Angel, Put Me Back Together Again

Frank's POV

I looked at the schedule in my hand before looking up at the brick building in front of me. I sighed and shook my head. What the hell was I doing? After Angela left, I thought about a lot of things. I thought about where I was headed in life mostly. When I went back to public school, I did my best to get out with a 2.5 grade point average. I had let my classes fall to the wayside, too wrapped up in my own self destruction.

When Angela left me that day, I thought about doing a lot of different things, most of them being pretty drastic, even harmful. When I showed up at Gerard's to talk to her, I wasn't sure what to expect. I know what I wanted. I wanted her to stay. When Gerard told me about her leaving for California, I panicked. I had been selfish the past few months, waiting for her to come to me. I wanted her to beg me to take her back. It's pretty fucked up, but I didn't want her to see how weak I was. I left in hopes to better myself, but that's when I realized, she's what made me a better person. I guess I just needed to screw up to see just how much I needed her. I'm a fuck up, I know that. I knew I couldn't take back the damage I had already done, but maybe if I could get her to stay, we could start over. It hurt to think back on it, but long story short, it didn't work. She's probably already settled in at this point, fighting guys off left and right. I closed my eyes tight and let out a long sigh. I didn't want to think about that. I could feel my blood boil when I thought about her with another guy. It's bad enough that I had to figure out how to forgive her and my best friend for sleeping together. I just have to keep telling myself she won't be gone forever. She said she needed time to think things over. I just hope it's not as long as her four year college plan.

To get to the point, I decided that I couldn't sit around anymore and worry about it. I needed something to keep me distracted. As hard as I tried to get out of high school in one piece, I decided that college would be something I know would keep me occupied. I didn't get into anything great, though. Being a last minute decision, I enrolled in the community college. It was better than nothing. Classes started on a Wednesday. I made sure that I didn't have any early classes, but I couldn't escape the ten a.m. required class.

I huffed as I stepped inside the building making my way down the hall to my first class. It was just a basic math class. Math classes before noon should be illegal. I was a little startled when I stepped into the classroom. It was about the size of the ones in high school, but the age difference I saw from the people already in here was strange. There were other kids my age and some people who looked as old as my parents. I made my way awkwardly to the back of the room and grabbed the first open desk. There was no one on either side of me but there was still five minutes before class actually started. As I looked around I started to feel nervous. I didn't know anyone here and I wasn't really up for making new friends.

Just a minute before class started, and no one else came in. This must be a small class. At ten o'clock right on the dot, a girl who looked about my age came strolling in casually. She was lucky the professor wasn't here yet. I saw her scan the room and I forced myself to look down at my desk. She wasn't that bad looking either, but even I wasn't in the mood for that. Still, I couldn't help feeling hopeful that she would come sit by me. I scratched at the words people had carved into the desk over the years to occupy myself. That's when I heard someone clear their throat. I looked up to see that the girl that came in wasn't a student at all but the professor . Woah...

"Hello. I'm supposed to tell you to call me Miss Parker, but I don't like that, so just call me Christine. This is Math 105. If you're in the right place, we can get started." She didn't bother taking attendance. Weird. We just jumped right into where I basically left off in high school, which is what I was afraid of.

Fifty long minutes later, class was over and she was dismissing us.

"Make sure you grab a syllabus on your way out." She called out over the sound of people shuffling papers and putting books back in their back packs. I was slow to gather everything together and was one of the last people out of the room. I grabbed a syllabus of the desk and slid it into my back pack before throwing it back over my shoulder. I looked up to see Miss Par-- er, Christine grabbing the leftover syllabi and placing them in a folder which she tucked neatly back into her messenger bag. When she pulled her bag onto her shoulder, I couldn't help but notice the Black Flag patch hand sewn on it and a few buttons from other various bands. I recognized one of them as the infamous Misfits logo. As I brought my gaze back up, I realized she was watching me with a smirk on her face. I cleared my throat and began to blush.

"Admiring my bag?" She seemed amused. I chuckled nervously, not sure how to gauge her reaction.

"Yeah, I just... I didn't think... aren't you, you know... kind of young to be teaching?" I finally settled on that ridiculous question. I waited for her to be offended, but I found myself confused at her reaction. Her smirk had grown to a full blown grin and she began to laugh. I pulled at the strings on my back pack and shifted on my feet, not sure of what was so funny. I couldn't help but smile, though. Her laugh was loud with little squeaks at the end as she tried to catch her breath. It was kind of cute. I shook my head at the thought as she stopped laughing and cleared her throat.

