Under Jersey Skies

On Monday night I had gotten a text message from Frank asking me if he could drive me to school the next day, and I had replied saying yes. It was a bit of a surprise I’ll admit, to have him ask me that just out of the blue, I rarely ever saw Frank except for at school, so this was new for me.

It was a quiet morning, and the wind was warm, the sun was already high up in the sky, and I sat at the end of my driveway in my school uniform, my black satchel bag by my side, waiting patiently. I heard a motor behind me and stood up to allow my Dad to back his car out of the driveway.

“What’re you doing up so early?” Dad asked me, winding down the window.
“Waiting for a friend” I said.
“Someone walking you to school today?” Dad questioned.
“Kinda, Frank’s offered to drive me” I replied.

Dad smiled.

“Okay then, well, have a good day at school” Dad said.
“You too, have a good day at work” I replied.

Dad wound the window back up and drove down to the end of road, before turning the corner and disappearing from my sight. I waited another 15 minutes before I finally spotted Frank’s white van coming down the street and I stood up as it stopped at my house. The driver’s window rolled down and the sound of Black Flag blasted out.

“Shit, sorry about that” said Frank, turning the stereo down.
“Hop in” he added, leaning over and opening the door for me.

I went around the other side of the van and got in. The seats were the most comfortable I’d ever sat in, covered in soft black seat covers. I sank right into them, tilting my head back and closing my eyes. Frank noticed and laughed.

“They’re pretty comfy huh?” he asked.
“Yeah, they are” I replied, suddenly snapping my eyes open again.
“Haha, well don’t fall asleep on the way to school” laughed Frank, and with that, he started up the engine.

It wasn’t the first time I’d ridden in Frank’s van, but I’d never really seen it properly until now. For a cruddy old van, it actually wasn’t that bad, the engine wasn’t noisy like you’d expect a crappy old engine to be and the stereo system, obviously modified by Frank, was way ahead of the van’s time. I shifted in my seat, and I smiled when I caught sight of Frank’s guitar laying across the back seat, seat belted into place. I laughed.

“What?” Frank asked, a smile on his face.
“Your guitar” I replied.
“Oh, that, yeah well, I try keep it as safe as possible” said Frank, and I shook my head, smiling.
“It’s my baby” Frank continued.
“Yeah, it’s cool, I understand” I said.
“So what made you wanna drive me to school today?” I asked.
“Oh, nothing really, I just thought you’d prefer getting a lift for a change” said Frank.
“Oh, alright then” I replied.

We sat in silence for awhile, until Frank suddenly pulled into a Starbucks car park. I looked at him with a puzzled expression. And he just smiled.

“What? School doesn’t start for another hour yet, we’ve got plenty of time” Frank said, as we found a place to park. He stopped the engine, and we both got out.

As we walked in we heard about four people call out to us. I looked over to a table in the corner, where Gerard, Mikey, Ray and Bob were sitting. Gerard gestured for us to come and join them, and I began to walk over to them. Noticing Frank wasn’t following, I turned around and looked at him with a puzzled expression.

“You coming?” I asked.
“Yeah, in a sec, I’m gonna go order our coffee” he replied, giving me a goofy grin.

I shook my head again, smiling, before turning back and going over to join the others at their table. As soon as I approached, they all got up, and one by one they hugged me, Bob first, then Ray, then Mikey, and finally, Gerard. Gerard however held me a little closer than the others had and held me a little longer. I unwrapped my arms from around him and tickled his sides, making him release his hold on me.

“You got just a tad clingy there big boy” I laughed.
“Sorry” he replied, trying to fight the smile on his face.
“It’s okay Gee-ward” I told him, the nickname made him laugh.
“Sit! Sit! Sit!” he said like an excited little kid, and grabbed my hand, pulling me down into the chair next to him.

Frank came back with our coffee‘s, and passed them out to each of us, except for me, who he had gotten a chocolate milk for, I wasn’t really the coffee type. Gerard held his arms out and kicked his feet like a child.

