Status: updates are frequent
Everything Has Changed
Chapter 4
FRANK’S POV
“Daddy! Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!” I hear while a small body lands on me. I open my eyes, still tired, to see Dante and his friend Alice.
“What? What time is it?”
“10:30, get up!”
“Ugh, sorry buddy, I got home real late. I’ll cook you some breakfast, just go downstairs and I’ll be there in a minute.” I say. They scurry off as I turn into Gerard.
“Good morning.” he says
“G’morning.”
“What time did you get in?”
“Almost 3. The guys insisted on going to the bar after but I didn’t have any drinks. We haven’t been getting along. I know we just released a CD, but I don’t know if the band will make it through. It seems that they’ve lost sight of what Pencey was all about: the music and making a difference, not money and girls and getting shit-faced.”
“Oh..”
“Anyways..I think Dante really likes you.” I say, changing the subject. He smiles.
“I think Alice really likes you too. She comes home from school everyday with new stories on what went on and some stuff about you. Alice has been waiting for someone like Dante to come along. She always complains that everyone is the same, and then this came up and you and just..everything..” he says
“Y’know..Gerard..you..you saved my life..all those years ago..and it did get better..it took about 12 years but it did. A while ago when I had Dante and I thought it got better and then Pete got..abusive..and I just don’t want this to happen with all of us..thinking it’s got better then something happens to you and Alice and it falls apart again..”
“I’ll never leave your side, Frankie and I will never, ever, ever, lay a finger on you or Dante.”
I smile. “I..I really like you.”
“Do you..do you want to be in a..relationship..?” he says, looking extremely nervous. My heart skips a beat. I lean in and kiss him. I hold his cheek with my hand and when I pull away I whisper a yes. He smiles really big.
“So when do you think we should tell the little devils? I bet they’ll be ecstatic.” I ask.
“Whenever you’re ready, babe.” I blush when he calls me babe.
FRANK STOP BEING A TEENAGE GIRL
“Let’s go tell them now.” I say. Gerard nods as I stand and help him up. We go downstairs holding hands. The kids are on the couch watching TV.
“Hey guys, we’ve got something to tell you.”
“What?” they say in unison. They laugh “JYNX!” they say at the same time again. I laugh at them.
“ANYWAY!” I interject. “Gerard and I are..” I look at him
“Boyfriends.” he finishes.
“So you mean Alice is my sister now?”
“Uh, sorta I guess in a way.” they look at each other before getting up and bouncing on the couch.
“THIS IS SO COOL!”
“YEAH YOU GUYS SHOULD TOTALLY GET MARRIED!”
“Whoa whoa whoa, we’re just started dating, no one plan a wedding right now.” we laugh.
“Daddy, can we go out for breakfast. Pllleeeaaassseeeee, I don’t want to have burnt cereal.” Dante says
“One time a guy burns cereal!” I say
“You mess it up all the time though, overflowing the bowl and stuff.”
“You burnt cereal?” Gerard asks. I blush
“I didn’t know the stove was on..” I say with my head down. He laughs.
“You’re adorable.” he says, kissing me. I smile and hug him.
“GUYS!” Alice yells “Can we go to ‘Denny’s’?”
“Sure, kids, go get dressed and we’ll go.”
DANTE’S POV
I run up to my room and look through my clothes for something for Alice to wear. All my clothes should fit her, since she’s slightly taller and all my clothes are slightly too big. I pick out just some grey jeans and a black shirt with red bones on it for me.
“Pick out what you want, Ali.” I say. She smiles and stands in my closet. She finds my Blink 182 shirt and keeps her leggings and socks on and just changes her shirt and vest. She takes the braid out of her hair and her hair looks really cool and wavy in the front. We run downstairs and jump in the car with my dad and Alice’s dad. We drive off to Denny’s, me and Alice in the back. Our dad’s were talking in the front and we were having our own conversation in the back.
“So if my dad married your dad, would your dad be my dad?” she asks
“Yeah. And you’d be my sister. That’d be so cool!”
“Yeah it would!” she says
“I had 2 dads when I was really young.”
“Really? I’ve only had one my whole life.”
