Opposites Always Attract.

Even by the time I arrived at school the next day, my mood still had not improved. Emotionless hazel eyes kept springing into my mind while I tried to concentrate on the Dickens book in front of me. It had been on my mind for hours, the way Gerard had literally pushed me away from him when only half an hour before we were laughing about Wonder Woman’s outfit.

What had happened to him three years ago? I couldn’t wait until lunch when I could finally discover what could have caused Gerard so much grief for 3 years. The words of Oliver Twist blurred in my vision as I became more impatient, and after what felt like days, the bell finally rung.

I made my way towards the cafeteria, walking quickly to ensure I got there in time to ask the girls what had happened, before they would lose themselves in fashion and gossip. The students were blocking hallways in their mad rush to get away from their classrooms, so instead of getting caught up in the crowd of agitated and excited students, I slipped through a door that took me outside. I had come out at the side of the building, at a part of the school that obviously not many students ever even approached, asides from the stoners and the outcasts, judging from the cigarette butts that littered the floor. I would have made my way to the cafeteria, if I wasn’t stopped by four figures, who stepped out in front of me.

“What did you do to Gerard?” Frank said. For such a short person, he looked amazingly menacing. He wore a thick black hoodie, with the hood up, shadowing his face.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Frank” I said in complete honesty. I wasn’t scared of them, despite the fact that Bob, Mikey, Frank and Ray were surrounding me, like sharks ready for the attack. It wasn’t hard to notice that Gerard wasn’t present; the group seemed incomplete without him. In a way, I missed his smirk.

“The fuck you do! Mikey said he went off last night, where’d he go?” Franks lip ring glinted in the light, his eyes staring up at me with such hatred it was hard to look away. I was so use to Frank being funny and childlike, what on earth had I done to deserve this interrogation?

“Look, Frank. I don’t know what the fuck you are talking about, so leave me the fuck alone” I tried to push past him, but he grabbed my elbow and pushed me back. Mikey and Ray looked at me apologetically. Obviously they were hoping for polite conversation, not to question me like I was a murderer.

“Stop fuckin’ lying! Mikey, tell her what happened last night!” Mikey looked at Frank with fear, he blushed, clearly not liking being the centre of attention.

“Well, w-when you left last night. Gerard seemed kinda...Pissed. He ran up to his room, and about five minutes later, I went to ask what was wrong. And he’d gone...” Mikey looked quickly into my eyes. My heart broke a bit as I saw how genuinely concerned he was for his big brother. But how the fuck was I meant to know where Gerard had gone?

I looked at each of the four boys individually, with an intense stare. Frank’s eyes challenged my own, I understood how he felt, and really I did. It was amazing, the friendship that they had, Frank was determined to find out what had happened, and that I could only admire him for. But at this moment, the way he was giving me evils, led me to become angry.

“Look, I’m sorry that something seemed to piss him off, really I am. But it certainly wasn’t me who did it. It’s not my fault if he’s fucked up, I can’t do anything about that. Now will you please just leave me alone, and let my get on with my day” but the boys still didn’t move. I’m pretty sure if it was possible, Frank would have evaporated me with his eyes right there. They were almost glowing red with the amount of evil that was in them, evil that was directed at me.

“You’re such a fucking liar, Elliott. Just tell us what the fuck happened and we’ll leave you alone” Bob said. His strong words were a lot more powerful that Mikey’s, and even Frank’s. I shrunk a little at his aggressive tone.

“Alright, for fucks sake. All I know is that when I was around last night, we were outside. We heard his parents talking about him and about me, and something about a cheerleader, and a website. And how they hoped he wouldn’t do what he did the last time. I don’t know what the fuck that means, but after that he told me to go home, so I did. And that is all I know. Now let me go” their moods changed instantly. Frank’s eyes went from anger, to absolute terror.
Mikey stood, wavering from side to side, muttering under his breath “Oh, God. Please not again”

“Guys, what’s going on?” I thought that Gerard had maybe just bunked school, but judging from their reactions, something a lot worst must have happened to him.
“Elliott, do you mean you don’t know what happened to Gerard?” Ray said, his voice almost trembled with worry.

“No! That’s what I’ve been saying all along. I have no idea about anything” Frank ran his hand through his hair, removing his hood in the process, he instantly became less intimidating. He sighed.

“Okay. Three years ago Gerard was paired up with this girl, Annie Green for a project. Don’t ask me what subject, I can’t remember. All I remember is how nervous he was about it. I mean, she was a Annie Green, he’d hit the jackpot, she was hot. And all Gerard was, was this weird lil’ dorky kid, so when she started being nice to him, he kind of fell for her big time. I mean, I think we all had our doubts when Gerard started saying about how nice she was to him, and how well they were getting along, and that she said she wanted to be friends. And then she became a cheerleader, and she grew nasty. She ended up creating this website, I can’t remember the name, I don’t want to. It was fucking - There are just no words to describe that website. Basically, Annie let out all of Gerard’s secrets. She put up photos, entries from his diary; she told the whole school things that I didn’t even know at this point. And then there was the burn book, where people wrote comment after comment about him. About how fat he was, and how ugly he was, and how he should just kill himself because he wasn’t worth anything. And I mean we couldn’t help him, not even Mikey. He just went off the edge, and I mean...Three months before you arrived, he was in hospital...”

