The One That Got Away
Title: The One That Got Away
Author: ljeskeemoebear
Pairing: Frank/Gerard,
Rating: NC17
Warning: Violence, drug use, character death, cutting, adult themes, language, sex.
Disclaimer: Sadly, I DO NOT own My Chemical Romance or any of the band members. :(
Summary: xx-- Frank Iero is a seventeen year old boy growing up in Belleville, New Jersey. He is already having a hard time, with all the bullying because of his size and sexuality, so living in Jersey is just kinda there to top it off. He has almost given up until Gerard Way steps in. Gerard seems to be just like Frank, into comics and Misfits, but there's something that Frank doesn't know about him. He has had quite a childhood with his brother Mikey. He has grew up in Jersey but is constantly changing schools. But, since the end of the year is nearing, he is forced to stay at Belleville High School until summer, which turns out to be not all that bad.
xx-- Him and Frank seem to be great friends, but Frank can't help feeling just a bit... Different around Gerard. It isn't at all a bad 'different', it just confuses Frank. What are these other feelings that he is having towards Gerard? Frank soon realizes that he is falling for Gerard, hard. Very hard, at that. And when summer starts to roll around, he just can't hold it back anymore. But, the sun is only barely shining through those rain clouds.
Chapter 1 : Nicotine and Faded Dreams
The sun filtered through the blinds, letting in only a few rays of sunlight. Those few rays were enough to wake me up, though. My face was pressed against the pillow and I realized that I couldn’t breathe well so I rolled over on my back and the sun blinded me. I lifted a hand to my face to block the light and that’s when it hit me.
“Shit, it’s Monday,” I curse to myself and throw my hand over the side of the bed. My bed is low to the ground so I use the floor as leverage so that I can get up. I swing my legs over the side and sit up with a grunt. The alarm clock on my little desk says 8:43am. I’m late again. I stand up and try to get my balance but end up almost falling over. After I stop feeling drunk, I walk over to my closet and pick out some random T-shirt that says something about comic books and a pair of old ripped jeans. I have my clothes on in less than a minute and I quickly walk over to the door, into the hall and to the bathroom to put on a little eyeliner.
After ten minutes of messing with my hair and then finally giving up, I’m walking out the front door and yelling bye to my mom. I throw my skateboard down and am off to the hell hole that I’d like to call High School.
I know that no matter how late I am to my first class, I’m still going to get stared at like I murdered three people so I walk lazily to Math; great way to start the day, right? When I finally reach the door, I open it slowly and try to keep my head down.
“Well, it looks like Mr. Iero has finally decided to join us,” says Mrs. Elliot in her oh, so annoying voice.
“Good morning, Mrs. Elliot,” I smile sarcastically and take my seat in the back of the class. I take out my notebook and pretend to write notes.
As soon as the bell rings, I stand up and try my best to get out the door before- “Hey, faggot!” says Mark as he shoves me out the door and then into the locker. I ball my fists up, even though I know it’s useless, and look up at him with a glare.
“What do you want, Mark?”
“Why were you late for class? Too busy making out with your boyfriend?” he teases in a really stupid voice and a few of his friends laugh.
I look back down and mutter “I don’t have a boyfriend,” just loud enough for him to hear, though.
“Aw, poor baby; can’t find any other fags?” he says loudly and a lot of people in the hallway turn around and look at us. My face almost turns red with anger and I try to shake him off but he won’t let go of my shoulders. I’m getting ready to say something when the bell rings and he releases me.
“See you in class, dumbass,” he yells and I just resituate my book-bag. I’m getting ready to walk into science when I feel a hand on my shoulder. Expecting it to be him, I turn around quickly and open my mouth to yell but then I realize that it isn’t Mark. I’d never seen this kid before. But then again, I wasn’t what you would call “popular”.
“You know, you shouldn’t let them pick on you like that,” says the boy. He’s taller than me, everyone is, and pale. He has short black hair that kind of covers his left eye and the oddest honey colored eyes. He’s wearing a plain gray T-shirt, black leather jacket and skinny jeans. He also has on a pair of High-top converse that appear to have Batman on the toe of them. I quickly return my attention to his face and step out of the way of a girl walking into the classroom.
“Yeah, well, what am I supposed to do about it?” I say quietly, feeling embarrassed. I realize that he isn’t saying anything and I look back up at him. He just stares back for a second but then holds out a hand. “I’m Gerard,” he smiles and I take his hand.
“Frank,” I shake his hand and then move my hands back to my pockets.
“Oh, you’re Frank,” he narrows his eyes and looks at me while biting his bottom lip. I kinda glance around nervously. What had he heard about me?
“Uh,” I hesitate for a second, scratching the back of my head, not knowing what to say.
“Yeah, I’m Frank. What, umm...” I trail off since I don’t know exactly how to word the question.