“Yeah..I didn’t like my other dad..he was really mean and he always made my Daddy cry. He would break things and when I would come out of my room my Daddy would have bruises and then once, my Daddy had to go to the hospital and he broke his arm and his ribs and Ray had to watch me and my other dad went to jail.”
“That’s not good..”
“No, I don’t remember too much though..”
“I’ve always had my dad. I see my uncle and grandpa and grandma on holidays though, so it’s not that lonely.” Alice says. I look down.
“My grandma’s been dead since my Daddy was young and my grandpa’s in jail because he would beat up my Daddy...”
“Oh...”
“But my Daddy’s always been here.”
“That’s good.”
“Yeah, he says he survived the war.”
“He was a soldier?”
“No, but he has battle scars.”
“Oh.” she says. We pull into ‘Denny’s’ and we hop out of the car. Alice and I hold hands and Daddy and Gerard hold hands as we walk in. We get a table for 4 and we get the crayons and paper menus for kids. I always turn them over and play hangman.
I turn it over and draw a hang man and _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _. I ask all of them to guess and Gerard guessed it right. It was Astro Zombie. We eat our breakfast and by the time I’m done I feel like I’m going to burst open pancakes.
“What should we do now?” I ask
“Well, you have like a 5 day vacation because of a stupid principal.”
GERARD’S POV
“Can we all visit Uncle Mikey? Dante says he doesn’t have any uncles or aunts or grandparents and I want Uncle Mikey to meet him.” Alice asks.
FLASHBACK
“Not for me!! I’m motherless, my father is a abusive alcoholic, I suck at everything, I can’t even kill myself right! And I’m a fucking faggot, and no one fucking cares! You have something going for you! You have a girlfriend, you’re good at art, and you’re probably going to go to college, and get married and have kids and a family while I’m gonna be stuck with nothing! You don’t get it! And you’re never going to!”
Oh yeah, his father was abusive and Pete’s in jail and he doesn’t have siblings, which leaves him all alone with Dante.
“Um, I don’t know if Frank and Dante want to come but I guess we can go visit Uncle Mikey.” I say, “You’re welcome to come.”
“I really don’t want to impose..” Frank says politely
“Please Daddy please!!!” the kids beg.
“If it’s okay with Gerard..” Frank says.
“Okay, well, I’ll call Mikey.” I say, stepping outside. I quickly dial his number and he picks up on the 3rd ring.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Mikey.”
“Oh, hey, Gerard!”
“What’s up?”
“Not much, just hangin’ around, you?”
“Actually a lot has happened.”
“Yeah I haven’t talked to you since the move! And you moved closer to me! Seems like you hate me.” he pouts.
“Mikes, you know I don’t hate you.”
“..I know, how could you hate the bestest brother in the world?”
“Yeah right.”
“Anyways, what’s happened?”
“Well, Alice made a friend in school. A really good friend, they’re twins I swear. He’s really cool and she always comes home from school excited with new stories about him. She’s told me all about how her dad’s in a punk band and likes cool music and just, this little kid, Dante, is her best friend. Well, a few days ago I got called into the school. It had came out that Dante’s dad was gay and the kids made a scene and Alice stood up for her friend and said that I’m gay too. So I had to go in to school and Dante played his dads CD and he’s in an awesome punk band and of coarse it was “inappropriate”, but I walk in and Dante’s dad is a kid I know from high school.”
“Who?”
“Frank. Frank Iero, remember him? He was in a grade above you?”
“Was he the one that tried to kill himself?”
“...yeah...that one..”
“The one you had a crush on.” Mikey’s voice started to turn into annoying mode.
“Yes, Michael.”
“It’s MIKEY.”
“Whatever, but we talked a lot then blew each other and-”
“I DIDN’T NEED TO KNOW THAT.”
“Too bad. But long story short, we’re dating now.”
“So you’re finally dating your high school crush.”
“Yeah.”
“Nice, Gerard, only took you a decade. Anyway, that still doesn’t answer why you interrupted my ‘Skate 3’ video game session. Not that I don’t like talking to you.”
“Well, Alice wants to come visit and bring Frank and Dante along.”
