These Friday Night Lights [3/3]
Part One | Part Two
“Ms. Asher,” the secretary drawled, walking into the principal’s office, her high pitched voice making the women sitting behind the desk cringe. “Mr. Saporta was caught flashing a bunch of freshman girls during gym again.”
The principal sighed and shook her head, pushing her glasses up farther on the bridge of her nose. “Send him in Cassadee,” she told her secretary flipping through the papers in her hands. “Oh, and told Jersey that if I see him flirting with Gabe again, I’m going to have to fire him.” She added looking up briefly to glare at the man in question, who just gave her an innocent smile and a wave from behind his desk in his office across from hers.
“Mr. Saporta, Principal Asher will see you now,” Cassadee told the senior who was sitting on one of the plush office chairs and flirting with one of the other front office ladies.
Gabe looked up when he heard his name, smiled at Cassadee and winked at the secretary he was just talking to. “It’s been nice talking to you again Ms. Kusterbeck,” Gabe flirted, wagging his fingers at the blushing brown haired women as he got up and walked towards the principal’s office. “Ah, aren’t you looking lovely today Ms. Asher.”
“Sit down Gabe,” Mr. Asher sighed, rubbing her forehead and running her fingers through her black hair.
“Yes ma’am,” the student stated with a smirk and sat down in the chair in front of the desk, but not before saluting his principal sarcastically.
The black haired principal gave the senior a tired look. “Okay, this is how it’s going to work,” she stated slamming her hands on her desk and leaning forward on her arms, just a little, to get leverage. Gabe snuck a peek down the front of her low cut blouse. “You sir are going to go to detention tomorrow, Wednesday, Thursday, and Monday of next week. You’re not going to get into any trouble for at least the next week and a half, and I’m going to enjoy having two weeks of no trouble. Understand?”
“Yes ma’am,” Gabe repeated, grinning at his flushed principal.
Ms. Asher sighed in relief. “Good,” she mumbled sitting back down in her seat fully, straightening out the wrinkles on her skirt, and started rifling through the papers on her desk again. When she doesn’t hear the student leave, she looked up through the top of her glasses and rubbed her forehead. “You can go back to class now Mr. Saporta.”
“Yes ma’am,” Gabe repeated for the last time, getting up out of the chair and walking out the door. The black haired principal made a happy noise in the back of her throat and relaxed in her big comfy rolling chair. “Oh and by the way Ms. Asher,” Gabe purred head popping from the side of her door a few seconds later. “You look really sexy when you’re angry.” And with a wiggle of his eyebrows complete with a sexy growl, he pawed at the air and took off out of the office, giggling the whole way back to Government.
“Gabriel Eduardo Saporta!” Rung out of the open office doors as Pete walked into the school almost an hour late. He was so exhausted that he almost got trampled by Gabe who just turned and gave him a giddy smirk. The black haired boy stood there for a few extra seconds his brain wheeling, before shaking his head. He doesn’t even want to know.
Tiredly, he stumbled through the already half way open doors to see a flushed and angry Ms. Asher standing with her hands on her hips in front of Jersey’s desk. “You are really late this morning Peter.”
“I know Principal Asher,” he mumbled, shifting his backpack up higher on his aching shoulder. At her sharp look he added, “I’m sorry.”
“Please follow me Mr. Wentz,” she replied resignedly, her heels clicking on the floor as she walked back toward her office. Once they both get settled in their respected chairs, the principal links her fingers together and sets them gently on her neatly organized desk. “Now Peter,” she started, her eyes softening as Pete rubs at the purple bags under his eyes. “Why were you late this morning?”
The exhausted black haired senior let out a breath and as he ran his fingers through his hair. “Patrick and I had a fall-out this weekend,” he mumbled sadly, his eyes widening to keep the tears at bay. “We pretty much broke up and it was all my fault and he was my ride to school.”
“I’m sorry to hear that Pete,” Ms. Asher said delicately and she truly was. They were such a cute couple; plus Patrick helped keep Pete out of trouble. It was a win-win situation for her. “But, unfortunately that’s not a good enough excuse.” The senior’s face fell. He looked so pathetic that she almost lets him off the hook - almost. “I’m sorry Pete, but I’m going to have to give you detention.”
*
Bob Bryar wasn’t a very scary person - well at least Frank doesn’t think he was. He was really just a big sweaty blonde teddy bear. That is, until someone does something that makes him angry. And right now, he was really fuckin’ pissed off.
“Where is she?” the blonde snarled to a group of terrified girls, his face flush red with anger and his bright blue eyes gleaming menacingly.
Frank, who was riding on his back ‘cause he was too tired to walk, kicked his friend’s sides softly to get his attention. “Bob,” he warned flicking his ear when the blonde didn’t respond. “They’re a bunch of freshman girls,” Frank muttered, popping up from behind Bob’s shoulder to gesture with the arm not wrapped around his friend’s neck, towards the freshman shrinking away in fear. “They look like they’re about to pee their pants. Calm down.”
“Fine.” Bob said letting out such a deep sigh that jostled Frank enough that he almost slipped off and caused him to let out a very shrill girly squeak.
“Now,” Frank began, climbing down from Bob’s back gracefully and walking in between him and the freshman girls. “Do you girls happen to know who Jamia Nestor is?” All five of the girls shook their heads yes. “Do you know where she is?” he asked nicely, giving them what he hoped was a non-alarming smile.
As one of the blonde girls opened their mouth to speak, Gabe comes running out of his classroom and takes off shouting down the hallway towards them; scaring away the freshman girls they were talking too. “Frankie Iero and Bobby Bryar,” he yelled, wrapping his long arms around both men and grinning mischievously. “Just the two people I wanted to see.”
“God dammit Gabe,” Frank shouted irritably, throwing the arm around his shoulder back at its owner. “You scared away the freshman.”
Gabe gave Frank a curious look. “Why were you talking to freshman?” he asked with a raised eyebrow then shook his head. “You know what - never mind.” The AV tech ran in front of the two friends and spun around to look at them fully. “What I want to know is why you guys never told me you were together!”
Bob growled deep in his throat and glared at Gabe who was making weird cooing noises and making grabby hands at their cheeks. “We,” he whispered heatedly, gesturing back and forth from Frank to himself, then back again. “Are not dating.”
“Yeah,” Frank agreed poking Gabe in the chest, he stopped cooing and rubbed at his chest were the running back poked him. “We aren’t dating.”
Gabe laughed and shook his head in disbelief. “So, you’re telling me-” he paused to giggle again and slapped his thigh like he just heard a really funny joke. “-that Jon Walker is lying?”
Frank and Bob looked at each other quickly, eyebrows raised, than back to a smirking Gabe. “Yeah.” They said simultaneously, causing Gabe to burst out laughing again.
“Not a couple, huh?” the brown haired senior asked skeptically crossing his arms across his chest and cocking his hip. “So why did Jon Walker told me you were?”
“Jamia has been spreading around nasty rumors,” Frank told the AV tech, his hands clenching into shaking fists. “About me.”
Gabe tilted his head to the side a bit and raised his right eyebrow. “Why would she do that?” he questioned bemused, mind wandering to the nice black haired girl in question. “She’s always been really sweet to me.”
“She’s jealous.” Bob said simply, glaring at a sophomore girl that was trying to listen in to their conversation. Her green eyes widened in fear when she got caught and sped off quickly, looking over her shoulder three times before walking into a classroom down the hall.
Gabe made a go on gesture with his hands. “So…”
Bob rolled his eyes and had to hold back the urge to smack Gabe across the head. “Frank likes Gerard. Gerard likes Frank back. Jamia likes Frank. Frank doesn’t like Jamia back,” he said like he was speaking to a kindergartener. “She got jealous when Frank went to ask Gerard out and spread rumors so Gerard wouldn’t like Frank anymore.”