“Nothing, just, some guys were…-“
“Oh, yeah, it happens a lot. I’m used to being talked about,” I look at my feet and my cheeks flush with embarrassment. At least he wasn’t talking about what had happened yesterday with Mark and his friends. I move my hand up to my lip and run a finger over the cut that was now really sore. Yesterday was the first time that he’d actually hit me… Hopefully the last, too.
I look back up at Gerard and remove my hand from my face. “Did he do that?” asks Gerard in a really calm voice. I look away from his eyes again and nod slowly and let out a breath. Just then, the bell rings and the classroom door is closed. I start to walk forward and push the door open again but Gerard grabs my shoulder.
“Hey, we’re already late, why don’t we just ditch. Who needs Science anyways?” he smiles weakly and I think for a second. Then I end up smiling back and we quickly turn the corner and walk down the stairs.
“So, about this Mark kid; Why do you let him pick on you?” he turns to looks at me as we near the bottom of the stairs.
“Well, I don’t want to, but if I do anything back he’ll just beat me up,” I whisper the last part. We walk down the 11th grade hallway and I start to wonder where we’re gonna go. I’d never skipped class before.
“Look, you’re little, but I think you could do some damage,” he smiles and punches me in the shoulder which causes me to laugh my little high-pitched giggle. The laugh makes Gerard laugh too and I notice that his laugh is just as stupid as mine. I smile again and see that he’s walking out the two front doors of the school. I stop and just kinda look at him as he steps outside.
“What?” he asks me while holding the door open. I just look outside and actually wonder why I stopped in the first place.
“Nothing, I don’t’ know,” I walk out the door with him and onto the streets of Belleville, New Jersey. We don’t stray too far from the school before he starts talking again.
“So you’ve never skipped class before,” it wasn’t a question, he knew it already. “Boy, do I have a lot to teach you,” he laughed.
I smiled back. “How do you know?” I ask him jokingly, elbowing him in the side.
“Well, I can just kinda tell that you always follow the rules. It’s easy to pick out a goody-goody in a place like this,” he makes a big sweeping motion with his arms and raises his eyebrows.
It was true. This was New Jersey and there weren’t many people who did what they were supposed to and necessarily “benefited the community”. I’m not saying that I pick up trash off the side of the road on Saturdays, but I’m not as rebellious as pretty much everyone else. That’s when I realize what I’m doing. I just left school with a complete stranger and now I’m wandering the streets. Wow. But, something about this guy just made me feel like I could trust him.
“Hey, I never asked you. Have you been going to school here for long? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you,” I ask him, avoiding a stop sign.
“I just moved here last week. Today was my first day at Belleville High. But I’ve always lived in Jersey,” he says as he flips his hair out of his face. I just nod to acknowledge his answer and wait for him to say something.
“Yeah, me and my brother, Mikey, we move schools a lot, but since it’s almost summer, we’ll probably be here until the end of the year. How long have you gone to school here?” he asks.
“I went to the… Um… Queen of Peace Catholic School up until 9th Grade, and then I started going here,” I look down, really embarrassed. Catholic school made me sound like a crazy kid from Bible Country or something. I hear him laugh his strange laugh and look back up at him with a crooked smile on my face.
“Shut up!” I punch him in the shoulder and almost giggle, too.
“Oh, well, how do you like real school?” he asks, raising an eyebrow. I thought about it for a second, wondering what I actually did think of “real” school.
“It sucks ass,” I reply simply and nod my head.
“Exactly.”
I kinda just walk for a few more minutes, glancing over at him every few seconds and making sure that he’s not gonna pull a gun on me or something. Soon enough, I get over that fear and start to accept the fact that he’s not going to try to kill me. I smile at my stupidity and realize how far we’ve walked. I couldn’t see the school anymore and I wondered where we were going exactly.
“So, where are we headed? I’m kinda new to this,” I ask him, kicking a rock and then going out of my way to kick it again. He looks down at me and shrugs.
“Nowhere, really, I usually just walk around,” he says, now trying to kick the rock that I’ve been focused on for the past few seconds.
“Oh, okay.”
We continue walking for about ten more minutes before we get to that part of town that is, believe it or not, not all that bad. Just then, I remember that my mom isn’t home because of work and my dad is who knows where so I take it as an advantage.
“Dude, it’s really hot. You wanna walk over to my house?” I ask Gerard, wiping the sweat from my forehead with the back of my hand. I hadn’t even realized it was there until a few seconds ago.
“Yes, please,” he laughs and I smile back, picking up the pace a little. We get to my house in less than five minutes and I swing the door open as fast as I can, embracing the feeling of the cold air rushing from the house and onto my sweaty body. I step inside and quickly flop down on the couch, listening for a second to make sure that no one is home. Once I realize that we are completely alone, I relax a little more.