“Well..the apartments a wreck and I have no real food but yeah sure, come by anytime. I’d love to meet Ali’s twin, and see Frank, I haven’t seen him in a decade.”
“He’s even hotter now.”
“To you, my big brother. I prefer hot girls.”
“Whatever. Anyway, can we pop by later today?”
“Yeah, I’ll put on some pants.”
“Okay good, your Superman boxers and chicken legs aren’t the most flattering.”
“Hey! You have Batman boxers!”
“Touche..anyway, I gotta go. See ya, Mikes.”
“Bye, Gerard.” he said, before I shut my phone. I walk back inside and in about 40 minutes we’re all on the front door step of Mikey’s apartment. He opens up wearing a wrinkled shirt and jeans. He has cheese poofs in his mouth.
“Hey!!” he greets through the cheese poofs. Alice hugs his legs.
“Hi Uncle Mikey!” he swallows and smiles.
“Hi, Alice! Hey, Gerard. And hello to your friends.”
“Uncle Mikey! This is Dante!” Alice introduces. Dante smiles.
“Hey, Dante. I love that name. I’m Mikey.”
“Hi Mikey, thanks.” we all walk in and sit on the couch.
“So, I believe I know you from high school? You look familiar.” Mikey says to Frank.
“Uh..yeah. I’m Frank..Iero..”
“Ah..y’know, my brother here crushed on you f-”
“MICHAEL!” I shove cheese poofs into his mouth. Frankie blushes and laughs.
“IT’S MIKEY DIPSHIT!” Mikey says, throwing back the cheese poofs. “Anyways, Frank, how has life been treating you since high school?”
“Um, well it’s been good lately.”
“That’s good.”
“What about you?”
“Well, my girlfriend just broke up with me but I’ll always have my video games and bass.”
“You play bass?”
“Yeah.”
“Me too. Well, I play guitar, but I can play bass.”
“That’s awesome. I was in a band once, a while ago. Gerard and I were in a band together but it didn’t last long.”
“I’m in a band right now but I think were gonna break up.”
“That kinda sucks. Hey! Why don’t we make a band! Gerard can sing, you play guitar, I play bass, I know another guitarist, and a drummer!”
“Maybe.” I say. Being in a band with Gerard would be awesome. Only if anything happened to our relationship I wouldn’t want it to effect the band. “Pencey just released a CD.”
“You’re in Pencey Prep? I heard of them. My friend Bob told me about them.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, Bob Bryar. He’s the drummer I know. He’s awesome.”
“Hmm..we should jam sometime.”
“Yeah. Gerard, you would need to sing though.” he says, turning to Gerard.
“I haven’t sung since the band broke up years ago. It was before Alice was born.”
“So?! You can sing Gerard!”
“...fine.”
“How about this Saturday?” Mikey asks. “If we don’t get along, fine. But..I have a good feeling about this.”
“Y’know, Mikes..I have a good feeling about this too..” Gee adds.
Well, I guess I’ve found a new band...sorta.
xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx
“C’mon Dante, we’re going to Mikey’s place!” I say. It’s about 2 on Saturday. I have my guitar packed up. When I walk through the door I see Mikey, Gerard, Alice, a blonde dude, and..Ray?
“Ray??”
“Frank??”
“Nice to see you, man!” he says. We set everything up.
“Hey, I’m Bob.”
“Frank.” I say, smiling.
“You’re in Pencey Prep, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, it’s not working too well though.”
“Aw, that sucks. I’ve been to a few of your shows. You can play, dude.”
“Thanks, man.”
“Okay..well..does everyone know Bullet With Butterfly Wings?” Gee asks. We all nod.
“Okay, Bob, count us in.”
“1, 2, 3, 4!”
“The world is a vampire, sent to drain.” Gerard starts to sing. His voice is perfect. I feel something click. Pencey’s never clicked like this. Something to do with how our styles melt together. Mikey and Gerard we’re right when they said they had a good feeling about this. When the song ends everyone is smiling.
“That was awesome!” I say.
“Wooooo!!!” I hear Alice and Dante clap. We all chuckle. “Again!!” they chant. We play probably 7 more songs before we’re tired as fuck.