“And now,” Frank cut in with a smirk, slamming his fist down on his outstretched palm. “We’re trying to find her, talk to her a little bit, and hopefully get her to stop.”
“So you can get your cheerleader boyfriend!” Gabe cheered finally getting the hint. He started bouncing on his toes, clapping his hands excitedly. “How can I help?”
*
Jon’s camera was broken. His heart, oh his heart it’s shattered into a million pieces. Okay, so maybe he was exaggerating a bit.
“Oh my god.” he screamed, picking up the broken pieces of his heart scattered all over the table. “It was fine yesterday!”
Spencer came running into the graphics room shouting, “What happened? What happened? Jon are you okay!?” in a high pitched shrill voice. He just so happened to be in the journalism room - which indecently was connected to the graphics department. Spencer thought it was great ‘cause he could stare at Jon’s ass when he bent over to pick up things off the ground, while Spencer worked on his gossip column on the computer that faced Jon - chitchatting with Ryan about that rumor going around about Pete and Patrick breaking up. When he left Patrick on Saturday, he seemed happy, cheerful even. But when he saw him this morning, he looked absolutely pissed.
“My camera!” Jon cried miserably. “Someone fucking smashed my camera!” Jon whined voice slightly muffled from his place on the floor on his hands and knees searching for all of the small pieces of lens that was flung all around underneath the table.
Immediately, Spencer rushed over, crouched down to Jon’s level, and put a comforting hand on his trembling back. “It’s alright Jon; you can get a new one right?”
Jon sniffled a bit, and sat up on his knees, rubbing his hands on his pants to get some of the dust off. “I guess you’re right Spencer. Now I can get the new Nikon 3DX I saw the other day.” His face lit up at the prospect of getting a new camera.
The drum major grinned widely, happy that the camera crisis was avoided, and quipped, “Of course I am!” The shaggy brown haired boy gave his friend a watery smile and let out a small laugh. “We could go out this weekend maybe, get you that Nikon?" At the older boy’s nod, Spencer smile got brighter. “I’ll see ya later then.” He exclaimed with a wave before turning to go told Ryan.
“Wait!” Jon shouted, throwing his arm out and just missing the sleeve of Spencer’s jacket. “Maybe we could go get some coffee after school too?” he questioned in a small voice, gaze fixated on the puke green, ugly as hell tiles that decorated the floors of the school, as he got up off the ground carefully. Damn, the tiles were really hurting his knees.
Spencer spun around hastily, almost tripping over his own big feet as his face instantly flushed a dark maroon red. Once he turned around safely, he made a few small circles on the ground with the toe of his designer boots before replying softly, “I’d love to.”
Jon looked up quickly, a large grin blooming across his face. “Really?” he asked a little skeptical. He had just asked on a whim; hoping, praying that Spencer liked him too. “I mean - you know, like a date?” Spencer bit the corner of his lip to keep him from blinding Jon by the light of his beaming smile and nodded.
“So, you’ll call me later then?” Spencer basically demanded in a rush, speed walking backwards, waving around his head with his hands as he spoke. “I’ve gotta do this thing for the paper.” In a crash, he tripped over one of the rogue chairs and falls flat on his ass.
“Oh, fuck.” Jon cried, running over to his fallen friend, who was cussing under his breath, a pained expression on his face. “Are you okay Spence?”
Embarrassed by his tumble, the younger boy mumbled something incoherent, sat up on his knees ruining his brand fucking new skinny jeans, and waved away the hand trying to help him up. “I got it.” He huffed slightly breathless as he dusted off his clothes.
“I guess I’ll see you later then,” Jon said amused, a small smirk in place on his face as Spencer high tailed it out of the graphics department.
“Oh my god Ryan,” Spencer whispered as soon as he stumbled into the journalism room, leaving a laughing Jon behind him. “You will never believe what just happened.”
Ryan spun around in his big rolly chair, left eyebrow lost in a sea of brown fridge. “What is it this time Spence?”
Spencer huffed and cocked his right hip out, hand folded dedicatedly on the bone just barely sticking out of the waistband of his jeans. When the side of Ryan’s mouth twitched, just a tiny bit, Spencer relaxed and squealed, “Jon just asked me out!”
“Fucking finally!” Ryan exclaimed, a gentle smile forming on his otherwise disinterested face. He has been watching Jon and Spencer dance around each other for years now; he was getting tired of it. The next step he would have take, would be to lock them in the janitor’s closet until they got together. “It’s about time; I thought Jon would never get the balls to ask you out.”
Spencer bit the corner of his lip, clasped his hands together softly, bringing them up to rest on the side of his face and sighed “I know,” in a dreamy voice.
“So…” Ryan drawled with a smirk, getting up out of his chair to peek into the graphics room - he saw a tipped over chair and an amused Jon picking up plastic pieces off of the floor. “What was that crashing noise I heard then?”
“Oh fuck you Ry,” Spencer hissed grabbing his friend’s arm to pull him back into the room. The journalist snickered at Spencer’s heated glare and raised a perfect eyebrow. “I tripped over a chair and fell on my ass okay.”
Ryan barked out a laugh. “You okay?” he asked in a somewhat sincere tone when he saw Spencer rub his lower back, a pained expression on his face.
“Haha,” Spencer mocked giving Ryan the finger before sitting down in his own rolly chair and spinning around to start typing up his column for the paper. “Just peachy.”
*
Patrick was pissed - not just angry, no he was past that. He was fuckin’ livid.
He has seen Pete all day, glimpses of black hair and white teeth, and not once has the boy try to talk to him. So much for being sorry.
After Patrick stomped out of the part he went straight home, to bawl his eyes out. He has always known that Pete had a bit of a wandering eye, but he honestly didn’t think that he would so bluntly cheat on him like that. It hurt and it hurt a lot. They’ve been dating since their sophomore year, three years together and this was what Patrick gets? He was tired of it, oh so tired of it.
And that’s what he told Spencer, who had followed him after he left the party, of course, dragging along a brooding bemused Ryan and fairly amused Jon with him.
“I’m tired of having to worry about Pete cheating on me Spencer,” Patrick sniffled, his head buried in his hands, red hair sticking up at all angles. “I feel like I have to watch him everywhere we go.”
Spencer frowned slightly and sat by Patrick on his bed, leaving Jon and Ryan shifting awkwardly by the door. “And you shouldn’t have to Patrick,” he told him gently patting on the back. “He doesn’t deserve you. You’re a great guy Patrick; he doesn’t know what he’s missing.”
Patrick lifted his head up to look Spencer in the eyes - and damn his eyes are really blue. “You really think so?” he questioned, uncertainty flowing through his wobbly voice.
“Of course you are Patrick,” Spencer said with a soft smile. “Now,” he declared, standing up from the bed then turning towards his pouting friend with his hands on his hips. “Wanna go get some ice cream and gossip about boys?”
He went with them of course, getting a Rocky Road ice cream cone and letting almost half of it melt all down his arm as him, Spencer, Ryan, and Jon talk about the rumors going around about Frank, Bob and Gerard’s (unrequited?) love for the running back.
Patrick also tried, to no avail, to get Spencer and Jon together, but he refused to believe that Jon likes him too, no matter how many times he caught Jon stare and smile dreamily at him.
By the time he went home on Saturday, he was feeling better than he had all week. And that good feeling stayed with him until Monday, when he got his first glimpse of his black haired heartbreaker. Things turned ugly real fast.
“I just don’t see us getting back together,” Patrick ranted to Ray during homeroom. “I mean, he hasn’t even tried to talk to me since Saturday before I left.”
Ray just nodded his head, going along with whatever the red head was saying. He was witnessing firsthand the temper of a red head - and it isn’t very pretty. The man with the fro opened his mouth to agree with the ticked off drum major, but he got cut off. “Not that I would have talked to him anyway.” Patrick reasoned, pacing across the floor. “I don’t think he deserves to be talked to till at least next week.”