"I mean, I guess. I turn 23 in October. I'm not technically a professor though, I'm just a teacher'a aid in the grad program." She started heading for the door, and I followed awkwardly after her.

"Oh, cool. My birthday's in October, too, and I didn't mean to say you look young, you just don't look like the professor type."

"Yeah. I can dress the part, but I guess I can't hide who I truly am, huh?" She nodded toward her bag. I glanced at it before looking back at her and smirking.

"Well I think it's fuck-- um, sorry, I mean really awesome." I felt myself tense up, ready to be scolded for cursing in front of a teacher. She smirked again as she moved a lock of her blonde hair out of her face.

"You don't have to worry about that anymore. You're in college now. Enjoy your freedom." She said as she patted me on my arm. I saw her glance behind me and her face dropped. "Shit, I need to get going. It was nice talking to you ... umm..."

"Frank."

"Frank. See you Friday." She turned and hurried off down the hall to what I was guessing was her next class. I lingered a minute longer since I had an hour break between classes. I waited until I watched her disappear around the corner before heading off in the direction of the commons area to wait for my next class. As I made my way down the hall, I began to smile at myself. I hope I was that lucky for all my classes.

Angela's POV

I let out a disgruntled sigh as I flung my back pack on the floor and flopped backwards on my bed. I didn't even bother turning the lights on. The small amount of sunlight streaming through the pulled over curtain cracks was enough for me. It was my first day of classes and I was already exhausted and overwhelmed. My advisor suggested I take advanced classes when he saw my grades right before graduating. I tried to tell him that I was new to this whole studying and being a good student thing, but he said I needed to utilize my full potential. Today I had advanced witting and an advanced history class. We already had homework in both and my professors seemed pretty stern.

I was thankful that Charleen wasn't back yet so I could unwind from this long day without any interruptions. I let my hand wander over the side of my bed to the nightstand next to it. I rooted around in the top drawer until I felt my hands wrap around the crinkly bag that contained an assortment of candy and individually wrapped chocolate. I grabbed a random piece and popped it in my mouth, savoring the milk chocolate square. I hadn't really had a chance to get lunch, and I didn't feel like moving right now so this was the next best thing. I closed my eyes and stretched out on the bed, finally starting to relax when I heard the door squeak open and the lights flick on, causing me to groan and throw my arm over my face to shield my eyes.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't know you were in here." I heard Charleen say as she continued to make a ridiculous amount of noise as she threw her bags down. She then began rummaging through her dresser until she retrieved a skimpy looking bathing suit and trotted off to the bathroom. I sat up on the bed, adjusting myself a little bit. I grabbed my iPod off my desk next to my bed and began to plug in my headphones when Charleen came out of the bathroom wearing her bathing suit and some short shorts and carrying a large beach bag with, surprise, the big Victoria's Secret Pink logo along the side. She looked me over and I was conscious of the capris and batman T-shirt I was wearing. We really were polar opposites. She smirked as she slid her large sunglasses off her head and over her eyes.

"I'm headed over to the beach with some friends. I didn't think you'd like that sort of thing so--"

"I like the beach." I cut her off. She looked at the clock on her phone then back to me.

"Well, my mistake. I have to go now though. You're welcome to join, if you can find it." With the she turned and left the room, shutting the door behind her. I knew full well that wasn't actually an invitation, but I didn't really want I hang out with her either. A walk on the beach does sound nice though. I jumped up and dug to the bottom of my dresser pulling out the one bathing suit I brought with me. It was a black two piece with rainbow splatter on it. I liked how it liked on the hanger, but I didn't think I would have the courage to wear it in public. I made my way to the bathroom and changed. I looked at myself and cringed a little. I wasn't quiet ready to walk around in just this. I pulled my batman shirt back on and opted for shorts instead of my capris. I slipped my vans on, grabbed my bag and made my way out the door and through the building.

