Love From an Unexpected Place

The next thing I did was drive home. I then ran into my mother's study. The clock read 3'o'clock. Meaning I had three hours to pull a plan out of my ass. The way I saw is that I could hopefully use Frankie's party to talk to Gerard. If luck was on my side, he should have calmed down a little. I had no clue why I was so worried about how Gerard felt about me. But the thought of him hating me was making my stomach sink to a new unimaginable depth.

I searched through the bookcases until I pulled out the old phone-book. It was dusty and Verizon had given it to us nearly two years ago, but it should have the Way's numbers listed in it. I opened it and sneezed from the dust cloud that erupted from it's pages. Then I began searching under the W's. It took a little while, but I had the satisfaction of seeing the name in the tiny writing.

Michael Way-352-8763

I smiled, if I had any chance of getting to that party, it would be with Mikey's help. I didn't now him that well, but I had to try. Pulling my cell-phone out of my pocket, I dialed the number. The dial tones went off a couple times before he answered.

"Hey, who's this?" His voice came through. I took a deep breath.

"Hey Mikey, it's Jetta.", I said cheerfully, I hoped Gerard hadn't told him what had happened.

"Oh, are you calling for Gerard or something?" His voice sounded confused. I heard someone shout ,"What?", in the background. Gerard must have been in the room, and I quickly told Mikey that it wasn't that. Then I fought for a way to explain why I was calling him.

I thought of lying, but instead I just blurted out the truth. "I sort of got Gerard into something this afternoon and he's pissed at me now.", I summarized it. He didn't need to know the details.

"Um, okay. . .", he paused, I heard footsteps and some of the noise in the background disappeared, he must have moved to a different room. "And you're telling me this because. . .", he trailed off.

"I was hoping you could give me the address to that party.", I said meekly. "Just so I can try to get him to understand that it wasn't my fault." The line was silent for a moment before he spoke.

"I suppose I could. . ." Mikey gave me the address and I wrote it down on a piece of paper, "But Jetta, I don't think he's going to listen to you, he's a little thick-headed when he's drunk." Oh yeah, it was a drink and riot. I'd really never been to a party that involved alcohol, I'd made a million excuses for skipping Stacey's parties. But they wouldn't get really smashed until later, so I'd just have to get there a little early.

"I can try, can't I?", I said with a little hope in my voice. "Thanks Mikey, I'll see ya there."

"Sure sure, just try not to be preppy if you get there before us.", he warned me. "Remember, you're partying with our crowd tonight."

I told him I understood and said goodbye. Clicking the hang-up button, I went up to my room to try and find something to wear. 'Not preppy, not preppy', I thought the words as I scrounged my closet for a outfit that wouldn't stand out in Gerard's crowd. I knew it would be a little too much to go all out with the black. So I just went with something original.

I pulled on a red checkered skirt, one that I usually wore with a sweater vest. It went down to my knees. Being a cheerleader, it was custom to wear skirts that showed off everything. I've worn them before, not saying I haven't, but it seemed a little weird to wear one tonight. I threw a neon blue camisole on with a black zipper-up. I debated on wearing some stockings, but in the end I let my legs go pale and bare. Finally I topped it off with a pair of converses that I had bought to pull off a school girl-look, but now they made me look punkish.

Going from a complete Barbie outfit look to this one was a little staggering. I looked like a completely different person. Whereas before I looked like I was harmless, yet a little slutty if I can call myself it, now I looked dangerous and imaginative. I went over to my dresser and found the only little stick of black eyeliner that I owned. With a steady hand, I drew a thick line on my bottom lid, and left the top plain. Brushing my mascara on, I realized that I didn't really need any cover up, except to cover up my bruises. From looking at Gerard and Mikey, it was safe to say that their crowd was probably as pale as I was.

