It Started With A Dare

Throughout the past few weeks Gerard and I have gotten closer, almost as close as me and Damien are. The whole awkward phase of our friendship had vanished and we could actually have a really good time hanging out together. Of course it did seem a tad weird, the fact that Gerard, popular senior was nearly always hanging around me, the odd little freshman.

I was on my way to lunch and slightly struggling to make it through the crowds of upper class men. Whilst I was walking I caught eyes with Gerard across the hall; he was heading in the opposite direction with an indifferent expression on his face. I offered a smile and he returned with one which was forced before I lost sight of him. Well that was strange. I shrugged it off and entered the cafeteria.

“Hey, Cassie! Cassie, over here!” I heard a familiar voice yell over the chatter of the cafeteria. I glanced around in the general direction to see Damien stood up and waving frantically at me. Smiling, I waved back and walked over to the table in the back that he’d saved for us. I gave him a quick hug and sat down beside him.

“Hey, did you hear?” he asked

“Hear what?”

“Oh my god, you can’t say that you haven’t noticed yet?”

“Noticed what?”

“Jeez, you really don’t listen to gossip do you?”

“Just tell me already!”

“Okay, well last period some senior was mouthing off about how some freshman have been annoying him lately, apparently someone had taken the liberty of replacing all of the photos in his locker of his girlfriend to male underwear models.” I grinned to myself, knowing that he was assuming it was me, and he was right. That guy picked the wrong girl to try and make do his homework.

“Anyway, he knew that it was you, so he was basically bitching about you. He said some pretty awful stuff, but guess who was in the same class?” I just stared at him, urging him to go on. “Ugh fine, ruin my fun. It was Gerard. He heard what that guy was saying about you and went right up to him and punched him in the face.” I gasped. Why would Gerard go to such great lengths to defend me?

“Are you serious?” I asked, still pretty shocked.

“Yep, the guy had to go to the nurse so that she could fix his broken nose. Everyone’s been talking about it, I’m surprised you haven’t noticed, they all know who you are now if they didn’t before.” Holy shit, Gerard broke his nose?! Jesus Christ. That must have been why he was acting weird before.

“But why would he do that? I mean, why would he stand up for me like that?” I asked.

“Oh I think you know why.” Damien said, nudging me and winking. What was he getting at?

“No, I really don’t.”

“Bullshit you do, it’s blatantly obvious that he likes you.” Was he being serious?

“Well yeah he likes me, we’re friends.” I said, trying to get him off the topic.

“You know exactly what I mean Cassie, and don’t deny it, you like him too, as more than friends.”

“No I don’t.” I answered way too quickly.

“Yes you do. Cassie, we’re best friends, you can tell me this kind of stuff.” He said, putting his hand innocently on my knee.

“Damien, I seriously don’t like him like that, we’re just friends. And he doesn’t like me, stop being stupid.” I said, but was I telling the truth? I honestly had no idea.

“Fine, I won’t ask anymore, but don’t think that I’m giving up. I’ll get you to admit it eventually.” I rolled my eyes, shaking me head and reaching into my bag for my lunch. We ate our lunches and chatted about random things; whilst we ate I let my eyes wander over to Gerard’s usual lunch table. He wasn’t there, which made me think of where he could be.

I told Damien that I’d see him later before I went off in search of Gerard. Firstly I tried the senior corridor, but he was no where to be seen. Then I looked outside in the courtyard, but he wasn’t there either. Feeling hopeless I decided to check around the back of the school, and to my luck I found him leaning against the wall with a cigarette hanging between his lips. I didn’t know that he smoked; but I guess you learn something new everyday.

“Hi.” I said, causing him to snap his head in my direction before nodding his head in a greeting. I took this as my queue to step closer, so I moved to rest against the wall beside him. He still seemed pretty off to me and I wanted to break the tension that was hanging between us.

“Hey, can I have one of those?” I asked, gesturing to his cigarette. He turned to me with a ludicrous expression, as if to say that he thought I was crazy. “I’m kidding!” I insisted, holding up my hands in defence, letting a small giggle escape my lips. I even got a smile out of him as well, which in turn made me smile. It was contagious and it managed to ease the tension somewhat.

“Gerard, are you okay?” I asked him seriously, looking up at him with a concerned gaze.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” He muttered, staring out in front of him. I didn’t believe his answer but I was too distracted by the smoke which escaped his lips when he spoke to have interrogated him further. It was almost hypnotic, my eyes followed the smoke until it rose up into the atmosphere and out of my view. I wasn’t bothered by smokers like a lot of people are, after all Bob even smoked, but I didn’t want to try it myself.

“I … I know what you did, last lesson I mean,” I said, watching his face at it flashed with a look of nervousness for a moment before he covered it up with a casual composure, shrugging slightly in response. “I just wanted to say thank you, for standing up for me, y’know?” He looked down at me curiously as I leaned over and wrapped my arms around him in a tight hug. Eventually I felt him hug me back, resting his chin on top of my head.

Once the hug was over I pulled back from him, though still secure in his arms, and looked up at him. It was as if I couldn’t look away, and neither could he, we stood there just looking at each other for a while, until he reached out a hand and brushed the hair out of my eyes which made me blush and look down at my shoes.

“I’ll see you later.” He said, and then I was alone. I was glad that I was able to thank him and cheer him up, but I’m not exactly sure what he meant by ‘see you later’.