“Why?” I said, almost in a whisper, but I already knew the answer.

“Because he tried to kill himself, Elliott” Frank replied. His voice was blunt, but also held a soft tone when he saw me close my eyes in despair. I knew something bad had happened to Gerard, I just didn’t realise it was that bad, I never realised Gerard had ever wanted to end his life because of how awful it was.

The air filled with awkward silence. Mikey was staring off into the distance; thinking about where is brother could possibly be no doubt. I couldn’t say anything, there were just no words to say, I finally understood. Gerard was fascinated; yet afraid of me, because he thought I was the same as this girl. But I wasn’t. Opening my bag I pulled out my notebook and a pen, Frank eyed me suspiciously as I wrote down a bunch of numbers onto a clean sheet of paper.

“I’m sorry; I don’t know where he is. But, please text me when you find him” I handed Frank the number; his face was a mixture of shock, kindness and confusion.
“Why do you care?” he asked

“Because I don’t want Gerard to think I’m the same. Despite how much I dislike you guys, I’d never hurt you” I pushed my way past them, continuing my way to the lunch hall. No doubt the girls were in an intense conversation about Jersey Shore or some other kind of shit I wasn’t interested in, so I wouldn’t get my chance to question them about Gerard. But now I didn’t need to, Frank told me everything I needed to know.

-

“Where the fuck have you been?” was the first thing that was said to me as I plonked myself down next to Angelica. Maggie was the one who had addressed me.

“Oh, I uh, got caught up talking to someone” I said. I was being truthful, just not exactly specific.
“Oh yeah, who?” I debated about whether to tell them the truth.
“Frank Iero...”
“You mean that emo faggot? Why the fuck where you talking to him?” Chloe asked a slight chuckle in her voice.

“Oh, I just ran into him and he asked if I’d seen Gerard. I said I hadn’t” their faces relaxed. God forbid if I had actually had a conversation with Frank Iero!
“He’s such a faggot, the whole lot of them are”
“Have you seen the way that Frank kid acts with Gerard? They’re like fucking homo’s or something, it’s gross”
“The one with the afro scares me”
“Shut up, Tara. Have you not seen that massive fucking dude they hang out with? What’s his name, Rob? He looks like a wrestler”
“Guys, did you watch that show on E! last night? Can you believe Megan Fox wore the same dres-“ and that’s when I zoned out.

-

“MUM, WE’RE OUT OF COFFEE AGAIN” I yelled from the kitchen, I got no response. “MUM!
Still no reply
“MUUUUUM? MUM!? MUMMY?!?!” I trudged up the stairs in my socks, and into my parents room, I laughed at the sight I saw. Rosie Haile was completely passed out on her bed, a small puddle of drool sat next to her on the pillow, cuddling one of my dad’s slippers. I tiptoed quietly over to the bed, and leapt on her.

“WHAT THE FUCK, GET OFF ME, OH MY G- Oh, Elliott. It’s just you” she wacked me with the slipper while I rolled on the bed, laughing until my stomach hurt. “What did you do that for?”
“I was calling you from downstairs, but you didn’t hear me. No wonder, you were out of it” I giggled, I stopped when I noticed my mother was staring at me, almost as if she was examining my face.

“Are you okay?”
“Um, yeah why?”
“Your eyes just look a bit – have you been getting enough sleep?” she brushed her fingers under my eyes delicately, tracing the dark circles under them. “Your eyes look a bit bloodshot too; you haven’t been crying have you?”

“No!” this wasn’t a lie, but when I was in the car driving home, I almost did. Franks story kept repeating itself over and over in my mind, the idea that Gerard tried to commit suicide sent shivers up my spine every time, and it made my stomach flip when I realised Gerard had ran off the night I was there. I couldn’t blame myself though, it wasn’t exactly my fault we overheard his parents. Regardless I found myself checking my phone every few minutes in case Frank had text me.

I didn’t know why I cared so much; I guess I just felt involved in his life now, even if I didn’t want to be. If I had to work with Gerard, it meant understanding him, and as much as it pained me to say it, I knew I would have to. I hated him still, of course I did. Hatred that’s lasted as long as ours doesn’t disappear within a matter of days, but for some reason, I felt I needed to stop. I would never give up our banter, but maybe I would stop being so hostile towards him, because then maybe I could help him.

I wasn’t sure why I was thinking these thoughts. I mean, he was still going to be Gerard Way at the end of the day, and I couldn’t change his attitude, even if I changed mine. And I was tempted to throw the idea out of the window, as well as the project itself. That was until I received a text at 6:07pm.

Unknown number:

We’ve found him, he’s alrite.
He got drunk last night, and passed out in an alley.
Sorry I was a bitch to u. Thank u.
Frankie
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