Hands

Gerard's POV

Finally it was Friday!

Not that I was planning on doing anything but staying at home is a lot better than being at school with all these fucktards.

Mikey and I got to school way before the bell today so we had time to sit and talk. Well I say talk, but that implies that both parties have even inputs but he just mostly questioned me on Frank. I guess he was just excited for me to have met my match. I answered them as best as I could but some of them were just too strange.
By the time the bell rang, I was exhausted from the amount of questions that Mikey had asked.

I said goodbye and walked to English. About halfway there I get a text from Ronnie to say that he was ill and wouldn't be at school today, he also asked if I could bring him any work that he missed to which I replied that I would. He sent me his address and I told him I would be there after school.

I put my phone away as I got to English.
There was a supply teacher whose name I didn't pay attention to. The letters were handed out and everyone began reading.

'Dear Gerard,

You would never lose me.

Synyster Gates is my hero. He's the reason I began to play guitar. I practically owe him my life.

I'm sure your songs are amazing.
Your own opinion on your work is invalid due to the fact that you are too attached to it.
And yeah, I've written a couple of guitar parts and some lyrics but they all need a lot of work.

Random Fact 2; I'm scared to death of spiders. I can't even look at a picture of one without freaking out. They are horribly disgusting.

This is a really short letter, I'm sorry.

Even though today is Thursday and I'll get a letter from you tomorrow, you won't read another letter until Monday.
So have a good weekend, I'll talk to you on Monday.

Frank Iero.'

I sat there for a while thinking about what Frank had said about your own opinion being invalid. I suppose that's true, you get so attached to something that your view of it becomes warped and eventually you only see the faults.

I wrote my reply while I wondered what questions Mikey will ask me at lunch, because I doubt that he finished his Q&A this morning.

The bell rang and I went to my next lesson.

Throughout the day I gathered any work that Ronnie needed, as promised.
At lunch Mikey didn't question me as much as I thought due to being too occupied with texting Alicia. I was glad not to be interrogated.

After school I dropped Mikey at Toro's Music Store then drove to the address that Ronnie had given me.
When I got there I knocked on the door and waited for someone to open it. Eventually a very tired looking Ronnie came to the door, wrapped in a blanket.
"You look like shit." I said plainly.
"Thanks." He replied in a sarcastic voice.
"Just thought you should know." I said while smiling slightly. "Can I come in?"
"Yeah, sure." Ronnie mumbled as he moved aside to open the door wider.

I walked in and looked around, there were pictures hung up of a younger Ronnie with who I assumed to be his brother. Some of the pictures contained a man who looked like Ronnie and the other boy.
There was one picture that particularly stood out; it was of the young boy, the man and what I took to be a woman in a hospital ben, holding a baby. There was a note under the picture that said 'The Radke family with baby Ronnie'. The setting of the photo wasn't uncommon, I'm fairly sure most families have a photo in a similar arrangement. Hell, we have one at home from when Mikey was born. What made this picture stand out was that the woman's face had been scribbled out with a black marker pen.

Ronnie saw that I was looking at the photo and said,
"That's my bitch of a mother. She walked out on us when I was younger."
"I'm sorry." Was all I could reply, for I didn't know what else to say.
"S'alright, it's not your fault she didn't want to see her sons grow up." He replied bitterly.
"So, I brought the work for you." I said, wanting to move on because I feared saying the wrong thing.
"Thanks. Do you wanna stay for a bit?" Ronnie said, while I got the notes out of my bag.
"Yeah, sure." I replied.

I ended up staying for an hour and a half before Mikey text me and asked if I could pick him up. I agreed like the good brother I am, I swear most of my petrol goes on driving him around. Although saying that, I don't really go anywhere by myself.

When I got to the music shop, Mikey was standing outside talking to a guy with an awesome afro who I think is the owner's son.
Mikey saw me pull up and hugged the guy goodbye. I smiled at the fact that he was making friends. It reassured me that he wasn't going to be alone when I go to college.

As soon as Mikey got into the car, he started telling me about his new friend, who I learned is called Ray.
Mikey explained how they started talking about bands and stuff and how they talked for the whole time he was there.
I told Mikey that if I didn't know better, I would say he was in love.
To which Mikey replied,
"Shut up, fucktard." While slapping me on the arm.
I laughed and continued driving.

When we got home, Mikey went to call Alicia, leaving me to my own devices. I decided to work on a new drawing. I sat at my desk with a fresh page in my sketchbook and a newly sharpened pencil and began drawing.
About 30 minutes later, I stopped drawing and looked at what I had drawn. It was the boy from outside the music store the other day that Mikey ran into stood on a hill in a graveyard. I have no idea why I drew that but I felt like there was something more about the boy that I just couldn't put my finger on. I worked on the drawing for another half hour until it was finally finished. I was actually proud of something for once.

That night I went to bed feeling like I had accomplished something.