I Can Transform You

POV: Gerard

I’d never been in trouble in my life. I’d never had detention in my life or anything. Yet, here I was, sat in the Principal’s office, facing expulsion.

“I will not tolerate such abusive behaviour in my school!” Principal Harrison shouted angrily, towering over Matty and I. We just sunk lower in our chairs.

The tears had finally dried up, but my face was stained with the evidence. My anger, on the other hand, had not faded in the slightest. Matty’s face was stained with blood from his nose, where I’d punched him. Hopefully I fucking broke his nose.

“Which one of you wants to tell me the meaning of this?” He demanded, his eyes darting between Matty and I impatiently.

I stared at the floor, unwilling to cooperate. There was no way I was going to tell Principal Harrison my feelings for Frank and fucked up life story. It was none of his business. Matty seemed reluctant to answer too, and a deafening silence filled the room.

“WELL?” He pushed us insistently for an answer.

“Gerard started it by punching me in the face, Sir,” Matty stated, playing the victim.

Anger boiled in my veins; I felt like a volcano on the verge of exploding. All I could think about was the amount of times he’s beaten the shit out of me. I never went running to the Principal… I never told on him. I’m not a fucking pussy.

“Is that true, Gerard?” Principal Harrison asked, a look of disappointment in his eyes. He didn’t expect this from me. I was one of his star pupils.

“No. He was asking for it,” I growled.

He was pushing all the right buttons… Pushing me over the edge.

“Tell me your side of the story, Gerard,” Mr Harrison commanded gravely.

Can everyone stop being so interested in my life and just get the fuck out of it please?

I hesitated, but Matty was quick to offer an explanation that made me the one at fault and him the victim, once again.

“Basically, Sir, he’s just in love with Frank Iero, and I told him that Frank doesn’t like him, and he couldn’t handle the truth,” he shrugged innocently.

Cursing loudly, I jumped out of my chair and onto my feet in strong objection, drowning out Principal Harrison ordering Matty to hold his silence.

“Shut the fuck up!”

That wasn’t why I punched Matty. I punched him for bringing up my past, which I wanted to stay forgotten.

“Gerard! Sit down and watch your language,” Principal Harrison scolded, a stern look on his face.

I didn’t sit down. I remained standing, trembling all over with frustration, but standing my ground. I’d had enough of being told what to do. I wasn’t going to be taken for a fool anymore by every fucker in my life.

“You know it’s true!” Matty shouted back at me, jumping to his feet too, so he and I were on the same level. We stared at eachother menacingly, fists clenched and ready to attack.

“Why don’t you just admit you’re in love with him, fag?” He spat, a knowing look in his cold eyes.

I'll never admit anything to you.

I was mere seconds away from launching myself at him for another fistfight.

“Do NOT use that language in my school, Matthew,” Harrison roared, pointing his finger at Matty warningly.

I hardly even registered that he had called me fag, though. I couldn’t give less of a fuck if I tried. It was true, I suppose.

“Why don’t you just admit that you’re fucking his girlfriend?” I yelled, completely changing the subject.

The change of topic definitely caught Matty off-guard. His hard expression faltered and he looked utterly confused for a moment, before the shock subsided.

“Wha- That has no relevance to anything!” He dismissed, neither denying or confessing the truth.

He’s so transparent. He’s definitely, 100% screwing Frank’s girlfriend.

“You’re not denying it then?” I narrowed my eyes at him.

“And you’re not denying being in love with him.” He narrowed his eyes back at me.

Looks like we’re both not denying anything, because we would be liars if we did.

“ENOUGH!” Harrison roared so loudly it almost burst my eardrum. “Both of you sit down and keep your mouths shut. I am going to call Frank to my office and we’re going to get this sorted out once and for all,” he declared firmly.

Matty and I exchanged glances, our eyes burning holes in eachother. I just knew he was waiting for me to be the bigger man and sit down first, to back down, and then he’d follow my lead.

But I wasn’t about to do that. I didn’t want to see Frank. I didn’t even want to be in the same room as him, let alone talk to him and sort this shit out. I had nothing to say to him, and I never would again. He betrayed me; that’s all I need to know. I will never forgive him for telling Matty what I told him in confidence.

“If you bring Frank here, I’m outta here,” I declared stubbornly, crossing my arms across my chest guardedly.

