Opposites Always Attract.

To say the rest of my weekend was boring would be an understatement. I have never known a weekend to go by so slowly. The rest of the Saturday I spent with Tara was completely uneventful, and Sunday wasn’t much better either. Mum dragged me shopping on Sunday, where I literally spent the whole time shuffling around stores, yawning. And either nodding or shaking my head at the clothing that my mother picked up. In the end we went home earlier than we were meant to, and spent the rest of the day stuffing our faces with chocolate while watching the German version of Big Brother. Both of us too tired to even bother to change the channel.

But enough about the boring weekend. It was now Monday, meaning that I had to actually get out of bed. Throwing some clothes on, my stomach suddenly turned with some form of anticipation, as I realised I hadn’t seen Gerard since Friday. I’d come to realise over the weekend, that I really had fallen for Gerard, harder than I thought I would have. He was the first boy I seriously liked. All those other boys, both when I was in England, and now in New Jersey, they were nothing. They were just mild crushes. But Gerard was the real deal. He made me feel things I didn’t even know you could feel at the same time. Slightly ironic I suppose.

He could make me feel completely comfortable, more comfortable than I had even felt with another boy before. But at the same time I was uncomfortable. It was almost awkward because both of us realised how things were becoming serious. And not to mention the fucking sexual tension between us. I don’t care if it made me sound like a whore, but I’d know Gerard properly for at least four weeks now, and for three of those four weeks, I would have had him any time, any place. Even if to begin with I would have denied those feelings.

I found myself blushing as I pulled my shoes on. The idea of Gerard and I doing that sent shivers of excitement up my spine. But I was almost scared in a way. Sure Gerard and I liked each other, and we definitely wanted the same thing, but particularly for someone like me, it was embarrassing. I wasn’t very good at being sexy. Usually I get too giggly and awkward. That was one of Zayn’s problems with me. But Gerard seemed like the person who liked someone who was sexy, and could take control, and be taken control of. But maybe we would have to wait and see what happens...

-

“Tara, why are you wearing glasses?” was the first thing I said to Tara once I saw her at school.

She turned to me; the thick lenses making her brown eyes appear bigger. The glasses were incredibly nerdy, with thick black frames and large lenses. They sat on her button nose, making her face look smaller than it actually was.

“What?” she said to me, pushing the glasses further up her nose. It was then that I noticed she’d also tied her hair up in a high, neat ponytail, only a few strands of blonde hair hung loose around her face.

“I said, why are you wearing glasses?”
“Because I am.” She said simply. I rolled my eyes at her answer.
“But you don’t need them, surely your eyes hurt?”
“N-no. They don’t. But don’t you think they make me look smarter?” I could tell that she was lying. She was slyly trying to rub her eyes, which were obviously hurting.
“Well, they make you look geek chic if that’s what you were asking?” personally I thought ‘geek chic’ was a compliment, but Tara frowned at my answer.

“But I want to look smart!” she cried.
“Tara, glasses don’t always make you look smarter. Especially not when you’re wearing your shoes on the wrong feet.” I pointed out, noticing that her simple black pumps were on opposite feet.

“They are?” she asked, staring down at her feet “I wondered why they felt funny. But they both look the same, I couldn’t tell which way round they went.”
“I’ve never seen those shoes before, are they new?” I asked. It was then that I took in her whole outfit. She looked like a school girl...Or rather a porn actress posing as one. Her clean white blouse had hardly any buttons done up, so that her black bra was visible if you looked close enough. Her pleated skirt was one inch away from being classed as a belt, and the over the knee white socks that she was wearing would have been more appropriate for a strip club then a class room. But I had to admire her for trying.

“No, they’re not new. I just never wear them.” She replied, hitching her black bag onto her shoulder.
“Right...So why are you doing this?” I’d suspected it was to do with a certain black haired vegetarian, but I wanted to hear it from Tara’s lips before I began making assumptions.
“N-no reason. Just want to be more smart and stuff.”
“So, not because of a boy?”
“No!” she said, rather too quickly “I never change for a boy. What boy is there? Don’t be stupid. I’ve just got over Seth. Pfft, there is no one!”

While she was telling me, she couldn’t look at me. An obvious sign of lying. But I also took notice of what else she said.

