New Kid in New Jersey

The bell rang out sharp and loud, wrenching me out of my mindless chain of thoughts.

"Page one-hundred and nine, class. And I want a minimum of four pages on today's article." Mr Wesson, my strict, yet friendly English teacher called after his shortly dismissed class of pupils; who were all pushing to pile out of the unsteady door and into the corridor outside, meeting seas of students, all scrambling past each other to get to the many other areas of the school, where they would meet their waiting friends for lunch break. I remembered that I had agreed to meet Mikey outside.

I swung my noticeably heavier bag over my shoulder, which was currently aching painfully, and piled my various books back inside it. I made my way over to the other side of the emptying classroom to join the hordes of my chattering classmates by the open door.
Wishing that I was slightly taller, I pushed my way through the thick masses of people, and, with difficulty, I made my way over to the main reception desk that was conveniently located opposite the large double doors to the school grounds. I looked around myself, before pushing open the heavy door on the left, and shuffling cautiously outside.

Once more, I stopped to take in my surroundings; shivering slightly in the crisp September air. I pulled my hoodie closer around myself to keep in the warmth, and wandered onto the grassy field in my search for Mikey and Gerard. Looking around before, they were nowhere in sight. My battered Etnies scuffed slightly as I strode through the choppy, semi-damp grass, with my bag slapping sorely against my thigh in rhythm with my footsteps.

'Frank!' Came a familiar voice from somewhere to my right.
I quickly turned around, to be met with a grinning Mikey Way, who was waving his arms around in my direction, hopping up and down slightly on the spot. Beckoning me over to him, he took my arm and led me over to the towering oak tree that I had spotted before, when I had just walked in through the school gates this morning. Mikey paused in front of a small group of people around my age, who were all talking to each other happily, laughing and messing around together. Among the group, I spotted Gerard, who gave me a quick wink, before turning his head to talk to a smiling, dark-haired girl.

"Mikey!" The girl squealed excitedly, noticing us suddenly, and abandoning her seemingly dull conversation with Gerard.

"Alicia!" Mikey gasped, hugging her happily, and picking her up to twirl her around in his arms. She giggled and buried her head in Mikey’s shoulder.

We sat down on the grass next to the others, and Mikey introduced me to Alicia.

"Frank, meet Alicia; Alicia, this is Frank." Mikey said, and she gave me a friendly smile, which I gladly returned.
We didn’t have much time to talk and get to know each other just then, because Mikey insisted that I met the others straight away.

"Who’s this guy?" Grunted a bored-looking guy, whose conversation was interrupted by Mikey giving him a hard poke in the arm.

"I’m Frank Iero." I said, slightly annoyed at his disinterest.
He didn’t reply. Instead, he began to stare into the empty space just above my head; his eyes drifting out of focus slightly. Mikey cleared his throat loudly, catching the guy’s attention once more.

"Cool hair." The guy said, before lying back down in the grass, folding his arms behind his head as if nothing had ever happened. I grinned to myself happily - I cut and dyed my hair myself.

"Well...that was Bob, anyway." Mikey sighed. "Don’t worry, he’s normally like this. You know, all spaced-out and shit."
Next, I was introduced to the tall guy who was talking to Bob earlier.

"Ray Toro, pleased to meet you." He said, a considerable amount more enthusiastically than Bob.

"Frank." I said quickly. ‘Iero.’ I added.
I took in his appearance, which included a rather peculiar hairstyle. It was a sort of afro type-thing, I guess. But, like Mikey’s, it was strange, yet cool. I shook his hand, and pointed out how I liked his Iron Maiden T-shirt, and we chatted for a few minutes about the band. Finally, some people who I actually fitted in with, I thought to myself.

The last person I was to meet was Gerard. Mikey had no idea that we had already met, so I suppose it was kind of awkward. But it was still nice.

"Gerard Way."

"Frank Iero."
We looked at each other. His hazel eyes sparkled, gazing into mine as I tried desperately not to blink.

"Well, come on! Talk to each other!" Mikey said loudly, obviously slightly put out by our silence.
We smiled at each other, staying silent. He stared at us, as if to get us to move. "Meh." He said, walking away and sitting back down next to Alicia, where they began to talk to each other excitedly about something random.

I bit my lip and we sat in silence for a few minutes. I couldn’t think of anything to say, but I really wanted to talk to him about something. Anything. I didn’t care; it was just so awkward.

"So, uh…you like…uh…skittles?"
He looked at me, eyebrow raised, before closing his eyes and beginning to laugh silently. I couldn’t help but laugh a little too… it was just the most random thing I could’ve possibly said. He opened his eyes again, and I felt myself blush slightly under his gaze.

"You’re cute." He smiled.