High School Is the Least of Our Worries.

Gerard.

I wake up to the awful roar of my alarm clock, my ears ringing and my head feels like it’s going to fucking fall off. I groan and pull the covers over my head but the trill is insistent. I still ache from yesterday, the bruises throbbing and the cuts feel like they’re being sliced open again and again. I’m so exhausted; after that dream, I couldn’t get any sleep. It kept replaying in my mind, over and over, like a flickering video.

I stick out my arm and grope around blindly for the alarm clock, swearing as it falls to the floor with a loud clang. At least that made it shut up.

The next thing I know is someone is shaking me gently awake, breathing out words that I can barely hear.

“Mmmmmph,” I moan, rolling around to face away from the unwelcome intruder. I feel like I’m having the worst hangover in my life.

“Gee, get up. C’mon. We have school soon,” Mikey’s soothing voice creeps in under the bed covers, but I feel like just sleeping my life away – well, for today anyway.

“Nuuuh-uh,” I protest, and let out a shuddered breath when I feel the covers snatched away from my body. I open my eyes and half-hiss when the light blinds me. “Oh, very considerate Mikey,” I say sleepily, and attempt to sit up when he doesn’t answer me.

“Mikey?”

I squint at him and as I move my arm I feel a sharp pain, but I don’t lie back down. He’s looking at me in horror.

“Gerard, what happened to you?” he says, in a shocked voice, kneeling down by the bed to look at my bruises better. He runs his finger softly over one and I flinch, reaching for the duvet that isn’t there anymore.

“Nothing, Mikes,” I say softly, and rub my eyes. I can’t explain this to him.

“Of course there’s something. I can fucking see it!” he says, exasperated and I look down, a tear trickling down my cheek.

“C’mon, Gee. Let’s get you some breakfast,” he says quietly, his voice softening. I smile, realising that this is this way of telling me that I could tell him when I was ready.

Frank.

Beep.beep.beep.

The continuous bleep of my alarm clock echoes around my room, the flashing red numbers read 6:30am.

I had around about 1 hour of sleep last night, the noises went on virtually all night which means her little boy toy will probably still be here and I’ll have to make small talk with him at breakfast while he sits there in my dads old bathrobe. Just fucking brilliant.

I climb out of bed, I look like shit and I really don’t want to go to school. I could just skip but that would only fuel the rumours as I bet Gerard isn’t going in either, if people realise that both of us aren’t in school, they’ll assume the worst…

But I do want to see him, I want to see him real bad… it seems these days that he’s pretty much the only thing that can put a real genuine smile on my face and I hate that. I decide to go over to his house with the sole intention of ‘finishing the project’.

As I’m not going to school, this gives me longer to get ready so I go into the bathroom and turn the shower on, waiting for the water to get nice and hot before climbing in. I wash my self slowly, taking my time and shampooing my hair thoroughly… God I must sound like Courtney or something, she’s always going on about split ends or some shit like that.

Once I’m out of the shower, dried and clothed, I pack my laptop up seeing as his computer is a piece of shit. I rub my hair once and go downstairs, expecting to be met by my mum and her ‘flavour of the week’, but instead I’m met with silence… oh well, suits me fine.

I check my hair and appearance in the mirror before grabbing the front door keys and shutting the door behind me. I dump my laptop on the front seat of the car before climbing into the driver’s seat, turning on the ignition and driving towards Gerard’s house.

Gerard’s house.

Gerard.

Gerard.

I didn’t want to tell Mikey about what happened yesterday yet; I didn’t want to worry him. I’ve already put so much on his shoulders: my drinking, my depression, my problems with… erm, people. He’s only fourteen. Fourteen. He shouldn’t need to deal with this kind of shit at his age – hell, he should never have to deal with this kind of shit. He doesn’t need to know about it just yet. With any luck the bruises will fade into nothing by the time he gets back, and I’ll wake up to a few days ago, before anyone knew about me and Frank, and we can live in concealed bliss again.

Yeah, right.

“Now, you sure you’re gonna be alright?” Mikey says worriedly, as he puts on his school blazer and tie. He looks so cute.

“Yes, Mikey, I’ll be fine!” I grin, pushing him playfully. He’d managed to feed me, take me to the couch and convince me to stay home from school today, even though I’d been protesting. I kept thinking of Frank… I can’t last a day without him. I really want to see him and tell him that it’s not his fault. He looked so guilty and hopeless yesterday.

I wince as I move my arm back to the position it was in and I fake a smile as he suddenly whips around to me again, the worried look plastered on his face.

“Go to school, Mikey,” I insist, “I’ll be fine.”

He looks like he’s going to protest again, when suddenly there’s a knock on the door. Mikey takes a glance back at me and when he decides I’m not going to suddenly jump out of the window, he goes to answer the door. I listen to Mikey’s voice.

“What are you doing here?” he snarls. Wait, what? Mikey never snarls at anyone.

I hear mumbling and Mikey comes back into the room with someone behind him, looking furious. It’s Frank.

My expression of surprise turns into happiness as he enters the room, but he looks awkward and tense. I soon understand why. The smile is wiped from my face as I see Mikey’s look of anger directed at Frank. Why would he be so angry at…

What if he thinks that Frank did this to me? Oh shit… it would be history repeating itself. I try to give Mikey a reassuring smile but he’s having none of it.

“Maybe I should stay home,” Mikey says coldly.

“No!” I say forcefully, then drop my voice. “No, Mikey. You need to go to school. Please.”

He clenches his fists and grabs his bag, giving me a ‘you’ve got yourself into even deeper shit’ look. He slams the door and I smile apologetically at Frank. He gives me a small smile back and hovers at the doorway, not sure what to do.

Oh, shit…

Frank.

I stand in the doorway awkwardly, Mikey’s glare still imprinted in my head. I want to know why he hates me. I haven’t done anything to him… or Gerard.

“Hows your stomach?” I ask, going closer to him.

“It’s felt better,” He admits with a small smile. I can’t help but smile back, his smile is just so fucking cute and infectious you know!

Gerard then sits down on the couch and gestures at me to sit down aswell, as I do so, the sofa lets out a loud groan of protest, like it was going to give up and collapse any second.

Neither of us say anything for a few minutes until I decide to break the silence by gesturing to my laptop. “I thought we could do the project… it’s due in Friday.” Gerard nods.

“Do you want a drink?” He asks. “All we’ve got is water and a can of coke left… I haven’t been shopping this week”. Wait. What? He does the shopping!

“It’s okay Gee… water's fine” I say with a smile and we both stand up, going over to the kitchen. Gerard rummages around in cupboards looking for a clean glass.

He finally finds one and fills it for me before handing it back to me. “I’m sorry we don’t have any coffee or anything.” He mumbles and I place a hand on his shoulder, rubbing gently.

“It’s okay Gee…. I don’t care.” I whisper as I set my water down on the kitchen table top, leaning over and pressing my lips to his.