High School Is the Least of Our Worries.

Gerard

When I come back to my room with the sodas I wonder if Frank had realised that he shouldn’t be with the likes of me and bolted already. To be honest, I don’t really expect him to hang around for long, but he might have stayed just for a fucking project. I give a resigned sigh and slump down onto my bed. It’s not that I want him to stay; I mean I hate that guy, but still…

A door slams somewhere in the house. He's still here.

I get off my bed, which is tattered and deflated, and creaks mournfully as I leave it to go look for Frank. I look around for a bit, hoping he hasn’t gone into the basement; there are loads of blood-stained clothes down there that I hid, hoping mom wouldn’t find them before I had a chance to wash them. But then I see him, coming out of Mikey’s room, shaking his head and grinning, showing off his perfect teeth.

I'm going to call out to him, but then I freeze. He's going towards my mom’s room, and that is out of bounds for me and Mikey, not because my mom has an avid sex life with my dad, oh no – she’d have a bit of trouble fucking him now he’s been dead for a year. She just doesn’t want us in there finding all the crack she’s stashed; like we don’t already know about it. She’s so fucking high everyday how can we not know?

I watch him with muted horror. I seriously hope my mom isn’t home, or he’d be telling everyone how much of a fuck up my whole family is.

But of course, she’s home, and she’s already past the high stage, and is now on the depressed angry stage. She yells at him, and tears form in my eyes once more. I’ve heard her call me a fuck up before, and tell me that I have no friends, but never to someone else. Shame wells up inside of me; for having a fucked-up mom, but mostly, for being me.

Sitting on the floor of my bedroom, something really weird happens. Frank touches my shoulder, and a tingle goes through my whole body. He pulls away quickly and has a look of confusion on his face that I just can’t place. Did he feel it too? No, of course he didn’t, I tell myself quickly. He fucking hates me, after all. And I hate him…don’t I?

Yes, I do.

But it’s getting harder and harder to maintain this loathing as we get on with our project. I look up from the crappy old computer I have in my room from time to time and see him looking at me. I wonder what he’s thinking. It’s not an expression of mocking that I’ve seen plastered all over his face all day, but one that searches me, looking beyond my tortured face. But only slightly. I still can’t trust him.

But, as the minutes turn into hours and as the sun fades into darkness, I let a thought slip through me, one that I never thought possible.

Would it be different between us tomorrow at school?

Frank

“It’s getting late,” I say as I look out the window, we’d been working on our project for a few hours and it was coming along great. We’d been getting along ok, it was still awkward as fuck but it was bearable.

“Yeah,” Gerard replies as he shuts off his old computer.

“How about my house tomorrow?” I suggest, standing up and stretching, yawning loudly.

“That’s fine… you sure you want someone like me infecting your perfect lifestyle?” He asks bitterly and I frown at him slightly.

“Later,” I reply as I walk out of his room and down the creaky old stairs. I pass the living room on my way to the door, seeing a skinny kid with glasses perching on the end of his nose. Must be his brother or something.

I open the front door and walk through their front yard. It starts to rain and I curse out loud, the rain making my shirt stick to me like a second skin. ’mother fuck!’ I curse as I go back to the front door and knocking on it, hating myself for having to ask him for help.