“That was really amazing, guys.” Bob says.
“I think I just found I new band.” I prepose. Everyone nods.
“Hey..Mikey..y’know that band name..”
“Yes..”
“Well..the band needs a name..”
“I don’t know..that name is special..”
“C’mon, Mikes, you can’t deny what you felt.” Ray steps in.
“What’s the name?” I ask
“My Chemical Romance.”
“Dude, how did you come that?”
“Yeah, damn.” Bob says.
“At work one day a while ago. I’ve been waiting for a special band..but I think this band deserves a good name.”
“I think My Chemical Romance is a great name for this band. I think we could take this band far guys.” Ray says
“Well, I know a guy from Eyeball Records. If we start writing, we could put an album together.” I say.
“This is all happening really fast. I haven’t sang in over 8 years. I don’t even know how to sing really, I just open my mouth and am able to sing.”
“Well, I think you’re great. You’re way better than me. I’m just not cut out to be a front-man.”
“You sing great for Pencey.”
“Not really, plus, I like to move around, not be attached to a mic. C’mon, Gee. Please, for me. I’ve got a good feeling. Plus, I’ve been sitting on some material that I didn’t show Pencey because I felt like they weren’t going to get the feeling of the song, but I think it would be great in My Chem.”
“Okay.”
“So, next Saturday, band practice?” Ray preposes. We all nod.
“And everyone, being any song material you have.” Bob adds. We hang out for a little bit then go home. It’s getting late anyway. Dante and Alice go back to school on Monday and I hope they don’t have to deal with little assholes. I can’t help but feel that it’s all my fault if they get bullied.
“Daddy! Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!” I hear while a small body lands on me. I open my eyes, still tired, to see Dante and his friend Alice.
“What? What time is it?”
“10:30, get up!”
“Ugh, sorry buddy, I got home real late. I’ll cook you some breakfast, just go downstairs and I’ll be there in a minute.” I say. They scurry off as I turn into Gerard.
“Good morning.” he says
“G’morning.”
“What time did you get in?”
“Almost 3. The guys insisted on going to the bar after but I didn’t have any drinks. We haven’t been getting along. I know we just released a CD, but I don’t know if the band will make it through. It seems that they’ve lost sight of what Pencey was all about: the music and making a difference, not money and girls and getting shit-faced.”
“Oh..”
“Anyways..I think Dante really likes you.” I say, changing the subject. He smiles.
“I think Alice really likes you too. She comes home from school everyday with new stories on what went on and some stuff about you. Alice has been waiting for someone like Dante to come along. She always complains that everyone is the same, and then this came up and you and just..everything..” he says
“Y’know..Gerard..you..you saved my life..all those years ago..and it did get better..it took about 12 years but it did. A while ago when I had Dante and I thought it got better and then Pete got..abusive..and I just don’t want this to happen with all of us..thinking it’s got better then something happens to you and Alice and it falls apart again..”
“I’ll never leave your side, Frankie and I will never, ever, ever, lay a finger on you or Dante.”
I smile. “I..I really like you.”
“Do you..do you want to be in a..relationship..?” he says, looking extremely nervous. My heart skips a beat. I lean in and kiss him. I hold his cheek with my hand and when I pull away I whisper a yes. He smiles really big.
“So when do you think we should tell the little devils? I bet they’ll be ecstatic.” I ask.
“Whenever you’re ready, babe.” I blush when he calls me babe.
FRANK STOP BEING A TEENAGE GIRL
“Let’s go tell them now.” I say. Gerard nods as I stand and help him up. We go downstairs holding hands. The kids are on the couch watching TV.
“Hey guys, we’ve got something to tell you.”
“What?” they say in unison. They laugh “JYNX!” they say at the same time again. I laugh at them.
“ANYWAY!” I interject. “Gerard and I are..” I look at him
“Boyfriends.” he finishes.
“So you mean Alice is my sister now?”
“Uh, sorta I guess in a way.” they look at each other before getting up and bouncing on the couch.
“THIS IS SO COOL!”
“YEAH YOU GUYS SHOULD TOTALLY GET MARRIED!”
