Opposites Always Attract.

”Please don’t tell me the rumours are true?” Chloe frowned at me as soon as I saw her on Monday morning. Her arms were crossed against her impossibly tight T-Shirt, and her pink lips were pouting in disapproval.

“Rumours?” I asked frightened, “What rumours?”

My mind filled with thoughts of Gerard. Had people found out? If they had that would be my life would be over with. Not that anything was happening between Gerard and me (much)

“About you and Blake. Did you split up?” I just nodded at her sheepishly. Chloe’s mouth dropped open in annoyance.

“Why?” was all she could say, standing in front of me so that I couldn’t escape.
“Chloe, he tried to propose to me.” I said bluntly, raising an eyebrow at her.
“What?” her eyes squinting in disbelief.
“W-well, kind of. He tried to propose with a promise ring.”
“He what?” she repeated.
“Look, Chloe, things just weren’t working out, okay?
“You’re fucking retarded. I’ll see you at cheer practice later, okay?” she went to walk off, but stopped, turning round as if she remembered something “Oh yeah, Elliott, have you gained weight since I last saw you, because I distinctly remember saying for you to loose it.”

I just looked at her “No, Chloe. I haven’t gained weight” I couldn’t keep the frustrated tone from my voice.

“Oh, it’s just your boobs look bigger.” She shrugged and strutted away, leaving me to peek suspiciously at my boobs before walking into the school.

-

“Oh my God, have you seen what Stacy Fox is wearing today?” Angelica said as soon as she sat down at our lunch table.

The girls immediately sprung into a bitching fest about the poor girls clothing, while I sat with my head in my hand, poking at my salad with my other hand. The girls hadn’t shut up about the fact that Blake and I had broken up, so I was thankful when Angelica came over and changed the subject.

I’d already had several awkward encounters with Blake today. Karma seemed to be out to get me, as I’d bumped into him every time I had walked down a corridor that morning, and every time he had stared at me with disgust, but also with sadness. And I knew he was staring at me again, because I could feel someone’s eyes on me. Lifting my eyes, sure enough on the football table, Blake was glaring at me, biting his food with aggression.

Rolling my eyes at him, I lowered my eyes again, watching my fork as it pushed a tomato from one side to the other.

“-ott? Elliott?” Maggie had been calling my name, and I’d been completely oblivious.
“Y-yes, Maggie?” I said, turning to smile at her.
She rose her eyebrows at me “I said, did you wanna come out on Friday? We’re all going to Zayn’s for a party.”
“Oh, yeah, yeah. I’ll be there.” I smiled at her, I went to lower my eyes again, but Angelica spoke.
“So, Elliott who have you got your eye on now that Blake’s gone?”
“N-no one!” I blushed, dropping the fork and turning the face them fully.
“Oh, you’re such a liar, you’re blushing.” Maggie said, which made my cheeks burn even more.
“You’re totally blushing, come on, tell us.” Tara pushed me.
“No one guys, seriously!”

“Fine, Elliott. If you wanna be all fucking suspicious or whatever that’s fine with us. It’s not like we care.” Chloe shrugged her shoulders and took a sip of her water. Automatically Angelica and Maggie agreed. They’d do anything to please their queen. Tara on the other hand smiled at my sympathetically.

“We’ll talk later, okay?” she said into my ear. Although she was being kind, I don’t understand why she was still continuing to push the subject.

“Tara, nothing’s going on. There isn’t anyone, just drop it.” I hissed back. She just gave me a look, and turned away, patting my leg under the table as if to say ‘it’s okay to be embarrassed’. I just took a bite of my salad and chewed the lettuce angrily.

-

I shuffled down the corridor, my eyes concentrating on the floor, my hair falling into my eyes as I made my way to the last period of the day. I was already exhausted. Bumping into Blake had caused me enough stress, but my friends just increased my bad mood. They just didn’t seem to know when to quit. All day they had been questioning me about my relationships, and Chloe found it hilarious to tell everybody else how she thought I had gained weight. She even asked me at one point if I was pregnant, and I had to tell her that that was impossible.

