Under Jersey Skies

I sat in Photography, trying to concentrate on the task our teacher had set for us; full black & white photos, with the only coloured thing being their eyes. I’d already edited a photo of Mikey with green eyes, Frank with blue eyes, Ray with yellow eyes, Bob with orange eyes and was currently in the process of giving Gerard black demon eyes, much like the demons in Supernatural.

“Oh god you would not believe the way Korey moves, he’s amazing, and he’s sooo big!” laughed Jessica, who had been yabbering on about her sex life non-stop.

It’s all I’d heard all lesson, and it was starting to annoy me, not because I was jealous, I wasn’t. But because she was being way too descriptive, and purposely talking loudly, trying to piss me off because I was still a virgin. And, it was distracting me from my work. Jessica looked over at me, sniggering about something, and normally I wouldn’t have been so hot-headed, but I’d had enough. I slammed my hands down on the keyboard in anger.

“Jess, shut up!, nobody cares how big Korey’s penis is, or how he fucks you!, and to be honest, I find it downright disrespectful that you would brag to your friends about it!, you should respect his privacy!” I snapped.
“Oh honey, you know you’re just jealous, and Korey doesn’t care if I talk about it, in fact, he loves it, he loves the fact that he satisfies me” she replied in mock-niceness.
“Ugh, you’re disgusting” I growled.
“Whatever, Virgin!” Jessica laughed.
“Shut up” I said, rolling my eyes.
“I knew you were jealous, what’s the matter?, has Frank got erection problems?, or maybe you’re scared?, I’ll bet that’s what it is, are you scared Jackie girl?” she teased.
“Yuck!, Frank’s perfectly fine thankyou!, and I have morals!” I snapped.
“Oh, my, god, are one of those people who waits until they’re married?” she asked in mock-shock.
“No, but it’s called making love for a reason!” I snarled.
“That is fucking hilarious!, are seriously going to wait for your, what?, “True Love”?” she laughed.
“Maybe not True Love, idiot, but Love, sex is about trust you whore!” I snapped.
“Ahahaha! Hear that? I’m a whore!” Jessica snorted.

I rolled my eyes and turned back to my work, somehow, looking at Gerard relaxed me, and I continued to black out his eyes. I blocked out Jessica’s continuing snide remarks as I wondered what Gerard was doing right now. I was worried about him, we already hadn’t seen him much lately, but now, we didn’t see him at all. He’d stopped answering my calls, and the few times he was in class, he hadn’t even looked sideways at me, let alone spoken to me.

Something was wrong, I was sure of it. I’d stopped thinking it was just sheer sadness, Gerard was depressed, and he wouldn’t let anyone he loved help him. Instead, he’d just shut us out. He looked so tired lately, and his right eye was almost always covered by his hair.

“Cat got your tongue Jackie James?” Jessica teased, snapping me out of my thoughts.
“You are so full of it!” I scowled.
“Sweetie, the only thing I’m full of is sexual satisfaction” she laughed.

I opened my mouth to respond, but the bell for Lunch rang. I quickly saved my work to my USB as my teacher asked the class to finish our photos for homework if we had a computer at home. I packed my Photography folder away and slung my bag over my back, trying my hardest to ignore the constant chant of “Virgin!, virgin!, virgin!” from Jessica and her friends.

The chanting continued as I walked down the hallway, but eventually faded out as I left the main building. Frank and Bob were already waiting in the usual spot, but Ray, Joey, Mikey & Arriana were nowhere to be seen. I sat down between the two boys, and leant against Frank as he put his arm around me.

“Where is everyone?” I asked.
“Ray’s off with Arriana, Mikey and Joey are in the library, and Gerard’s…” Frank trailed off.
“Wagging, again” muttered Bob.

