Opposites Always Attract.

I arrived at the familiar looking house. It was around 6 o’clock by the time I had actually left for Gerard’s. I'd told my mum where I was off too, but begged her to just tell dad I was off to Tara’s. As I stated before, I didn’t want him getting worried about me being at a boys house.

I knocked on the blue door and waited patiently for someone to answer. Sure enough, just seconds later a pretty woman with blonde hair answered. I knew instantly that she was Gerard’s mum; she had the exact same hazel eyes.

“Uh – uh. Hello, is um, Gerard in?” obviously he was, seeing as he’d invited me round. But I was somewhat nervous; I wasn’t expecting his parents to be here. She cracked a smile, I knew she didn’t recognise me, but I was happy to know that she was at least polite.

“Of course, come on in” she invited me into her home. I stepped in awkwardly; her eyes were on me the entire time. I was after all, probably one of the first, if not the first girl that had ever knocked on the door asking for her son.

“GERARD, THERE’S SOMEONE HERE TO SEE YOU! she yelled with a surprisingly loud voice. She turned to me “Do you want anything? A drink or-“
“Um, no thank you. I’m fine” I gave her a polite smile. I heard Gerard’s voice shout "coming, mother" with sarcasm, he ran down the stairs. He noticed it was me, and stood looking between myself and his mother, he’d clearly forgotten that his parents would be home. He cleared his throat.

“Mom, this is Elliott Haile. Elliott, this my mother” he introduced us, scratching the back of his neck as he did so, embarrassed that his mum had had to meet me without any idea as to who I was.
“You can call me Donna” she grinned, taking my hand, I smiled back, shaking her hand with a polite grip. “So are you and Gerard like, toge-“
“No!” we both said in unison. We both blushed, refusing to make eye contact.
“No mom. We’re just Art partners okay?” Gerard rushed, explaining the situation to his mother.

“Ahh, okay. I was going to say that you’re not exactly Gerard’s type” she chuckled
“And what do you mean by that?” Gerard said, somehow offended. I was never sure whether this was because he was offended at the idea that I was too pretty for him, or disappointed that his mother believed I was out of his league.
“Well, because she’s pretty, and fashionable, and polite. The girls you use to bring home always seemed a bit...Rough” Donna chose her words carefully, not wanting to offence her son further. I blushed from the compliment.

Gerard still managed to get offended; he crossed his arms and huffed. “Yeah, well at least they weren’t bitchy and dumb like this one” he cocked his head towards me. I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms, giving a look to his mother as if to say ‘It’s alright, I get it all the time’.

Donna’s eyebrows furrowed, ashamed of her son’s language, but before she could say anything, Mikey began walking down the stairs. He was wearing nothing but an Iron Maiden T-Shirt and a pair of black and white boxers.

“Mom, where’s my Gossip Girl DV-“ Mikey stopped halfway down the stairs when he caught me in the hallway. He blushed, and ran back up the stairs. Donna laughed.
“In your bookcase, Mikey” she yelled after him. She sighed and shook her head “Gossip Girl” she chuckled.

“Well, Elliott and I kind of have some stuff to do” Gerard grabbed me by the arm and drug me upstairs into his bedroom, leaving his mother down stairs.

-

“Come on Gerard, we’ve only got five pages full. We need more!” I growled in frustration.

“Elliott, I think there’s only so much we can do on costumes, before my freakin’ head explodes” he thumped onto his bed, clenching and unclenching his cramped fingers. A notebook sat by his side, full of notes and pictures specifically on costume design. I was on Gerard’s computer, swinging myself around in the desk chair in frustration.

“Well, what else can we do?” I said, my British accent emphasising my harsh tone.
“Anything but fashion. I swear if I see another spandex outfit I’ll kill myself” he whined. I huffed and got up from the chair, snatching the notebook that was on the bed and skimmed through the pages. I tried not to show how impressed I was with the content.

“Fine” I sighed “what do you want to do now then?”
“Can’t we take a break? I’ve been writing for like, 2 hours!” I rolled my eyes, but agreed. Gerard led me downstairs and into the kitchen. A man with glasses and brown hair sat at the dining table, sipping a cup of coffee.

“Hey dad” Gerard said, rummaging through the fridge, he pulled out a can of Dr Pepper and chucked it to me. I managed to catch it, I celebrated a little in my head, that was one of the first times I’ve ever managed to catch something successfully.

