FicWad

Your Dreams And Your Hopeless Hair

"Dude, the teacher said to draw your dream deferred," Gerard whispered as he looked at the angel I was starting to sketch.
"And that's exactly what I am doing. And my name's not 'dude'" He shrugged and went back to his drawing of...a drawing.
"Why are you drawing that, Gee? You're good at art." A boy about the same age as Gerard(and with enormous hair) took a seat next to him.
"Nice girlfriend, huh Gerard?" He pushed the boy out of his chair.
"This is Ray," Gerard sighed. He was obviously getting tired of me being called his girlfriend.
"Nice hair," Ray nodded in approval. Gerard reached for a black pastel and put a big 'X' in the middle the easel he was drawing. Starting a new school in the middle of the second quarter couldn't possibly help my grade any. Relentless, I spent the rest of the period learning more about Gerard and Ray. Unfortunately, Gerard wasn't in my next class, Science, but Ray was able to manage.
I ran into the classroom, running late as usual, and sat down next to Ray. He was the only one in the classroom that I recognized, besides the girl who had given me grief earlier.
"I'm not sure I got your name. Was it...Amber?" Ray began rummaging through the box of supplies our teacher gave us to do our experiment.
"Autumn. Autumn Apples." I cringed at the sound of my new last name.
"I think there's a store around here with that name..." I rolled my eyes.
"You're just as bad as Gerard. And - what the hell are you doing?" Ray had taken a match from the box, lit it, and was now waving it under his nose.
"Matches are fun!" he giggled. I started to measure out the alcohol for our burner, when I heard Ray start screaming.
"Oh what now - Holy fuck, your hair's on fire!" Indeed, what had used to be his 'fro was now living hell.
"NO SHIT!!!" he shrieked as he tried to pat the fire out with his hands. I dashed to the front of the classroom and filled a bucket. All the other students were cheering me on, like it was some sort of Olympic sport. I grabbed the bucket by the bottom and dumped it onto Ray's head. Just the sight of him was priceless: soaked to the skin, his face was completely blank, and there was an almost comical singe of smoke drifting from the top of his head.
"And that," I pointed at my poor friend, "Is what you don't play with matches." As if on cue, the students started clapping. I took a bow, and sat down.
"All the world's your stage..." Ray muttered as he marched down to the office. I didn't see him until lunch, where I met up with Gerard and yet another boy. He was slightly smaller than the rest of us, and was hunched over a book, deep in thought. His glassed were clinging to his nose for dear life.
"Hey, Autumn." Gerard pulled up a chair for me to sit down.
"Hey. Who's this?" I motioned to the glasses boy.
"We call this one Mikey. He's my younger brother."
"Doesn't he look a bit young to be in ninth grade?" I whispered, trying not to draw Mikey's attention. Gerard looked a bit confused for a minute, then caught on to what I was saying.
"He really should be in eighth grade, but he was too smart for junior high. Right Mikey?" He waited a few seconds before responding.
"...huh?" We laughed, but none of us were ready for what Ray was about to bring. He came into the cafeteria with a brown paper bag over his head, ashamed of the current state of his hair.
"What the hell...?" Gerard pulled the paper bag off Ray's head, and fell out of his chair. Most of Ray's 'fro was still there, besides the fact that there was an inverse Mohawk right in the middle of it.
"DUDE! You really fucked up this time, didn't you?"
"Get up, Gerard. I'll tell you what really happened..."