High School Is the Least of Our Worries.

Frank.

My eyes widen as I hear my moms voice, I hear her clip clop footsteps nearing.

“Fuck!” I whisper to Gerard who is looking back at me with equally panicked eyes.

“Hide!” I whisper, but it’s too late, I see my mom, a few feet away from us, looking absolutely disgusted. Well, I suppose she is looking at her naked son and her naked sons’ equally naked friend.

“Mom I-,” I start but she cuts me off.

“What on earth is going on here?!” she yells, looking from me to Gerard and back again.

“I-I’m sorry mom… we were just-“

“I don’t even want to hear what you were just doing!” She screeches and I wince, noticing Gerard hasn’t said anything; I look at him and find him looking at the ground, blushing madly.

“I thought I told you never to come back here again,” she says, this time directed at Gerard.

“Y-you did, Mrs Iero… I’m sorry,” he says quietly, not looking at her or me.

“Well… then what are you doing here?” she asks, manicured hands resting on her hips.

Gerard stays silent.

“Can you go mom… we need to get dressed,” I mumble. She sticks her nose in the air and folds her arms, stalking back to the house.

“Fuck…” We breathe, almost in unison as I wrap my arms around him, pressing a kiss to his shoulder.

“We better get dressed,” I mumble, pulling away, but not before giving him a gentle kiss on the lips.

Gerard nods and pulls away, hauling himself dripping and completely naked out of the pool.

“You look hot,” I giggle.

“You don’t look too bad yourself, Mr Iero.”

I grin at him and climb out also, bending over and grabbing my boxers. Gerard comes up swiftly behind me and slaps my ass.

“Cheeky!” I giggle, looking fake hurt as I rub my ass.

“You’re gonna pay for that!” I call out.

Gerard.

It’s amazing how we can go from horrified to laughing and playing about in under a minute.

After mucking around for a bit (‘getting dressed’ in his words, but somehow it involved less clothes than more) I manage to put my clothes on and I sneak round the house, not wanting to confront his mom after that.

Soon I’m in my own bed, the wonderful thoughts of simply Frank flowing through my mind. I can’t believe I have him back; I thought I’d lost him forever. Damn Mikey! I know Frank would never hurt me.

I wake up the next morning tired but happy. I couldn’t sleep last night; I was excited but a bit nervous about school. Would he pretend he wasn’t my friend? Or would it be different?

I hope it’s different.

I get changed slowly, making sure to take a shower and to make myself look presentable. I have no clue what’ll happen at school today; after all those rumours, I have no clue how Frank’ll survive. I know exactly what it’s like to be the loner, the freak... the fag. Frank has no idea about any of those things.

Even though I drive slowly, I’m still at school on time and worse, I’m early. I climb out of the car, my hands in the pockets of my baggy black hoodie. I thought that if I could wear something big enough, I could shrivel up into it and be invisible.

It doesn’t work.

I feel every eye in the parking lot rest on me, and I refuse to look up. I know that I’ll recognise the faces and the pain will return.

I rush into the school, ignoring the glares of the students and I hurry to my locker, unlocking it with shaking hands. That’s when I hear his voice.

“Look, just listen to me...” I hear Frank’s pleading voice and I steal a glance over at him. Brad is leaning against his locker, looking disgusted, as Frank looks at him in desperation. Frank used to be in charge... and the change in roles is sickening.

“No. You listen. I can’t be seen with a sick fag like you, Iero. In fact, talking to you now is bad for me. So why don’t you just fuck off with your boyfriend... and don’t come back!” Brad snarls, and I see Frank trying to keep his cool.

“You really think Courtney’s telling the truth?!” Frank laughs nervously. “C’mon! She’s just angry that I dumped her.”

“So you say,” Brad growls. “Just keep the fuck away from me, Iero.”

Frank watches him walk away, in the opposite direction to me. His face screws up in frustration and he punches the locker hard, growling as he makes contact with the hard surface. I fight back tears. Frank Iero, the one who’s always been the strong, powerful one, has just been reduced to scum under some bastard’s feet.

And it’s all my fault.

Frank.

The rest of the day goes painfully slowly. After my encounter with Brad in the corridor, I steer clear of my old group of friends; I’m no longer welcome in their little circle.

Everyone ignores me and I finally understand how Gerard must feel every single day of his life. It breaks my heart but somehow makes me feel slightly better. If he can get through this, so can I.

Even so, I’m not that sure about Gerard. Even he’s ignored me today; I’ve seen him countless times in the corridor. Seeing as he’s in the same predicament as me, I thought we could stick together. But no, he simply acted like I didn’t exist.

I’m now sitting in my last lesson of the day; English. Oh God, I hate English. I had to move to the back of the classroom, as Brad and his cronies chuck bits of paper at me.

I get a hint of déjà vu as I realize that this is exactly what they did to Gerard when he first arrived. I was one of them back then. That was before Gerard changed me, he’s made me a better person and I love him for it… I really do.

I silently rejoice as the bell goes and everyone starts packing up and filing out of the classroom. I stay behind, mainly so I don’t get tripped up on my way out.

I sigh slightly as the teacher leaves and I’m left alone as I pack. It’s then that I feel a pair of eyes on me. I bite my lip and look up, my heart catching in my throat as I see Gerard standing in the doorway, bag slung casually over his shoulder as he leans against the wall.

“Haven’t seen you much today,” he comments nonchalantly, looking right at me.

“Yeah right… asshole, I’ve been trying to catch your attention all day!” I laugh bitterly.

“Is that part of your plan? Make me your friend, make me loose all of my friends, make them hate me!?” I spit, my anger taking hold of me once more. “Well? Is it?!”

“N-no…” Gerard then says quietly, his gaze dropping to the floor.

“Well what is it then?” I ask.

“Tell me!”

Gerard.

I look up at Frank. I didn’t mean to make him angry, or hurt... that was the one thing I was trying to avoid.

“Frank... I would never do that to you,” I say softly, walking into the room.

“Seems like it to me,” he growls and I flinch.

“I did it for you,” I whisper.

“For me?!” he nearly shouts. “Why the fuck would I give up everything for you just to ignore me all day? For you just to leave me to fend for myself against my former friends?”

Every word he says is a further stab to my heart, but I dump my bag to the floor and walk over to him. He tries to keep his hard face, but I sigh as it softens slightly. I put my hands on his shoulders and get him to look me in the eye.

“Frankie... do you really think that hanging around with you would make everything better?” I ask him seriously.

“Everything is better when you’re here,” Frank says softly and I bite my lip.

“No... everything couldn’t – wouldn’t – be better! Can’t you see? It’s one thing being exiled from your friends for pure rumors, but if we proved the rumors were true... what do you think they’d do to you then?” I ask, squeezing my eyes tightly shut. I don’t want to think about what might happen to us... to him.

I feel Frank’s cool fingers on my cheek and I open my eyes. “I guess... I guess you’re right,” he admits, and I sigh in relief. At least he’s being reasonable.

But then a mischievous glint shimmers in his eyes. “Although, that doesn’t mean that we have to behave when others aren’t here.”

I raise an eyebrow, about to ask him what he means, when he spins us around, pinning me forcefully to the wall. His hands are fisted into my jacket, and in that moment, I remember the first day here, where Frank ‘disciplined’ me for talking back to him.

You have just made an enemy of me.

I swallow and look into Frank’s lust filled eyes, his lips inches from mine. So much has progressed in less than two weeks... and we went from enemies to lovers in such a short space of time.

My thoughts are instantly scattered when he slams his lips forcefully to mine.