evilly to myself when I thought about the blackmailing possibilities. I snapped back to reality when I still felt the gaze of everyone, including my teacher, and I felt myself blush. "Oh, none of you were there," I snapped, lowering my head from their gazes. Then, just to make myself feel better, I scooted my chair over to Frank's desk (Gerard supposedly made him sit there so no other horny guy would), and put my head against his shoulder. Then, I swept his bangs across his forehead, before casually slinging my arm around his back. I couldn't help but notice how warm he was when he was lying like this. Of course, he had contained his body heat, so I would expect nothing less.

"Frankie darling," I cooed quietly in his ear as I rubbed lazy circles on his back. "Frankie..."

I moved my head close to his mouth so I could hear him mumble something. I bit my lip to keep from laughing. When I moved my head to mumble something else in his ear, I clearly heard my name.

I'm not sure if the class was paying attention anymore, but this was really fun. Out of instinct, I looked up to see every member of my class still staring at Frank and I. Oh, this would be the perfect time for some much overdue payback with Frankie dearest.

"Ava..." I turned my attention back to Frank when he mumbled my name sleepily. "I'm going to kill you Ava..."

Wait... what!?

I started to pull back uncertainly, when Frank's eyes popped open, and I was left dangerously close to his eyes. He didn't even miss a beat as he bounded up. Naturally, I screamed; just as any other person would whom just had the daylights scared from them. I tried to remain calm, as I stood up, but my bracelet got caught on his red and black-stripped sweater. I was now standing in front of him, with my arm twisted uncomfortably around his back. Not to mention the fact that he was way taller than I was, so I also had to stand on my toes as I tried to wiggle free.

Obviously, it didn't work.

"What the fuck do you think -" Frank started before I heard the very audible gasp from Mr. Acmes. "Mr. Iero, such language will not be tolerated in my class. You are dismissed to the principal's office."

"Serves you right, shit-head," I muttered sourly under my breath.

"Ms. Way, I heard that. You may accompany Mr. Iero to the office."

My jaw dropped. "M-Mr. Acmes, y-you don't understand! I wasn't speaking to /you/..."

"Rules are rules, Ms. Way. You may also discuss them with the principal if you so wish," my teacher interrupted, putting a hand up in the air to silence me. I huffed at my teacher, whilst mentally cursing him to a strange but painful death. I hadn't even noticed that I was being dragged to the classroom door until I hit my shoulder against the frame.

I was startled back to reality, and I realized Frank had grabbed his stuff, but neglected to touch mine. "Frank! Wait!" I said quickly, grabbing onto the doorframe, "what about my stuff?"

His grunt was my only reply. He then tugged his body hard so I lost my grip, and was left staring forlornly at my forgotten things. "They better still be here tomorrow," I muttered sourly under my breath.

As Frank continued to drag me down the hall, I walked behind him, trying to undo the clasp to my bracelet. Although, since I couldn't keep up with Frank's fast pace, I couldn't really keep a steady grip on the clasp, so I gave up.

"Wait!" I said, stopped dead in my tracks. Frank stopped soon after, but not soon enough. He stopped, turned around, and in that action, yanked on my arm and pulled me forwards. I slammed against his body, groaning quietly to myself. There definitely wasn't any padding between my nose and his chest. Almost as quickly as it happened, Frank grasped my shoulders, and held me at arms length. Which, might I add, hurt my one arm a/ lot/.

I winced, but refused to yell. I already got in trouble for muttering at Frank, and I was sure to get in a lot more trouble if I yelled at him. Instead, I did the most intimidating glare I could come up with, and calmly walked around to his back. "We're still attached, smart-ass," I reminded him snidely, reaching up to undo my bracelet so I could slide if off my wrist and free it from Frank's sweater.

I was horrified to find out that my bracelet had somehow turned itself, and I could no longer reach the clasp if I stood behind him. "What the /hell/?" I whined. "How the hell does the clasp /move/?" I asked no one in particular.

"No worries, I'll just take my shirt off," Frank informed me, turning around.

"Oh God!" I yelled, completely horrified by the idea. "Don't you dare/! I do /not want to see any of..." I trailed off as I once again gave his entire body a once-over. ".../You/."