Again, Ray opened his mouth to speak to at least try and help out Pete, but he gets cut off once again. “God I’m so pissed off,” Patrick hissed taking off his hat and running a hand through his strawberry blonde hair. “I just wanna-”
“Patrick!” Ray exclaimed exasperated, cutting off another angry rant from the fiery red head. “I get it, you’re angry with Pete.” Patrick huffed. Angry was seriously an understatement. “But don’t you think you’ll being a little hard on him?”
Patrick stopped pacing suddenly and looked at Ray an eyebrow raised, eyes hard. “I’m being a little hard?” he asked in disbelief, a harsh laugh broke through his lips. “He cheated on me.” The last part was so soft and so heartbroken that Ray almost didn’t hear it.
Ray felt bad then, really bad. He realized that he probably being a little too insensitive. Patrick looked so miserable, and it was truly Pete’s fault.
“I know Patrick,” he began, getting up out of his desk to set a gentle hand on his friend’s shoulder and squeezed sympathetically. “But I’m positive that Pete feels horrible. I saw him this morning; he looked like hell warmed over.”
The AV tech felt Patrick’s shoulder start to shake before he heard the deep breaths and small hitches, only meaning one thing. Patrick was crying. Ray shushed him, moving his hand from his shoulder to the wings of his shoulder blades and started to rub his back in tiny circles. “Am I a horrible person Ray?” Patrick questioned dejectedly, tears falling freely down his flushed chubby cheeks.
“Of course not Patrick,” Ray reassured with a smile. “Pete hurt you; it’s okay to be bitter.” Patrick looked up sadly. “But I know that Pete loves you and that he was sorry he hurt you. You two have been together for a while now Pat, you’re like soul mates.”
Patrick let out a wet sigh and hiccupped, “I guess you’re right.”
“Why don’t you go find Pete and make up,” Ray suggested carefully. He was not about to get chewed out by Patrick for trying to help out. “And maybe this time, you should communicate more with each other.” The red head nodded and wiped the tears from his eyes with a sniffle.
“You’re right. Thank you so much Ray,” Patrick said, wrapping his friend up in a tight hug. “I’m going to go find Pete.” And when the bell rang he took off, with a timid smile thrown over his shoulder in thanks, to find his boyfriend.
Which really didn’t take very long. As soon as Patrick ran out of homeroom and down the hall towards Pete’s next class, he found him leaning against his locker, head down moping and looking generally like someone kicked his puppy.
“Pete,” Patrick called out softly, timidly not quite sure what he was afraid of. He was the one that got cheated on, not the other way around.
At the sound of his name, Pete raised his head slightly, but determinately not looking Patrick in the eyes, not yet. His eyes widened when he sees that Patrick was standing right there - not even an arm’s length away from him. If he wanted to, he could reach out and pull Patrick towards him feel him warm and solid in his arms were he belonged, or just tackle him in a hug and pepper him in soft, sweet kisses, mumbling about how sorry he was. But, he didn’t. He couldn’t. So instead he said, “Patrick,” in a small miserable voice.
“Pete,” Patrick called again, shuffling closer him until he was standing right in front of his ex, so close Pete could feel his minty breath ghosting over his tear stained cheeks. “Pete, look at me please.” Everyone loitering in the hallway had stopped and held their breath. The mood was tense as Pete raised his eyes from Patrick’s shoes to look him right in the eyes.
And as soon as their eyes meet, it’s like a rubber band snapped. They gravitated toward each other, their arms immediately wrapping around the other’s trembling back, with apologies spilling from each of their mouths like waterfalls. “Patrick, I’m so sorry,” Pete cried, nuzzling his head into the crook of Patrick’s neck to stop him from crying. “I know sorry isn’t enough, but I utterly, truly am.”
Patrick sighed in relief at the feeling of his better half in his arms - warm and safe once again, and kissed Pete on the crown of his head. “It’s good enough for now Pete,” he mumbled, his voice partially muffled from Pete’s hair sticking to his mouth. “It’s good enough for now.”
*
Gabe’s plan went into action, four days later at the fourth football game of the season, during second quarter. And it was completely full proof of course, ‘cause it was his idea. Frank and Bob were a little hesitant to go along with his plan, but they eventually came around. Basically, they agreed after Gabe begged them for almost an hour to let him help.
“The Mud Dogs lead 7 - 0 going into half time,” Gabe said into his microphone up in the press box. “But the Colonels aren’t going to give up that easily Ray. They’re playing hard out there.”
Ray nodded his fro bouncing. “We’ll just have to see if number 31, senior running back Frank Iero can get his head back into the game.” He told the crowd as they watched the clock ran out, signaling that half time officially started. “Well that’s the buzzer folks, why don’t you go on and get something to eat from the concession stand.”
“Half the proceeds from tonight’s game goes to the Colonels Pride marching band,” Gabe said as the band came marching onto the field playing the Colonels Fight song. “They have been fundraising for a good month to get enough money to go to Florida for Nationals this year.”
“So go out and get a hotdog or something to help out the band.” Ray advised the mass of people getting up out of their seats to go down to the concession stand. “That’s what I’m going to go get, you want something Gabe?” Ray asked taking off his microphone and setting it down on the desk.
Gabe shook his head in reply. “And we’ll be back once third quarter starts,” Ray nodded and left the press box, fixing his tie on his way down the stairs. “Now, it’s time to put my plan into action.” He whispered, rubbing his hands together. With a laugh, he walked out of the room and down to the track, looking for Jamia in the mob of people that were milling around.
His plan required the help of William Beckett, one of the wannabe cheerleaders. “Billy Beckett!” Gabe shouted, throwing an arm around William.
“Hey Gabe,” William said, wrapping his long arm around Gabe’s waist. “Is plan ‘Get Frank his cheerleader’ underway?” At Gabe’s answering nod, Bill smiled. “Alrighty then, I’m going to go find Gerard. I’ll give you the signal when he’s on his way.”
“Good, thanks Bilvy.” Gabe called over his shoulder and took off when he saw Jamia walk past them, gossiping with a group of girls. “Hey Jamia! Can I talk to you for a second?”
The black haired girl turned around quickly, eyes wide confusion swirling around her irises, and eyebrows raised. “Do I know you?” she asked snippily, hands on her hips.
“Uh - no, guess not.” Gabe drawled out, slightly bemused. “My name’s Gabe, host for CSPN and one of the announcers that call every football game.”
Her eyes clear as she grinned. “Oh yeah, I know who you are now.” One side of Gabe’s mouth lifts into a smile. “You need something?”
“Actually, yes.” Gabe said clasping his hands together. “Would you mind taking a walk with me, I just want to ask you some questions.”
Jamia’s smile fell off her face as her perfectly plucked eyebrows knit together. “Why?”
Gabe wracked his brain, thinking of a good excuse. “Well - uh, it’s for a new episode of CSPN,” he finally said with a charming smile. “I’m a bunch of random students about their experience here at James Wood.”
“Oh, okay!” she chirped and turned to wave goodbye to her friends, who were watching with guarded eyes. Gabe whooped in his head. She had fallen for it hook, line, and sinker.
“Great,” Gabe said, glancing over her shoulder to see William wiggle his ear, stretch his arm up and roll his wrist, fingers waggling - which was the signal he was waiting for. “Follow me.” Wrapping an arm around Jamia’s petite shoulders, he gave William the finger, his signal back to William, and maneuvered her to an empty spot next to the bleachers.
The whole walk their Jamia’s mouth never closed. She was rambling about everything and nothing, stuttering and falling over her words. “Amanda told me that she saw Spencer and Jon at Starbucks last night. Said they were on a date, I for one didn’t think they were ever gonna get together-” she mumbled, wriggling her hands together.
“Hey, calm down Jamia,” Gabe told her calmly, squeezing her shoulder gently and bringing her to a stop at a nice quiet spot on the grassy hill next to the almost empty bleachers. “I just want to ask you a few easy questions. It’ll take two - three minutes tops.”