“My mom would kill me if she knew I wasn’t at school right now,” I laughed. “Hey, what are your parents like?” I ask him, but I know he’s not gonna say that they’re as uptight as my mom.
“My mom’s okay, I mean she cooks for me and stuff when she’s home, but I don’t know about my dad,” he gets this look in his eyes that makes me wonder what he’s remembering. I can’t really think of anything to say so I kinda just barely whisper “Oh.”
“It’s okay, man. No big deal,” he smiles and sits down beside me. I can’t help but keep thinking about it. What was his story? Something about him just made me want to know more. I leaned back and looked at the clock over the counter. It was almost time for school to be over. We must’ve walked for a long time.
I grunt and get up to walk over to the fridge. I get out a Dr. Pepper and ask him if he wants one. “Yeah, sure, throw me one,” he holds out his hands and I throw one to him. He catches it but it’s really clumsy and I can’t help but smile. He rolls his eyes at me and I walk back over to the couch.
As soon as he opens the can, it spews everywhere, just as I thought. I start laughing and holding my hands out to cover my face and he holds his arms out to keep it away from him, too. But, too late, his shirt is already soaked and so is mine. We both just laugh hysterically and wait for the drink to stop attacking us. Gerard ends up leaning on my shoulder and smiling like an idiot after about a minute of stupid giggling. We’re both soaked in sticky wetness and I look at Gerard, waiting for him to blame me.
“What the hell?!” he yells, giggling afterwards.
“Hey, you told me to throw it,” I push him off of me and get up and start to take off my shirt but then I stop.
“You know, you probably need to change,” I tell him and then pull the shirt off. I throw it up the stairs and hope that it’ll land by my bedroom door. Fail.
“Here, come upstairs and I’ll get you something,” I say to him, even though he seems to be paying no attention whatsoever. He’s just staring at my stomach. “What?” I ask him, turning to the side to block his view.
“Sorry, you just…” he looks back up at my face. “You have a lot of tattoos,” he says.
“And?” I ask him, wondering why he’s so entranced by my tattoos.
“I-I’m s-scared of needles so I don’t have any piercing or tattoos, at all,” he stands up and looks me up and down one more time. I notice that he really doesn’t.
“Oh, well, that sucks. Maybe I need to teach you a few things,” I laugh and walk up the stairs to my room.
After rummaging around in my closet for a shirt that I don’t necessarily want anymore, I finally find an old Iron Maiden shirt that is still, and always will be, too big for me. “Here,” I throw it to him and then get out another one for me.
“Thanks,” he smiles lightly and removes his own shirt. I look at the clock again and know that the final bell is probably ringing right about now. I slump down onto the bed and lay down, genuinely tired from the walk. For some reason, I just thought skateboarding required less energy, which it definitely didn’t. Then I remember that my stuff is at school.
“Crap! I left my skateboard at school. I probably need to go get it,” I say slowly and get up. Gerard nods and gets up from the desk.
“But, hey, we’re probably gonna have to sneak around a little. Unless there’s something going on after school, students aren’t allowed in the building after hours,” he bites his lip. “And it’s gonna take about thirty minutes to get back to school.”
I think for a second and then I have a plan. “Okay, let’s go in through the cafeteria and then go up that staircase just outside of there. Then we just have to get through the 12th grade hall because my locker is on the other side of that hallway,” I roll my eyes. Why couldn’t some nerd club be meeting after school today?
“Okay, let’s go,” he grins and I do, too. Sneaking into the school sounded like fun. I just hope we don’t get caught.
I run down the stairs and jump down when there’s only three steps left. Gerard follows quickly and I open the door, waiting for him to go out first. Once we’re on the sidewalk, I start walking again, but kinda fast. Gerard steps up beside me and I see him pull out a pack of cigarettes. “You smoke?” he asks me, holding out one for me to take, already lit.
“Yeah,” Truth is, I hadn’t smoked for a year or two. But I took the cigarette anyways. I took a long drag and tried my best not to cough, getting used to the smoke in my lungs again. He gets out another and lights it for himself.
We start to walk slower and soon enough, the nicotine sets in and I feel really relaxed. I wasn’t really stressed in the first place, but now I just feel like I could do anything and get away with it. I wonder why I had stopped smoking in the first place.
“We’re here,” whispers Gerard, and I jump. I’d sort of gotten lost in my thoughts and didn’t even realize that we had been walking for long enough to get there. I look at the school, back at him, and then to the school again.
“Okay, the cafeteria is right over there, so we just gotta get past the freakin’ window walls,” I laugh and point to the side of the school made up completely of windows. I look in and see that there isn’t even anyone in there.
“Well, that was easy,” he laughs and starts to jog towards the side of the school. I flick my cigarette butt into the street and follow. We get to the cafeteria doors and I grab the handle.
