I Can Transform You

POV: Frank

It took a few hours for everyone to arrive at the party and for everything to get into full swing. Lydia hadn’t arrived yet and, like an obsessive boyfriend, I was wondering when she would. I tried ringing her but her phone was off, for some reason.

I lost Gerard within the first hour when the house started to fill with people, but I figured it was probably good for him to go and socialise without me. It was his night to impress my friends and build his own reputation, after all.

I spent my time talking to anyone and everyone that spoke to me. Being popular, you don’t have to be the one that makes the effort. I just stood in the corner of the room, beer in hand, waiting for people to come over to me. And they did. They always do.

But one girl I wasn’t really expecting to come and see me even made the effort. I was caught off-guard by her damn right nerve.

“Alright Frank?” The girl grinned at me. “I haven’t seen you in a while.”

Her name was Laura. She was my girlfriend once upon a time. And she broke my fucking heart.

She flicked her long brown hair over her shoulder and stood in front of me with one hand on her hip as if she was waiting for me to take a fucking picture. She was looking more slutty than ever tonight, wearing a short black dress that showed off her cleavage and her legs. I didn’t know where to look.

“What do you want?” I asked gruffly, choosing to stare at the floor rather than her.

“I just came to say hey. There’s no need to be rude now, is there?” She scoffed, making my eye twitch in annoyance.

“Actually, yeah there is. Don’t even fucking talk to me,” I snapped, lifting my can of beer to my lips. I still avoided eye contact in the hope that she would get the message that I didn’t want to talk to her.

She heaved a sigh and her hand slipped from her hip.
“Okay, so, maybe we didn’t leave things on a high last time we saw eachother…”

Urgh. I could slap her for saying that. I really could. But I won’t. Because I don’t hit girls.

“Uh, yeah, no shit, you were in bed with Jason,” I growled, biting my tongue to keep from shouting loud enough for everyone to hear.

The only reason I was able to even control my temper was because all of this had happened a long time ago and I was so over it now. I still didn’t wanna talk to Laura though.

Jason used to be a good friend of mine. After I caught him in bed with Laura I never spoke to him again. I don’t speak to traitors. I don’t need friends that are going to stab me in the back like that. And when I turned against him, so did everyone else. Eventually, he ended up moving schools.

“Look, I’m sorry I cheated on you, Frank,” she sighed, sounding more annoyed with me than apologetic.

Ohhhh. She’s “sorry”. Well, that’s o-fucking-kay then. No hard feelings for breaking my heart then, bitch.

“Wow, that apology is two fucking years over-due,” I scoffed, glaring at her. “You can get out of my face now.”

I have no time for her bullshit anymore.

“So you’re still a prick then,” she observed, folding her arms.

She seemed to have no intention of getting out of my face, so I decided to get out of hers.

“And you’re still a whore,” I nodded bluntly. And with that pleasant farewell, I walked away from her without a backward glance.

Anger boiled in my veins as I stormed out of the room, shoving past everyone who got in my way. I was on a mission to find Matty and take my anger out on him for inviting Laura to the party.

I opened the kitchen door and found a crowd of people all with their backs to me, clearly watching something interesting. Curiously, I pushed my way to the other side of the crowd (it’s easy to do when you’re as small as I am) and I was met with the sight of Matty and Gerard sitting opposite eachother at the kitchen table, which had a number of shot glasses filled with bright green liquid on it.

Gerard suddenly looked at me as I appeared at the front of the crowd and his whole face lit up.

“Frankie!” He exclaimed, making my eyebrows shoot upwards. He gave me a big, goofy grin.

…the fuck?

“Frankie?” I repeated questioningly, scrunching my face up and frowning at him.

No one ever calls me that. Everyone just calls me Frank. Or Iero. Frankie sounds like some cutesy girl’s name. I’m not cute or a girl.

“Focus, Gerard,” Matty commanded, ignoring my presence completely. “Down the rest!”

It was pretty clear what was going on here: Matty was making Gerard do shots. And judging from the drunken smirk on Gerard’s face and the name he just called me, he was already wasted.