“Okay,” she agreed, looking around nervously. Her eye’s flickered over to her friends for a quick second, watching them mumble to each other a few feet away.
Gabe smiled to reassure her and sat down on the ground pulling Jamia down with him. “Relax; I’m not going to hurt you.” Spilled from his mouth as he cut his eyes to the side of where they were sitting, to see William with his arm around a confused Gerard, walking towards them, but not close enough to be in Jamia’s line of sight yet. “Alright, before I start asking you boring questions about James Wood,” he said, pulling out a pad of paper and a small pencil from his jacket pocket. “I have from unnamed sources of course, that you’re the girl behind those rumors about Frank.”
The girl jumped up, eyes guarded and shoulders bunched up to her ears. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She huffed out defensively.
“Oh, I think you do.” He told her with a leer, getting up after her and setting a hand on her left shoulder. “But don’t worry; I’m not going to told anyone.”
She looked at him; her head tilted to the right just slightly and whispered softly looking around carefully, making sure that no one else was listening. Too bad she didn’t see Gerard hiding behind one of the bleacher support beams. “Yeah, it was me.”
“Really,” Gabe drawled raising both of his eyebrows. “Now, why would you do that?”
Jamia gave him a look. One of those ‘you’ve got to be kidding me’ looks. “I really, really like Frank. So when I saw him talking to that skank cheerleader Gerard,” she paused to let out a laugh - an evil laugh, her eyes were hard as ice and her mouth was curled into a horrible smirk. “I just had to do something.”
“So you spread rumors around the school saying that Frank and Bob were a couple,” Gabe questioned, glancing off to the side to make sure that Gerard was listening. And boy did he look mad. William had a hand wrapped around his upper arm to keep him hidden behind the bleachers until Gabe gave the signal.
“Yeah,” she replied, her sneer getting deeper and more sinister as she continued to talk. “But I knew that just wasn’t enough, so I told everyone that Frank slept around, contracted an STD from one of Bert’s friends - ‘cause I did my research and learned that Gerard and Bert hate each other - and kicked puppies for fun. I needed to make sure that Gerard wouldn’t go near him.”
Gabe lifted his left hand in the air and whipped his hand around in a circle, the signal to let Gerard free and come confront Jamia. “And it seemed to work,” he began dropping his arm down to put both hands on his hips. “Until now.”
“Wha-” Jamia started before she caught sight of an extremely pissed off Gerard. “Oh shit.”
Gabe giggled and stepped out of the way, walking over to where William was standing his arms crossed, hip cocked out to the side watching the scene that was about to unfold. “Oh shit it right.” He said to William, looking up at the score board to see how much time they still had - about six minutes left.
“You little bitch.” Gerard hissed, stalking right up into Jamia’s space so fast it caused his skirt whip around in the wind he created. “You think you’ll get away with this?” he let out a bark of laughter, his glitter glinting dangerously under the lights as he snapped his fingers in her face. “Well, you better think again.”
Jamia opened her mouth to retort, but closed it quickly when Gerard slapped her across the face. And that’s when the cat fight started.
Gerard of course had slapped Jamia first; so she slapped his face back. This caused Gerard to smack her back, to which Jamia jumped him and started to scratch at his face and back. “Get off of me you stupid whore,” he yelled pushing her backwards hard enough to knock her on the ground. “I better not have a scratch on me, or you are so fucking dead.”
Jamia glared at him from the ground and spit on him. “You’re such a fuckin’ shank, Frank deserves better than you.” She leered, getting up off the grass and dusting off her clothes.
“Oh yeah?” Gerard asked rhetorically flicking his jet black hair out of his face and sneering at the black haired girl who was glaring up at him defiantly. “I believe that it’s Frank’s decision who he wants to date, not yours.”
When Jamia opened her mouth to reply, Gabe stepped in. “Half time is almost over Gerard, you need to get back.” He told the cheerleader who looked fucking murderous.
The black haired cheerleader growled angrily, but backed off. “This isn’t over yet bitch.” He hissed before spinning around and trudging off to the track where his cheerleaders were already lining up.
“Now you,” William sneered turning towards Jamia, thunderous expression spread across his face. “Get. The fuck. Out.”
“Gladly.” Jamia huffed before turning around and stalking off to her group of friends who looked confused. “Let’s go girls.”
As they walked out of the stadium William and Gabe turned towards each other and laughed. “I can’t believe that worked!” Gabe shouted high fiving William with glee.
The tall brown haired man shook his head. “Me neither.”
“Well, I better get back to the press box,” Gabe said walking up the hill to get back to the press box. “See ya after the game Bilvy.”
William rolled his eyes at the nick name and waved back before walking off to find Brendon. “B-den, where are you!” he called skipping through the throng of people coming back from the concession stand to watch the second half of the game.
When Gabe got up to the press box, he saw Pete kiss Patrick sweetly when the red head took off his band hat as soon as he got off the field. He cooed happily, glad that they worked out their problems and put on his microphone just as the buzzer went off signaling the end of half time.
“Just in time Gabe,” Ray whispered to his friend, holding his mic so the crowd wouldn’t hear him.
The brown haired boy just gave him an innocent smile and looked down to the field to see Gerard stare dreamily at Frank, who was staring right back with a smile. “I’m such a great matchmaker Ray.”
“Yeah, right.” Ray retorted flicking Gabe’s ear.
*
The second half of the game was the best Frank has ever played. He played his fuckin’ heart out. And it was all for Gerard. He saw him staring at him with a small innocent smile when they came back on the field after half time, so he, of course, beamed back.
After that, the game was just a blur of blue, gold and red as the players tackled each other and threw the ball back and forth. It was a really close game, but in the end the Colonels won 21 - 7 with the last minute touchdown Frank brought in.
When he and his team ran off the field after the game ended, he looked out into the crowd and saw Gerard staring at him from the track with this absolutely gleeful expression on his face. Frank smiled gently and stared dreamily back.
“Looks like someone’s in lurvee,” Bob said as they got into position and slapped Frank on his back.
Frank just sighed happily in reply before walking off towards Gerard. “Hey Gerard,” he said coming to a stop in front of the cheerleaders.
“Hey Frank, great game.” Gerard replied, a light blush making its way across his pale face. The girls cooed and walked off to give them their privacy. They trusted Frank again, now that Gerard told them what happened.
“Thanks,” Frank answered, toeing at the track with his cleats. “Um - I was wondering if maybe you want to go get something to eat? I mean, after I change and shower and stuff. I just wanted to get to you before you made plans with your girls or whatever.” When Gerard didn’t say anything, Frank babbled on. “You know what, never mind. I don’t know what I was -”
Gerard cut him off by grabbing his chin and pulling him into a sweet little kiss. “I’d love to,” he said after they pulled away from each other, a tiny grin blooming on his face.
Frank smiled blissfully and held back the urge to fist pump. “Awesome.” He whispered grabbing the back of Gerard’s neck and pulling him back into a deep and hungry kiss.
Across the field Mikey and Alicia were standing next to one another, watching as Gerard and Frank kissed. “Is that you’re brother?” Alicia asked Mikey, swigging their clasped hands back and forth.
Mikey sighed, resisting the urge to slap a hand across his forehead. “Yeah.”
“And is he wearing a cheer skirt?” she questioned, a bemused smile making its way across her face.
“Unfortunately.” He answered, his shoulders shuddering.
Alicia nodded her head and giggled uncontrollably. “And is he kissing the star running back?”
“Yeah.” Mikey said, watching his brother and his boyfriend make out on the track, while everyone else in the stands stared at them too.
“Alright, cool.” she told him before grabbing his chin and pulling him into a loving kiss.
All the while, blissfully unaware of the scene happening out on the field, Spencer and Jon were making out against a support beam under the bleachers, whilst Frank and Gerard kissed under the Friday night lights.