“Please don’t be locked,” I close my eyes and pull. The door opens! “Okay, we’re good, let’s go,” I step in and observe the big, open room; No one. I run forward and then fall to the floor in a ninja roll and then strike a Spider-man pose as I get back up to my knees. Gerard laughs loudly and then quickly covers his mouth. I just look at him like You idiot! And he gives me the same look back. I let out a little giggle and get off of the ground.
I walk over to the other doors and walk quietly into the hall, motioning Gerard forward. He steps out to stand beside me and then whispers something. “What?” I say a little louder.
He grabs the back of my head and presses his other hand to my mouth and gives me the death glare. Finally, he lets go and points to the other end of the hall. A janitor is whistling and mopping the floors. My eyes widen as he starts to turn around and then I’m jerked into the stairwell, out of sight.
“You dumbass, come on,” he says and I frown, offended, but then his serious face turn into a grin and he puts his hand over his mouth to stifle a laugh. I just smile and am dragged up the stairs. Once, we reach the top, we put our backs to the wall and I poke my head around the corner. I don’t see anyone.
I nod to Gerard and then silently tell him to go to the other side and hide behind the other little wall. He nods back and then silently runs over.I smile at how funny he looks when he gets to the other side and presses his back to the wall. He looks at me and smiles and almost laughs but then stops himself. He nods me over to the other little wall and I look around for a second and then run over. We continue the process until we get to the other end of the hallway.
“Okay, hurry,” he whispers and I duck down to open my locker. I get the combination wrong about 3 times and I’m starting to get nervous when the locker finally opens and I pull out my board and book bag. I slam it on accident and wince when I hear the noise.
“Shit!” I curse and he pulls me up by my arm.
“Come on!” he whisper-screams back and I start running when I hear footsteps coming up the other staircase. I can’t help but laugh when Gee falls and dramatically reaches out to me.
“Just leave me, Frank. Get out of here!” he makes a fake sad face and I laugh out loud and pull him up by his arm, when who other than Mrs. Elliot comes around the corner.
“Hey! You boys aren’t supposed to be up here!” she yells at us as we run off and I catch a glimpse of Gerard giving her the finger when I start to step quickly down the stairs. I let out another laugh and so does he, following me just as fast. We make it to the bottom in .02 seconds and make a run for the front doors.
Mrs. Elliot is still yelling from the top of the stairs, not being able to follow because of her high heels. I throw myself out of the front door and do yet another ninja roll, followed by Gerard. We get up and shake the grass off of us as soon as we’re out of the schoolyard.
We look at each other with blank expressions for a few seconds and then both burst out laughing. I fall to the ground and Gerard literally jumps on top of me. I grunt and push him off and he starts laughing even more.
Then we hear Mrs. Elliot yet again. “Oh, shit,” I jump up and we start running toward my house. I swear we don’t stop until we get to my road, even though she obviously isn’t going to follow us. I ride my skateboard the rest of the way with Gerard trailing behind. When we get back into my house, we both collapse on the couch.
“You know what I just realized?” I ask him, out of breath and sweaty.
“Yeah?” he’s smiling and panting.
“We met like four hours ago…” I give him a crooked smile and then raise an eyebrow. He kinda just looks at me and then makes a weird face.
“Yeah, wow. I usually don’t make friends this easily,” he laughs and it ends in a coughing fit.
I giggle at him and he pushes me over. I flop down onto the armrest and put my feet up on the couch.
“So, do you have to go home?” I ask him, hoping he says no. I don’t usually make friends this easily, either.
“Yeah, I gotta take care of my little bro. He’s probably wondering where I am. But, maybe we can hang out this weekend?” he asks, standing up. I frown and fake pout.
“M’kay,” I trail off sadly. I really am kinda upset that he can’t stay.
He makes a fake sad face at me but then chuckles a little. “Do you have a cellphone?” he asks me and I grab it out of my back pocket.
“Yeah, what’s your number?” he tells me and I punch in the number. “Okay, I’ll text you later,” I look up from the phone and slide it closed.
He smiles. “Okay,” then he starts to walk towards the door.
“Thanks for the shirt!” he yells over his shoulder and I yell back a “You’re welcome,” and he closes the door.
I jump up and run upstairs to my room. I lie down on the bed and look up at the ceiling and then out the window. I can see him walking away and I smile and open my phone. No, I wasn’t gonna text him yet, I would seem weird. “I’ll text him tonight,” I say to myself and lay the phone on my chest.
Gerard was cool. He sort of reminded me of myself. But, there was something about him that was just so interesting. When I thought of him, the first thing that came to mind was almost like… Fantasies. No, not like that. I mean, he was so care-free. He made me feel like I was dreaming and there were no consequences. Then again, that might just be the nicotine talking. But the dreams weren’t totally… There. It was like one minute I felt like that and the next, I felt like I would be caught any second.
So, I finally decided that he reminds me of nicotine and faded dreams.
As I mentally play the day over again in my head, I start to doze off and soon enough, I’m asleep.