“So, you and Seth aren’t together anymore?”
“Nope. I broke it off with him yesterday. I just told him to truth. That I didn’t like his attitude anymore and that things just weren’t working out-“
“And that there’s somebody else-“
“Yea – Wait what?!”
“Hah! I knew it. There’s someone else. Who?” the thing between Frank and Tara was becoming more and more realistic. She only just had to admit it.
“No one!”
“Tell me!”
“There is no one!”
“I know who it is.”
“What?! Y-you can’t, there isn’t anyone.”
“There is. Just admit it.”
“Fine, fine. It’s him okay. I like him, so what. You like the other one. Why can I not like him?”
“I didn’t say you couldn’t.”
“...It’s too weird though. I mean both of us? Really? Shit’s going down, Elliott.”

Her voice was genuinely worried, and almost scared. I patted her shoulder comfortingly.

“I know, Tara. I know.”
“You think Chloe knows?”
“Not yet.”
“You think she will?”
I shrug “Time will tell. Now take those glasses off. You look like you’re gunna puke.”

-

“ – You look like a prostitute whore who’s trying too hard to look sexy.”
“I was meant to look smart.”

“Tara, you’re not fucking smart. You can barely put one foot in front of the other. Why the fuck would you think you are smart? Why would you even think you could look smart? Tara, we’re not meant to be smart. We don’t need fucking brains. The only things we need to know is how to act sexy and how to take control. You think people become successful by being smart? No. People become successful by influencing people, and making them afraid of your power. You’re not going to have fucking power by dressing like that. You don’t look hot, you look like a whore. There’s a difference. Just stop trying to be fucking smart, Tara, because you’re not. You’re a fucking child. Just dress in the lame clothes that you always do and fuck every boy you see, because that’s what you do best. But at least that’s gunna help you. Learning about science and shit will do fuck all for you. Just stop being so fucking stupid, Tara. You’re so fucking dumb.”

I wanted to tell Chloe how many times she’d contradicted herself in her rant, but I didn’t have the guts too. Instead I sat with my mouth open, looking between the two blondes. One with a smug yet angry grin on her face. The other with eyes that looked like they were about to spill tears.

“Chloe. I-I think that may have been a bit harsh.” I muttered honestly. Watching as Tara dazed off, trying to stop the tears from falling.
“What the fuck do you know, Elliott? You’re just a fucking weirdo. You’d be nothing without me. I made you. I made all of you.”

Angelica and Maggie just seemed to agree with the statement, while Tara sniffed quietly, trying not to bring attention to herself. I was outraged. She made me? She made me? Oh, if only she knew what I was really like. She didn’t have any control over me. I just wished that I could show her what I had been up too. But I didn’t dare.

“Fine,” I said, standing up and grabbing my things “Fine!” I repeated, pushing my bag onto my shoulder. I was about to walk away, when I felt someone grab onto my hand. It was Tara. She was standing next to me, small tears falling for her face.

“Can we go?” she whispered to me, her voice breaking.
“Yeah, come on.” We walked away from our lunch table, Chloe and the others staring in disbelief. I knew hours later we would go crawling back to them, but for the moment I just wanted to get away.

I held Tara’s hand all the way to the back of the gym, while she silently cried, wiping her eyes every now and again.

Once we reached the familiar place, I sighed and slumped against the brickwork, slowly sliding down until I was sat on the cold floor.

“Do you think she hates us now?” Tara asked, looking at me like a small child.
“She’s always hated us,” Tara’s eyes widened “She hates everyone.”
“What do you think will happen?”
“We’ll probably go crawling back to her, and she’ll accept our apology just so long as we don’t embarrass her like that again.” I guessed my tone miserable.
“I was only trying to look smart.” Tara said quietly, sliding next to me and placing her head on my shoulder.
“I know.” I placed my arm around her and leant my head on hers. I was angry, but not by what Chloe said to me, but because she had made Tara cry. Sure, sometimes I got upset, and even cried because of what Chloe said. But I was tough, Tara wasn’t. Tara was fragile. She didn’t act it, but she really was like a child. Her feelings were sensitive. You couldn’t treat Tara like you could treat others, because she got upset so easily.

“Has my makeup ran?” she asked. I laughed and lifted her head up, using my thumb to rub away the black tear tracks that were on her cheeks.
“Only a little bit. It’s fine now.” I smiled. I went to stand up, but stopped when I heard two laughing voices. Definitely male. I froze and tried to think about whose voices they were. But there was no need, because the two boys walked around the corner, their black hair blowing slightly in the wind.

“Oh, w-what are you doing here?” Frank asked, his smile fading when he caught Tara and I sitting on the ground.
“Nothing much. Just...Hanging out.” I replied, Tara trying to hide her blotchy face caused by her tears.
“Tara, is that you?” Frank asked, crouching down so that he could see us properly. Gerard did the same, looking at me questioningly.