After a while of an awkward taxi ride, which I had gotten better at hailing down, navigating and getting lost, I finally made it to the beach near by. I looked at all the tan bodies running around, swimming, or getting more tan and sighed. I knew I looked like a beam of light with my pale skin but tried my best to ignore the awkward stares. I found a shady spot below a palm tree, and made myself comfortable. I reached in my bag and pulled out a book I was currently reading and flipped to the last page I was on. As I started to bury my nose in it, I saw Charleen and her friends were walking my way. I did my best to blend into the background, but that proved impossible here. She had spotted me and I saw the smirk on her face as she made her way over to me. I pretended not to notice until she was standing right over me.

"Oh, hey Charleen."

"Angela. I didn't think you'd actually want to hang out."

"Oh, I umm..."

"Listen, were going for a swim. I thought you might want to join us."

"I-I don't know..." I started to stutter. I wasn't afraid of just her but with all her friends standing around, I didn't feel so brave.

"Well I see you wore your bathing suit. Come on, it'll be fun." The edge in her voice made it pretty clear she had something else up her sleeve, or lack there of considering the small amount of bathing suit covering her body. I tried my best not to notice how toned she was. I was pretty jealous to say the least. I hugged my book a little closer to me.

"Look, I'm really not in the mood." I started to give her my list of reasons why that was a terrible idea when I heard a bunch of yelling and laughing next to me that seemed to be getting louder. I watched as Charleen and her friends gasped, jumping out of the way. Before I had a chance to react, I saw a blur of bodies come crashing onto me, making me scream. I heard yelling from the rest of the group and laughing. I found my way out from under the bodies and began brushing the sand off me. I felt my cheeks start to heat up as Charleen and her friends began to laugh. I started to get up and start telling them off but was caught off guard.

"Hey, we're really sorry... Oh hey, you're that chick from the airport!" The guy with tattoos and piercings said, just as stunned as me. I looked to Charleen who had a puzzled look on her face before turning back to the airport guy.

"Yeah, hey. It's no big deal really. Told you I'd see you again." I saw out of the corner of my eye Charleen wasn't very pleased that I knew someone here. Before the guy had a chance to answer, Charleen butted in.

"See you later, roomie." Her voice was sickly sweet and dripping with sarcasm as she made her way back down the beach. I think that was her way if bring the focus to her, even if it was to watch her leave, but her attempt had failed. I looked to Attractive Tattooed Guy and he raised an eyebrow to me.

"That's your roommate?"

"Yeah..." I stood up and shoved my book back in my bag.

"I didn't peg you as that type of girl.
No offense."

"Don't worry. I'm not. She's a total bitch."

"Well alright then." He said chuckling and I couldn't help but smile. He looked so cute. Woah, Angela. I shook my head and focused my attention on the sand as I felt suddenly awkward.

"Well... It was nice seeing you again." I sputtered out as I turned to leave.

"Wait."

"Yeah?" I turned to see that he had a strange look on his face. Was he disappointed I was leaving? My stomach started to flutter.

"I still didn't get your name."

"Oh. Angela. It's Angela.

"Zack." He gave me a lopsided smile, and almost looked relieved. I stood around for another second, not sure what to do. Thankfully he broke the silence once more.

"You got a pen in there?" He motioned to my bag.

"Umm, yeah. Here." I retrieved a pen from my bag and handed it to him. I went to pull my hand away but he grabbed it in his and turned it over. I watched as he scribbled a number down on the palm of my hand. I gulped as I felt his calloused fingers slide over my skin and hand me the pen back.

"There's my number. Me and the guys were going to have a bon fire this weekend. You're welcome to join. You know, get a taste of what Cali's really like." He added with a wink and I felt my stomach flip with excitement. It was an old but familiar feeling that made me feel guilty.

"Yeah. I'll text you." I forced a smile. He grinned and ran his hands through his messy hair. I tried my best to not let him see me shake with nerves. "You know, if I don't run into you again." I added jokingly.

"Maybe next time not so literally." He chuckled. The silence between us became long and awkward. It was broken when one of his friends patted his back with some force, causing Zack to jump.

"Let's go Zacky." His friend said jokingly as they made there way back the way they came. He looked over his shoulder at me and smiled as he followed suit. I gave him a small smile, the best I could muster, and began walking the opposite direction back to the dorms. I looked down at the number Zack had written and closed my fist tight, for fear of it possibly rubbing off before I got back. I couldn't stop the grin that spread across my face as I clutched my fist to my chest. Even Charleen couldn't ruin the rest of my day. As long as I kept my mind off Frank, I didn't feel so bad. Oh, Frank...