Author: ljeskeemoebear
Pairing: Frank/Gerard,
Rating: NC17
Warning: Violence, drug use, character death, cutting, adult themes, language, sex.
Disclaimer: Sadly, I DO NOT own My Chemical Romance or any of the band members. :(
Summary: xx-- Frank Iero is a seventeen year old boy growing up in Belleville, New Jersey. He is already having a hard time, with all the bullying because of his size and sexuality, so living in Jersey is just kinda there to top it off. He has almost given up until Gerard Way steps in. Gerard seems to be just like Frank, into comics and Misfits, but there's something that Frank doesn't know about him. He has had quite a childhood with his brother Mikey. He has grew up in Jersey but is constantly changing schools. But, since the end of the year is nearing, he is forced to stay at Belleville High School until summer, which turns out to be not all that bad.
xx-- Him and Frank seem to be great friends, but Frank can't help feeling just a bit... Different around Gerard. It isn't at all a bad 'different', it just confuses Frank. What are these other feelings that he is having towards Gerard? Frank soon realizes that he is falling for Gerard, hard. Very hard, at that. And when summer starts to roll around, he just can't hold it back anymore. But, the sun is only barely shining through those rain clouds.
Chapter 1 : Nicotine and Faded Dreams
The sun filtered through the blinds, letting in only a few rays of sunlight. Those few rays were enough to wake me up, though. My face was pressed against the pillow and I realized that I couldn’t breathe well so I rolled over on my back and the sun blinded me. I lifted a hand to my face to block the light and that’s when it hit me.
“Shit, it’s Monday,” I curse to myself and throw my hand over the side of the bed. My bed is low to the ground so I use the floor as leverage so that I can get up. I swing my legs over the side and sit up with a grunt. The alarm clock on my little desk says 8:43am. I’m late again. I stand up and try to get my balance but end up almost falling over. After I stop feeling drunk, I walk over to my closet and pick out some random T-shirt that says something about comic books and a pair of old ripped jeans. I have my clothes on in less than a minute and I quickly walk over to the door, into the hall and to the bathroom to put on a little eyeliner.
After ten minutes of messing with my hair and then finally giving up, I’m walking out the front door and yelling bye to my mom. I throw my skateboard down and am off to the hell hole that I’d like to call High School.
I know that no matter how late I am to my first class, I’m still going to get stared at like I murdered three people so I walk lazily to Math; great way to start the day, right? When I finally reach the door, I open it slowly and try to keep my head down.
“Well, it looks like Mr. Iero has finally decided to join us,” says Mrs. Elliot in her oh, so annoying voice.
“Good morning, Mrs. Elliot,” I smile sarcastically and take my seat in the back of the class. I take out my notebook and pretend to write notes.
As soon as the bell rings, I stand up and try my best to get out the door before- “Hey, faggot!” says Mark as he shoves me out the door and then into the locker. I ball my fists up, even though I know it’s useless, and look up at him with a glare.
“What do you want, Mark?”
“Why were you late for class? Too busy making out with your boyfriend?” he teases in a really stupid voice and a few of his friends laugh.
I look back down and mutter “I don’t have a boyfriend,” just loud enough for him to hear, though.
“Aw, poor baby; can’t find any other fags?” he says loudly and a lot of people in the hallway turn around and look at us. My face almost turns red with anger and I try to shake him off but he won’t let go of my shoulders. I’m getting ready to say something when the bell rings and he releases me.
“See you in class, dumbass,” he yells and I just resituate my book-bag. I’m getting ready to walk into science when I feel a hand on my shoulder. Expecting it to be him, I turn around quickly and open my mouth to yell but then I realize that it isn’t Mark. I’d never seen this kid before. But then again, I wasn’t what you would call “popular”.
“You know, you shouldn’t let them pick on you like that,” says the boy. He’s taller than me, everyone is, and pale. He has short black hair that kind of covers his left eye and the oddest honey colored eyes. He’s wearing a plain gray T-shirt, black leather jacket and skinny jeans. He also has on a pair of High-top converse that appear to have Batman on the toe of them. I quickly return my attention to his face and step out of the way of a girl walking into the classroom.
“Yeah, well, what am I supposed to do about it?” I say quietly, feeling embarrassed. I realize that he isn’t saying anything and I look back up at him. He just stares back for a second but then holds out a hand. “I’m Gerard,” he smiles and I take his hand.
“Frank,” I shake his hand and then move my hands back to my pockets.
“Oh, you’re Frank,” he narrows his eyes and looks at me while biting his bottom lip. I kinda glance around nervously. What had he heard about me?
“Uh,” I hesitate for a second, scratching the back of my head, not knowing what to say.
“Yeah, I’m Frank. What, umm...” I trail off since I don’t know exactly how to word the question.
