Opposites Always Attract.

I woke up the next morning by being greeted by a bright sun. Stumbling over to my window I could clearly see large puddles still on the sidewalk. It had rained all through the night, probably meaning it was cold outside, despite the bright sunshine.

I took a quick shower before pulling on some jeans and a baggy white sweater, adding a long necklace with a heart pendant, just for style. My hair was acting particularly odd that morning; its usual bouncing curls were frizzy and messy. But I seriously couldn’t be arsed to do anything with it, so I let it dry while I ran around the house preparing for my day, insuring most of my things were crammed under my bed, just in case Gerard saw my bedroom. Then it was time for my breakfast, the best moment of the morning.

“Oh, mum, Gerard’s coming round today to do some of that art project” I said in-between mouthfuls of cereal.

“Oh yeah? That’s cool, how is it going by the way? I thought Gerard didn’t want to see you again, or have you sorted everything out now?” she sipped her coffee while rubbing her eyes, her brown hair scrapped back into a messy ponytail. She looked exhausted, probably because her boss had her working extra hours.

“Oh, oh what you mean about the kiss? Oh yeah, yeah, that’s all sorted. All a big mistake, nothing to fuss about really. It was just a bit of an ‘in-the-moment’ thing, you know, like in the movies. But we’ve forgotten about it now, it was embarrassing, so it’s gone. It’s fine; it wasn’t a big de-”

“Elliott?” my mum raised her eyebrows while I stuttered over my words, trying to ensure my mother that nothing else had happened between Gerard and I. Just the one kiss, no more arguments, and no more kisses. No more bonding, and no more falling out.

“Mmm?”
“You’re rambling,” she grinned at me, as I blushed “And now you’re blushing.”
“Wha-What? No I’m not!” I touched my cheeks, feeling the heat radiating off of them. Okay, maybe I was blushing.

“You always ramble when you get embarrassed, it’s funny.” My mother sipped her coffee again, watching as I spluttered into my cereal.

“No I don’t! Do I? Is it obvious? Do you think anyone else notices that I do it?!” Milk and Fruit Loops fell from my mouth as I spoke (or rambled) to my mother.

“Elliott, at least swallow your food before you talk to me, and I dunno. I’m your mother, I notice everything. I can’t say if anybody else notices or not.”

I swallowed my cereal “E-Everything?”

“Everything” She winked at me.

“Like what? What have you noticed?” I was panicking because I didn’t want my mother suspecting anything, like the incident with Aaron, or my Ecstasy mistake.

“Like how you’ve been a lot happier this morning, happier than I have seen you in ages. And how you don’t seem to talk about Chloe so much anymore. It’s a good thing, I dunno what’s caused it, but it’s a good thing.” She said, but her eyes betrayed her.

There was a glint in her eyes that lead me to think she knew exactly what had changed me, she just didn’t want to say it aloud. And secretly I knew what had changed me too; I just didn’t really want to admit that he had such an effect on me.

“A-Anyway, I’d better finish getting ready, I have to leave in 10 minutes. See you later, mummy” I kissed her on her pale cheek, dumped my cereal bowl into the sink and ran upstairs to brush my teeth. However I didn’t hear my mother shout at me:

“I’ll be home early!”

Meaning I didn’t know that she would be home when Gerard would be here. Meaning I didn’t realise the awkward encounter that would follow.

-

I picked at my salad as Angelica and Maggie debated over who was hotter, Channing Tatum or Robert Patterson. Neither of them was attractive in my opinion, but rather than voice it, I stayed quiet. Tara also seemed to be particularly quiet today, probably because Chloe had shouted at her yesterday, and had been hostile towards her ever since.

“Have you not seen Twilight? He’s so fucking hot in that! Aren’t I right, Elliott?” Maggie said, everybody on the table turned to me.

“Wha-Oh, I dunno, I think he’s pretty ugly. But then again Twilight’s a shit film, so I’m just judging him ‘cause he sparkles” Maggie’s mouth hung open.

“What, you don’t like Twilight? Are you mental?!”
“Come on, Elliott, even I can admit I like Twilight” Angelica said, looking at me as if I was the crazy one.

“Sorry guys, I just don’t like it.” They all went to argue back, but Chloe wiggled her way in-between Maggie and Angelica, her overly pink lips in a fake grin.

“Guys, guess who has a free house tonight? Moi! And guess who has a whole bottle of tequila with our names written all over it?!” she looked at us all in turn. We all smiled back, some more enthusiastically than others, even Tara managed a smile.

“Fucking sweet!” Angelica said, Maggie nodding in agreement. Tara mumbled her positive response, then the four girls looked at me.