I straightened my hair, taking care to part my hair to give me a little more bangs on one side and making it a little more stiff than I usually would have worn it. I had fun recreating myself, now I actually looked somewhat like I wanted to. Passing the girls in my school, I'd seen them with this type of freedom to wear whatever they wanted to wear, and I had yearned for it. To tell you the truth, I felt more comfortable in this outfit than I did in my own cheerleading uniform. The black eye-liner made my eyes pop, and my hair looked spikey and wild like a copper sculpture.

I looked at the digital clock on my nightstand and it read a half an hour past four. In around an hour my mother would be home. I hoped she wouldn't notice my not being here. The last and final thing I did was look through my closet again for a coat. My one that I wore before was puffy with a pink plaid fabric on the outside. I wanted something a little more inconspicuous.

I pulled out a purple skater jacket that one of my aunts had gotten me last year for Christmas. I had put it in the back of my closet, liking it immensely, but knowing I could never wear it outside of my house. It was fuzzy on the inside with purple and black tiger stripes on the outside. I silently thanked my aunt and threw it on, heading out to my car as I went.

It was definitely the middle of October, and the wind chill was making the air slightly chillier than usual. I got into my car and turned the heat up as I pulled out.

As I drove, I got a reply from Stacey.

U do this and u'll regret it u lttle bitch
-stacey

I text her back.

I regret having ever joined that team, and tell your dogs to keep off the freaks, they may be loyal to you, but you forget who they were trailing around for the last month.
:) Jetta

It was an empty threat. I doubted the football would even glance at me now, except maybe to pour chocolate milk over my head. But the thought of me even giving Stacey even an empty threat made my smile grow widely. The drive to Frankie's house was surprisingly short. He lived a few streets next to Gerard's house and I could already see a few vehicles parked out in front of it. I pulled in next to a old Plymouth Horizon and got out. The lights were on, though they were dimmed and I could see a bunch of people were already in there.

I walked up to the red door and knocked hesitantly. It took a few minutes of knocking, but finally someone opened up. A very short guy was answering it. His hair was done up in a mohawk that was blond on the sides with black up the middle. He had both his bottom lip and his nose pierced. He was outfitted in a band tee that read BEASTIE BOYS, with some black skinny jeans. He looked younger than me, with bright green eyes. Behind him, the sound of heavy metal music was bashing. He looked me up and down with wide eyes.

"Um, hi." He grinned at me, and opened the door wider for me to go in. It was a little weird how easily he just let me in, but I walked past him.

"Sooo. . ." He looked me over again as he led me in the direction of the music. "Who are you?"

"Jetta.", I smiled at him. "And you must be Frankie?" He nodded.

"I have to say, I've never seen you around here before.", he smirked. I shrugged before grinning shyly.

"I'm sort of meeting someone here.", I admitted sheepishly. He seemed nice, nice enough to let complete strangers into his house anyway. He nodded.

"Well, if you're looking for a dancing companion, look for me.", he winked and started walking away, but then he turned around. "You don't seem like a party person, so try to stay away from the green cups, someone decided to spike the punch.", he hinted. I nodded gratefully, the last thing I wanted was to get trashed here. He walked into what looked like the living room of the house, leaving me in the hallway. I wondered where his parents were. There were strange-looking couples making out against the hallway walls, and groping in places that made me blush slightly.

If this is what Gerard had meant by a couple of people, I wondered what the head count was when they went all out. I pushed past a few people and went into the living room and got the full blast of the music they were playing. Electric guitars made up most of the instrumental that I could hear and I caught snippets of the chorus.

"Six six, the number of the beast, hail and fire, was spawned to be released!" The singer's raspy voice sang out and a few of the guys in there raised their cups to the song. I found Frankie sitting on a couch, chatting with a weird kid with an afro. He looked around my age, with a poofy amount of hair, and thick lips. He was wearing a Cradle of Death t-shirt with faded blue-jeans. I walked up to them and the afro guy looked me up and down as Frankie did, though minus the wide eyes. I must have really looked good, I knew I had curves and certain *cough* assets, but this was a little overboard. Frankie saw his friend's attention had been diverted, looked around, and saw me.

