The Technicolor Daydreamer; Folie A Deux.

Okay.

Freezing cold. Dark.

Bluishblackish sky.

Urgh. Gwargh.

Bad day. Bad weather.

Brain hurts. Light hurts.

Want sleep.

Coffee now.

Everything from head to toe protested the entire length of the walk to Mia's house.

Noblinding sun out yet.

It was just barely peeking up over the horizon line, giving everything a bright orange tint.

Nngh...

Nerve endings rubbed raw by gentle, weightless breezes.

Rustling leaves echo in my head and pal around with my migraine.Must be the Epstein's.

Before I left, Mom said I looked like-- well, she started to say "death", I'm assuming, but cut herself off before she let it slip.I wouldn't have disagreed with her, to be honest.

Finally on the front porch.Again.

I can hear the clamor coming from inside--

"Where's my other sock?!"

"We're out of milk!"

"I need money for lunch!"

She must have siblings. Younger ones, judging by all the whining i'm picking up. And arguing.

Her house sounds so...busy. Chaotic. Full of life.

By now, my ear's against the door. Can't help it.So this is what a normal family sounds like...

They say curiosity killed the cat...

...or, at least, made him fall flat on his face when the door he was listening through suddenly opened.

A girl about Amia's height, with some of her features but skin a bit more orange than hers stood above me. Her face still had that rounded, 'young' look to it.

And that 'suddenly scared' look, too.

"AMIA! WHY IS THERE SOME VAMPY-LOOKING HOBO ON OUR DOORSTEP?!"

Geez. Kids these days.
She even looked like she was contemplating on shutting the door in my face, no doubt breaking my nose or a finger in the process.Darn it, I've really got to add an extra coat onto that polish...it's chipping...

"What hobo?" I heard Amia's voice echo from another part of the house. She sounded...surprised? Scared? Ehh, probably both.

By now, I was seated on the welcome mat. (It looked comfy.)

Instantly, Amia was at the door, shoving who I presumed was her little sister (who was also scanning me carefully) off to the side.

Of course, because sunrises are weirdly rapid, the golden light had spread everywhere, bleeding through the clouds and bathing every house on the block in its warmth by then.

Once she appeared, the light illuminated hereyes face.eyes.eyes and face. eyes. An Alice Cullen butterscotch-type color. Or maybe amber, because of the brown.

She squinted, almost in pain, and stepped out of the rays like they'd singe her if she didn't.

"Oh! Frank! Um, wow! Come inside?"
She didn't even ask why I was splayed on the concrete of her front porch, just raised her eyebrows.
I nodded, got to my feet, and scurried in. I wasn't too big a fan of sunlight, either, even if it had brought the temperature up to a mild chill.

"Um...you feeling okay? You look, err, pale. Not that being pale's a bad thing...I mean, uh, yeah. you okay?"

Did I look that bad?

A reflection off the glass of a nearby painting on the wall gave my my answer.

Yes.

I ran a hand through my bangs self-consciously.

"I'm fine," I gave her a smile, hoping it and the reply were both believable.

But before she could say anything in response, there was a series of...

Barks? Yaps? Squeaks? Well, a mix of the three.

A tiny, furry brown and white blur had charged at me, picked up and placed in Amia's arms before it had a chance to shred my ankles.

"Sorry! This is Hershey," she giggled. "He's kind of...protective."

I kid you not, that chihuahua was giving me a death glare for the ages--bulgy dark hazel eyes and all.

Meanwhile, Little Sister was eyeing me carefully.
"Who's he?" She questioned.

"This is Frank, from school. He's a...a, uh..."

"Friend?" I offered.

"Yeah, friend."I could be more, though.

I'm assuming her being at a loss for words was because of the question mark our mutual relationship was sitting on.

I mean, what are we?

Are we a "we"?

Acquaintances? Friends? We'd just met yesterday...

But, I mean, I asked her out, so that means we're...hm.

I dunno.

"Frank, this is my little sister Airius. Airius, Frank."

"Nice to meet you." I shook her hand. She wasn't smiling, but she wasn't scowling, either.

Airius. Boy, these guys have some creative parents.

I like their names, though--

Oh.

A third sibling walked out of the kitchen. A boy.

He was their brother. Had to be. Same slender, not-quite-button nose. Same odd-colored-but-still brown eyes, same skinniness, and everything. He just was a shade darker than Amia. And half a head shorter than both the girls.

The boy opened his mouth to say something, but Mia already knew and waved a hand.

"Armon, Frank. Frank, this is Armon. My brother, of course.

"Nice to meet you," he nodded politely, and extended his hand for me to shake it. And, unlike Airius, he was smiling slightly. Very mature.

Poor guy. His little sister was able to look down at him a bit, he was so short. I know how he feels.

"Um, Frank, Armon goes to our school. He's a freshman."

"Cool," I nodded quietly, making a mental note to keep an eye on him.

Just...for protection.

High school can make or break you the first year.

Or, at least, twist you into something you didn't ever plan on becoming.
Like Gerard. My best friend of eleven years.

You've met him. Crazy dude, flashlight...

He doesn't think I know he's on Oxycontin.