Exactly how much has he drank?

“Alright stressy!” Gerard exclaimed dramatically, putting his hands up in fake surrender before reaching out for the next shot glass.

I’m guessing a lot…

I glanced at the people crowded round the table for the first time and found that they were all smirking. I got the feeling they were laughing at Gerard, not with him.

“He’ll pass out if he drinks anymore,” one girl on the cheerleading squad by the name of Lisa muttered to a guy next to her.
“Good,” he snorted.

He didn’t see the death glare I shot him because he was so engrossed in the oh-so-exciting scene of Gerard doing shots.

So, Matty’s only doing this to make a fool out of Gerard? Well, I’m not just going to stand by and watch Gerard being humiliated…

“How about you all stop being pussies and drink the shots yourselves?” I snapped, looking round at everyone questioningly.

Everyone stared at me blankly. I rolled my eyes and just reached out and picked up one of the shot glasses off the table, then downed it in one.

“For fuck sake, Frank!” Matty complained, getting to his feet. “Gerard was going for a record. Why do you have to ruin the fun?”
“He’s wasted enough as it is!” I snapped.

Gerard seemed oblivious to our argument, but everyone else was very much aware of it. All eyes were on Matty and I. We glared at eachother with piercing eyes for a second and all was deathly silent in the kitchen, even the thumping music flowing through the whole house faded out in my head.

Then, suddenly, Gerard innocently broke the tense silence.

“We should play spin the bottle,” he suggested excitedly, making Matty and I tear our eyes away from eachother and focus on him.

“That game is shit,” Matty frowned, making Gerard’s face fall.

I agree. It is pretty lame. But then, so is this party.

“You got a better idea?” I demanded to Matty, cocking an eyebrow.

***

So, we ended up playing a cliché game of spin the bottle, much to Gerard’s delight and Matty’s dismay. He was outvoted at his own party. Turns out his guests are pretty wild and were in the mood for some real high school party games…

“I’ll spin first!” Gerard declared enthusiastically, leaving his place next to me in the circle to crawl into the middle and spin the empty wine bottle.

Ironically enough, it landed on Matty. He groaned in frustration.

“Truth or dare?” Gerard questioned him.
“I do not care,” he retorted immediately, and it sounded like he and Gerard were singing some shitty song.
“Truth, then,” Gerard decided for him.

Pfft, truths are lame. Dares are more exciting. I think Gerard should dare Matty to jump off the roof of his house or-

“Have you ever slept with a friend’s girlfriend?”

Okay, fuck what I was thinking. Things just got interesting…

As soon as the words left Gerard’s mouth everything fell uncomfortably silent. I narrowed my eyes at Matty, waiting for his answer, but he avoided mine and everyone else’s eyes and just frowned at Gerard.

“What kind of question is that?” He demanded sharply.

A pretty good one.

Gerard shrugged but said nothing, so I answered for him; “It’s an easy one that requires a simple yes or no answer. So just answer it, you pansy.”

Matty suddenly turned his attention to me, glaring at me instead. Silence completely engulfed the room again. Matty was clearly reluctant to answer and this made me wonder what the answer actually was. I thought I knew all of my best friend’s secrets, but maybe I don’t…

I raised my eyebrows at Matty, wordlessly pressuring for an answer.

“Alright, fine, whatever,” he surrendered finally, still looking me dead in the eye. “Yes.”

Some people smirked; others gasped. I just raised my eyebrows even higher at my best friend.

His confession came as a shock to me. I never took him as someone who would fuck over one of his friends like that. Having had experience of a friend stabbing me in the back before, I couldn’t help but feel angry and paranoid.

“Which friend?” I demanded roughly, curious to know whose girlfriend Matty had slept with.

It better not be mine.

He usually tells me about the girls he has fucked, so why has he never mentioned one of his friend’s girlfriends?

“You don’t know him,” he answered flatly as he leant forward to spin the bottle.

My suspicious eyes lingered on him for a long time, but he avoided them. I made a mental note to keep a closer eye on him now that I know he's a best-friend-girlfriend-fucker.

