Tomorrow's Money

The school day dragged on, that is, until I got to Gerard's class. I made it a point to be one of the last people to make it to class, that way Gerard couldn't say anything to me. I walked passed him and waved, noticing his slightly red cheeks and nervous hands. It's amazing how something as simple as a low cut shirt can change a man's whole demeanor. I figured he knew I didn't normally dress in clothes that were very revealing. Maybe he was surprised. In any case, watching him talk to the class was great.

I took my normal seat next to Marley, even though I really didn't want to. I figured not sitting by her would look suspicious. "Hey." She said, glaring at me.

"Shh. Mr. Way is explaining projects." I whispered, not even looking at her. I was just happy I didn't slip up and call him by his first name.

"We're, uh, we are going to be switching things up." He stuttered, a bit nervous, avoiding eye contact with me. "I want to work on charcoal sketches." He paced around the front of the room, almost making me laugh. I had to hold back laughter best I could, but I could not get rid of the smile hiding behind my hand. "Uh, grab your charcoal sets from the back of the room and head outside with me." He quickly left the room with a sketch pad and charcoal to wait for everyone outside. I slipped out behind him quickly before anyone was able to grab their things and get out the door.

"What's up with you today?" I laughed, knowing what I was doing to him. I was sure the short skirt I'd decided to change into right before his class wasn't helping.

"You, literally you are what's up with me." He held back a smile, making sure not to speak too loud.

"What did I do?" I asked, oh so innocently.

"After all the teasing and making out yesterday, you decide to wear that?" He outright laughed, trying to relax. "You're killing me. You really are."

"Sorry!" I half apologized, not actually sorry at all. "I guess that means you'd want to come over tonight?"

"I would love to sweetie, but I can't. I'll text you though, promise." I was slightly disappointed, but it was dangerous to see him on a nightly basis anyway.

I heard the door to the art room open and the kids started pouring out, following us down the hall. "Hey! Lily! I want to talk to you." Marley called from behind me. Shit.

"Uh yeah?" I stopped and turned around, letting Gerard walk ahead of me.

"Why have you been avoiding me?" She asked, already suspicious of me.

"I haven't." I lied. Of course I was, I was dating the guy she was obsessed with.

"Don't lie to me. Is it because of Mikey? Did he tell you what happened?" She asked, stepping closer to me.

"Yeah he did." I said, knowing that if I didn't admit to knowing what happened I'd slip up later and ruin the lie. "And I really think it was pretty cruel of you to use him like that."

"Use him like what?" She asked, getting angry.

"To get close to his brother. Mikey loved you and you just wanted to get close to Gerard." I glared at her, angry that all of this was happening.

"Oh? Why did you just call him by his first name? You on a first name basis with him now?" She accused, fire in her eyes and menace in her voice.

"No!" I paused for a second, coming up with a lie. "It was an accident. That's what Mikey calls him and I've been spending a lot of time with Mikey." I hoped shed buy it but she wasn't easily fooled.

"Yeah sure. Anyway, I know something is going on." She violently grabbed my arm, twisting it back behind me and threw me to the ground face down. She angrily whispered in my ear. " And I will find out what, and when I do, I'm turning you both in to the school, who will then turn you in to the police. Gerard will loose his job and college opportunity,and he'll go to prison. And you, you'll be kicked out of school." She laughed. "I can't wait to get evidence."

"Please, get off. You're hurting me." I plead, holding back tears. I couldn't believe she'd taken this so far.

"Hurting? Ha! You haven't seen anything." She flipped me around and punched me in the eye, causing me to yell out in pain. "that's just a small fraction of what you'll get if I ever see you with him outside of school." She threatened. "Stay the fuck away from my Gerard."

"Fuck you!" I yelled and spat in her face. I couldn't believe all the people that walked by that didn't even stop to help me. It was amazing to me how people could just ignore violence like this.

She wiped the spit off her face and got pissed. She grabbed my hair by the roots and slammed my head against the ground until I passed out.

I felt groggy, not really wanting to open my eyes. It was a huge struggle but I managed to open them and look around. I was in a hospital. I'd guessed a teacher found me and had to call an ambulance. I looked around to find that I was alone. I picked up my phone from the table next to me and saw 5 missed calls and 7 text messages, all from Gerard.

"Hey, where are you? Class is waiting on you."
"Lily? Are you okay? Where the hell are you?"
"What the fuck is going on? This ambulance better not be for you."
"Holy fucking shit please respond."
"Lily please answer me, tell me you're okay."
"For the love of god answer me.."
"I'm going to the hospital as soon as I can. Please respond when you get this."

I smiled, feeling comforted that he cared so much, but I also felt terribly sad, knowing that I had to let him go. "Hey, Gerard." I replied. I looked at the time and realized school was almost out.

"What the hell happned? Whyid that ambulance take you away? Are you ok?" He asked, his spelling mistakes gave away how frantic he was.

"Yeah, I'm fine.Just come here when you can, please. I need you." I said, getting upset. How many more times would I be able to call him to me before I had to break it off? Things were getting serious and not just with Marley. I suspected my mom of doing a background check on Gerard. She kept hiding her computer from me for the last few days and she acted very strange toward me, when Is aw her that is. I never saw her or Dad anymore.

"I'll be there, I promise. Just make sure no one else is around." He warned. I think he'd known what happened, generally. He was being more cautious than usual, which was fine. Maybe his cautiousness would save us. Maybe we could find a way around it all..