“Look guys, I would come, but I’m actually busy.” Chloe’s face instantly dropped, raising one eyebrow at me.

“Oh yeah, and what are you doing?” she asked bitterly.
“Gerard Way is coming over to do that art project. It’s taking forever to do,” I saw their faces pull into confused emotions, so I instantly flicked my hair back and said “It’s so fucking annoying, right? I mean I have to spend all this time with that weirdo”

Their faces relaxed at my response, glad that I wasn’t happy about spending time with such a ‘creep’.

“Well, it sucks to be you.” Maggie said.
“I feel so sorry for you; I mean seriously, I’m surprised he hasn’t tried to kill himself again. Isn’t that what he tried to do last time?” They all laughed cruelly, Tara’s cute giggles making me frown instead of smile.

“You guys know about that?” I questioned my face stern.
“Duh, of course we know, everybody knows.” Angelica said.
“It isn’t really that funny though, is it?” I looked at her, out of the corner of my eyes I saw Chloe perk up as she examined my behaviour, probably wondering why I wasn’t laughing with the rest of them.

“Well he wouldn’t exactly be missed, would he?” Maggie interrupted. My blood boiled, but I tried not to show it.
“Exactly, all he does is bring this school down. Him and his fucking faggot emo friends” Chloe said, I bit my tongue to stop myself from yelling out at them, but my hands still balled into fists under the table.

“Well, maybe he is a vampire after all? He’s ugly enough to be one.” Tara joined in. As much as I was angry at the girls, it was Tara who upset me the most. Tara may be a bitch, but it wasn’t in her nature to laugh about someone’s attempted suicide. I guessed she was doing it to make Chloe like her again.

“I think we should recreate that website, the one that Annie Green made. Remember her, she was awesome.” my head shot up at Maggie’s words. I’d never been told about Annie’s actions by anybody before, it was only after I’d become involved with Gerard and his friends that I knew anything about it. But it appeared that everyone else knew about it.

“Yeah, and hope that he tries to kill himself again. And this time, he’d better stay dead” Chloe’s words hit me like bullets. I stood up in a flourish, and grabbed my bag, they all looked at me in shock.

“S-Sorry guys. I just remembered that I have to see Mr Escobar. See you tomorrow” I stormed out of the cafeteria after making my lame excuse and ran towards the art room.

Obviously I didn’t need to see Mr Escobar, but just in case any of them came looking for me, it would be better to actually be in the location I said I would be in, to make my actions less suspicious then they already were.

I was still fuming by the time I banged the door open to the art room, causing the two people inside to jump at my sudden entrance.

“Oh, Elliott. It’s nice to see you, um- Are you okay?” Mr Escobar asked. He was currently sitting with Seth Green, random drawings spread out between them.

I began pacing the room, letting off the steam that my ‘friends’ had caused just moments before.

“What? Oh, yeah. I’m fine, I’m fine.” I said, more to myself than anyone else. I threw my bag onto a table and slumped into the chair, placing my head between my hands and groaning loudly.

“Are you sure, Elliott? You look kinda upset.” Seth asked, approaching me with caution.
“Oh, do I?! I hadn’t noticed!!” I snapped at him, raking my hand through my fluffy hair. Both Seth and Mr Escobar looked taken aback at my harsh behaviour.

“Look, sorry about just running in like this. I just needed somewhere to cool off.”
“Hey, it’s cool. No problem, Sir and I were just chillin’” Seth said, his blue eyes twinkling with calmness.

“What is all this about, Elliott? What’s wrong?” Sir said, pulling up a chair, so that now both he and Seth were sat in front of me. We were a strange trio, but at that moment I wasn’t too fussed about who I was with, so long as it wasn’t with my so called friends.

“Nothing. It’s just Chloe and that were just being stupid about something. It just made me angry, that’s all.”

“Chloe Brown?” Sir asked.
“Yeah. She’s meant to be like, my best friend, but she can be such a bit - witch” Sir chuckled, but seemed concerned.

“I dunno why you’re friends with her, dude. You and Tara. She’s such a douche; seriously she makes fun of everyone just to make herself feel better. You and Tara are better than that” Seth told me, his eyes holding nothing but truth.

“Thank you.” Was all I could say, I wasn’t use to such genuine compliments. There is only enough times you can hear ‘you look hot today’ or ‘your hair is so pretty’ before you start to disbelieve it.

“What were they talking about? It must have been something pretty big to get you so angry. That is if you don’t mind me asking” Sir said. I usually hated teachers, but Mr Escobar treated his pupils as friends and peers, rather than stupid teenagers.

I sighed “They were making fun of someone who tried to – Wh – Who tried to commit suicide. They were being complete a-holes about it. I mean, it was bloody suicide! Who can laugh about suicide?” I shook my head in disbelief, before placing it back into my hands.