My heart sank. Gerard was hurting everyone, and our group was falling apart without him. Worse still, I had no idea why Gerard was so depressed, what could possibly be so bad? I missed him, we all missed him. I missed his laugh, his smile, and things he did and said. The only one of us that ever saw Gerard these days was Mikey, and I had a feeling he knew more than what he was letting on about what was going on with Gerard.

“So how was Photography?” Frank asked.
“Oh god, don’t remind me” I groaned.
“What?” he said, pulling me back a little to look at my face.
“It’s nothing, don’t worry about it” I waved it off.
“Nope, sorry, too late, spill” Bob said, elbowing me.
“Okay fine, Jessica kept giving me shit, because she kept ranting about her’s and Korey’s sex life, and I got sick of it & told her to shut up, and then she started giving me shit about being a virgin, not that I’m ashamed of it, I’m actually quite proud of it, but it was still annoying” I explained.

Frank smiled and reached out to hold my hand. I took his, and he pulled my arms until they wrapped around him and kissed me. I closed my eyes as he held me gently and lovingly, relaxing finally after Jess had gotten me so worked up. I heard Bob snort behind us, and broke the kiss, laughing.

“Get a room” he chuckled.
“Don’t like it, don’t look!” I teased, poking my tongue out at him.
“Jackie, I admire that you have so much respect for yourself, I’m willing to wait as long as you want me to, even if I have to wait until we’re married” Frank said, and laughed.
“I’m probably getting a little ahead of myself there aren’t I?” he added, smiling.
“Maybe just a little” I giggled.

***

“Frankie c’mon, we gotta get to class” I chuckled as Frank pulled me back into his arms for another kiss in the hallway of the music room.
“So? Like Mrs. Lynch cares if we’re late” he smiled, brushing a stray strand of hair out of my eye.

“James! Iero! Hurry up!” Mrs. Lynch snapped from the practice room doorway.

“Looks like she does” Frank sighed, and let me go, heading into the practice room.

I shook my head, smiling, and followed him. Upon entering the room, I was surprised to find Gerard had actually showed up this time. Frank had already joined Ray alongside the other guitarists, and was tuning up his guitar. Mikey stood close by, tuning his bass, and Bob sat right at the back of the room, leaning against the wall waiting for his turn to drum. I set up a microphone and stand for myself, and waited for class to start.

“Okay, so we’ve been doing a lot of rock songs lately, and some of the students in the class are looking for a change, so we’ll be working on something a little bit different today” Mrs. Lynch said, handing music sheets out to the class.

I read the title above the lyrics I had in my hand; Your Body Is A Wonderland by John Mayer. I smiled, I used to listen to him a lot growing up, and I missed his music. Jessica snorted when she received hers, and sneered at me.

“Well, I guess Jackie won’t be able to sing this one, she doesn’t understand the meaning of the song, isn’t that right? Virgin!” she teased.
“Jessica, shut the fuck up” Gerard growled, standing up from his place in the corner.
“No, you shut the fuck up, don’t you fucking dare speak to her that way, you drug-fucked slime ball!” Korey snapped, right up in Gerard’s face.
“Get the fuck away from me you filthy little snitch!” Gerard spat, pushing Korey away from him.

That set Korey off, and I gasped as his fist collided with Gerard’s jaw. Gerard roared with anger, and grabbed Korey by the scruff of his neck, slamming him onto the ground. He smashed Korey’s head against the floor a few times, and began punching him in the gut. Korey struggled under Gerard’s grip, but Gerard seemed too strong for him. Finally, Korey managed to get Gerard off, by kicking him right in the nuts.

Gerard rolled over, holding himself and whimpering with pain. But he quickly recovered, and launched himself at Korey again, slamming him into the wall. He kneed Korey in his nuts, payback for Korey doing it to him, and began punching Korey in the face repeatedly until he began to spit out blood.

Bob threw his drumsticks to the floor and ran over to Gerard, and Ray and Frank joined him, all three of them worked together to pull Gerard off of Korey. Mikey stared with horror at Mrs. Lynch, who merely just stood there, leaning against the wall, with her arms folded.