He sighed, but smirked at me nonetheless. "How do you suggest we get it off, /babe/?"

I scowled. "I am not your /pig/," I told him referring to the movie Babe. The smug aurora he adopted didn't waver.

I stared at his shoulder. "I'll just..." I tried reaching my arm around him, but realized I wasn't tall enough to see over him.

"Need a ladder /sweetheart/?" He asked as patronizingly as he could.

Instead of scowling, which was originally planned, I smiled. "No, but I could use a lift." As I was looking around, I had noticed we were outside. (I'm going to scold him about going in the opposite way of the principal's office later.) I thought it'd be easier if he lifted me up and put me on the railing behind me. The added height would surely give me some leverage in the current situation.

At his skeptical look, I snapped. "I'd do it myself, but I only have one hand."

He shook his head, and placed his hands on either side of my waist. "You're just looking for an excuse for me to touch you." His lift was effortless, and soon I was sitting on the stair railing.

"Don't flatter yourself." I pulled him closer to me, as I leaned over his shoulder to get a good look at the bracelet. Unfortunately, he wasn't going to be completely cooperative, so I rested my chin on his shoulder and strained myself to see the clasp of my bracelet. I huffed in annoyance at his lack of cooperation.

This should've been a simple task, but it wasn't. The more annoyed I got at the situation, the more my mind kept coming back to one conclusion: nothing that involves Frank is ever easy, nor will it ever be easier.

I sighed dejectedly at the idea as I pulled my bracelet free. Maybe I should just avoid Frank, and my life will become easier.

I screwed up my face as I thought about avoiding Frank. It was just like trying to avoid eating peanut butter. It just couldn't be done. He was Gerard and Mikey's best friend...

"What?"

I looked at Frank questioningly.

"That look you have on your face... you thought of something but you don't like it."

"How did you -?"

He just shrugged. After he helped me down, he looked at me with a haughty expression. He ruined a perfectly good moment with that look. "I'm right though, aren't I?"

I glowered at him. Why is he always right?

++++++

When I got home after school, my mother was very angry. You see, when Frank and I hadn't appeared at the principle's office this afternoon, they phoned my house. I just had the misfortune of having my mother be here to answer the phone.

"Ava Leah Way," she scolded loudly, "why were you sent to the principle's office in the first place?"

I looked away from my mother. I had cursed in class, and both my parents believe I'm an angel who doesn't do anything like that in school.

"Ava -" I could tell she was getting short with me.

"I kind of swore at Frank in front of the teacher because he was being a total asshole," I rushed, looking down at the floor and hoping my mother hadn't really heard what I'd said.

Instead, my mother was suddenly in front of me, and wrapping her arms around me in a very tight embrace. "Oh honey," she cooed gently, crunching me against her body. "I had no idea."

Wait a minute - why is she consoling me? Why does she have no idea? And why does it sound like she thinks Frank and I are -

"Oh my god mom!" I yelled, pushing myself forcefully from my grasp. "I do not like Frank." With the notion of doing anything but trying to kill Frank fresh in my mind, I blushed. No. Ew/. I did /not have romantic feelings for that asshole.

"But baby, why are you blushing?"

I'm blushing because you're putting thoughts in my head, I wanted to yell. Why does she always jump to these conclusions?

"It's okay if you are, there's nothing wrong with that boy." My mom looked at me innocently, as if she was doing me a favor. Oh as if she was doing me a favor.

"If I were a few years younger, I'd -"

I screeched, and quickly put my hands against my ears. That was it/! I could /not picture my mom doing things with the bane of my existence. And there's the mental picture, I thought with the utmost horror. My mom - at her age, I should mention - with Frank, Frank's shirt is off, and they're acting like kinky little fuck bunnies. "Oh my god mom!" I screamed, backing up and heading for the stairs. "You're too old!"

I ran up to my room so fast, the quick trip up the steps was a blur to me. However, not so much of blur that I didn't hear my mom tell me I was grounded for not only swearing at my teacher (which was a lie, I swore at /Frank/), and then as I retold her the story, I swore at /her/.

I closed my door and locked it behind me. I didn't even turn on the light - I couldn't. As long as it was dark in my room, I could pretend like my mother hadn't said any of that. In the dark I can pretend nothing exists around me.