“Yeah, it’s me.” Her muffled voice said against my shoulder. Before I could react, Frank took his hand and gently moved her face so that he could see her red eyes.
“Have you been crying?”
“N-no.” Tara tried to say, but hiccupped. Revealing that yes, in fact she had.

Frank pulled her up, and engulfed her in a classic Frank hug. Frank didn’t need to know the reason why he was hugging Tara. He just did.

It was strange seeing them two. They’d only met once, and even then they were both drunk and awkward. But now, my best friend was hugging my sort of boyfriend/fuck buddies’ best friend. When I first told Tara about what was happening, I didn’t expect her to take everything this well. And I seriously didn’t expect her to end up crushing on Frank.

Gerard and I stood up too, smiling as we watched Frank cuddle Tara close, whispering encouraging words in her ear.

“So what happened?” Gerard asked, turning to face me, his hand moving to my hair so that he could twist it around his fingers playfully.
“Oh, Chloe just said some really harsh things to her.”
“Like what?”
“Like she looked like a whore, and that she was fucking stupid.”
“Well, t-that’s not so bad is it?” Gerard asked carefully “I mean I say that to you all the time.”
“Yeah, but this was harsh. It’s hard to explain, but basically Chloe’s a bitch and doesn’t deserve to have friends.”

Frank and Tara were now chatting quietly. Frank had extremely serious eyes, which I guess he only had when he was involved in something that truly meant something to him. He was shaking his head a little as he offered comfort to Tara. I could hear words such as “Fuck her” and “She’s the fucking whore”.

“So, what a coincidence we see you here,” Gerard smiled, pulling me closer to him. I was weary, sure nobody came over here, but what if somebody did. What if this one time, when Gerard and Frank were with Tara and I, someone was to find us? “We always meet in the randomist of times.”

“Indeed we do,” I laughed, peaking Gerard’s lips when I was close enough “It’s weird, right?” I whispered to him, referring to Frank and Tara.

“Yeah, I guess so. I mean Frank’s so intelligent and real, and she’s...”
“Not?”
“Yeah.” Gerard smiled.
“But I guess that’s what your friends think when they see us.”
“I guess. We are kind of opposites.”
“Total opposites.” I agreed.

We went to kiss again, but both of us pulled away harshly when we heard more voices. I’d jumped away so quickly that my head smacked against the brick wall behind me painfully. I gripped the back of my head and hissed while Gerard looked on.

“You okay?” he said, looking at me with wide eyes. However Tara and Frank were in such an intense conversation they didn’t see what had happened, nor did they heard the voices which was the reason we pulled away in the first place.
“Yupp. I’m good.” I said, taking my hand away from my hair, only to be meet by warm, sticky blood on the palm of my hand.
“You’re bleeding.” Gerard noted worriedly, trying to move closer to me.
“I’m fine.” I promised, holding out my hand to stop him. But Gerard didn’t have a chance to reply as several people rounded the corner.

The football team. Well, some of them anyway.

Their eyes widened in anger and shock. To them this must have looked all wrong. First Tara Day and Elliott Haile, two of the most popular people in the school were with two of the most hated people in the school. But that wasn’t all. I was standing while a tickle of blood ran down the back of my neck, while my left hand was also covered in blood. Gerard was almost leaning over me. In reality it was due to worry, but to them, he must have looked menacing. And to be fair, I did have blood on my hand.

And Gerard and I weren’t the only ones who looked strange. Frank had a hand clamped firmly on Tara’s shoulder, supposedly in comfort, but from the way his eyes were narrowing in disapproval, he looked harsh. And from Tara’s falling tears, it could easily be assumed that Frank was the one making her cry.

“...What the fuck is this? What the fuck are you two doing? You fucking hurt our girls?” One player said, breaking the silence.
“You fucking made her bleed. Fuck you, motherfucker. Did you hit her, huh? You think you’re fucking hard, because you hit a girl? Get the fuck away from her. Why don’t you go and slit your own wrists, you little emo fuck.” Another said. Gerard’s eyes were hard. I was expecting him to back away, but he appeared to be standing his ground.

“Fuck off. I didn’t hit her.” He said, looking directly into the jocks eyes.
“What the fuck is this then?” the jock grabbed my hand and waved the blood in his face. The jock tugged me away from Gerard, and held me close, almost protectively.