“Nothing, just, some guys were…-“
“Oh, yeah, it happens a lot. I’m used to being talked about,” I look at my feet and my cheeks flush with embarrassment. At least he wasn’t talking about what had happened yesterday with Mark and his friends. I move my hand up to my lip and run a finger over the cut that was now really sore. Yesterday was the first time that he’d actually hit me… Hopefully the last, too.
I look back up at Gerard and remove my hand from my face. “Did he do that?” asks Gerard in a really calm voice. I look away from his eyes again and nod slowly and let out a breath. Just then, the bell rings and the classroom door is closed. I start to walk forward and push the door open again but Gerard grabs my shoulder.
“Hey, we’re already late, why don’t we just ditch. Who needs Science anyways?” he smiles weakly and I think for a second. Then I end up smiling back and we quickly turn the corner and walk down the stairs.
“So, about this Mark kid; Why do you let him pick on you?” he turns to looks at me as we near the bottom of the stairs.
“Well, I don’t want to, but if I do anything back he’ll just beat me up,” I whisper the last part. We walk down the 11th grade hallway and I start to wonder where we’re gonna go. I’d never skipped class before.
“Look, you’re little, but I think you could do some damage,” he smiles and punches me in the shoulder which causes me to laugh my little high-pitched giggle. The laugh makes Gerard laugh too and I notice that his laugh is just as stupid as mine. I smile again and see that he’s walking out the two front doors of the school. I stop and just kinda look at him as he steps outside.
“What?” he asks me while holding the door open. I just look outside and actually wonder why I stopped in the first place.
“Nothing, I don’t’ know,” I walk out the door with him and onto the streets of Belleville, New Jersey. We don’t stray too far from the school before he starts talking again.
“So you’ve never skipped class before,” it wasn’t a question, he knew it already. “Boy, do I have a lot to teach you,” he laughed.
I smiled back. “How do you know?” I ask him jokingly, elbowing him in the side.
“Well, I can just kinda tell that you always follow the rules. It’s easy to pick out a goody-goody in a place like this,” he makes a big sweeping motion with his arms and raises his eyebrows.
It was true. This was New Jersey and there weren’t many people who did what they were supposed to and necessarily “benefited the community”. I’m not saying that I pick up trash off the side of the road on Saturdays, but I’m not as rebellious as pretty much everyone else. That’s when I realize what I’m doing. I just left school with a complete stranger and now I’m wandering the streets. Wow. But, something about this guy just made me feel like I could trust him.
“Hey, I never asked you. Have you been going to school here for long? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you,” I ask him, avoiding a stop sign.
“I just moved here last week. Today was my first day at Belleville High. But I’ve always lived in Jersey,” he says as he flips his hair out of his face. I just nod to acknowledge his answer and wait for him to say something.
“Yeah, me and my brother, Mikey, we move schools a lot, but since it’s almost summer, we’ll probably be here until the end of the year. How long have you gone to school here?” he asks.
“I went to the… Um… Queen of Peace Catholic School up until 9th Grade, and then I started going here,” I look down, really embarrassed. Catholic school made me sound like a crazy kid from Bible Country or something. I hear him laugh his strange laugh and look back up at him with a crooked smile on my face.
“Shut up!” I punch him in the shoulder and almost giggle, too.
“Oh, well, how do you like real school?” he asks, raising an eyebrow. I thought about it for a second, wondering what I actually did think of “real” school.
“It sucks ass,” I reply simply and nod my head.
“Exactly.”
I kinda just walk for a few more minutes, glancing over at him every few seconds and making sure that he’s not gonna pull a gun on me or something. Soon enough, I get over that fear and start to accept the fact that he’s not going to try to kill me. I smile at my stupidity and realize how far we’ve walked. I couldn’t see the school anymore and I wondered where we were going exactly.
“So, where are we headed? I’m kinda new to this,” I ask him, kicking a rock and then going out of my way to kick it again. He looks down at me and shrugs.
“Nowhere, really, I usually just walk around,” he says, now trying to kick the rock that I’ve been focused on for the past few seconds.
“Oh, okay.”
We continue walking for about ten more minutes before we get to that part of town that is, believe it or not, not all that bad. Just then, I remember that my mom isn’t home because of work and my dad is who knows where so I take it as an advantage.
“Dude, it’s really hot. You wanna walk over to my house?” I ask Gerard, wiping the sweat from my forehead with the back of my hand. I hadn’t even realized it was there until a few seconds ago.
“Yes, please,” he laughs and I smile back, picking up the pace a little. We get to my house in less than five minutes and I swing the door open as fast as I can, embracing the feeling of the cold air rushing from the house and onto my sweaty body. I step inside and quickly flop down on the couch, listening for a second to make sure that no one is home. Once I realize that we are completely alone, I relax a little more.
“My mom would kill me if she knew I wasn’t at school right now,” I laughed. “Hey, what are your parents like?” I ask him, but I know he’s not gonna say that they’re as uptight as my mom.