“Coffee, coffee, coffee, Frankie coffee!” he chanted, making me laugh.
“Gerard, I swear you’re 5 and not 16” Frank laughed, passing Gerard his coffee.
“Nope, 16, honest” Gerard replied after taking a sip, he grinned, with milk on his top lip. I laughed, and Gerard looked at me with an angry yet playful expression on his face.
“What?” he asked.
“Your lip” I answered.
“Oh, yeah, right” said Gerard, and he licked the milk off his top lip.

I shook my head and smiled. Fucking goober. I finished my chocolate milk fairly quickly, as did the others with their coffee, all except Gerard. I didn’t mind though, it was fun just hanging out with the guys.

“Gerard, you’re a fucking weirdo” I said, after observing how Gerard drank his coffee by sipping it from a spoon.
“Yeah, it’s not soup man” Ray laughed.
“Yes it is!” Gerard retaliated in a baby-like voice.
“No, it’s not” said Frank.
“I knew that” Gerard replied, shifting his eyes from side to side with a cheeky smile on his face.

Frank moved closer to me, and put his arm around me. I looked at him, and he smiled. It was the first time I really noticed how gorgeous his eyes were, they were Hazel like Gerard’s, and something in them just took my breath away. A shiver went through my body, and I could hear my heart beating in my ears. But I shook it off quickly.

What the hell has come over me? It’s just Frank, my good old best mate Frank.

“HOLY SHIT!” shouted Mikey, braking the silence.
“What?” growled Gerard, Mikey’s shouting had startled him and caused him to spill what was left of his coffee all over the table.
“It’s fucking 9:00! We’re late!” Mikey replied to his older brother.
“Wouldn’t be the first time Mikey, chill” said Bob.
“Still though, we’re late guys, we should get going” I added, defending Mikey.
“Jackie’s right” said Ray, getting up from the table.
“Yeah I spose so, I can’t afford to get another detention from Mrs Veriton, Dad’s already on my case as it is for my shitty grades” said Gerard.

The six of us got up from our table and headed out to the car park where we all crammed ourselves into Frank’s van. Gerard threw open the passenger’s seat door and jumped in.

“I call the front seat” he said.
“Gerard, that’s Jackie’s seat!” replied Frank.
“Yeah Gerard, MOVE!” I said, pulling at his arm.
“No” he said.
“Move” I repeated.
“Make me” he snapped playfully.

I tickled him and pulled harder on his arm. He squirmed and wriggled, trying to escape, before grabbing me and pulling me onto his lap. I turned and looked at him, and he smiled cheekily.

“There, now we’re both in front” Gerard said.
“Alright, fine, you’re a fucking idiot Gerard, but okay” I laughed.
“Alright now you two have sorted yourselves out, we can get going” laughed Frank, starting up the engine.

Gerard and I just blew raspberries at him. Ray, who was sitting to Mikey’s left in the back seat, jumped up behind us and put his arms around me and Gerard. Squeezing us.

“Ray you fucker! Let go, you’re suffocating me!” Gerard laughed.
“No, you wouldn’t listen to Jackie, so now you’re gonna suffer” said Ray, squeezing us harder.
“Ouch Ray, it’s hurting now” I piped up, running short of breath.
“Yeah dude, let go” Gerard agreed.
“Nope” laughed Ray, squeezing even harder.

I grabbed Ray’s arm with my hand, digging my nails into it as hard as I could and he released his hold on us. Clutching his arm where I had stabbed him he looked at me with a babyish frown, his lower lip overlapping his upper lip.

“Fuck you Jackie” he snapped playfully.
“Well that’s what you get” said Bob, punching his other arm.
“Exactly” joined Mikey, pinching him.
“Ouch you fuckers! Fucking leave me alone” Ray whined, flailing his arms about wildly, trying to hit both Mikey and Bob at the same time.
“Guys, can you keep it down, I’m tryna drive here” laughed Frank.
“Okay” said Mikey, flinging a stuffed Wolverine doll at him, hitting him right on the back of the head.