"Hey Frankie.", I smiled at him and he smiled back at me.

"So the people you were expecting aren't here yet?", he asked with a raised eyebrow. I shook my head. "And I really don't know anyone here.", I hinted with a nervous smile. He nodded, "Well then, let's cure that, this is Ray Toro." He gestured to the poofy-haired person. Ray reached out and shook my hand. Frankie brought his hand over to me.

"And Ray, this is Jetta. . .", he trailed off, not knowing my last name.

"Rogette.", I finished for him. Ray's eyes widened and he looked at me from head to foot again, this time with raised eyebrows.

"Jetta Rogette, as in the cheerleader under Stacey Drake?", he asked, shocked. I got nervous very quickly, I didn't think about people here recognizing me. Frankie looked at me with raised eyebrows as well.

"You're a cheerleader?", he asked with disbelief. I bit my lip, and nodded, awaiting their reactions. They looked at each other, and back at me.

"And you're here looking like this, how. . .?", Ray asked slowly, eyes still wide.

I sighed, "It's a bit of a long story." They both continued to stare at me until I explained. "Let's just say that I had a run in with Gerard and Mikey Way, and now I'm off the squad.", I finished proudly. Frankie just stared at me with a speculative look before shrugging.

"Nice to hear you ditched the blondies.", he grinned at me, meanwhile Ray was still in disbelief. I think he was one of the ones that had gotten involved when the cheerleaders and I had done a stamp day. We ran around with custom-made stamps that read LOSER in red ink, and we had stamped them on the outcasts of the school. Now I was feeling a little guilty about doing it as Ray interrogated me.

"How did you and the Way brother's 'run' into each other?", he asked with furrowed eyebrows. I was thinking of a way to give a answer when Frankie jumped in.

"I don't know, but they're lucky to meet a cute girl like you.", he complimented me. I smiled a little. He was starting to go a little far with the flirting, but I was kind of okay with it. So far he seemed like a nice guy and a little flirting wasn't exactly a crime.

I got back to Ray. "Gerard sort of helped me out with something, and I sort of hated being on the squad anyway, so I quit." He stared at a moment before nodding with a grin.

"Great, at least we've taken down one of the major cheerleaders, now we just have Stacey and that Dana chick to deal with." I sat down in between them, accepting a red plastic cup from Frankie. I smelled the contents of it and found it to be plain soda.

"You don't have to do that, I already told you to watch out for the green cups." Frankie had caught me checking it. I smiled sheepishly at him.

"Yeah, but you never know.", I said with a smile, taking a gulp and Frankie nodded with a knowing expression. The song played changed, now it was a slow melody that rang out from the speakers.

"Let me tell you a story to chill the bones, about a thing that I saw. One night wandering in the Everglades, I'd one drink but no more. . ." The singer's voice was still raspy, but melodious with the notes of the bass. I turned to Ray and Mikey.

"Who's this playing?", I asked, the band sounded good and I wanted a name to look up when I got home. They both turned to me with horrified looks.

"You don't know Iron Maiden?", they asked me in sycronized voices. I shook my head in confusion at their reactions.

They both looked at each other and grinned. "Boy, you have got a lot to learn sister.", Frankie smirked at me and pulled out his MP3 player. I could hardly hear the music from the music already blasting in the room, but I what I did hear, I loved.

"That's Iron Maiden- The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg." He shouted to me the title of the song. The band's sound was beautiful, and I listened with undivided attention. For a while Frankie and Ray let me listen to different bands off of their MP3 players, and they informed me of the many concerts they had gone to. Ray had gone to a Misfits concert and even went onstage with them. Unfortuntetly our time together ran out.

They had gotten on the subject of Black Flag when Gerard and Mikey had decided to walk into the room. And Gerard's eyes landed right smack on me.