Behind This Smile

Gerard POV

I was breathing heavily as I walked into school. The fact that I have to walk to school and I woke up late is a total downer. Mikey was already there, opening his locker. "Thanks for waking me up, buddy," I panted.

"Anytime." He slammed his locker. "You know you're lucky, though. I heard it was supposed to rain." Mikey smiled and walked with me to my locker. He started talking to me about this weird dream he had last night, something about unicorns, but my attention was focused on the girl beside me. Nicola.

She opened her locker and revealed a lot of pink. Normally, I don't fall for girls like her, but I heard she was nice and she's extremly cute. She ran her fingers through her blond hair-- I don't know whether or not if it was natural or dyed-- and smiled slightly into the mirror in her locker. She already looked perfect.

"Dude, Gerard, I'm right here." Mikey waved his hand in front of my face and I snapped back into reality. "Nicola...," Mikey sneered. "Preppy bitch..."

I smacked upside the head. "Mikey, I don't know if you realize this, but I like her."

Mikey nodded. "I know. And I always thought you had good taste in girls."

I was about to say something, but the whole hallway got quiet. Everybody turned to look at the girl who walked down the hallway, eyes fixed to the ground, just like she was new. But she wasn't. Sydney or Syd-something was her name.

Mikey rolled his eyes and pushed his glasses up his nose just a little bit. "I don't know why people keep treating her weird for her mom's death. Nicola is Sydri's sister and they treat her like she's royalty." Mikey, even though he never talked to her, just like me with Nicola, sort of liked Syd whatever.

I shrugged. "I don't know, Mikey. All I know is that we need to get to class." I grabbed my books and trudged off to first period.

I was so close to making to class without being late but Frank grabbed my arm and pulled me aside. "Dude, I have to go pee and they closed all the boys' bathrooms." He jumped up and down a bit.

"I'm sorry...?" I tried getting away from him but he grabbed my arm again.

"I... Need... To... Go... Pee!" He looked at me with pleading eyes, his eyes brim with tears; begging.

"What do you want me to do?" I asked.

"Stand behind me while I pee in a bush?" he shrugged.

"Oh, my... Fine."

I stayed behind Frank while he peed in a bush. He was whistling like nothing was wrong, and I wanted to kill myself on the spot. He sighed a while after and patted me on the shoulder. "Thanks," he said, smiling.

"Anytime," I muttered. I grabbed my shit again and once again trudged my way to first period.

I walked into first period math and wanted to shrink the moment everybody's eyes turned to stay at me. Though, I noticed, is that Sydri, I think was her name, stared at the desk. Her black hair covered her face. If she was a little more paler, she would've looked like the girl from The Ring.

Mr. Warlock cocked an eyebrow at me. "Nice of you to join us, Gerard. Will you please sit down?" Warlock was the only teacher who called us by our first names.

I sat down in the back and dazed off into outerspace. Nicola didn't cross my mind like she usually does. It was Sydri, who was in front of me, that did. At first I thought, there is no way in hell they are sisters. She had black hair and Nicola had blond. Granted, Sydri's hair was dyed often.

I also realized that Sydri's always the girl that gets pushed up against the lockers. Sometimes that happens to us, but she's a girl. It's always Nicola and her posse, too. Thinking back on this, Mikey was right. Nicola is a bitch. But she was so damn gorgeous....

My books were suddenly knocked over and I shot my head up. Sydri quickly went down and picked them up. "I'm sorry," she mumbled, almost inaudible. I glanced at the clock and figured out the bell rang. She put the books in a neat pile on my desk and quickly shuffled out of the room.