Bonus Content
“Ms. Asher,” the secretary drawled, walking into the principal’s office, her high pitched voice making the women sitting behind the desk cringe. “Mr. Saporta was caught flashing a bunch of freshman girls during gym again.”
The principal sighed and shook her head, pushing her glasses up farther on the bridge of her nose. “Send him in Cassadee,” she told her secretary flipping through the papers in her hands. “Oh, and told Jersey that if I see him flirting with Gabe again, I’m going to have to fire him.” She added looking up briefly to glare at the man in question, who just gave her an innocent smile and a wave from behind his desk in his office across from hers.
“Mr. Saporta, Principal Asher will see you now,” Cassadee told the senior who was sitting on one of the plush office chairs and flirting with one of the other front office ladies.
Gabe looked up when he heard his name, smiled at Cassadee and winked at the secretary he was just talking to. “It’s been nice talking to you again Ms. Kusterbeck,” Gabe flirted, wagging his fingers at the blushing brown haired women as he got up and walked towards the principal’s office. “Ah, aren’t you looking lovely today Ms. Asher.”
“Sit down Gabe,” Mr. Asher sighed, rubbing her forehead and running her fingers through her black hair.
“Yes ma’am,” the student stated with a smirk and sat down in the chair in front of the desk, but not before saluting his principal sarcastically.
The black haired principal gave the senior a tired look. “Okay, this is how it’s going to work,” she stated slamming her hands on her desk and leaning forward on her arms, just a little, to get leverage. Gabe snuck a peek down the front of her low cut blouse. “You sir are going to go to detention tomorrow, Wednesday, Thursday, and Monday of next week. You’re not going to get into any trouble for at least the next week and a half, and I’m going to enjoy having two weeks of no trouble. Understand?”
“Yes ma’am,” Gabe repeated, grinning at his flushed principal.
Ms. Asher sighed in relief. “Good,” she mumbled sitting back down in her seat fully, straightening out the wrinkles on her skirt, and started rifling through the papers on her desk again. When she doesn’t hear the student leave, she looked up through the top of her glasses and rubbed her forehead. “You can go back to class now Mr. Saporta.”
“Yes ma’am,” Gabe repeated for the last time, getting up out of the chair and walking out the door. The black haired principal made a happy noise in the back of her throat and relaxed in her big comfy rolling chair. “Oh and by the way Ms. Asher,” Gabe purred head popping from the side of her door a few seconds later. “You look really sexy when you’re angry.” And with a wiggle of his eyebrows complete with a sexy growl, he pawed at the air and took off out of the office, giggling the whole way back to Government.
“Gabriel Eduardo Saporta!” Rung out of the open office doors as Pete walked into the school almost an hour late. He was so exhausted that he almost got trampled by Gabe who just turned and gave him a giddy smirk. The black haired boy stood there for a few extra seconds his brain wheeling, before shaking his head. He doesn’t even want to know.
Tiredly, he stumbled through the already half way open doors to see a flushed and angry Ms. Asher standing with her hands on her hips in front of Jersey’s desk. “You are really late this morning Peter.”
“I know Principal Asher,” he mumbled, shifting his backpack up higher on his aching shoulder. At her sharp look he added, “I’m sorry.”
“Please follow me Mr. Wentz,” she replied resignedly, her heels clicking on the floor as she walked back toward her office. Once they both get settled in their respected chairs, the principal links her fingers together and sets them gently on her neatly organized desk. “Now Peter,” she started, her eyes softening as Pete rubs at the purple bags under his eyes. “Why were you late this morning?”
The exhausted black haired senior let out a breath and as he ran his fingers through his hair. “Patrick and I had a fall-out this weekend,” he mumbled sadly, his eyes widening to keep the tears at bay. “We pretty much broke up and it was all my fault and he was my ride to school.”
“I’m sorry to hear that Pete,” Ms. Asher said delicately and she truly was. They were such a cute couple; plus Patrick helped keep Pete out of trouble. It was a win-win situation for her. “But, unfortunately that’s not a good enough excuse.” The senior’s face fell. He looked so pathetic that she almost lets him off the hook - almost. “I’m sorry Pete, but I’m going to have to give you detention.”
*
Bob Bryar wasn’t a very scary person - well at least Frank doesn’t think he was. He was really just a big sweaty blonde teddy bear. That is, until someone does something that makes him angry. And right now, he was really fuckin’ pissed off.
“Where is she?” the blonde snarled to a group of terrified girls, his face flush red with anger and his bright blue eyes gleaming menacingly.
Frank, who was riding on his back ‘cause he was too tired to walk, kicked his friend’s sides softly to get his attention. “Bob,” he warned flicking his ear when the blonde didn’t respond. “They’re a bunch of freshman girls,” Frank muttered, popping up from behind Bob’s shoulder to gesture with the arm not wrapped around his friend’s neck, towards the freshman shrinking away in fear. “They look like they’re about to pee their pants. Calm down.”
“Fine.” Bob said letting out such a deep sigh that jostled Frank enough that he almost slipped off and caused him to let out a very shrill girly squeak.
“Now,” Frank began, climbing down from Bob’s back gracefully and walking in between him and the freshman girls. “Do you girls happen to know who Jamia Nestor is?” All five of the girls shook their heads yes. “Do you know where she is?” he asked nicely, giving them what he hoped was a non-alarming smile.
As one of the blonde girls opened their mouth to speak, Gabe comes running out of his classroom and takes off shouting down the hallway towards them; scaring away the freshman girls they were talking too. “Frankie Iero and Bobby Bryar,” he yelled, wrapping his long arms around both men and grinning mischievously. “Just the two people I wanted to see.”
“God dammit Gabe,” Frank shouted irritably, throwing the arm around his shoulder back at its owner. “You scared away the freshman.”
Gabe gave Frank a curious look. “Why were you talking to freshman?” he asked with a raised eyebrow then shook his head. “You know what - never mind.” The AV tech ran in front of the two friends and spun around to look at them fully. “What I want to know is why you guys never told me you were together!”
Bob growled deep in his throat and glared at Gabe who was making weird cooing noises and making grabby hands at their cheeks. “We,” he whispered heatedly, gesturing back and forth from Frank to himself, then back again. “Are not dating.”
“Yeah,” Frank agreed poking Gabe in the chest, he stopped cooing and rubbed at his chest were the running back poked him. “We aren’t dating.”
Gabe laughed and shook his head in disbelief. “So, you’re telling me-” he paused to giggle again and slapped his thigh like he just heard a really funny joke. “-that Jon Walker is lying?”
Frank and Bob looked at each other quickly, eyebrows raised, than back to a smirking Gabe. “Yeah.” They said simultaneously, causing Gabe to burst out laughing again.
“Not a couple, huh?” the brown haired senior asked skeptically crossing his arms across his chest and cocking his hip. “So why did Jon Walker told me you were?”
“Jamia has been spreading around nasty rumors,” Frank told the AV tech, his hands clenching into shaking fists. “About me.”
Gabe tilted his head to the side a bit and raised his right eyebrow. “Why would she do that?” he questioned bemused, mind wandering to the nice black haired girl in question. “She’s always been really sweet to me.”
“She’s jealous.” Bob said simply, glaring at a sophomore girl that was trying to listen in to their conversation. Her green eyes widened in fear when she got caught and sped off quickly, looking over her shoulder three times before walking into a classroom down the hall.
Gabe made a go on gesture with his hands. “So…”
Bob rolled his eyes and had to hold back the urge to smack Gabe across the head. “Frank likes Gerard. Gerard likes Frank back. Jamia likes Frank. Frank doesn’t like Jamia back,” he said like he was speaking to a kindergartener. “She got jealous when Frank went to ask Gerard out and spread rumors so Gerard wouldn’t like Frank anymore.”
“And now,” Frank cut in with a smirk, slamming his fist down on his outstretched palm. “We’re trying to find her, talk to her a little bit, and hopefully get her to stop.”