“My mom’s okay, I mean she cooks for me and stuff when she’s home, but I don’t know about my dad,” he gets this look in his eyes that makes me wonder what he’s remembering. I can’t really think of anything to say so I kinda just barely whisper “Oh.”
“It’s okay, man. No big deal,” he smiles and sits down beside me. I can’t help but keep thinking about it. What was his story? Something about him just made me want to know more. I leaned back and looked at the clock over the counter. It was almost time for school to be over. We must’ve walked for a long time.
I grunt and get up to walk over to the fridge. I get out a Dr. Pepper and ask him if he wants one. “Yeah, sure, throw me one,” he holds out his hands and I throw one to him. He catches it but it’s really clumsy and I can’t help but smile. He rolls his eyes at me and I walk back over to the couch.
As soon as he opens the can, it spews everywhere, just as I thought. I start laughing and holding my hands out to cover my face and he holds his arms out to keep it away from him, too. But, too late, his shirt is already soaked and so is mine. We both just laugh hysterically and wait for the drink to stop attacking us. Gerard ends up leaning on my shoulder and smiling like an idiot after about a minute of stupid giggling. We’re both soaked in sticky wetness and I look at Gerard, waiting for him to blame me.
“What the hell?!” he yells, giggling afterwards.
“Hey, you told me to throw it,” I push him off of me and get up and start to take off my shirt but then I stop.
“You know, you probably need to change,” I tell him and then pull the shirt off. I throw it up the stairs and hope that it’ll land by my bedroom door. Fail.
“Here, come upstairs and I’ll get you something,” I say to him, even though he seems to be paying no attention whatsoever. He’s just staring at my stomach. “What?” I ask him, turning to the side to block his view.
“Sorry, you just…” he looks back up at my face. “You have a lot of tattoos,” he says.
“And?” I ask him, wondering why he’s so entranced by my tattoos.
“I-I’m s-scared of needles so I don’t have any piercing or tattoos, at all,” he stands up and looks me up and down one more time. I notice that he really doesn’t.
“Oh, well, that sucks. Maybe I need to teach you a few things,” I laugh and walk up the stairs to my room.
After rummaging around in my closet for a shirt that I don’t necessarily want anymore, I finally find an old Iron Maiden shirt that is still, and always will be, too big for me. “Here,” I throw it to him and then get out another one for me.
“Thanks,” he smiles lightly and removes his own shirt. I look at the clock again and know that the final bell is probably ringing right about now. I slump down onto the bed and lay down, genuinely tired from the walk. For some reason, I just thought skateboarding required less energy, which it definitely didn’t. Then I remember that my stuff is at school.
“Crap! I left my skateboard at school. I probably need to go get it,” I say slowly and get up. Gerard nods and gets up from the desk.
“But, hey, we’re probably gonna have to sneak around a little. Unless there’s something going on after school, students aren’t allowed in the building after hours,” he bites his lip. “And it’s gonna take about thirty minutes to get back to school.”
I think for a second and then I have a plan. “Okay, let’s go in through the cafeteria and then go up that staircase just outside of there. Then we just have to get through the 12th grade hall because my locker is on the other side of that hallway,” I roll my eyes. Why couldn’t some nerd club be meeting after school today?
“Okay, let’s go,” he grins and I do, too. Sneaking into the school sounded like fun. I just hope we don’t get caught.
I run down the stairs and jump down when there’s only three steps left. Gerard follows quickly and I open the door, waiting for him to go out first. Once we’re on the sidewalk, I start walking again, but kinda fast. Gerard steps up beside me and I see him pull out a pack of cigarettes. “You smoke?” he asks me, holding out one for me to take, already lit.
“Yeah,” Truth is, I hadn’t smoked for a year or two. But I took the cigarette anyways. I took a long drag and tried my best not to cough, getting used to the smoke in my lungs again. He gets out another and lights it for himself.
We start to walk slower and soon enough, the nicotine sets in and I feel really relaxed. I wasn’t really stressed in the first place, but now I just feel like I could do anything and get away with it. I wonder why I had stopped smoking in the first place.
“We’re here,” whispers Gerard, and I jump. I’d sort of gotten lost in my thoughts and didn’t even realize that we had been walking for long enough to get there. I look at the school, back at him, and then to the school again.
“Okay, the cafeteria is right over there, so we just gotta get past the freakin’ window walls,” I laugh and point to the side of the school made up completely of windows. I look in and see that there isn’t even anyone in there.
“Well, that was easy,” he laughs and starts to jog towards the side of the school. I flick my cigarette butt into the street and follow. We get to the cafeteria doors and I grab the handle.
