I'll Look After You

When the bell rang signaling the end of the school day, I was the first to leave. I started walking home when a car drove up next to me. I tried to ignore it by walking faster until I heard Gerard's voice.

"Nedi, chill out, it's just me and Mikey," Gerard said smoothly. "Do you need a ride? It looks like it might rain. Don't want you to get soaked." He pointed to the sky.

I looked up. The sky looked pretty clear to me, but I didn't deny the ride. I opened the door to the backseat and sat next to Mikey. He was reading a book I couldn't see the title to.

"So what year are you in?" Gerard asked me.

It took me a second to understand what Gerard was asking. "Junior," I answered.

"Oh, cool. That's what Mikey's in, that genius. I'm a Senior."

Mikey nodded, still reading his book.

"So where do you live?" Gerard asked. "I need to know where you're going, unless you want to come over to our place."

"I don't care," I answered, giving Gerard my adress.

"Hey, we live right across the street from you. So that makes this trip easy."

Gerard drove in silence the rest of the way. I watched Mikey, studying him. He really was a cute guy, even with his frail frame. I never was one to go for the stronger, buff guys. He noticed me looking at him and I turned away.

Gerard parked the car in his driveway and opened my door. I smiled at him and he led me inside, a hand resting on the small of my back.

"Mom, we're home," Gerard shouted. "And we have a friend."

An older woman, Gerard and Mikey's mom, walked out from the kitchen. "Hello, I'm Donna. What brings you to our unhumble abode?"

Gerard rolled him eyes. "Mom, why must you insist on scaring my friend?"

"Gerad can I talk to you for a second?"

Gerard followed his mother into the kitchen.

"Do you want to come with me to my room?" Mikey asked me. I nodded, following him upstairs. We both sat on his bed and I looked around; seeing posters of bands I've heard before but didn't listen to them.

"You know he likes you right?" Mikey said, breaking the silence. "I think he's trying to tell you, but he's not good at that. You have to make the first move with Gerard."

"He likes me?" I asked, more to myself then Mikey.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure he does. You can tell by the way he looks at you." Mikey paused. "He'll be lucky to have a girl like you."

Gerard knocked on Mikey's door frame before entering. "Sorry to crash your little eye-fuck session but I am quite bored and the main attraction is up here."

"We weren't eye-fucking," Mikey pointed out, shifting his body to turn away from me. "We weren't even talking about anything. Now get out of my room."

"Whatever. Come on Nedina, my room's cooler then this. And my mom went to go talk to yours. She likes to embarrass me like that." Gerard grabbed my hand and entwined his fingers with mine. He led me downstairs and into his room in the basement.

"Do you like me?" I asked when he closed his door.

"Of course I do, you're a cool person," Gerard answered easily.

"No, I mean do you like me in a 'I want to be your boyfriend' kind of way. Do you like me that way?"

"I guess. Why?"

"Nothing. Just something Mikey said."

"Of course it was. I thought you might like me, because you did kiss my cheek." He placed a hand on my right thigh, and I took in a breath. I wanted to feel safe around Gerard. He leaned in and I felt his mouth on my neck.

"Gerard, are you high?" I asked because I could smell him and it made my nostrils burn.

"Yeah, why? I did it because my mom won't find out because she's not here and you smell nice." He gently sucked on my neck and I pushed him back.

"Gerard no. Please stop, you're scaring me." That was true, he was making me a little scared, the way he was acking.

"Come on baby, just one look. Lift up your shirt." I pushed against him harder than I did before. I saw a little bag of coccaine on the bed. I picked it up.

"Gerard are you doing lines?"

"Give that back. That's mine." He reached for the bag but I lifted it out of his reach.

"Gerard, do you realize the affect this has on you? You need to stop."

"I can't stop. Now give me it back." He pushed me down on the bed, and leaned over me, holding me down. He grabbed the bag from me and stared at me.

"MIKEY!" I screamed, trying to loosen Gerard's grip on my wrists. When he grabbed them, he pulled my sleeves down, revealing my arms.

Mikey pushed on the door when he heard me scream. He tried to pull Gerard off of me, but Gerard was stronger then his brother. Mikey tried again and pulled him halfway off of me. I was able to slither away from him. Mikey pushed on Gerard's head with a little bit of force, knocking him out.

Mikey looked at me, me with my tear-streaked eyes and my shaking arms. He looked at my exposed arm, the one I forgot Gerard had pulled up. I tried to pull it down before Mikey saw, but it was too late. Mikey walked over to me and grabbed my arm as softly as he could. He lifted it back up, and he looked at each scar individually. It took all that I had in me not to pull away.

"Why?" he asked me. "Why are you doing that to yourself."

"I haven't done it in a few weeks, so get off of my case," I growled, not wanting to talk aout it.

"I do the same thing." Mikey lifted his sleeve up an inch or so and exposed a couple cuts. I didn't ask what was under the covered skin. He cuts were far deeper and more jagged then mine were. Before I could think twice about it, I pulled Mikey into a hug. He hesitated before hugging me back, his arms hung loosely around my waist. "But I don't want you to do it. I don't even know you but I want you to stop hurting yourself."

"You could get to know me, if you wanted to. I'm like a book with five pages, you'll know everything about me in no time."

Mikey gave me a nervous smile. "I'd like that. But for now I think you should go back home. You're mom might be worried, even if mine told her where you are, and I have to clean up my brother before she gets back."

"Okay. It was nice meeting you, Mikey."

"You too."

I walked across the street to my own house where I passed Donna.

"Hello, dear, your mother is a sweet lady," she said.

"Yeah, she is," I admitted. My mother was a lot sweeter then most parents. She was also a lot younger than them. "Gerard fell asleep on me."

"Of course he did. That boy has a better relationship with his bed than he does with me." Donna chuckled at her comment. "Well, I'll let you go home, don't let me stop you."

"I waved goodbye to her before I opened the front door.

"How was your first day?" my mother asked me.

"Fine, I met a really nice boy, his name is Gerard; and he lives across the street," I said all at once.

"I heard, his mother told me. And I don't want you fooling around with him."

"What do you mean by 'fooling around'?

"Sex, drugs, stuff like that. He's a drug addict. And I want you far away from that. You can hang with his brother, the good child, but stay away from this Gerard. He's the type of guy that will pretend to be your friend and then get you high enough to sleep with him. Stay away from him. You usually listen to me, so please take my advice."

"Whatever mom, he seems like a really nice guy. He's the only one that talked to me today, besides his brother." I walked upstairs and slammed my door before I could hear my mother's response. I buried my head in my hands and thought about what had happened in Gerard's room, and how it was exactly what my mother said he was going to do, minus the part where he gave me drugs.