“So you can get your cheerleader boyfriend!” Gabe cheered finally getting the hint. He started bouncing on his toes, clapping his hands excitedly. “How can I help?”
*
Jon’s camera was broken. His heart, oh his heart it’s shattered into a million pieces. Okay, so maybe he was exaggerating a bit.
“Oh my god.” he screamed, picking up the broken pieces of his heart scattered all over the table. “It was fine yesterday!”
Spencer came running into the graphics room shouting, “What happened? What happened? Jon are you okay!?” in a high pitched shrill voice. He just so happened to be in the journalism room - which indecently was connected to the graphics department. Spencer thought it was great ‘cause he could stare at Jon’s ass when he bent over to pick up things off the ground, while Spencer worked on his gossip column on the computer that faced Jon - chitchatting with Ryan about that rumor going around about Pete and Patrick breaking up. When he left Patrick on Saturday, he seemed happy, cheerful even. But when he saw him this morning, he looked absolutely pissed.
“My camera!” Jon cried miserably. “Someone fucking smashed my camera!” Jon whined voice slightly muffled from his place on the floor on his hands and knees searching for all of the small pieces of lens that was flung all around underneath the table.
Immediately, Spencer rushed over, crouched down to Jon’s level, and put a comforting hand on his trembling back. “It’s alright Jon; you can get a new one right?”
Jon sniffled a bit, and sat up on his knees, rubbing his hands on his pants to get some of the dust off. “I guess you’re right Spencer. Now I can get the new Nikon 3DX I saw the other day.” His face lit up at the prospect of getting a new camera.
The drum major grinned widely, happy that the camera crisis was avoided, and quipped, “Of course I am!” The shaggy brown haired boy gave his friend a watery smile and let out a small laugh. “We could go out this weekend maybe, get you that Nikon?" At the older boy’s nod, Spencer smile got brighter. “I’ll see ya later then.” He exclaimed with a wave before turning to go told Ryan.
“Wait!” Jon shouted, throwing his arm out and just missing the sleeve of Spencer’s jacket. “Maybe we could go get some coffee after school too?” he questioned in a small voice, gaze fixated on the puke green, ugly as hell tiles that decorated the floors of the school, as he got up off the ground carefully. Damn, the tiles were really hurting his knees.
Spencer spun around hastily, almost tripping over his own big feet as his face instantly flushed a dark maroon red. Once he turned around safely, he made a few small circles on the ground with the toe of his designer boots before replying softly, “I’d love to.”
Jon looked up quickly, a large grin blooming across his face. “Really?” he asked a little skeptical. He had just asked on a whim; hoping, praying that Spencer liked him too. “I mean - you know, like a date?” Spencer bit the corner of his lip to keep him from blinding Jon by the light of his beaming smile and nodded.
“So, you’ll call me later then?” Spencer basically demanded in a rush, speed walking backwards, waving around his head with his hands as he spoke. “I’ve gotta do this thing for the paper.” In a crash, he tripped over one of the rogue chairs and falls flat on his ass.
“Oh, fuck.” Jon cried, running over to his fallen friend, who was cussing under his breath, a pained expression on his face. “Are you okay Spence?”
Embarrassed by his tumble, the younger boy mumbled something incoherent, sat up on his knees ruining his brand fucking new skinny jeans, and waved away the hand trying to help him up. “I got it.” He huffed slightly breathless as he dusted off his clothes.
“I guess I’ll see you later then,” Jon said amused, a small smirk in place on his face as Spencer high tailed it out of the graphics department.
“Oh my god Ryan,” Spencer whispered as soon as he stumbled into the journalism room, leaving a laughing Jon behind him. “You will never believe what just happened.”
Ryan spun around in his big rolly chair, left eyebrow lost in a sea of brown fridge. “What is it this time Spence?”
Spencer huffed and cocked his right hip out, hand folded dedicatedly on the bone just barely sticking out of the waistband of his jeans. When the side of Ryan’s mouth twitched, just a tiny bit, Spencer relaxed and squealed, “Jon just asked me out!”
“Fucking finally!” Ryan exclaimed, a gentle smile forming on his otherwise disinterested face. He has been watching Jon and Spencer dance around each other for years now; he was getting tired of it. The next step he would have take, would be to lock them in the janitor’s closet until they got together. “It’s about time; I thought Jon would never get the balls to ask you out.”
Spencer bit the corner of his lip, clasped his hands together softly, bringing them up to rest on the side of his face and sighed “I know,” in a dreamy voice.
“So…” Ryan drawled with a smirk, getting up out of his chair to peek into the graphics room - he saw a tipped over chair and an amused Jon picking up plastic pieces off of the floor. “What was that crashing noise I heard then?”
“Oh fuck you Ry,” Spencer hissed grabbing his friend’s arm to pull him back into the room. The journalist snickered at Spencer’s heated glare and raised a perfect eyebrow. “I tripped over a chair and fell on my ass okay.”
Ryan barked out a laugh. “You okay?” he asked in a somewhat sincere tone when he saw Spencer rub his lower back, a pained expression on his face.
“Haha,” Spencer mocked giving Ryan the finger before sitting down in his own rolly chair and spinning around to start typing up his column for the paper. “Just peachy.”
*
Patrick was pissed - not just angry, no he was past that. He was fuckin’ livid.
He has seen Pete all day, glimpses of black hair and white teeth, and not once has the boy try to talk to him. So much for being sorry.
After Patrick stomped out of the part he went straight home, to bawl his eyes out. He has always known that Pete had a bit of a wandering eye, but he honestly didn’t think that he would so bluntly cheat on him like that. It hurt and it hurt a lot. They’ve been dating since their sophomore year, three years together and this was what Patrick gets? He was tired of it, oh so tired of it.
And that’s what he told Spencer, who had followed him after he left the party, of course, dragging along a brooding bemused Ryan and fairly amused Jon with him.
“I’m tired of having to worry about Pete cheating on me Spencer,” Patrick sniffled, his head buried in his hands, red hair sticking up at all angles. “I feel like I have to watch him everywhere we go.”
Spencer frowned slightly and sat by Patrick on his bed, leaving Jon and Ryan shifting awkwardly by the door. “And you shouldn’t have to Patrick,” he told him gently patting on the back. “He doesn’t deserve you. You’re a great guy Patrick; he doesn’t know what he’s missing.”
Patrick lifted his head up to look Spencer in the eyes - and damn his eyes are really blue. “You really think so?” he questioned, uncertainty flowing through his wobbly voice.
“Of course you are Patrick,” Spencer said with a soft smile. “Now,” he declared, standing up from the bed then turning towards his pouting friend with his hands on his hips. “Wanna go get some ice cream and gossip about boys?”
He went with them of course, getting a Rocky Road ice cream cone and letting almost half of it melt all down his arm as him, Spencer, Ryan, and Jon talk about the rumors going around about Frank, Bob and Gerard’s (unrequited?) love for the running back.
Patrick also tried, to no avail, to get Spencer and Jon together, but he refused to believe that Jon likes him too, no matter how many times he caught Jon stare and smile dreamily at him.
By the time he went home on Saturday, he was feeling better than he had all week. And that good feeling stayed with him until Monday, when he got his first glimpse of his black haired heartbreaker. Things turned ugly real fast.
“I just don’t see us getting back together,” Patrick ranted to Ray during homeroom. “I mean, he hasn’t even tried to talk to me since Saturday before I left.”
Ray just nodded his head, going along with whatever the red head was saying. He was witnessing firsthand the temper of a red head - and it isn’t very pretty. The man with the fro opened his mouth to agree with the ticked off drum major, but he got cut off. “Not that I would have talked to him anyway.” Patrick reasoned, pacing across the floor. “I don’t think he deserves to be talked to till at least next week.”
