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Gerard glanced around at the three people sitting in his bedroom. Frank was sitting cross-legged on the floor and staring up at him, though his mind seemed to be elsewhere. Ray had stolen the computer desk chair and was patiently waiting for him to speak, much happier now that his hair had dried. Mikey was sitting on his bed and staring intently at the floor. He himself was standing and, just for a second, looking out the window. The rain had stopped, though clouds still hung low in the sky. A perfect compliment to his emotions.

"I'm sure you've all noticed I wasn't in the greatest of moods today," he said monotonously.

"No, really?" Frank asked sarcastically.

"Frank, now's not the time," Ray said through his teeth. Frank obediently shut his mouth. Gerard finally turned around.

"Matt's moving away."

"What!" Frank said in shock. Ray looked on incredulously, while Mikey seemed oblivious to his brother's words. It didn't surprise him that much.

"Which is why I think we should do something nice for him."

"Nice as in what, Gerard?" Ray asked suspiciously.

"He wants to blow up the school," Mikey offered. Gerard scowled at him for speaking out of turn, but Mikey never looked up to see his brother's reaction. Frank and Ray smiled at his words regardless of his older brother's opinion.

"Unfortunately, I don't think that's possible just yet. But I have a plan."

'Of course you do,' thought Mikey sadly. 'You always have a plan.' He didn't even bother to listen to it, standing and taking two steps toward the door. Gerard roughly grabbed his shoulder and spun him around, but Mikey shrugged it off and left anyway. Gerard narrowed his eyes.

"What's up with Mikey?" Frank asked in a worried tone.

"I'm not sure...don't worry about it. We've only got two days to pull this off," said Gerard with a gleam of insanity in his eyes. Frank gave an evil smile, while Ray rubbed his hands together maniacally. "We're going to need a lot of peanut butter."
-
Mikey listened as his brother talked animatedly about his newest plan to Frank and Ray. It seemed well-received. Maybe it would keep them all busy long enough for him to go see how Bob was doing.

He went to the living room, sitting down on the sofa with his face in his hands. 'How could I have let this happen?' he thought. 'I let an innocent kid get hurt.' It wasn't so unusual, really. Most of Gerard's victims were innocent.

But Bob was different. Bob was the one person who had tried to be his friend.

No wonder he felt so guilty.

The front door opened, and Mikey greeted his mother as she entered. She looked tired and more than a little frazzled. A thought suddenly struck him, and he asked if he could go over to his new friend's house. His mother nodded with a smile; now she would have a little peace and quiet, though her younger son wasn't very loud to begin with. Mikey thanked her and ran down the front steps as fast as possible, hoping he could get far away before Gerard found out.

When he was a good block and a half away, Mikey pulled a crumpled piece of paper out of his pocket. Scrawled across it in barely-legible writing was Bob's address and phone number. He tentatively took out his cell phone and called, hoping nothing was seriously wrong.

"Hello?" a soft voice answered.

"Bob, is that you? You sound awful," Mikey said sadly. He heard Bob sneeze a few times.

"No broken bones...but I feel horrible. And I think I'm getting sick," he said slowly, sneezing again. Mikey frowned. Gerard shouldn't have done this.

"I know this is kind of last minute...but can I come over? I'm kind of hiding from my brother," Mikey said sheepishly, suddenly feeling embarrassed.

"Sure!" Bob said, perking up considerably. "I just got a bunch of video games, and most of them are multiplayer. Sound good to you?"

"Yeah. I'll be there in a few minutes. See ya." As he ended the call and placed the phone back in his pocket, walking down the street towards Bob's house, Mikey did something he hadn't done all day.

He smiled.