“It seems I have no choice, Gerard,” the Principal sighed. “Clearly Frank is the cause of the problems between the two of you… So, either you cooperate and allow me to call him to my office to resolve this, or I will just expel you now. Your choice.”

But bringing Frank in here would solve nothing. It wouldn’t change the fact that he stabbed me in the back, and it wouldn’t fix my broken heart.

“Fuck this,” I muttered, grabbing my school bag off the floor and heading straight for the door. "I'm done."

Done with school and being treated like a child... Done with Frank and being treated like a fool... Just done with everything.

“You’ll regret this, Gerard,” Harrison called after me as I stormed out of his office.

POV: Frank

I was sat in History class, actually doing my work, in the middle of writing an essay on the Korean war. Then, suddenly, my phone started vibrating in my pocket. Unphased by the fact that I was in lesson where phones were prohibited, I pulled it out and stared at the screen.

New message from Matty.

“LOL your boyfriend has been expelled!”

I furrowed my eyebrows deeply, re-reading the text a few times.

My BOYFRIEND? Is that a typo? I wasn't aware I had a boyfriend...

I looked around the class and realised everyone was talking amongst themselves and the teacher was absorbed in what she was doing on her laptop. She wouldn’t notice if I made a quick phone call…

I punched in Matty’s number and lifted my phone to my ear, carefully turning my head to the side so the teacher couldn’t see it.

“You got my text then?” Matty answered the phone almost instantly. I could hear the smirk in his voice.

“Yeah, what the fuck are you chatting about, fool?” I demanded cluelessly.

“Gerard. He’s been expelled!” Matty exclaimed in triumph, and my jaw dropped.

Gerard has been EXPELLED?! Oh my God. What the fuck is going on with the world?

“Are you shitting me?” I replied in disbelief, unable to absorb this absurd information. “Why?”

How can the school’s star pupil have been expelled? This is insane! Gerard’s never been in trouble before… He’s not a trouble-maker. I’m that type of student, not him!

“The little shitbag punched me!” Matty revealed unexpectedly, making my eyebrows shoot upwards.

Holy shit... Gerard knows how to punch people?! I never took him for a violent person. Again, that’s the type of guy I am… I could have sworn he wasn’t like that.

“Fucking hell. You must have really been asking for it!” I spoke in awe, wondering what Matty possibly could have done to push Gerard over the edge like that.

I knew they hated eachother, but after all these years of Matty bullying him and using him as a punch-bag, Gerard never retaliated.

And that’s the ironic part… Matty has punched Gerard more times than you could count on two hands, and yet, Gerard has been expelled for doing it once. This is an injustice.

I definitely felt sorry for Gerard, even though I didn’t know the full story. I knew how cruel Matty could be and he must have really ripped into Gerard to cause him to lash out like that. I didn’t blame him for punching Matty, whatever the reason was, because I knew Matty certainly would have deserved it.

But still, I was curious to know exactly what Matty did do…

“What the hell did you do?”

“Well, he overheard me telling Justin about our plan to fuck up his life,” Matty explained nonchalantly, oblivious to the fact that his words had made my heart drop into my stomach. “And he got all defensive, like, “Frank wouldn’t do that to me!” and I was like “bitch, please. I know you’re like in love with Frank, but he never liked you.” You should have seen his face. It was so fucking funny, man! It’s like he genuinely thought you liked him!”

Oh my God, no! Gerard knows… Fuck, he knows about the fucking plan! I never wanted him to find out about that! I didn't want to hurt him...

Matty was now cracking up laughing, failing to notice how I wasn’t saying a word.

“And then, we both got called to the principal’s office, and Sir said he was going to call you to his office, and Gerard just flipped out. He flat-out refused to be in the same room as you… So he was expelled,” Matty told me, still chuckling to himself.

So, Gerard chose expulsion over being in the same room as me? Oh sweet Jesus. He must really fucking hate me!

My heart was literally aching at the thought of Gerard right now. He must be so fucking broken up. It choked me up just thinking about how he was feeling, and knowing I was the cause of his pain.

I’ve got to fix this. I don’t want him to hate me… I love him. I need his forgiveness.

My hand slowly drifted away from my ear and my finger ghosted over the 'end call' button. I didn't trust myself to speak, because I could feel myself holding back the tears. I just hung up on Matty abruptly, no longer caring about anyone other than Gerard.