“Are you not going to introduce me to your friend?” he asked, as Gerard closed the fridge, a can in his own hand.
“This is Elliott. She’s a cheerleader, we have to work together” I frowned at the stereotype that Gerard gave me. There was so much more to me than just being a ‘cheerleader’.

Gerard’s dad put down his coffee and smiled at me, there was almost a hint of fear in his eyes, as I guess he thought I was as awful as my friends were. I’m assuming Zayn’s beatings, among others, didn’t go unnoticed in the Way household.

“Nice to meet you, Elliott”
“Nice to meet you too, Mr Way” I was determined to prove that I didn’t bully his son, like all the rest of my friends did. I suddenly realised how bad Gerard’s life must really be. His parents were so humble and polite, as was his brother, and deep at the core, so was Gerard. It must have made his parents feel useless and upset when their son would come home with another bloodied nose.

“You can call me Donald” he told me, I smiled at him, which he returned; he seemed almost relieved at how polite I was being. Gerard pushed me away again, this time outside the front door, so he could have a cigarette.

“Your parents don’t mind you smoking?” I questioned as Gerard lit his cigarette.
“Nope, my mom smokes too, they don’t mind. Besides I kind of had my reasons, you know, stress and all that.” I looked away from him. “What?”

“Nothing, I just...You want me to be honest?” I said, deciding I would tell Gerard exactly what was bothering me.
He shrugged “Sure”
“I’m just really fucked off. I’ve spent 2 years of my life watching my friends bully people like you, without even thinking about how it might affect that person. I mean, if I’m honest, sometimes I think you can handle it, just because you’re such an arsehole all the time, I didn’t think you’d really be bothered about it. But now I think about it, you’ve had to go home to your parents and explain why you’ve got a black eye. And then you have to go through it again, and again, and again, and a-“

“I get the point, Elliott” his face held no expression. But in the evening light, I could see an emotion in his eyes that I couldn’t quite describe. Almost happiness, like he was relieved someone finally understood how he felt, but it was masked with embarrassment.
“But I just feel so...You never really deserved it, did you?” Gerard still didn’t make eye contact with me.
“I was fat, and dorky. That was all. I was so shy I didn’t dare stand up for myself. That’s why I was bullied, Elliott”
“Bu-“
“And you’re right. The more I got bullied the more I finally started to stick up for myself, and the less I started to eat, hoping that if I changed they’d stop beating me up. It kind of worked; I haven’t been beaten up in like, three weeks and they don’t call me fat anymore” I remained silent, my body full of guilt. I couldn’t escape the feeling that Gerard was actually happy about how sad I felt.

We stayed in silence for a few minutes, until we heard clear voices from the living room.

“What do you think of this girl, Donna?” a worried Donald said.
“I don’t know, Don. She seems nice, but, I’m worried that Gerard will...”
“I know, I know. I mean Mikey said she’s nice enough but...There’s that part of me that just feels that she might hurt him...”
“You said she was a cheerleader, right? You don’t think she was the one that made that website that time do you?”
“I hope not. Remember when Gerard found it? He wouldn’t come out of his room for a week” Donald sighed “I think we’re just going to have to look out for him. I don’t want a repeat of last time”
“I can’t believe that was three years ago!”
“I know, Donna. But we’re just going to have to trust this girl”
“Do you think they are actually doing an art project together, Don?”
“Yeah, I think so”
“Good, do you remember that other girl-” Donna chuckled
“-We’re doing an English project” Gerard’s parents said together.
“English project my ass” Don laughed.

Once the conversation had finished, I looked at Gerard, he was stood still, angry that his parents had been talking behind his back, and more so that I had heard.

“What did they mean by the last time?” I said carefully. I’m not going to lie, I was frightened.

“Elliott, go home” he said through his teeth. I couldn’t tell whether his voice was angry or upset, nevertheless it was monotonous.
“Gerard, please I-“
“Just go” he hissed, shoving me towards my car, I yelped in shock. I watched as he threw his cigarette in the floor and walk into his house, slamming the door behind him, causing the glass of the window to shudder. I stood in shock for a few seconds, before getting into my car and driving home.

What could have possibly happened three years ago? It swam through my mind the whole night, even when I was trying to get to sleep. I would have to ask Tara about it, it was obviously the reason Gerard was so ‘fucked up’ as Tara had said. What I found most interesting was that this other girl was a cheerleader, and what was this website that they were talking about? I finally dropped off to sleep, a frown still fixed upon my face.