Sharada

Entering his English class, Frank is immediately welcomed by the sight of his friend sitting at their usual spot, in the far back. Making his way towards him, the memories of the weekend come flooding back to him. His friend’s neck supports deep purple bruises, still visible under the upraised collar of his shirt. His glasses are too small for his face, considering the fact he had those glasses at the age of ten. His other glasses (or what are left of them) are now scattered across the pavement a couple of blocks away. The cut beneath his left eyebrow is just beginning to scab. All in all, he still looks like shit. But hey, who was Frank to talk? He probably looked worse. Finally noticing his friend slumping in the seat beside him, the other boy glances up and tugs the earplugs of his Ipod out of his ears to greet him.

“Hey Frankie. You look like shit.” The boy said, grinning. What did I tell you?

“Sup Mikey? And so do you.” Frank states the obvious.

“Nothing much happened since you saw me this morning.” Mikey lightly laughs. “I’m almost afraid to ask you the same though.”

“Haha. Listen, did you see the new girl?” Frank asks.

“Nope. And happy I didn’t either. Probably another bleach blond prep slut who’s going to try to make our lives a living hell to make her popularity jump. That’s what happens every time.” Mikey finishes, leaning back on his chair.

Frank shakes his head and Mikey cocks an eyebrow, interested.

“She’s not like that. At least she doesn’t seem like it but-” Frank started.

“Aw, does my little Fwankie have a new crush?” Mikey interrupts, making a cute face. Frank just glares at him. Sighing, Mikey continues. “Don’t trust your first encounters. They are more than often misleading.” Frank just looked at him with an exasperated look.

“Can you drop the shit for once and use real 16 year old vocabulary?”

“Yup, but I don’t want to.” Mikey replies grinning. Frank just rolls his eyes. “So anyway, what’s the name of this chick?” Frank just looks at him weirdly, his face clearly saying what his mouth doesn’t: words like chick really don’t fit you Mikes.

“What? You said to cut the crap! I did!” Mikey exclaims, earning a dirty look from the old rag they are supposed to call a teacher. Frank giggles at his friend. “So?” Mikey now whispers.

“Well, her name’s…” Right then, the door swings open and Myriam steps in slowly, somewhat embarrassed of her fifteen minute late. She cautiously walks towards the teacher’s desk to give her the note the principal had sent her, delivered by a nerdy freshman.

“…Sharada.” Frank finally finishes his sentence.

While nodding at everything bratty old Ms. Haydes (it had to mean something her named resembled so much to Hades, the mythological God of the Underworld…) told her, Myriam just couldn’t help but sweep her gaze over her English class.

Her eyes stop momentarily on that Frank boy, then on the boy beside him. He was taller than Frank by almost a head, even sitting down. He had longish brown hair that framed his face, and looked a little too thin and lanky for it to be quite healthy. Taking in his too-small glasses and visible cuts and gashes on his face, even from this distance, she could clearly see that he must have been with Frank that Saturday for the beating. Feeling the familiar wave of guilt wash over her, she feels the heat rise slowly to her cheeks, although knowing too well that it wasn’t visible to anyone looking at her. She smiled at the thought. In fact, she never has been a blusher. She finally jumps back to reality, realizing she was still staring at him. The boy seemed to notice this too; for he quickly blushed a deep shade of pink and looked away.

She turned back to her teacher from hell just in time to get shooed to a desk in the third row right next to the wall, the most far away from the window as possible. Soon after, Ms. Haydes continued rambling on and on about some random subject no one bothered to tune in to. Myriam bends over a sort of notebook, while as the two boys go back to their conversation.

“So that’s her?” Mikey inquires.

“Yep, that’s her.” Frank answers, bending over his work. Mikey only nods, still staring at the new arrival. A slow smirk spreads across Frank’s lips as he looks up at his friend.

“So… who has the crush now, huh?” Frank looks at his friend slyly. Mikey just blushes and stares down at his non-interesting work.