I didn't reply. I felt tired and weak, and apparently nurses didn't check on their patients often because I was sound asleep before anyone had some in. I woke up, what felt like hours, later to a warm hand resting on my cheek. I opened my eyes to find Gerard standing next to my bed with a single lily and his messenger bag. I smiled at him, so happy to see him there. "Hey you." I said, quietly, still feeling tired.

"Hey sugar." He said,laying the flower next to me and pulling up a chair. "Tell me what happened."

"Marley.. She stopped me in the hall way to warn me about you. She said if she ever got proof of us being together outside of school she'd turn us in. I spit in her face and she punched me in the eye and slammed my head on the ground until I passed out. That's the last thing I remember." I explained, hoping that my face didn't look too bad.

"I"m so sorry." He said quietly. I could see him internally blaming himself. I hated to see him so upset like this.

"No, please, don't do this. Don't tell me you're sorry, and don't be upset, I'm fine." I lied. My head was pounding and my eye was throbbing.

He sat quiet for a moment before pulling out some books. "Do you mind? I have some stuff due for my classes tomorrow."

"Not at all." I smiled, liking seeing the student side of him. He set out his books and started writing whatever it was he had to write. I watched him closely, admiring his sloppy handwriting and messy way of going about writing some sort of rough draft. He looked distracted from it, like he was forcing himself to focus on this work. I ran my fingers through his hair a few times before resting my hand on his neck. He placed a hand over mine and looked up from his books.

"What are we going to do?" He asked, seeming to be absolutely terrified. He looked beyond stressed and there was nothing I could do to comfort him.

"I have no idea." I laid back and held in the little tear drops that dared to escape my eyes. We both felt a little hopeless. "We could run away." I smiled a little, remembering the time he brought that up.

"It'd be nice. But if they ever found us, anyone, I'd be in prison forever for kidnapping and all that fun stuff." He laid his head down on his books. I had the feeling this wasn't the first time he'd been this stressed over it. He seemed so tense, so disconnected. I couldn't help but believe that this is what he was like when he went to sleep at night, alone.

"We have no options." I said, feeling empty inside. I already knew what was about to happen.

"No. We don't." He said, his voice just as empty and lost as mine. "We have to-"

"Don't." I cut him off, closing my eyes. My stomach dropped and I seemed to feel all the sadness in the world. "Please don't finish that." I begged, though I knew he had to, for both of us. It was better that way.

"I don't want to Lily, but I have to. You know that. We can't be together, and it was crazy to ever think we could. We should have known someone would find out." He said, unable to even look at me.

The tears finally poured out. I finally lost all control I had over myself and just wept. He held me close for what seemed like days, but not long enough. "How can I go to school and see you every day and be totally fine? Gerard, I love you. I don't know how to handle this." I sobbed into his shoulder, staining the dress shirt he'd worn.

"Lily, I know. I love you too. I really do, please don't forget that. And you won't have to see me anymore, okay? I'm leaving." He announced as if he'd known this for a while.

"Leaving?" I asked, starting to get even more upset. "Leaving where?"

"I don't know. I can't stay here. Seeing you like this is too hard, especially when it's my fault." His voice was stone cold as he hid every emotion that ran through him.

"Please don't go." I quietly begged. "I'm not ready to not have you in my life."

"I haven't been in your life long, you can move on from this. I'm not what you deserve. You deserve someone who can actually provide for you, and do it well with a real job and income. You need someone established and more your age. You can't get caught up in the law. I'm doing this because I love you enough to let you go for your own good. I will ruin your life." He hugged me tighter for a moment before whispering his croaky, broken, and almost desperate "I'm sorry." He stepped back, gathering his things. His eyes were red and a little puffy. I felt terrible.

"Don't leave. Please, I don't have anyone." I began to put my life into perspective. I realized how alone I'd actually be without him, but accidentally had the realization out loud. "My parents haven't even showed up. No one did except you. You're the only person on this planet that gives a damn about me and I can't even have you stick around." I sobbed again, wondering how I was going to do this alone. "I sure as hell can't be friends with Mikey anymore, because when I look at him I think of you. And honestly who else is there? I'm so tired of being alone, and you took that loneliness away for a while, but now you have to leave and I don't know how to deal with that." I was getting hysteric, and maybe it was because I was so tired and emotionally drained from the day.

He put his things down and hugged me again, hushing me. "Don't cry." He said, trying to soothe me.

"And right now. I've never had anyone hug me like this." I said, hugging him back tightly, pulling him as close to me as I could. "Who is going to hug me like this when you're gone? Who is going to care about me, Gerard? If not you then who?" I cried. I knew this was tearing him apart, but I was too selfish, too scared to say anything other than what I felt.

"I'm so sorry I did this to you Lily." He apologized, seeming to be getting upset again. "But if I stay with you everything will be ruined. You won't be able to stay in school. You're going to have a hard time finding a good college that will look over you getting kicked out of school for having a relationship with a teacher. Don't you see? I'm toxic to you, I don't want to ruin your life."

"Can't we figure a way around this? My birthday is in a few months, after that we'll be fine. If we can just make it until then..." I tried.

"I don't know Lily. But visiting hours are over soon. I will call you later, okay? Just calm down." He kissed my forehead, then my lips. I held his face when he tried to pull away, indicating that I wasn't ready yet. I kissed him a while longer, praying it wouldn't be the last time. "I love you, okay? Get some rest. I'll see you soon." He whispered, pushed my hair back.

I watched him walk out the door and realized he'd forgotten on of his sketch pads. I went to call to him but realized he was already gone. I held the book close, debating on going through it. I closed my eyes, breathing in deep. The whole room still smelled like Gerard and I accidentally drifted off to sleep, comforted, but not totally okay..