After a moment of heated glaring, I dropped my gaze to the bottle and realised that it had just landed on Gerard.

The rest of us may as well not be here. This is like a one-on-one game with Matty and Gerard…

“Dare,” Gerard stated boldly, before Matty could even ask him.

I thought he was pretty brave asking Matty to pick a dare for him. Knowing Matty he would tell him to lie down in the middle of the road in front of car or something.

But Matty’s dare was worse than that...

“I dare you to kiss Frank,” he smirked, and everyone started laughing.

He WHAT? No. No way! Not happening.

Gerard and I glanced at eachother with raised eyebrows, then turned back to Matty.

“…The fuck is wrong with you?” I enquired, a rigid frown set on my face.

This isn’t even funny. Why does he want me to kiss Gerard? He’s a fucking homophobe! Is this a test or something?

“You wanted to play this stupid game. So go on, you pansy,” Matty mimicked my name for him. “Kiss him!”

There’s no way I’m kissing Gerard in front of all these people, and under Matty’s command.

“Not a chance in hell,” I folded my arms.

“It wasn’t even your dare. It’s Gerard’s,” James, who seemed to have materialised at Matty’s side without me realising, pointed out unhelpfully.

Thanks for your input, dickhead.

I suddenly realised that Gerard had not said one objecting comment, and I couldn’t help but wonder why.

Does he wanna kiss me or what?

“Well, I’m part of the dare so I get a fucking say in it!” I replied short-temperedly. “I doubt Gerard is going to pin me to the ground and fucking force me to kiss him!”

I may be small, but I'm pretty strong. There's no way Gerard could pin me to the ground and kiss me against my will. And right here and now, in front of everyone, it would so be against my will...

“I could if I wanted to,” Gerard turned to me and interjected randomly, making me frown at him.

Why must he say things?

I suddenly had a mental image of him tackling me to the floor and making out with me, and I was unsettled by the fact that my heart started beating so much faster.

I felt the blood rush to my cheeks, which isn’t the worst place it could have gone, but still, I was blushing like a fucking 12 year-old girl now. Not cool.

“…But I’d rather kiss her,” Gerard finished abruptly, making me forget my embarrassment immediately.

His declaration was loud enough for everyone to hear, but if by some miracle they missed it, all they had to do was look up and see Gerard pointing directly at the familiar girl he wanted to make out with.

Jealousy flooded through me before I even saw who it was. Then I realised who the girl Gerard fancied was and envy was overridden with frustration.

“You up for it, Laura?” Matty asked my ex-girlfriend, amusement in his eyes.

Oh yes, this is fucking hilarious, Matty. You’re setting up my bitch of an ex with the guy I think I’m falling for.

…Yes, that’s right. There's a chance I might be fucking falling for Gerard.

It’s messed up. I have a girlfriend who I love more than anything. And I know my own sexuality... I know that I like girls. I’ve never liked a guy in my life! But I kinda like Gerard...

I think I’m going insane.

Laura looked at Gerard with a slightly dismayed expression, before glancing at me and seeing the jealousy and anger written all over my face.

“Sure,” she smirked, still looking at me. Her eyes were taunting. She could tell this bothered me and I could tell it was the only reason she was even considering kissing Gerard.

“Alright then. Go for it!” Matty told both Gerard and Laura.

I felt like objecting, but how could I? Everyone would know that it bothers me, which it shouldn’t, so I can’t make it obvious.

(Yes, I care too much what people think... Haven’t you realised that by now?)

So, I remained silent as they crawled into the centre of the circle to meet half-way and kiss. I averted my eyes, not wanting to watch, as I mentally kicked myself for giving up the chance to kiss Gerard.

I knew when their lips had touched because everyone made immature “ooh” noises, probably in an attempt to make this whole ordeal less awkward. I mean, who the fuck wants to watch two people make out anyway? That’s just plain weird.

Matty’s right; this game is so very shit. So shit in fact that I’m gonna have to consume a large amount of alcohol now to forget we ever played it…