The Beginning of the End

Gerard's Point Of View

When I finally got some sleep in, that stupid phone started ringing. "Man what the deuce? It's six in the morning!" I mumbled.

"Sorry! I have to tell you something. You know that new girl? I heard she got beat up yesterday from Jeff," Matt explained.

I woke up immediately and jumped out of bed. "What? Are you kidding? How bad was it?"

"All's I know is that she isn't in the hospital."

"Damn. I'm gonna go get ready for school. See you there." I hung up, throwing the phone on to my bed.

After my shower and a change of clothes, I walked out the door with my Chemistry book in my left arm. The cold air made me shiver. At least it's almost October. Halloween should be fun this year.

I walked not five steps before someone called my name. I turned around and saw Ray running up to me. His crazy afro curls jumped up and down as he made his way over to me. He gasped, trying to regain his breath.

"Did you hear about the new sophomore?" he asked after catching his breath. He stood up straight towering over me. Freaking giant of a man.

I nodded slowly. "Yeah I did. I feel bad about it."

We started walking again. We were too quiet this morning. I'm not saying we're the talkative type but we were silent for more than five minutes. That does mean something. Something's on Ray's mind and he doesn't want to say it.

"You know," he began, "we should've became her friend or something. We could've saved her from getting hurt."

"Yeah..." I trailed off, looking away. He doesn’t have to know it was my fault. I shouldn't have listened to her when she told me to leave her alone. Come on, have you ever heard of a girl that can defend herself against a football player? That's highly unlikely.

Ray touched my shoulder and gasped, again. "That's getting annoying you know," I muttered.

"Look over there." He pointed straight ahead to the park.

"Okay, I'm looking. What am I supposed to see?" Maybe he saw a dead person or raccoon. That's pretty normal around here. The streets here aren't safe. I plan to move somewhere nicer when I get the money and when I get older.

"No, the girl. Isn't that her?"

I scanned the park again. Crap that was her. I wanted to go over there and ask if she was okay but I didn't want her to hit me. "Let's go, she's probably going to hurt me if I get within kicking distance of her."

He nodded and then we met up with Matt in front of the school. He just took a shower. His brown shaggy hair clung to his skin. "Hey kids," he yawned.

I said hi to him, Ray waved.

Matt looked around him before leaning down to my height and whispered, "Did you see that chick at the park?"

Is she going to be the hot topic of the school? "Yeah I did. Did you go over to her? She might punch you."

He scoffed. "Yeah I did go over to her. I asked her if she's okay and she said yes and told me to leave her alone."

"And...?"

"I walked to school."

"Wow," laughed Ray. Our usual morning antics continued until the bell rang, telling us it was time for classes.

I went through four periods without seeing Lillian anywhere. Did something happen while she was at the park? Shit. I really should have told her it's dangerous for her to be out at the park alone, even if it's during the daylight.

After putting my books away in my locker, I walked out the school, set on trying to find her. I didn't go far though. She was sitting under one of the trees on school property. She looked so sad.

I even sat down next to her. She didn't move a muscle. I felt really awkward just sitting there and listening to her cry.

The second I asked if she was okay, she lifted her head like a deer in the headlights. Her eyes widened in shock to see me but then she regained her composure. She tried to push me away, at the same time trying to say, "Leave me alone."

It didn't work. She sounded so helpless. I'm not going to leave her hurt, twice.

Maybe if I acted like she wasn't crying, she would just stop. "Where were you? You missed four periods."

She glared at me then shook her head. "I know. I had stuff to do."

I felt really weird sitting next to her. The fact that she wouldn't stop crying made things even weirder. I remember someone telling me that whenever a girl was crying, the boy should comfort her.

What would comforting be though? I didn't have any candy to give her and I wasn't good with words. This sucks. Oh wait! I can hug her!

My arm snaked its way around her shoulders. I really was expecting her to hurt me for my nice gesture. When she didn't though, I relaxed some. She wasn't moving or anything so when she pushed me away from her and stood up, I was really confused.

"Sorry Gerard, I have to go. See you around."

You're going to cut school? "What? Oh, okay Lilly bean. Bye I guess."

She turned the corner before I walked back into school. I found Matt and Ray at the back of the cafeteria, rushing through their Algebra 2 homework.

My composition notebook was still at the exact spot at our table. Matt raised his head quickly to see who caused the sudden commotion. He narrowed his eyes at me. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," I replied absentmindedly.