Again, Ray opened his mouth to speak to at least try and help out Pete, but he gets cut off once again. “God I’m so pissed off,” Patrick hissed taking off his hat and running a hand through his strawberry blonde hair. “I just wanna-”
“Patrick!” Ray exclaimed exasperated, cutting off another angry rant from the fiery red head. “I get it, you’re angry with Pete.” Patrick huffed. Angry was seriously an understatement. “But don’t you think you’ll being a little hard on him?”
Patrick stopped pacing suddenly and looked at Ray an eyebrow raised, eyes hard. “I’m being a little hard?” he asked in disbelief, a harsh laugh broke through his lips. “He cheated on me.” The last part was so soft and so heartbroken that Ray almost didn’t hear it.
Ray felt bad then, really bad. He realized that he probably being a little too insensitive. Patrick looked so miserable, and it was truly Pete’s fault.
“I know Patrick,” he began, getting up out of his desk to set a gentle hand on his friend’s shoulder and squeezed sympathetically. “But I’m positive that Pete feels horrible. I saw him this morning; he looked like hell warmed over.”
The AV tech felt Patrick’s shoulder start to shake before he heard the deep breaths and small hitches, only meaning one thing. Patrick was crying. Ray shushed him, moving his hand from his shoulder to the wings of his shoulder blades and started to rub his back in tiny circles. “Am I a horrible person Ray?” Patrick questioned dejectedly, tears falling freely down his flushed chubby cheeks.
“Of course not Patrick,” Ray reassured with a smile. “Pete hurt you; it’s okay to be bitter.” Patrick looked up sadly. “But I know that Pete loves you and that he was sorry he hurt you. You two have been together for a while now Pat, you’re like soul mates.”
Patrick let out a wet sigh and hiccupped, “I guess you’re right.”
“Why don’t you go find Pete and make up,” Ray suggested carefully. He was not about to get chewed out by Patrick for trying to help out. “And maybe this time, you should communicate more with each other.” The red head nodded and wiped the tears from his eyes with a sniffle.
“You’re right. Thank you so much Ray,” Patrick said, wrapping his friend up in a tight hug. “I’m going to go find Pete.” And when the bell rang he took off, with a timid smile thrown over his shoulder in thanks, to find his boyfriend.
Which really didn’t take very long. As soon as Patrick ran out of homeroom and down the hall towards Pete’s next class, he found him leaning against his locker, head down moping and looking generally like someone kicked his puppy.
“Pete,” Patrick called out softly, timidly not quite sure what he was afraid of. He was the one that got cheated on, not the other way around.
At the sound of his name, Pete raised his head slightly, but determinately not looking Patrick in the eyes, not yet. His eyes widened when he sees that Patrick was standing right there - not even an arm’s length away from him. If he wanted to, he could reach out and pull Patrick towards him feel him warm and solid in his arms were he belonged, or just tackle him in a hug and pepper him in soft, sweet kisses, mumbling about how sorry he was. But, he didn’t. He couldn’t. So instead he said, “Patrick,” in a small miserable voice.
“Pete,” Patrick called again, shuffling closer him until he was standing right in front of his ex, so close Pete could feel his minty breath ghosting over his tear stained cheeks. “Pete, look at me please.” Everyone loitering in the hallway had stopped and held their breath. The mood was tense as Pete raised his eyes from Patrick’s shoes to look him right in the eyes.
And as soon as their eyes meet, it’s like a rubber band snapped. They gravitated toward each other, their arms immediately wrapping around the other’s trembling back, with apologies spilling from each of their mouths like waterfalls. “Patrick, I’m so sorry,” Pete cried, nuzzling his head into the crook of Patrick’s neck to stop him from crying. “I know sorry isn’t enough, but I utterly, truly am.”
Patrick sighed in relief at the feeling of his better half in his arms - warm and safe once again, and kissed Pete on the crown of his head. “It’s good enough for now Pete,” he mumbled, his voice partially muffled from Pete’s hair sticking to his mouth. “It’s good enough for now.”
*
Gabe’s plan went into action, four days later at the fourth football game of the season, during second quarter. And it was completely full proof of course, ‘cause it was his idea. Frank and Bob were a little hesitant to go along with his plan, but they eventually came around. Basically, they agreed after Gabe begged them for almost an hour to let him help.
“The Mud Dogs lead 7 - 0 going into half time,” Gabe said into his microphone up in the press box. “But the Colonels aren’t going to give up that easily Ray. They’re playing hard out there.”
Ray nodded his fro bouncing. “We’ll just have to see if number 31, senior running back Frank Iero can get his head back into the game.” He told the crowd as they watched the clock ran out, signaling that half time officially started. “Well that’s the buzzer folks, why don’t you go on and get something to eat from the concession stand.”
“Half the proceeds from tonight’s game goes to the Colonels Pride marching band,” Gabe said as the band came marching onto the field playing the Colonels Fight song. “They have been fundraising for a good month to get enough money to go to Florida for Nationals this year.”
“So go out and get a hotdog or something to help out the band.” Ray advised the mass of people getting up out of their seats to go down to the concession stand. “That’s what I’m going to go get, you want something Gabe?” Ray asked taking off his microphone and setting it down on the desk.
Gabe shook his head in reply. “And we’ll be back once third quarter starts,” Ray nodded and left the press box, fixing his tie on his way down the stairs. “Now, it’s time to put my plan into action.” He whispered, rubbing his hands together. With a laugh, he walked out of the room and down to the track, looking for Jamia in the mob of people that were milling around.
His plan required the help of William Beckett, one of the wannabe cheerleaders. “Billy Beckett!” Gabe shouted, throwing an arm around William.
“Hey Gabe,” William said, wrapping his long arm around Gabe’s waist. “Is plan ‘Get Frank his cheerleader’ underway?” At Gabe’s answering nod, Bill smiled. “Alrighty then, I’m going to go find Gerard. I’ll give you the signal when he’s on his way.”
“Good, thanks Bilvy.” Gabe called over his shoulder and took off when he saw Jamia walk past them, gossiping with a group of girls. “Hey Jamia! Can I talk to you for a second?”
The black haired girl turned around quickly, eyes wide confusion swirling around her irises, and eyebrows raised. “Do I know you?” she asked snippily, hands on her hips.
“Uh - no, guess not.” Gabe drawled out, slightly bemused. “My name’s Gabe, host for CSPN and one of the announcers that call every football game.”
Her eyes clear as she grinned. “Oh yeah, I know who you are now.” One side of Gabe’s mouth lifts into a smile. “You need something?”
“Actually, yes.” Gabe said clasping his hands together. “Would you mind taking a walk with me, I just want to ask you some questions.”
Jamia’s smile fell off her face as her perfectly plucked eyebrows knit together. “Why?”
Gabe wracked his brain, thinking of a good excuse. “Well - uh, it’s for a new episode of CSPN,” he finally said with a charming smile. “I’m a bunch of random students about their experience here at James Wood.”
“Oh, okay!” she chirped and turned to wave goodbye to her friends, who were watching with guarded eyes. Gabe whooped in his head. She had fallen for it hook, line, and sinker.
“Great,” Gabe said, glancing over her shoulder to see William wiggle his ear, stretch his arm up and roll his wrist, fingers waggling - which was the signal he was waiting for. “Follow me.” Wrapping an arm around Jamia’s petite shoulders, he gave William the finger, his signal back to William, and maneuvered her to an empty spot next to the bleachers.
The whole walk their Jamia’s mouth never closed. She was rambling about everything and nothing, stuttering and falling over her words. “Amanda told me that she saw Spencer and Jon at Starbucks last night. Said they were on a date, I for one didn’t think they were ever gonna get together-” she mumbled, wriggling her hands together.
“Hey, calm down Jamia,” Gabe told her calmly, squeezing her shoulder gently and bringing her to a stop at a nice quiet spot on the grassy hill next to the almost empty bleachers. “I just want to ask you a few easy questions. It’ll take two - three minutes tops.”