I know.Heck, I've been tempted to buy some...

"Okay, um, so...I was wondering if I could walk you to school...?" I broke my train of thought before it went any further, scratching behind my ear, briefly looking at the ground and flickering my eyes up to hers.

Mistake again.

Randomly paralyzed on the spot, by her gray..brown...blue-gray...brown eyes. And the smile she broke into.

"Sure! I don't mind." she beamed. "Just, um...we should probably get out of here..." her voice lowered to something above a whisper. "You guys can ride with Dad..."

Mia said her goodbyes, then we slipped out of the front door.

"Parents were home," she shrugged with a small giggle. "Asleep, but if my dad woke up and saw a guy standing at the front door..."

"He'd flip?" I chewed on my lip with a small smile, trying to keep up with her powerwalking.

"And grill me for details. He's in the law enforcement business, and I've never dated anyone before, so--"

She broke off mid-sentence. "Um, I mean...well..."

"I'd consider us 'dating', if it's okay with you..." I even used finger-quotes.

Though on my end, I was kind of stalking her at the same time. I did show up on her doorstep.

"Okay. Yeah. Dating." She nodded and paused.

"Feels interesting," she commented quietly to herself with a small smile and a look at the ground, not knowing I heard her.

I'd have to agree, though.

Of course, with Gee's impeccable timing, a booming stereo thudded its way down the street, muffled by the walls of something you couldn't exactly call a car.

For the love of--

"Morning, Frankie Baggins!" I could see a familiar mop of greasy black hair staring back at me from the driver's seat, until it got closer and was poking out the passenger-side window.NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Motherf--

"Morning, Amia!" Heh, he remembered her name.

"Morning Gerard, she nodded with a grin.

Ray, my genius of a friend, just a little under 6 feet and possessing an unruly mass of reddish curls instead of hair, wassitting back flattening himself against the passenger's seat, trying to be courteous by letting Gerard hold a conversation through his window. He'd even sucked in his stomach.

He looked uncomfortable, to say the least.

"Need a ride?"

"Well yeah, but there's no room! ...Err, is there?" I asked uncertainly.

Bob, 130 pounds of ginger-haired, blue-eyed muscle, was sitting beside Gerard's twiggy, brown-haired, bespectacled younger brother Mikey.

The contrast was amusing.

"We can squeeze," Gerard shrugged.

"We should probably get in...we won't make it in time if we walk, anyway," Amia added.

"I don't want to make you uncomfortable...I mean, Gerard's gonna poke fun at us..."

"Frank, trust me. I'll be fine." She waved a hand.

Oh, I don't think she'd be fine with our seating arrangement...

Reluctantly, I helped her climb in the ratty pile of rust on wheels.

And then she blinked, realizing there was only about a 6-inch bit of cracked leather seat left.

Curse my weakness for skittles...

"Alrighty, then..." Gerard smirked. "I think we know what the solution to this little issue is..."

I opened my mouth to protest, but Mia let out a giggle. "Alright," she nodded after a very brief pause.

After swapping places, Mia climbed back in the car, sliding herself onto my lap and buckling the seat-belt around both of us while closing the door.

"You sure you're fine with this? I mean, I really don't mind being late, we can walk..."
And I'd wanted to talk with her some more.

"Bah. I'll be okay." She playfully swatted my thigh.

Aw, crap.

I'm enjoying this way more than I should.

Double crap.

The road was a bit bumpy, meaning there were certain sensations where they shouldn't be.Moaning at this point would be ungentlemanly, I assume...

Mia struck up a conversation with the rest of the guys for a few minutes, while I did made an effort to stare out of the window and distract myself. Fortunately for me, we rolled onto the school parking lot after what might have been the longest twenty minutes of my short little life.I'm shaking. Am I shaking? Maybe trembling's the word.

Augh. I'm a perv. One wrong move, and...

While I was busy mentally bashing myself (a very long process, in all honesty), Mia unbuckled the seat-belt that had kept her pressed so snugly against me. Everyone piled out of thescreaming metal deathtrapcar, stretching tiredly between random bits of chatter.

A sigh of relief.Nothing...unfortunate had happened, thank God.

I reluctantly pulled my crumpled, folded schedule out of my pocket like a first-day freshman, and promptly squinted at it, holding it securely despite the breeze in the air. The sunlight was getting more intense now, the air heating up. Perspiration faintly beaded up on my forehead while I stuffed it back into my pocket.

Yay, second day of school.

As we walked, I'd happened to notice, though, that Gerard was headed in a different direction than the rest of us.

"Need a smoke," he mumbled to everyone nonchalantly.

Yeah, right. He'd been slinking off somewhere all summer.

I want to see what this kid's up to.

Make sure he isn't getting into too much trouble.

"Ehm, Frank?" A question in her voice: Where are you going?

Oops. Mia.

"Oh, uh, it is okay if I meet you inside?"

She paused. "Yeah, it's fine."

Hope she doesn't mind. Just have to check on Gee.

I pulled my hood up, tugged my pants lower, and pulled the 'sulky teenager' look that had worked so well on stuffy, fake relatives the past few years. An apathetic, blank, slightly hostile but still somewhat neutral scowl.