When I looked up I saw both of the males looking at me sympathetically.

“Gerard’s a troubled kid. Not many people understand him,” my mouth hung open, surprised that Sir knew who I was talking about “But he is probably one of the most genuine people I have ever met. He’s a good kid, Elliott. So are you.”

“I don’t know this Gerard kid that well, but he must have been proper messed about to want to off himself, you know what I’m saying?” I nodded at him; I knew exactly what he meant. I knew Gerard more than anybody thought I did. The fact that I knew him at all would shock some people.

“You have a heart, Elliott. Don’t let people like Chloe get to you, okay?” Sir smiled at me, before walking over to his desk, on the opposite side of the classroom.

“Elliott, don’t take shit from Chloe and those sluts she hangs out with, okay? You’re so much bigger than them. You may hang out with those bitches, but everyone sees,” Seth said to me, in a hushed tone.

“Sees what?”
“That you’re unhappy. And I don’t mean just people like me, I mean everyone. You try and act the same, Elliott, but you’re so much different. Why do you think everyone is so nice to you, yet they avoid people like Chloe and Angelica?”

I just shrugged.

“Because they’re not scared of you. Just, do me a favour, please?”
“Yeah, anything?”
“Don’t let Chloe bully you and Tara around, okay? It fucks me off when I met up with Tara and she’s crying because of what Chloe’s said. Just, please don’t become like those bitches. People like you and Tara are the ones who give me confidence that maybe not every girl on this planet is evil.”

I just nodded, and promised him. I couldn’t do much else; my head was just full of what Seth had told me. My act was completely see-through. People like Seth, the ones who observe everybody could sense my unhappiness. And it worried me. If people like Seth could detect my fakeness, did that mean others could? Is that why Chloe kept me on such a short leash, because she was afraid if she gave me too much freedom I would become like other people? I would become normal, and influences others to do the same?

Maybe. Or maybe I was just thinking too much into it, maybe Chloe was just stupid.

I collected my bag and went to walk out of the classroom, much more calm and positive then I was when I stormed into the classroom half an hour before.

“Thank you Seth. Thanks Sir.” They both politely replied, Sir waving to my from his desk, not taking his eyes off of his work.

“And Seth? Stay off of the smokes, Tara likes a minty breath” I winked before walking out of the classroom, I saw his cheeks turn pink before I began making my way back to my friends. Happiness radiating from my body and I strutted down the hallway. Seth Jones was probably one of the kindest people I know. I definitely approved of him, and he would do nothing but good for Tara.

-

“God, take your time why don’t you?” I said to Gerard as soon as he came up to me. I was already positioned by my car, ready to drive us back to mine.

“Sorry, I had to have a smoke before I left.” He shrugged, before getting into my car. People would still stare at me every time I was with Gerard. I can’t say I blame them, even though Gerard and I were much closer, to the public eye, we were still the most distant of people.

“You’re disgusting,” I said as I slide into my car, turning the engine on ready to drive home “Smoking’s bad for you, y’now.”

“So is lying but you still do it.” I turned to face Gerard, giving him a sarcastic smile before turning the radio on.

”Oh the clever
Things I should say to you
They got stuck somewhere
Stuck between me and you”

I gasped “I love this song!” before turning the radio up a little
“You love every song” Gerard mumbled before I started singing along

”Oh I’m nervous
I don’t know what to do
Light a cigarette
I only smoke when I’m with you

What the hell do I do this for?
You’re just another guy
Okay, you’re kind of sexy
But you’re not really special”

“Elliott, please be quite” Gerard held his head in his hand as I sung. But I took no notice, I continued to sing. We were now out of school, driving down a busy road were people would look into the car in shock as they heard my screeching voice from the inside.

“You are so embarrassing” Gerard said.
“Oh come on, you have to love this song,” I said, breaking away mid sentence “Besides, I bet you can’t sing any better than me.”

”If you take off all your clothes
Come on, take them off

‘cause I like you so much better when you’re naked
I like me so much better when you’re naked”

“I bet you do” Gerard smirked; I smacked him on the arm, but kept on singing. Making sure to scream the high notes, just to irritate him more. He genuinely looked like he was in pain, but luckily for him we neared my house.

Remember I said my mother’s car was broken? Well she’d taken it to get fixed, meaning it wasn’t in the driveway. Meaning I had no indication that she was actually home. Meaning nor Gerard or I realised that Gerard would have to met her for the first time.

My mother wasn’t horrible or over protective...But she was awkward and excitable, particularly when boys came around. Which meant this could lead to nothing but trouble...And awkwardness.