“Okay,” she agreed, looking around nervously. Her eye’s flickered over to her friends for a quick second, watching them mumble to each other a few feet away.
Gabe smiled to reassure her and sat down on the ground pulling Jamia down with him. “Relax; I’m not going to hurt you.” Spilled from his mouth as he cut his eyes to the side of where they were sitting, to see William with his arm around a confused Gerard, walking towards them, but not close enough to be in Jamia’s line of sight yet. “Alright, before I start asking you boring questions about James Wood,” he said, pulling out a pad of paper and a small pencil from his jacket pocket. “I have from unnamed sources of course, that you’re the girl behind those rumors about Frank.”
The girl jumped up, eyes guarded and shoulders bunched up to her ears. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She huffed out defensively.
“Oh, I think you do.” He told her with a leer, getting up after her and setting a hand on her left shoulder. “But don’t worry; I’m not going to told anyone.”
She looked at him; her head tilted to the right just slightly and whispered softly looking around carefully, making sure that no one else was listening. Too bad she didn’t see Gerard hiding behind one of the bleacher support beams. “Yeah, it was me.”
“Really,” Gabe drawled raising both of his eyebrows. “Now, why would you do that?”
Jamia gave him a look. One of those ‘you’ve got to be kidding me’ looks. “I really, really like Frank. So when I saw him talking to that skank cheerleader Gerard,” she paused to let out a laugh - an evil laugh, her eyes were hard as ice and her mouth was curled into a horrible smirk. “I just had to do something.”
“So you spread rumors around the school saying that Frank and Bob were a couple,” Gabe questioned, glancing off to the side to make sure that Gerard was listening. And boy did he look mad. William had a hand wrapped around his upper arm to keep him hidden behind the bleachers until Gabe gave the signal.
“Yeah,” she replied, her sneer getting deeper and more sinister as she continued to talk. “But I knew that just wasn’t enough, so I told everyone that Frank slept around, contracted an STD from one of Bert’s friends - ‘cause I did my research and learned that Gerard and Bert hate each other - and kicked puppies for fun. I needed to make sure that Gerard wouldn’t go near him.”
Gabe lifted his left hand in the air and whipped his hand around in a circle, the signal to let Gerard free and come confront Jamia. “And it seemed to work,” he began dropping his arm down to put both hands on his hips. “Until now.”
“Wha-” Jamia started before she caught sight of an extremely pissed off Gerard. “Oh shit.”
Gabe giggled and stepped out of the way, walking over to where William was standing his arms crossed, hip cocked out to the side watching the scene that was about to unfold. “Oh shit it right.” He said to William, looking up at the score board to see how much time they still had - about six minutes left.
“You little bitch.” Gerard hissed, stalking right up into Jamia’s space so fast it caused his skirt whip around in the wind he created. “You think you’ll get away with this?” he let out a bark of laughter, his glitter glinting dangerously under the lights as he snapped his fingers in her face. “Well, you better think again.”
Jamia opened her mouth to retort, but closed it quickly when Gerard slapped her across the face. And that’s when the cat fight started.
Gerard of course had slapped Jamia first; so she slapped his face back. This caused Gerard to smack her back, to which Jamia jumped him and started to scratch at his face and back. “Get off of me you stupid whore,” he yelled pushing her backwards hard enough to knock her on the ground. “I better not have a scratch on me, or you are so fucking dead.”
Jamia glared at him from the ground and spit on him. “You’re such a fuckin’ shank, Frank deserves better than you.” She leered, getting up off the grass and dusting off her clothes.
“Oh yeah?” Gerard asked rhetorically flicking his jet black hair out of his face and sneering at the black haired girl who was glaring up at him defiantly. “I believe that it’s Frank’s decision who he wants to date, not yours.”
When Jamia opened her mouth to reply, Gabe stepped in. “Half time is almost over Gerard, you need to get back.” He told the cheerleader who looked fucking murderous.
The black haired cheerleader growled angrily, but backed off. “This isn’t over yet bitch.” He hissed before spinning around and trudging off to the track where his cheerleaders were already lining up.
“Now you,” William sneered turning towards Jamia, thunderous expression spread across his face. “Get. The fuck. Out.”
“Gladly.” Jamia huffed before turning around and stalking off to her group of friends who looked confused. “Let’s go girls.”
As they walked out of the stadium William and Gabe turned towards each other and laughed. “I can’t believe that worked!” Gabe shouted high fiving William with glee.
The tall brown haired man shook his head. “Me neither.”
“Well, I better get back to the press box,” Gabe said walking up the hill to get back to the press box. “See ya after the game Bilvy.”
William rolled his eyes at the nick name and waved back before walking off to find Brendon. “B-den, where are you!” he called skipping through the throng of people coming back from the concession stand to watch the second half of the game.
When Gabe got up to the press box, he saw Pete kiss Patrick sweetly when the red head took off his band hat as soon as he got off the field. He cooed happily, glad that they worked out their problems and put on his microphone just as the buzzer went off signaling the end of half time.
“Just in time Gabe,” Ray whispered to his friend, holding his mic so the crowd wouldn’t hear him.
The brown haired boy just gave him an innocent smile and looked down to the field to see Gerard stare dreamily at Frank, who was staring right back with a smile. “I’m such a great matchmaker Ray.”
“Yeah, right.” Ray retorted flicking Gabe’s ear.
*
The second half of the game was the best Frank has ever played. He played his fuckin’ heart out. And it was all for Gerard. He saw him staring at him with a small innocent smile when they came back on the field after half time, so he, of course, beamed back.
After that, the game was just a blur of blue, gold and red as the players tackled each other and threw the ball back and forth. It was a really close game, but in the end the Colonels won 21 - 7 with the last minute touchdown Frank brought in.
When he and his team ran off the field after the game ended, he looked out into the crowd and saw Gerard staring at him from the track with this absolutely gleeful expression on his face. Frank smiled gently and stared dreamily back.
“Looks like someone’s in lurvee,” Bob said as they got into position and slapped Frank on his back.
Frank just sighed happily in reply before walking off towards Gerard. “Hey Gerard,” he said coming to a stop in front of the cheerleaders.
“Hey Frank, great game.” Gerard replied, a light blush making its way across his pale face. The girls cooed and walked off to give them their privacy. They trusted Frank again, now that Gerard told them what happened.
“Thanks,” Frank answered, toeing at the track with his cleats. “Um - I was wondering if maybe you want to go get something to eat? I mean, after I change and shower and stuff. I just wanted to get to you before you made plans with your girls or whatever.” When Gerard didn’t say anything, Frank babbled on. “You know what, never mind. I don’t know what I was -”
Gerard cut him off by grabbing his chin and pulling him into a sweet little kiss. “I’d love to,” he said after they pulled away from each other, a tiny grin blooming on his face.
Frank smiled blissfully and held back the urge to fist pump. “Awesome.” He whispered grabbing the back of Gerard’s neck and pulling him back into a deep and hungry kiss.
Across the field Mikey and Alicia were standing next to one another, watching as Gerard and Frank kissed. “Is that you’re brother?” Alicia asked Mikey, swigging their clasped hands back and forth.
Mikey sighed, resisting the urge to slap a hand across his forehead. “Yeah.”
“And is he wearing a cheer skirt?” she questioned, a bemused smile making its way across her face.
“Unfortunately.” He answered, his shoulders shuddering.
Alicia nodded her head and giggled uncontrollably. “And is he kissing the star running back?”
“Yeah.” Mikey said, watching his brother and his boyfriend make out on the track, while everyone else in the stands stared at them too.
“Alright, cool.” she told him before grabbing his chin and pulling him into a loving kiss.
All the while, blissfully unaware of the scene happening out on the field, Spencer and Jon were making out against a support beam under the bleachers, whilst Frank and Gerard kissed under the Friday night lights.
Bonus Content