I guess by now, I have it perfected into an art form. What can I say? I'm a man of many talents.Well, no...Bob is. But I'm a close second.

The closer you got to the back of the school, the rougher the individuals hanging there looked, and the more the scattered the people were.

Gerard was out of sight, but I knew he couldn't be far. In fact, the only place he could be, since I hadn't passed by him, had to be the shady, soggy, rubbish-filled alley behind the building.

Yeesh.

Rounding the corner, Gerard's back was turned to me. But I couldn't mistake the shady figure standing in front of him:

Robert fuckin' McCracken.
Pardon my French.

I had a right to be angry-- the guy was one of the most slippery weasels on this side of town.

Mile-long juvie record. Multiple pending rape charges. Survived two overdoses.

To top it off, things seemed to 'disappear' when he was around.

What made it worse was that my best friend was with this...this...

I'm at a loss for words. I'm just angry.

My footsteps hurried a bit, graved crunching as I made my way over there.

He knew better. I knew he knew better. He knew I knew he knew better.

And so on.

"Your little friend decided to join us today...did he, Way?" The swine cackled, a cancer stick dangling from his chapped lips.

I saw Gerard's figure tense as he heard me walk closer and stand beside him, his jaw taut in the reflection of McCracken's murky, bleached sapphire-colored eyes.

"Bert," I spat out gruffly. I felt a small chill that I refused to acknowledge as his eyes scanned me from head to toe.Kind of looked like he was checking me out...

"Squirt," He grinned back in a nauseating way, letting a few embers fall to the ground. "To what do we owe the intrusion?"

"No reason that concerns you," I retorted, subconsciously clenching my fists inside my pockets.

"Needed a widdle playmate to come with you and meet the big bad wolf?" 'Cracken snickered in Gee's direction, looking at him like some sort of meal.

Wolf? I think not. 'Drowned roadkill with mange' was more up his alley.

"Listen, can we finish this another time?" Gerard was shifting his weight uncomfortably.If I didn't know any better, I'd say he was shaking.

"Why not now?"

"Yeah, I like now..." Bert's wingman, Jepha, appeared abruptly at his side-- apparently he'd managed to crawl out of whatever meth lab he'd come from. The miscreant's tone implied that Gerard taking a rain check could wind up being hazardous to someone's health.
It was on the verge of a snarl.

Gerard said nothing. Just blinked angrily, his bottom lip quivering so slightly that only I could've noticed it.

"Better yet, why don't we let Way and his friend reschedule? It's easier meeting after school, anyway..." Quinn, the other henchman, had been seated on the ground and out of sight behind Bert, his back flattened against the brick wall.

"Good point," Bert nodded. "After school, Way. Party at my place. You know where to find us. Bring the hobbit...and your little lady friend over there..." the cretin's eyes were locked on someone standing behind me, his tongue darting out to lick his lips in a greedy, lustful way.

Pretty gross.

"Oh, and we both know the consequences if you don't show up, Way."

Gerard said nothing.

With that, the three guys simply walked off in the opposite direction together.

Gerard and I stood there, unmoving, until they disappeared behind the cafeteria dumpsters a good distance away. And then...

"McCracken, Gee? Bert McCracken! WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING?! What could you POSSIBLY--" I was mid-sentence when Bert's 'lady friend' comment clicked.

Grr.
Far from over, pal...

I spun on my heels and, pulling my pants up a bit, mildly jogging over to Mia's slender form leaning against the germy brick wall. She was folding her arms, an eyebrow raised.

"I was checking on him," I admitted, too quiet for Gerard to hear, jabbing a thumb in his direction.

"Not making a business deal with them or something?" Her gray-blue-brown-gray-brown eyes squinted slightly.

"No," I chuckled, shaking my head.

"No narcotics in your system?" Her gaze was piercing, reading my facial expression.

I put both arms out, closed my eyes and pretended to walk a straight line.
"I'm clean, officer," I giggled.

Then I pressed myself against the wall, hands behind my back like I was wearing handcuffs.

"If a strip-search and/or spanking is necessary, I'd be happy to oblige, ma'am..." I teased with a country drawl, reaching for my belt buckle.

Hehe.I meant that.

"No! Clothes stay on!" she giggled, peeling me off the wall-- and probably some old gum.Darn. Clothes.

I looked over at Gerard, a good distance away, who looked unsure of whether to interrupt. He just looked unsure period, to be honest. His face was completely flushed; he hadn't said a word yet. He was looking kind of sickly, actually...quite vulnerable. Not nearly as confident as usual. I guess he'd finally given in to that look I'd been seeing in his eyes all summer, no matter how happy he tried to act.

I waved him over to us, and he shuffled his way there, hands in his pockets.

Of course, it only took Mia to break the awkward/briefly tense moment.

"Now, as it appears you two were conversing with McCrackhead, and I only caught the last few sentences, I have to ask...

...what's this 'lady friend' business?"

To clear the air:

I'd die before I let her anywhere near Bert's clutches.
Just thought I'd let you know that.

Didn't mention the rape charges for nothing.