Frank just laughed and kept his eyes on the road, muttering “You fucker” under his breath. Gerard leaned forward and turned up the stereo, the CD Frank had been playing had just switched to “Dig Up Her Bones” by the Misfits. I smiled as Gerard bobbed his head along to the beat, singing along. I laughed when I saw Ray doing the same thing, the way his afro flew around when he bobbed his head was just hilarious…

***

We did eventually make it to school, at recess time, which was terribly late, and Gerard and I had inevitably gotten a detention from Mrs Veriton. Who accused us of wagging class when our “story” that Frank’s van had broken down on the way to school had failed. So while Mikey, Frank, Ray and Bob enjoyed recess playing Kickball, Gerard and I were stuck in our Science classroom, copying down the notes we had missed in class that morning under the hawk-like watch of Mrs Veriton.

“There” Gerard said, passing his book to Mrs Veriton.
“Thankyou Mr. Way, you can go now” she replied.
“I’m done too Miss” I said, getting up from my table and handing her my book.
“Then you are free to leave” she said.

Gerard and I left the classroom together. We were halfway down the corridor when I noticed the angry pout on Gerard’s face and how white his knuckles were. I stopped, and pulled him to a halt.

“What?” he asked me.
“What’s up with you?” I asked him.
“She fucking called me Mr. Way again” Gerard growled.
“No Gerard, nobody gets that pissed from a little thing like that, what’s wrong?” I asked.
“It’s nothing” Gerard replied.
“Gerard” I persisted.
“Leave it” Gerard said sternly.

We continued to walk in silence, and I couldn’t help but worry…

***

As I walked into my English classroom, I could see Jessica sitting at our usual table at the front of the room, but I didn’t dare make an attempt to sit next to her, not after what had happened yesterday. So I returned to my desk in the far back corner of the classroom. As I waited patiently for Mrs. Jackson to arrive I saw Arriana enter the room with a blonde haired boy I didn’t know the name of, but had seen around the school before.

I blinked, Arriana had dyed her hair! It was now bright pink, but she had kept the length and it was still curly. She looked gorgeous, somehow the pink suited her, her blue eyes stood out beautifully from behind her black rimmed glasses. She was wearing a skull printed black tie instead of the uniform’s plain black one, and she wore a black studded cuff around one wrist, and a rainbow studded one around the other.

She and the blonde boy sat at the table next to mine, which was a double, mine was a single. The boy smiled at me and waved, and I waved back, returning the smile. He nudged Arriana, who looked over at me.

“Hey Jackie” she said brightly.

Ok, that was a change, Arriana was usually very shy and found it hard to talk to people she didn’t know that well. But she had sounded so confident, what had happened to her?

“Hey Arriana” I replied.
“Why are you sitting on your own?” she asked.
“Jessica and I aren’t friends anymore” I told her.
“Oh, that’s right, because of what happened at Danica’s party?” she questioned.
“Yeah” I replied.
“It’s a shame, you guys were heaps good friends” Arriana said.
“Yeah right, she accused me of being with Gerard behind her back” I said.
“Shit, really? What a bitch” replied Arriana.
“Yeah” I laughed.
“Well you can always talk to us” said Arriana.
“Thanks” I replied.
“Anytime” said the blonde boy.
“Oh, this is Joey by the way, Joey Wheeler” Arriana said, introducing him to me.
“Nice to meet you” I said.
“Likewise” he replied.

Joey had shaggy blonde hair and bright blue eyes. His hair was obviously styled to stick out in certain places, but it suited him, he looked good.

“Pull your desk up to mine, fuck sitting on your own” said Arriana, tapping her tabletop.
“Okay” I replied, dragging my desk over next to Arriana’s

I began to unpack my stuff from my bag when I saw the teacher walk in, only it wasn’t our usual English teacher, Mrs. Jackson. It was a guy, probably around his late twenties, he had long messy brown hair and looked like he hadn’t had a shave in awhile, he was wearing a black Children Of Bodem shirt and baggy black jeans. He walked over to the teacher’s desk, and instead of sitting down in the chair behind it, he sat on it.

“Hello guys, Mrs. Jackson had to leave unfortunately due to the fact that she needed a back operation, so I’m your new English teacher, Mr. Tanner, but you can call me Dean” he introduced himself.
“So anyways, I’m new here, fresh out of university, and I don’t know many of you, so how about we go around the room and introduce ourselves?” he continued.