“Shut the fuck up dude.”

“Mr. Iero and Mr. Way! I am sick and tired of hearing your nonsense whispers in my class! Stop this childishness this instant!” A bark suddenly erupts from the front of the class. The two addressed boys’ heads snap up to see their teacher and half the class staring intensely at them, excluding Myriam. She was still scribbling away. They both muttered half-hearted “sorry ma’am”s before returning to their work.

Carefully looking up to the board again, Mikey tries to steal a glimpse at Myriam. He freezes when he notices she was staring right at him. Her deep, hypnotizing chocolate eyes keep his hazel ones prisoner. After a moment that felt like hours for both of them, both looked away slightly.

Mikey sighs; she was probably looking at Frank anyways. Myriam, on the other hand, had something else on her mind. Where had she seen these eyes before? She rattled her brain for an answer. Think Myriam, think… Or should she start calling herself Sharada now… Glancing down at her notebook, she re-reads what she had just written out of a line or two.

These gray-stained walls enbox me now
They’re closing in on me
Every corner
Every sound
I hear you voice, see your face
It’s too much
I can’t bear with your cruelties

You chase them away
You help me up
You calm me down
Only to throw me over a cliff each
And every
Fucking
Time

That’s it, I’ve had enough
Trust is gained, trust is lost
Trust right now has just its place
Shoved right up your ass

Sorry? Ha, I’ve heard that before
Save your breath for that whore
‘cause everywhere you go, I’ll be there

Myriam frowns. It may not be finished, but it is obvious it changes subject in the middle of the…poem, I guess. Sighing, she snaps her notebook shut and closes her eyes, leaning back. Even her inspiration has abandoned her. She resumed in staring out the window for the rest of the period, her chin supported by her palm. Her eyelids were becoming heavy from the normal lack of sleep she usually experience, but which has become even more chronic since she has moved. Her teacher’s raspy voice startles her out of her dream world.

“Mr. Iero! Mr. Way! How many times do I have to tell you that this is not appropriate behavior IN MY CLASS!” She finishes shrieking. Myriam has to fight her instinct of covering her ears. She turns around to find the two boys retreating what looked like spitball straws with guilty grins plastered on their faces. “I want both of you out. NOW!” Ms. Haydes points at the door.

At the sound of this, they both shrug and file out. “And you,” She points at Frank. “You, Mr. Iero, are the lucky winner of a week’s worth of detentions with me, after school.” Ah, so it was Frank Iero, and the other one was the Way boy. Frank only grins at her and salutes, even though Myriam was positive she saw him shudder. He steps out the doorway and slams the door with a massive BANG.

After a moment or two, Myriam slaps her forehead in the heel of her hands with her elbows jammed on the desk, and closes her eyes for a tiny bit of much needed sleep. She faintly hears the drone of the teacher’s voice as she begins to doze off…

She wakes up suddenly, and glancing at the clock, she sees she has just under a minute left of class. So, gathering all her things, she sits there and waits for the remaining thirty seconds. She is on her feet on the first note of the bell and already out the door by the third. Keeping her head low, she hurries out into the corridor, only to collide in someone and losing her step, causing her to almost fall.

“Uh sorry I wasn’t watching…” Myriam glances up to see the guy who got sent out of class along with Frank, something Way. Now up close, she can easily see the big purple bruises on his neck, thanks to his collar that is now pulled down. For the hundredth time that day, she mentally kicks herself for not at least trying to stop those jerks she met.

“Hi.” He breathes. Myriam slightly smiles and nods. It looked like he was going to add something more when a shout overcomes him.

“Hey Mikey!” The boy turns around, giving to Myriam just enough time to slip away. Walking towards her locker, she loses herself in her thoughts again. Mikey… So it was Mikey Way and Frank Iero. She finally knew the names of the only two people who looked like they were worth knowing. She almost kicks herself then; she wasn’t staying here anyway, so why try to make friends? She was leaving as soon as she could, that much she knew.