FicWad

The next few weeks were filled with school and homework like any other high school student's life, but it seemed to be more bearable for me than my previous school years. I was finally able to take more of the electives I wanted, I had a couple of regularly scheduled study halls, and the best part was that I had at least one class with Katie or one of the guys. In addition to Frank being in a lot of my classes in addition to my chemistry class, Ray was in my English class and Bob was in my history class, but creative writing was the best because Katie, Mikey, Gerard and I all had it together. Honestly, going to school knowing that my friends would be in the same classes as me was worth getting up in the morning for.

Still, despite all the happiness I felt, there were always the hardships that I was forced to deal with. I had never been on the "popular" side of the spectrum, and in the social hierarchy of high school, that's a pretty strong mark against you. At least it wasn't as bad as it had been when I was younger.

One Friday afternoon towards the end of September, we were sitting around the table eating lunch when Gerard asked me something. "Valerie, do you like music?"

"Duh." I grinned. "Who doesn't like music?"

"Sorry." Gerard laughed. He has such an adorable laugh, I thought. "What I meant to ask is do you like listening to bands play?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I was wondering, well, we were all wondering if you and Katie would want to come watch us practice."

"Practice?"

"Oh crap, yet another thing I forgot to tell you. The five of us are in a band."

"Cool! What do you all play?"

"I do vocals, Frank's on rhythm guitar, Ray's on lead guitar, Mikey's on bass, and Bob's on drums. And our band's name is My Chemical Romance."

"That's an awesome name! Who came up with it?"

"I did." Mikey grinned proudly.

"But, um, we're not sure if you girls will like the music we do." Ray said timidly.

"Why?" Katie asked.

"Our music is really dark, and there's this strong metal undertone to it because those are the kind of bands we're all influenced by."

"That's all?" Katie smiled. "Guys, Valerie and I listen to pretty much everything, so I'm sure we'll like what you play."

"Oh, okay." Frank looked relieved.

Gerard looked at me thoughtfully. "I never thought you were the type to listen to rock, Valerie."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I thought you just listened to pop and stuff like that."

"I do sometimes, but rock's more my style. I don't like listening to just one type of music, it gets boring after a while and I like to see what else is out there. Why were you guys so worried about our music tastes, though?" I asked.

"Mostly because everyone at our old school back in New Jersey hated our music." Bob explained. "We tried playing for them at this one place, but halfway through the first song they booed us off the stage."

"Preps?" Katie asked.

"Preps." Mikey nodded.

I nodded sympathetically. "That must've hurt."

Gerard shrugged. "It did at first, but when we got home we decided that we were still going to do our own thing regardless of how the preppy people felt. It doesn't..."

Gerard's voice trailed off and I looked up to see why we were all silent. A girl with long blonde hair wearing a tight pink top, skinny jeans and designer shoes, purse and jewelry was standing there. She was practically a clone of that Regina George character from Mean Girls, complete with the attitude. She just stared at all of us with nothing but distaste, but her gaze seemed to stay on me longer than on anyone else. Finally she just scoffed and went to sit across the room where the other preppy people were.

"Dare I ask who that was?" Ray asked me.

"That was Bianca Simmons, and she hates people like you more than anything else in the world." I answered. "She started her freshman year with us, and she has been turning her nose up at me since day one."

"Does she know who you guys are yet?" Katie asked.

"She does, and she's never afraid to throw taunts at us, she does so on a regular basis." Frank nodded. "But we're so used to stuff like that that we've learned how to tune it out."

"So...would you both like to come and watch us practice after school today?" Gerard finally asked, breaking the long silence that had resulted from our encounter.

"We'd love to." Katie grinned.

"You're sure your parents won't freak?" I asked.

"To be honest, they're too used to it to care anymore." Gerard laughed gently, and I felt more at ease with the whole thing.

*

The end of the day couldn't seem to come soon enough. When the bell finally rang I met up with everyone at the main entrance and we went to where Gerard's van was parked. It was a bit of a squeeze, but we arrived unharmed. Upon entering the garage Katie and I saw that two guitars and a drum set were all set up and ready for use. There was a couch propped up against the wall, and Katie and I took seats there while the guys instinctively headed for their instruments. After ten minutes they were all tuned and set up.

"Welcome ladies to the first My Chemical Romance open band practice." Gerard said in a calm voice, his voice booming through the mic. "This song is called Vampires Will Never Hurt You."

Right on cue, Bob got the song started with a steady but interesting drumbeat and was followed by Mikey on his bass. Frank and Ray then joined in with their guitars. Gerard was looking down that entire time, and when he looked up he sang in almost a whisper.

"And if they get me and the sun
Goes down into the ground.
And if they get me take this spike to my heart
And if they get me and the sun goes down.
And if they get me take this spike, and
You put the spike in my heart!"

Gerard's vocals went from whispers to screaming, back and forth throughout the course of the song. He seemed to be putting his heart and soul into the performance, and to me he seemed even more beautiful when he was performing. Watching him sent shivers down my spine, especially when he and I made eye contact more than once. Frank, Ray, Mikey and Bob were just as into the song as Gerard was. With their eyes closed, they just let the music take full control of them. Katie and I grinned, the message was clear: we loved it. When the song ended, Katie and I jumped to our feet applauding and whooping.

"You liked it?" Gerard asked hopefully, clearly speaking for the rest of the band as much as he was for himself.

"We loved it! You guys are awesome!" I grinned. "Do you guys think you'll ever play a show here?"

"We want to, but we don't know any place we could play at." Frank admitted.

Suddenly, Katie grinned and I could see the cogs working in her mind. "You know, the musician's club at school is organizing another Coffee House."

"What's that?" Gerard asked.

"It's this benefit concert that the musician's club puts together every so often. A lot of local student bands perform at these things, and the turnout is usually pretty good. You guys should sign up."

Gerard exchanged looks with the guys. "You're sure any student band can sign up to perform?"

"Positive."

"Well then, count us in. Just promise us one thing?"

"What's that?"

"Promise us that you'll come and watch us? It'll be nice to know that a familiar face is out there, it'll keep us from getting nervous."

"Of course we will." I smiled.

Before we went home, Katie and I gave each other high fives. My Chemical Romance would soon have its first show for their new school.