Jessica let out a burst of laughter.

“Something funny little lady?” Mr Tanner asked her.
“Uh, excuse me? My name is Jessica, not little lady” she spat back at him.
“My apologies, but would you care to tell us what’s so funny?” he questioned, Jessica’s smart-ass attitude hadn’t seemed to phase him one bit, he was still as calm as before.
“Look, we’re not in Primary School, so why do we have to play this stupid “Let’s-Go-Around-The-Room-And-Introduce-Ourselves” game?” Jessica complained.
“I understand, I assume you’d rather work then?” asked Mr Tanner, smiling.
“Uh, no thank you” Jessica retaliated.
“Haha, I thought so” he laughed.
“Well, seeing as you’re so chatty at the moment, how about you go first?” he continued.

Jessica froze in her seat, I knew perfectly well she hated being picked as the first to speak. Although it was usually her own fault, she’d smart mouth the teacher, and in return, they’d make her pay by forcing her to do the one thing she hated most.

“Oh u-umm” Jessica stuttered, trying not to show her fear of public speaking.
“I-I’m Jessica LaT-Tovey, And I’m six-sixteen years old, I love to-to sing, and ha-hang out with my mates” she said, taking a huge breath after finishing to calm herself.
“Nice to meet you” Mr Tanner smiled.
“How about you?” he asked me.
“Oh, hi, I’m Jackie James, I’m 16 and like Jess, I also love singing, in fact I’m actually in a band with my friends Gerard, Mikey, Frank, Ray and Bob called My Chemical Romance” I said confidently, smiling when I saw the daggers Jessica was giving me.
“Interesting” replied Mr Tanner.
“Thankyou” I replied.

Mr Tanner continued to go around the room and listen to everyone introduce themselves, I discovered that Arriana was a guitar player and her mother was a hairdresser, she had been the one who had dyed her hair for her. I also discovered that Joey’s father was a sound technician and would set up for live bands playing in the area, and was usually able to get Joey tickets to the concerts.

“How about you?” Mr Tanner asked a boy with short brown hair and dark blue-grey eyes.

“I’m Korey Sullivan, I’m 16, I play piano, and I spend my spare time at parties with my mates” he replied in a ignorant-sounding voice.
“Pleased to meet you” replied Mr Tanner.

I looked over at Jessica, she was eyeing off Korey with a smile on her face that I knew she only showed when she liked someone, and trust me, she was way into Korey.

So that’s the rat that told Jessica about me and Gerard almost kissing…

“Well now I know who all of you guys are, allow me to introduce myself properly, as you already know, my name is Dean. I’m 27 years old, I play guitar, both acoustic and electric, I’m in a band called Last Shot, I also sing and occasionally play drums, I’ve been studying at Newark University for 3 years, and I just graduated this year, so now I’m a fully qualified teacher, but I’m not like most teachers, that is to say, I’m not an asshole, I won’t act like I’m superior to you, because I remember I was once your age too, I can be your friend, but I’m here to teach, not to let you guys slack off, and yes I know school can be boring sometimes, but I’m going to do my best to make sure you guys have fun in this class and that you look forward to your English lessons, rather than dread them, and that’s about it, I hope you guys can come to know me as a good mate rather than a crabby old teacher” said Mr Tanner, finishing with a laugh.

They rest of the class joined in with the laughter, all except for Jessica, Korey, and two other girls that were sitting at a table by the door reading a teen magazine and playing with their mobiles. There was only about 10 minutes left, so Mr Tanner just let us chill out for what was left of the lesson. Arriana’s head shot towards my face.

“You’re in My Chemical Romance?” she asked me excitedly.
“Yeah” I replied.
“Since when?” she questioned.
“Since like, my third week here” I said.
“That’s fucking awesome!” replied Arriana.
“How’d you get in?” asked Joey, joining the conversation.
“Gerard asked me” I replied.
“Wow, you must be really, really good then, Gerard doesn’t just ask anyone to join his band, you gotta be like, the best of the best” said Joey.
“Really?” I asked him.
“Oh yeah” he replied, wide-eyed and nodding.

Does he really think I’m that good?