The first thing I thought to do was phone Cameron - my best friend. She'd have the answers.

After what seemed like a millennium, her younger sister picked up the phone. "Hi Melanie, can I talk to Cameron?"

I didn't get a reply as I listened to the shuffling sounds in the background, and Cameron's muffled voice saying 'who is it?'.

"Hey Ava," she said once Melanie had told her it was me.

"I really have to talk to you," I told her, "how quickly can you get over here?"

"What did you do this time?"

"Nothing," I said defensively, staring at my middle finger.

"Then why are you going to try and sneak me into your room?"

"That's a lie!" I replied indignantly, my voice growing shrill. "There will be no sneaking involved..." I said shortly, my eyes darting to my door, as the light moved at the bottom of my door. Someone was walking past my door.

"Just hurry," I whispered, and hung up. The footsteps in front of the door disappeared.

I sighed in relief just as something tapped on my window. I screamed bloody murder as a car drove past my house, illuminating the person at my window in an eerie, stalker-esque kind of way.

+++++++

In case it had tickled your fancy, it had been Cameron at my window. That was twenty minutes ago. Currently, she was laughing out loud at my problem. Apparently my mom molesting Frank was 'funny' to her. Well, anyone doing serious psychological harm to Frank was funny, I'll have to admit.

Suddenly, Cameron struck a very serious expression and stopped laughing. "But now she knows you're dating Frank?"

I scowled at her. "I am not dating Frank!"

She began laughing all over again at my aghast expression. "Chill out Ave, I was just kidding."

I didn't find it that funny...

"I don't think it's that funny," I grumbled, crossing my arms over my chest and pouting out the window.

"Oh come on Ava, I don't know why you're so against the idea! It's not like he's horribly disfigured or anything, he's pretty hot you know."

At Cameron's proclamation, I covered my ears. "You didn't just say that, and I didn't hear it," I yelled, humming loud enough to tune out Cameron's voice.

Just then, a pounding sound broke through my covered ears, and I stopped humming. "Ava? Are you okay?"

It was my mom.

"I'm coming in Ava," she announced.

Cameron and I looked at each other with the same wide-eyed expression. Quickly, the both of use stood, and began panicking quietly in the middle of my room. "Shit!" Cameron hissed, darting from my bed to my window.

"Hurry! Hide! You're not supposed to be in here!" I told her quietly, not doing a thing to help hide her.

Stopping her tracks, Cameron turned to me and sent me a disbelieving look. "What do you think I was trying to do?"

I snorted at her rhetorical question. "Bitch," I mumbled.

"And so are you," she hissed, "but we can solve that later. HIDE ME!"

"Ava," my mom interrupted, fiddling with the lock. "Why is this door locked? Are you okay?"

"Mom, I'm fine," I yelled, "everything's okay."

My mom seemed to buy it, as everything went quiet. However, god must have sick sense of humor, because not even five seconds later, Cameron screamed bloody murder.

Hearing the scream, my mom started pounding on the door again. "Ava? Open this door this instant young lady."

I started panicking once again. My mom was going to break down the door and Cameron was still standing in plain view. "Get in the closet!" I hissed, pushing her towards the closet.

"But there's a spider!" She attempted feebly, allowing me to push her towards the closet.

"It can't be that -" Just then something touched my foot. Normally, my room is fairly clean, so I know I'm not just running into something that was haphazardly thrown across the floor. Cameron and I let out a unified scream as I jumped back and started waving around madly.

"It touched me!" I yelled, completely grossed out, "it really, really touched me!"

Cameron, being the brave soul she is, threw something at the spider. That spider, however, was still on my foot, and that thing she threw was a hardcover book. You do the math.

"Fuck/!" I yelled, swiping at my foot, and /hopefully getting the spider off. I picked the book to throw back across the room at Cameron, when someone literally broke down my door.

A stream of light entered my still dark room, as I turned around and yelped. There, standing in my door way, their shoulders protruding outwards as if they had body checked the door open, was Frank and Gerard. My mother and Mikey were standing behind them, their mouths wide open.

My mother looked from me, to Cameron, to the hardcover book in my hand. Needless to say I was grounded again.