You Give Love a Bad Name

It was a day after my talk with Mikey, and I was still feeling like shit. It didn't help my mood in the slightest knowing that today was the last day of summer break, and my first, tedious day of high school was ahead of me.

Seeing that I was in a bad mood, Laurie and Cara decided to attempt to cheer me up by having a 'Girls' Night In', and picking out one of my favorite movies; Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secretes. Not only was it my favorite movie, it was also my favorite book out of the whole Harry Potter series. Not to sound like a total nerd or anything, but I had been a die-hard Harry Potter fan ever since I 'borrowed' the first book from Gerard a couple of years back. I loved it so much that I gave it to my then best friend Frank, who 'forgot' to give the book back to Gerard after he was done with it.

I sank deeper into the couch as I thought about what I was doing. I was connecting one of my favorite things to Frank, and it was only making me more depressed, especially after my talk with Mikey.

The realization hit me harder than a ton of bricks.

Most of my happy memories had Frank in them because we had been inseparable since we were nine.

He took me to my first concert. He was there when my mom finally let me get my lip pierced. He was at the every birthday party I had ever since I met him.

Whatever memory I picked, it always had Frank in it.

Who was I kidding? I did miss him.

But I hated him too. And like I said before, I was not going to cave in.

I sighed and looked at the screen to find Harry bravely fighting Basilisk to save Ginny.

For some reason this movie was just not working for me today. Maybe it was due to the fact that Harry was getting his ass kicked all in the name of friendship, while the person that I thought was my best friend for eight years stopped talking to me for no reason at all, and let our friendship slowly dissolve. Or maybe it was because I couldn't fully get into it due to the fact that the guys were having band practice in the basement.

Lets just say it was a good thing Mom was out, or she would have pulled the electricity plug during the first five minutes. Not because they bad; no, not at all, they were amazing, but because they were loud.

I flinched as Basilisk sunk his teeth into Harry's shoulder. One of the reasons I loved this movie so much was because every time I watched it, it was like a whole new experience for me. I never got tired of it.

"Oh my God," Cara whimpered besides me. "I hate snakes."

Laurie patted her on the shoulder sympathetically, "I know how you feel."

Cara smiled weakly and turned to face me. "How can you watch this, Lena? You're scared of snakes more than both of us put together."

"Well," I started slowly, "since it is a PG13 movie, I think I can handle it. But it's obvious that you guys can't," I added with a grin, poking Cara, who was closest to me, in the stomach.

She laughed and rolled her eyes. "If I didn't love you like Lindsey Lohan loves partying, I'd hav-"

"Shh! Listen," Laurie cut her off. "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" I asked her, scrunching up my nose in confusion.

"I don't hear anything..." Cara stated.

"Exactly!" Laurie exclaimed, a big smile forming on her face. "The guys are done with their practice. This means that we can watch the rest of the movie in peace."

"Uh," Cara started, pointing at the rolling credits on the screen, "it would be nice, except that the movie ended."

I sighed and pulled my blanket closer to my chin. "Are you ready for school, Cara?"

"Nooooo," she groaned. "I'll never be ready. I can't believe this is the last day of the summer break. Of course some lucky people don't start Rutgers till next week."

With that, Cara and I turned to face grinning Laurie, giving her mock glares.

"What?" She asked innocently.

"You suck." I informed her, burying my face in the blanket.

"When is Gerard starting his...uh...what's the name of the school again?" Laurie asked me, shutting off the TV.

"School of Visual Arts, and in two weeks," came a tiered voice behind us.

The three of us turned around to see the guys filing in to the room, all sweaty from spending three hours in the cooped up space of our basement.

"What about you?" Gerard asked Laurie, sitting down at on the side of the couch, next to me.

"Next week."

"I still can't believe we're going to college," Gerard sighed, looking at his glass of water. "It seems like it was only yesterday that I started my Freshman year of high school."

"Have no fear, the Way legacy will carry on," Mikey exclaimed, high fiving me.

"Uh, that's what I'm afraid of. Now that I'm gone, you morons are going to tarnish our family name," Gerard informed us with a smug look on his face.

"You did that the first day you started school, Gee," I replied calmly. "But now that Mikey and I are the only Ways at Belleville High, we may be able to reduce some damage that you have caused."

Gerard glared at me as everyone around as started to laugh. "Asshole."

I shrugged and pulled the blanket tighter around me. "Well, what I said is true."

"Okay, wait a second, before you guys start going at each other's throats, I want to ask a question." Bob said quickly, seeing that Gerard and I were about to become indulged into one of our good-natured debates. "How are you and Mikey in the same grade? Shouldn’t you be a Junior, Lena?"

"You don't know?" Cara asked in fake shock. "Some friend you are."

"I remember Ray telling me once, but I kinda forgot," Bob justified himself. "I wasn't exactly sober at the time, you know?"

"Weeeellll," Gerard started with a smirk, glad at an opportunity to get me back. "When it was Mikey's first day of kinderg-"

"NO! Dude, come on! I thought you said you'd never speak a word of this incident again," I groaned, burying my face in my hands.

"Kindergarten," Gerard continued, like nothing happened, "Lena threw a fit, and wouldn't let go of his leg. This happened the second day. And the third. Finally, Mom enrolled her into kindergarten with Mikey. The end."

"I hate you."

"What’s so bad about the story?" Ray asked me.

"It makes me look like a clingy, pathetic, four year old," I grumbled.

"You were a pathetic, clingy four year old," Cara laughed.

I smiled, and poked her in the ribs. "Oh really?"

"But then you got somewhat cool," Mikey informed me with a grin.

"Yeah, around fourth grade," Bob put in.

"Oh yeah?" I laughed. "Why did I get cool all of a sudden?"

"You met Frank and his uber coolness rubbed off on you," Gerard said absentmindedly, without having any idea that this little sentence would fill the room with unbearable tension. Especially between Frank and I, as it always did when somebody reminded us of our past friendship.

It got really quiet, and I swear, if you would have dropped a needle on the floor, everyone in the room would hear it hit the carpet. But that's my opinion, and besides, needles were in my parents's room since Gerard was terrified of them.

Speaking of Gerard; he flinched as it hit him what he said. "Shit. Sor-"

I looked up quickly. "Uh, it's kinda late," I lied. It was ten. I usually hit the sack around twelve. "I think I'm gonna go. Get some rest, and...uh...well, you know, get ready for tomorrow...uh, stuff like that," I mumbled pathetically.

As I stood up to leave, my eyes accidently connected with Frank's. He was sitting across the room, next to the TV, with some DVD cover in his hands. He quickly looked away, and my heart dropped to my stomach. All I wanted was to get the hell out of that room.

"Night," everyone but Frank said softly.

I nodded, and made my way out.

As I was walking up the staircase, I heard a our front door close. It was probably Frank. Two second later came the sound of a smack, fallowed by a very loud "Ow", the voice belonging to Gerard.

"Idiot," I heard Laurie hiss.