Pushing my way past people to make it to the Art Room, I ran into him again. This had to be the fourth time today.

“Are you fuckin’ stalking me, Haile?” he asked bitterly. I just shook my head and pushed past him, making sure to shove his chest hard, so that he staggered back. A couple of younger students stared at us in interest, but once I shot them a look they immediately looked away, shamed and embarrassed. I heard Blake shouting random words at me still, but all I could do was send him a middle finger as I stomped away.

I was angry and upset that things between Blake and I ended so suddenly and so bitterly. It would have been easier to break up with him in a calm and gentle way, but he just had to fuck it up by proposing. Not that it was even a proper proposal, as the only reason why he had done it was so that he could get into my pants. And to be fair, any boy that is willing to commit himself that much to a girl just to get sex is stupid and worthless in my opinion.

-

I was so thankful to finally arrive in the art room. A few people were already in their seats, Gerard being one of them. Making my way over to him, I thumped into my seat, groaned, and slammed my head onto the desk.

“What’s up with you?” Gerard asked, laughing as I gently banged my head on the table repeatedly.
“Everything is going wrong” each word accompanied by a bang on the table.
“Oh yeah. What?”

I finally removed my head from the table, and glared at Gerard. All he could do was laugh at the red mark on my forehead.

“Everything,” I said again “Everyone just keeps asking me about Blake. I keep running into Blake. He keeps staring at me. My friends keep bugging me. Chloe’s treating me like shit.”
“Doesn’t she always treat you like shit?” Gerard quipped cheekily. I just smacked his shoulder in response.

“That’s not the point, Gerard.” I said, watching as more people began to filter into the room, taking their seats and talking to their partners.

“Gerard, am I fat?” I asked out of the blue, turning to look at him. He rolled his eyes.
“You’ve asked me this before. You are not fat. Chloe’s just a skinny bitch who’s just jealous of you.”
“J-jealous?” this was news to me. Why would Chloe be jealous of me? Of Maggie maybe, and Tara and Angelica, but why me? Sure Chloe was just a whore who wore lots of make up to make herself look better, and treated people like shit to make herself feel better, but why would she be jealous?

“Yeah,” Gerard looked at me as if I was stupid “Can’t you see it? She’s fucking jealous of you ‘cause you’re actually like, normal. Well, more normal than her.”
“Is normal good?”
“Of course normal’s good. Well, no actually, you’re not normal. That’s the point. Chloe doesn’t have what you have. That’s why she treats you like shit.”
“She said my boobs were getting bigger.”
“What?”
“I said, Chloe thinks my boobs are getting bigger. Do you think so?” I tightened my shirt a little while gazing at Gerard questioningly. I wasn’t fully aware of what I was doing. That I was asking Gerard Way of all people, to stare at my boobs in the Art room, of all places. It was even more awkward considering the fact that the classroom was nearly full now, but seeing as we were at the back of the room, no one was watching.

“Elliott, are you actually asking me to stare at your boobs?” Gerard asked in confusion. I nodded.

Gerard blushed, but inspected my chest anyway. Looking from the left to the right, his cheeks bright pink.

“Well, I-I dunno. Maybe. You haven’t got fat or anything though, so why should it matter?”
“No reason,” I shrugged “Just wanted a males opinion.”
“Yeah, well, next time you want me to stare at your boobs, can we do it somewhere more private? I don’t exactly want people seeing.”
“Oh, you don’t want people seeing? I’m the popular one here!” I giggled, crossing my arms and watched the door, waiting for Mr Escobar to arrive.
“You may be popular, but I have a reputation to uphold.” He grinned. I could see his white smiling teeth from the corner of my eye.
“Oh yeah? As what?” I smirked, continuing to stare at the door “A depressed emo with no friends?”
“Exactly.” He smirked in return.

