The Umbrella Academy

---Frank’s Flashback---

It was the end of the year of 12th grade. Almost out of high school and all of us were pretty excited.

“Dude, I can’t wait to go to that college everyone’s talking about!” Matt exclaimed, jumping around.

“Wow, calm down Matt. We’re not even sure if we’re gonna be able to be in the same “House” you know?” Gerard said, but he was laughing.

“One more week and we’re out of here!” Ray said as he walked to his locker and accidentally hit someone in the face with his locker door.

“What the fucking hell dude! Watch where you put that fucking door of yours!” a guy with blue eyes and blond hair exclaimed as he rubbed his head.

“Hey! Don’t need to get so pissed at me Bob!” Ray exclaimed, holding his hands up in the air as if he were being held up by the police.

“Oh, sorry Ray. Sometimes I can be really crappy with everything.” He shrugged and went away.

“Who the hell was that?” asked Gerard, looking at Bob as he went into the classroom.

“Uh…my friend from Geometry…he’s sorta scary sometimes but he’s pretty cool you know!” Ray explained.

“Oh, ok…” said Gerard as we all rushed to our next class.

A few hours later in the cafeteria…

“Hey Mary! Let’s eat lunch together!” Mikey ran to where the girl called Mary was and the others followed him.

Mary was our closest friend among the girls who were outcasts. She was always cool with everything and had a crush on Matt, but he didn’t know that.

“Sure!” she smiled and we all sat in the corner of the cafeteria. Away from the cool guys, the jocks, and the preppy kids.

“One more week and school is going to be over!! And I’m so hyper!!” I exclaimed as I sat on top of Matt.

“Hey! Get off me or I’ll put this tuna sandwich into your hair!” he exclaimed and I jumped off him, accidentally knocking into that guy called Bob.

“Oi! Watch where you’re going!” he growled but he came up to the table.

“Can I sit here with you guys?” asked Bob.

“Sure thing! It’s just one more week of school. We better get along sooner or later you know?” Gerard said as Bob sat down next to Mary who smiled at him.

“Hey. You must be Bob. The other guys were telling me about you. Especially from Ray. You guys are really close friends I heard.” She said as she shook Bob’s hand.

“Yep, I’m Bob. I play the drums, just like Matt does. I heard from Ray about all you guys. Even you Mary.” He said as he looked at all of us.

“So you know about our band?” Mikey asked excitedly.

“Of course! Ray has told me about all the songs you did and stuff.”

“Ray is the connector of all!” I said and we all begin to laugh.

At this point, we didn’t know what was going to happen between Ray and Matt. We never knew that before the end of high school, Bob was going to take over Matt’s place.

2 days later…

As I walked to the cafeteria, I saw Ray and Matt arguing.

“No! This is all about what we really need to do! This isn’t about what you personally think Matt!”

“I told you, I think that we should just dump that girl out of the group! She had no right to joke around with me! She said she liked me and what did I see? Her hugging Frank!”

“It’s not like that! She really likes you and Frank was hugging her to congratulate her! It’s just all a misunderstanding Matt!”

“No, you just want to break me to pieces! You and the guys just wanted to throw me out of this band and put Bob instead cause he’s better than me! I’m never coming back to the band ever again!” he yelled and stormed off.

I ran over to Ray’s place and he looked at me.

“It’s not your fault Frank. It’s his fault for thinking like that. I don’t think he’s ever coming back to play with the band again.” He sighed heavily.

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s my fault Ray. I shouldn’t have hugged her up like that..I mean..I-“ but he cut me off.

“No, it’s not you, I told you. Now let’s go find the others. We have to explain to them what has happened.” He said and we walked in silence as we approached the others.

A few minutes later…

“What?!” Mary cried out and she glared at me.

“I told you I’m sorry!”

“I hate you. I HATE YOU FRANK ANTHONY IERO!” and she stood up and ran out the door of the cafeteria.

I begin to cry. Ray put a hand on my shoulder.

“Dude, I told you it’ not your fault.”

“It is!”

“No, it’s not Frank. I agree with Ray. It’s not your fault Frank. Don’t blame yourself with everything. I hate to see you like this. Trust me.” Gerard said as he left us t go find Mary.

“Dude..hello?? Are you listening? Did you zone out again?” Mikey said as he waved his hand in front of me.

“Huh? Wha?” I said as my thoughts disappeared.

“Guess he zoned out again.” Gerard said.

“Where’s Silvy and Ray?” I asked.

“They still haven’t come back.” Bob said, looking down.

I looked down. It’s always my fault. Always always always!

Mikey put his hand on my shoulder.

“Hey, don’t look so down. It’s not your fault. You were too curious.”

“You’re saying the same thing as Ray when Matt broke off from the band.” I muttered.

“But that was his fault! This time isn’t your fault either!” Gerard said and I looked up too see Bob nodding his head.

“I’m lucky to have you guys as friends.” I said as Mikey patted my back.

“It’s gonna be ok Frank. Everything will turn out to be fine.” Gerard said as we saw Ray come back with Silvia behind him.

“Welcome back guys, we were worried sick about you!” Gerard exclaimed.

“We were just talking, that’s all.” Ray said as Silvia silently slipped in next to Bob.

“You ok now Silvy?” Bob asked and she nodded her head.

“She’s having a rough time with her band mates, just like we did with Matt. Her band mates are now thinking of her as an outcast so yeah. It’s pretty hard for her.” Ray said and we looked at Silvia.

“Yep, just like Ray said. My band thinks I’m just a weird girl who got into the House she most wanted to be in.” she sighed as Bob put his arm around her.

“But it wasn’t your fault this happened to you. It’s their fault for thinking like that.” Bob said, he was just like Ray when he was telling me that.

Tears started to roll down my cheeks and everyone looked at me.

“What’s up with him?” Ray asked, raising his eyebrow.

“He’s thinking it’s his fault. I guess he suddenly remembered that time with Matt and you fighting.” Mikey said as I looked at Ray.

“Hey, it’s not your fault. You were too curious! Silvy also said that it’s not your fault!” he said and Silvia nodded her head.

“I just don’t want to break up this band! I love you guys because you guys are the only friends I got, but I don’t wanna lose you…like I lost Matt and Mary.” I sobbed.

“Hey, we’re never going to leave you Frank. We will stay by your side and we mean it!” Gerard said.

“We better get going. Don’t want to be late for our class do we?” Ray said and we all nodded our heads and begin to go.

I was going to run off when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

I looked back to see Silvia behind me.

“What?”

“It’s not your fault Frank. Don’t blame yourself with everything. I hate to see you like this. Trust me.” And she let go of my shoulder and ran off to her next class.

Did she just say what Gerard said to me?

I think there was more mysteries to uncover at this school and there was more things to know.

I turned and ran off to my next class.

The new song that we had created had come into my mind as I ran.

You said you read me like a book, but the pages are all torn and frayed now.

To be continued...