“Please don’t be locked,” I close my eyes and pull. The door opens! “Okay, we’re good, let’s go,” I step in and observe the big, open room; No one. I run forward and then fall to the floor in a ninja roll and then strike a Spider-man pose as I get back up to my knees. Gerard laughs loudly and then quickly covers his mouth. I just look at him like You idiot! And he gives me the same look back. I let out a little giggle and get off of the ground.
I walk over to the other doors and walk quietly into the hall, motioning Gerard forward. He steps out to stand beside me and then whispers something. “What?” I say a little louder.
He grabs the back of my head and presses his other hand to my mouth and gives me the death glare. Finally, he lets go and points to the other end of the hall. A janitor is whistling and mopping the floors. My eyes widen as he starts to turn around and then I’m jerked into the stairwell, out of sight.
“You dumbass, come on,” he says and I frown, offended, but then his serious face turn into a grin and he puts his hand over his mouth to stifle a laugh. I just smile and am dragged up the stairs. Once, we reach the top, we put our backs to the wall and I poke my head around the corner. I don’t see anyone.
I nod to Gerard and then silently tell him to go to the other side and hide behind the other little wall. He nods back and then silently runs over.I smile at how funny he looks when he gets to the other side and presses his back to the wall. He looks at me and smiles and almost laughs but then stops himself. He nods me over to the other little wall and I look around for a second and then run over. We continue the process until we get to the other end of the hallway.
“Okay, hurry,” he whispers and I duck down to open my locker. I get the combination wrong about 3 times and I’m starting to get nervous when the locker finally opens and I pull out my board and book bag. I slam it on accident and wince when I hear the noise.
“Shit!” I curse and he pulls me up by my arm.
“Come on!” he whisper-screams back and I start running when I hear footsteps coming up the other staircase. I can’t help but laugh when Gee falls and dramatically reaches out to me.
“Just leave me, Frank. Get out of here!” he makes a fake sad face and I laugh out loud and pull him up by his arm, when who other than Mrs. Elliot comes around the corner.
“Hey! You boys aren’t supposed to be up here!” she yells at us as we run off and I catch a glimpse of Gerard giving her the finger when I start to step quickly down the stairs. I let out another laugh and so does he, following me just as fast. We make it to the bottom in .02 seconds and make a run for the front doors.
Mrs. Elliot is still yelling from the top of the stairs, not being able to follow because of her high heels. I throw myself out of the front door and do yet another ninja roll, followed by Gerard. We get up and shake the grass off of us as soon as we’re out of the schoolyard.
We look at each other with blank expressions for a few seconds and then both burst out laughing. I fall to the ground and Gerard literally jumps on top of me. I grunt and push him off and he starts laughing even more.
Then we hear Mrs. Elliot yet again. “Oh, shit,” I jump up and we start running toward my house. I swear we don’t stop until we get to my road, even though she obviously isn’t going to follow us. I ride my skateboard the rest of the way with Gerard trailing behind. When we get back into my house, we both collapse on the couch.
“You know what I just realized?” I ask him, out of breath and sweaty.
“Yeah?” he’s smiling and panting.
“We met like four hours ago…” I give him a crooked smile and then raise an eyebrow. He kinda just looks at me and then makes a weird face.
“Yeah, wow. I usually don’t make friends this easily,” he laughs and it ends in a coughing fit.
I giggle at him and he pushes me over. I flop down onto the armrest and put my feet up on the couch.
“So, do you have to go home?” I ask him, hoping he says no. I don’t usually make friends this easily, either.
“Yeah, I gotta take care of my little bro. He’s probably wondering where I am. But, maybe we can hang out this weekend?” he asks, standing up. I frown and fake pout.
“M’kay,” I trail off sadly. I really am kinda upset that he can’t stay.
He makes a fake sad face at me but then chuckles a little. “Do you have a cellphone?” he asks me and I grab it out of my back pocket.
“Yeah, what’s your number?” he tells me and I punch in the number. “Okay, I’ll text you later,” I look up from the phone and slide it closed.
He smiles. “Okay,” then he starts to walk towards the door.
“Thanks for the shirt!” he yells over his shoulder and I yell back a “You’re welcome,” and he closes the door.
I jump up and run upstairs to my room. I lie down on the bed and look up at the ceiling and then out the window. I can see him walking away and I smile and open my phone. No, I wasn’t gonna text him yet, I would seem weird. “I’ll text him tonight,” I say to myself and lay the phone on my chest.
Gerard was cool. He sort of reminded me of myself. But, there was something about him that was just so interesting. When I thought of him, the first thing that came to mind was almost like… Fantasies. No, not like that. I mean, he was so care-free. He made me feel like I was dreaming and there were no consequences. Then again, that might just be the nicotine talking. But the dreams weren’t totally… There. It was like one minute I felt like that and the next, I felt like I would be caught any second.
So, I finally decided that he reminds me of nicotine and faded dreams.
As I mentally play the day over again in my head, I start to doze off and soon enough, I’m asleep.