“And what the fuck are you doing you little fucking faggot?” someone said, directing it to Frank. I realised it was Zayn. Why were they here?
“Tara, are you fucking crying? You little shit, you making our girl cry?” Zayn starting edging closer to Tara and Frank. Frank was backing away, his eyes wide, while Gerard continued to stand still.

“What are you doing?” I said to the jock that was holding me. I recognised him, Cole King.
“Chloe asked us to find you. Good job we fucking did. Or else these little shit fuckers might have hurt you even more.” Cole let go of me and walked up to Gerard, pushing his shoulders.

“Why the fuck are you still here? You want a fucking fight do you? Want me to knock your teeth out?” I could see the secret fear in Gerard’s eyes, but he didn’t want to show it. Tara on the other hand was crying even louder, tugging on Zayn’s arm as he grabbed Frank by the collar.

“Cole, stop it they didn’t do anything.” I said calmly, crossing my arms.
“Shut up, Elliott. These fuckers had it coming.” Cole said, squaring up to Gerard.
“Seriously, Cole. Stop.” I said, trying to make the situation into a joke. I pulled at his jacket to try and get him away from Gerard, but he wasn’t listening. He pushed me away. Another jock began to circle Gerard, almost looking for the best places to break.

“Guys, seriously leave him alone.” I said, becoming more worried by the second as I realised they weren’t listening to me.
“We have this under control, Elliott. Just go away.” One jock said to me.
“He didn’t do anything.” I almost yelled, my small hands attempting to push one hard torso away from Gerard.
“Why the fuck are you sticking up for him?” Shitshitshitshit. I have no excuse!
“B-because he’s my art partner?” they just shook their head, Cole grabbing Gerard by the collar.
“Guys, for fuck sake just stop it.” I screamed.
“Just get the fuck out of here.” Zayn said to me. He’d dragged Frank by the collar over to the other jocks. His face holding an almost sarcastic expression now. I guess they got this a lot. However they didn’t always have two cheerleaders trying to stop it.

Tara ran up to me, burying her head in my chest, sobbing quietly. The jocks probably didn’t understand that she was crying because of them, they probably thought she was crying because of what Frank had said to her. To be fair I could see why they were angry with Gerard and Frank. I was bleeding and Tara was crying, of course the boys were going to be blamed. But why weren’t they listening to me?

“No, fucking stop this, Zayn. It’s not cool.” I said. I could feel my legs shaking, and my stomach was turning. I felt sick. Sick and frightened for Gerard and Frank. They were going to get a beating for something they didn’t do.

“Gary, get them out of here now.” Zayn directed to a particularly stupid but strong looking jock. He grunted in response and walked over to Tara and I. Despite our protest he picked us both up easily, each of us underneath one arm as he dragged us away. I scratched at the arm that was clenched around my waist, trying to get him to release me. But it was too late, out of the corner of my eyes I saw Cole raise his fist for the first punch.

-

I spent the next hour in the girl’s bathroom, pacing around in worry while Tara cried softly in a cubicle. This was a weird day. This was such a weird day. First an argument with Chloe, and then the football team decided to beat up my sort of boyfriend. Tara and I were both meant to be in classes right now, but both of us couldn’t bear to sit in a classroom when we knew that people we cared about were in trouble.

Eventually I had enough. I grabbed my phone and found Gerard’s number, and dialled it quickly. After a few rings, someone picked up, but it wasn’t Gerard.

“Hello?” a shy voice answered. Mikey, obviously.
“Oh, God, Mikey. Are you – Is he – Did they hurt him bad? What about Frank?”
“They’re fine, Elliott. We’re back home now. Nothing they haven’t experience before.”
“...I’m coming over.” I decided.
“N-no, you don’t have to do that,” Mikey replied, embarrassed. In the background I heard two soft, but painful groans “Sorry, Elliott. I have to go. Gerard and Frank just walked into each other. You don’t have to come over.”
“But I want to.” I said before he hung up.

I put my phone away and glanced in the mirror. My hair was now a mess from the amount of times I had ran my hands through it from stress. The hair where my small cut was was knotted with blood, but I had done my best to clean it up.

“Where are you going?” Tara asked quietly, whipping her red eyes with a tissue.
“Gerard’s. Frank’s there too,” I put my bag onto my shoulder and looked at her “Coming?”
She paused for a moment. Did she realise what she was getting herself into? Did she regret it now? Now that she sees what kind of trouble she could be letting herself be involved with? I paused too, waiting for her reaction. But smiled when she grabbed her bag and stood up.

“Let’s go.” She smiled.