“Why didn’t you do something!” he demanded.
“Boys will be boys Michael, I ain’t getting involved in their little teenage disputes, besides, I’d rather let them battle it out now under my watch then have them kill each other later” she answered.

“Gerard, that’s enough!” Bob said, as Gerard struggled to break himself free from his friend’s grip.
“I’ll fucking kill him!” Gerard growled.
“No, you won’t, he’s not worth it” said Ray.

“Finished?” Mrs. Lynch asked.
“Looks like, his boyfriend’s aren’t gonna let him go anytime soon” Korey laughed.
“Watch it Sullivan, or I’ll be the next one to smash your fucking head through that wall” growled Frank.
“That’s enough!” Mrs. Lynch demanded.
“Gerard, walk your ass up to the principal’s office” she snapped.
“He fucking started it!” Gerard objected.
“NOW!” she shouted.

Gerard clenched his jaw tight, and stomped out of the room, punching the wall as he walked down the hallway.

“As for you Korey, get back to your Bass, I have a class to teach” she snarled.

Korey obeyed, the fucking chicken shit…

***

I sat in Art, applying the finishing touches to the draft of the painting I was going to do for my major. Gerard sat across from me, growling every now and then, his face was hidden by his hair again, and his hands were still shaking with anger. I hated seeing him like this, whatever was bothering him had only been intensified by Korey getting him all worked up, and his rage was beginning to frighten me.

“Gee, don’t let him get to you” I said reassuringly, sliding my hand across the table to rub his arm gently.

He grabbed my hand, and squeezed it tight, shaking with anger. I whimpered slightly, it was beginning to hurt, but I didn’t ask him to let go, he needed me.

“I just hate seeing you get picked on, it shits me off” he growled, breathing heavily.
“Gerard, you need to calm down, or you’re going to lose it” I pleaded.
He took a deep breath, and exhaled.
“Sorry, I get revved up easily, oh shit! I’m gonna fucking break your hand, I’m so sorry!” he gasped, letting go of my hand, realizing how hard he’d been squeezing it.
“Don’t be, it’s not your fault” I reassured him.
“Still, I should learn to control my anger better” he sighed, flipping his hair out of his eye.

That was when I saw the dark bruising under his right eye, it looked awful, and I wondered what horrible person had done that to him, cuz it sure as hell hadn’t been Korey, he hadn’t even come close to hitting Gerard in the eye.

“Gerard! Your eye!” I gasped.
“Shit, umm, don’t worry about that” he spoke quickly, brushing his hair back over his eye again.
“Gerard, what’s going on?” I asked.
“Nothing” he answered.
“Gerard” I pushed.
“Leave it” he said sternly.

I let it go, not wanting him to get fired up again.

“Thanks for sticking up for me” I sighed, smiling.
“Anytime, what are friends for? Nobody picks on my girl” he smiled.

I laughed, not even noticing what he had just said.

“You know something though, you are fucking hot when you’re angry” I flirted playfully, I might have been with Frank, but I was still allowed to play right?
“Thanks” he smiled, biting his lip.

His eyes were shining with happiness again, and I was glad to have cheered him up a bit. I looked down at his drawing, which appeared to be the same one he’d been working on in Science the other day. The people were more detailed now, and I was able to make out that it was a boy and a girl. They looked strangely familiar.

“Whatcha drawin’ there Gerard?” I asked.
“Nothing” he blushed, folding the piece of paper and stashing it in the back of his sketchbook.
“Yeah, yeah, sure” I teased, but didn’t ask any further questions.

He was working on a different drawing now, a young boy dressed in some sort of school uniform, accompanied by a monkey dressed in human clothes. I cocked my head to the side, the picture was a little odd, but very detailed, and in a way, the monkey was kinda cute.