It was then that Mr Escobar walked into the classroom, looking flustered and red faced.

“Sorry I’m late everyone, sorry! I-I’m glad to see you’re all here, um, j-just get on with your projects and I’ll talk to you all individually.” He flashed us all a smile while rummaging around with his papers.

Everybody did as he told, not seeming interested in why Mr Escobar was late, or why he seemed so embarrassed when he walked in.

“Why do you think he’s late?” I whispered to Gerard, watching as Mr Escobar made his way towards Tara and Seth to question them about their project.

“I dunno, why does it matter?”
“Doesn’t, I was just interested.”
“You’re so weird” he said to me as he began writing in is journal.
“I’m weird?” I said, leaning over him so I could read what he was writing “Says the one who spells Wednesday as W-E-N-D-S-D-A-Y”
“It’s a hard word!” he defended
“Yeah, for a four year old” I retrieved my own things from my bag, beginning to add colour to my completed sketches.

The rest of the lesson Gerard and I spent bickering with each other playfully in hushed whispers. Keeping an eye out in case someone noticed us talking happily. While of course it was expected of us to talk, seeing as we had to do a project together, people wouldn’t be expecting to see me snickering while Gerard tells me about the time when Frank got stuck in a cat flap.

“Why was he even attempting to get through it?” I giggled over my paper.
“Because Bob dared him to. It was so fucking funny, we had to cut him out with a pair of scissors. I’m pretty sure he still has the scar on his leg.”
“How did you manage to cut him?”
“Because I was drunk and he had no pants on. He was just running around in his boxers.” Gerard laughed at the memory, and I laughed just at the idea.

“That’s just typical Frank isn’t it? I don’t even know you guys well, but already I know that Frank’s just a nutcase.”
“Oh, you don’t know the half of it, babe.”

Things between Gerard and I were beginning to excite me. Every day I learnt something new about him and his friends, and regardless of whether it good or not, it made me smile. I often found myself daydreaming about what my life would have been like if I hadn’t made friends with Chloe. I can’t say whether Gerard and I would be friends, but I knew that I would at least be allowed to be friends with him. But as it was, I had to keep it a secret, and so far I had made a good job of it. While I wasn’t very good at lying, I was making sure that any evidence of Gerard was put away. Our texts were deleted, my hickey was cleared up, and according to everybody else, Gerard and I still hated each other. Not even Tara knew the truth, I just couldn’t dare admit to her what was really going on in my life.

“Hey, Elliott, what are you doing after school?” Gerard asked me.
“I’ve got cheer practice. Lucky me.” I said with sarcasm.
“Well, fob it off, come out with me,” Gerard suggested seriously.
“What?” I hissed “Are you crazy? Chloe would kill me, and what makes you think I want to hang out with you?”
“Well you didn’t complain yesterday,” he grinned “Come on, Elliott.”
“Why would you want to hang out with me?”
“Because you’re fun, and I like to make fun of you.” Gerard poked my hip with his pencil, making me jump and prod him back.
“What about Chloe? She’ll be so pissed, what if she found out?”
“She won’t.”
“But I-“

“Elliott, stop giving a shit about Chloe. You got to live for yourself sometimes. Who cares what Chloe thinks? Chloe’s a dumb whore, she won’t suspect anything.”
“But what about cheer practice?”
“Just say you were ill or some shit. I don’t care.”
“Okay, but is anyone finds out I will hold you personally responsible.” I threatened.
“You won’t regret it, Elliott Haile.”
“I better not, Gerard Way.”
“Hate you, Red.” He smirked.
“Hate you too, Geebear.” I gave him a smile, which I realised was unintentionally flirtacious, just before the bell rang.

Now all I had to do was escape from school before any of the other cheerleaders saw, and run off with Gerard before anybody else saw us together. It was risky, but there was no mistaking the adrenaline already beginning to course though my veins.