“What’s that?” I asked.
“You and your fucking curiosity about my drawings” Gerard chuckled.
“Oh c’mon” I pleaded.
“Alright, they’re from my superhero comic” he admitted.
“Really? You mean the one you were telling me about a few months ago? The Umbrella Academy right?” I asked, my eyes lighting up.
“Yeah, see the kid? His name’s The Boy, or Number 5, he can travel through time” Gerard smiled.
“What about the monkey?” I asked.
“That’s Pogo” he replied.
“He’s cute” I giggled.
“Thanks” he smiled.

The bell rang, and Gerard shut his sketchbook. I helped him pack his things into his bag, and we left the classroom together. Gerard walked me to the gate, grinning the whole way, I hadn’t seen him this happy in a long time, and it made me happy. Maybe things were going to be okay now, maybe, just maybe, I had the old Gerard back.

Frank’s white van passed us as we exited through the front gate, and he poked his head out the window.

“Hey Jackie, want a ride?” he asked.
“Sure” I smiled, I looked over at Gerard, who’s smile had faded.
“Could you give Gerard a lift too?” I asked.
“No, I’ll be fine thanks” Gerard objected, and turned to leave.
“Dude, really, it’s no problem, climb in” Frank said.
“No, it’s cool, whatever, see you guys around” he waved it off, and walked away.

I frowned as I watched him go, he was depressed again, and I didn’t like that. Reluctantly, I climbed into Frank’s van, and threw my head back against the headrest in my seat. Frank reached over and gently squeezed my hand.

“It’s alright Jackie, I’m sure he’ll come around in time” he said reassuringly.
“Hmm” I sighed.

Frank drove me home, and as I unbuckled my seatbelt and opened my door, I turned back around to face him.

“You coming in?” I asked.
“If you want” he smiled, pecking me quickly on my lips before climbing out of his side of the van.

We walked up to the front door and I unlocked it with my house keys. I led Frank upstairs to my room, and shut the door. Frank flopped himself down on my bed and shut his eyes, I smiled and shook my head, dropping my bag in the corner of my room. I walked over to my CD player, and threw in Scream Aim Fire, my favourite Bullet For My Valentine CD, I set it to play on my favourite song off the album; Forever And Always.

I undid my school tie and hung it over my mirror, ready for tomorrow. Kicking off my shoes, I unbuttoned the first few buttons of my white school shirt, enabling myself to breathe a little more freely. Frank sighed from how relaxed he was, and I settled myself down beside him.

“You look so pretty today Jackie” he smiled, opening his eyes and rolling over to face me.
“Thanks” I said, returning the smile.

He cupped my cheek gently, and stroked it with his thumb. Putting his other hand on the back of my neck, he pulled me in and kissed me. I let out a quiet moan of enjoyment, and his tongue slipped into my mouth. He kissed me a little more forcefully, and I wrapped my arms around his neck.

He rolled over on top of me, and began kissing my neck, and fiddling with the zipper of my school skirt. I pulled at his tie, trying to undo it, which was a little hard with him devouring my neck. I untied it eventually, and slid it off from around his neck. He was back to kissing me, running his hand down my leg. He’d managed to get my skirt off, and was tugging at my leggings when my bedroom door opened.

“Dad!” I gasped, and Frank rolled off of me.
“Oh jeez! I’m sorry!” he laughed.
“How embarrassing” I muttered.
“This your boyfriend?” he smiled, trying to hold back his laughter.
“Uh yeah, Dad, this is Frank, Frank, this is my Dad” I introduced them to each other, blushing red.
“Nice to meet you kid, I’ll leave you two to yourselves now, I was just checking if you were home, I needed to talk to you about something, but I can wait” he laughed.
“Wait. You’re not mad?” I asked.
“Jackie, you’re sixteen now, I know I can trust you to be responsible” he smiled, and closed my bedroom door.

Frank cracked up laughing, and I slapped him.

“It’s not funny!” I snapped, even though I was half laughing myself.
“Yes it is” he giggled.

I rolled my eyes, and Frank kissed me again…