“Whoa whoa whoa, we’re just started dating, no one plan a wedding right now.” we laugh.
“Daddy, can we go out for breakfast. Pllleeeaaassseeeee, I don’t want to have burnt cereal.” Dante says
“One time a guy burns cereal!” I say
“You mess it up all the time though, overflowing the bowl and stuff.”
“You burnt cereal?” Gerard asks. I blush
“I didn’t know the stove was on..” I say with my head down. He laughs.
“You’re adorable.” he says, kissing me. I smile and hug him.
“GUYS!” Alice yells “Can we go to ‘Denny’s’?”
“Sure, kids, go get dressed and we’ll go.”
DANTE’S POV
I run up to my room and look through my clothes for something for Alice to wear. All my clothes should fit her, since she’s slightly taller and all my clothes are slightly too big. I pick out just some grey jeans and a black shirt with red bones on it for me.
“Pick out what you want, Ali.” I say. She smiles and stands in my closet. She finds my Blink 182 shirt and keeps her leggings and socks on and just changes her shirt and vest. She takes the braid out of her hair and her hair looks really cool and wavy in the front. We run downstairs and jump in the car with my dad and Alice’s dad. We drive off to Denny’s, me and Alice in the back. Our dad’s were talking in the front and we were having our own conversation in the back.
“So if my dad married your dad, would your dad be my dad?” she asks
“Yeah. And you’d be my sister. That’d be so cool!”
“Yeah it would!” she says
“I had 2 dads when I was really young.”
“Really? I’ve only had one my whole life.”
“Yeah..I didn’t like my other dad..he was really mean and he always made my Daddy cry. He would break things and when I would come out of my room my Daddy would have bruises and then once, my Daddy had to go to the hospital and he broke his arm and his ribs and Ray had to watch me and my other dad went to jail.”
“That’s not good..”
“No, I don’t remember too much though..”
“I’ve always had my dad. I see my uncle and grandpa and grandma on holidays though, so it’s not that lonely.” Alice says. I look down.
“My grandma’s been dead since my Daddy was young and my grandpa’s in jail because he would beat up my Daddy...”
“Oh...”
“But my Daddy’s always been here.”
“That’s good.”
“Yeah, he says he survived the war.”
“He was a soldier?”
“No, but he has battle scars.”
“Oh.” she says. We pull into ‘Denny’s’ and we hop out of the car. Alice and I hold hands and Daddy and Gerard hold hands as we walk in. We get a table for 4 and we get the crayons and paper menus for kids. I always turn them over and play hangman.
I turn it over and draw a hang man and _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _. I ask all of them to guess and Gerard guessed it right. It was Astro Zombie. We eat our breakfast and by the time I’m done I feel like I’m going to burst open pancakes.
“What should we do now?” I ask
“Well, you have like a 5 day vacation because of a stupid principal.”
GERARD’S POV
“Can we all visit Uncle Mikey? Dante says he doesn’t have any uncles or aunts or grandparents and I want Uncle Mikey to meet him.” Alice asks.
FLASHBACK
“Not for me!! I’m motherless, my father is a abusive alcoholic, I suck at everything, I can’t even kill myself right! And I’m a fucking faggot, and no one fucking cares! You have something going for you! You have a girlfriend, you’re good at art, and you’re probably going to go to college, and get married and have kids and a family while I’m gonna be stuck with nothing! You don’t get it! And you’re never going to!”
Oh yeah, his father was abusive and Pete’s in jail and he doesn’t have siblings, which leaves him all alone with Dante.
“Um, I don’t know if Frank and Dante want to come but I guess we can go visit Uncle Mikey.” I say, “You’re welcome to come.”
“I really don’t want to impose..” Frank says politely
“Please Daddy please!!!” the kids beg.
“If it’s okay with Gerard..” Frank says.
“Okay, well, I’ll call Mikey.” I say, stepping outside. I quickly dial his number and he picks up on the 3rd ring.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Mikey.”
“Oh, hey, Gerard!”
“What’s up?”
“Not much, just hangin’ around, you?”
“Actually a lot has happened.”
“Yeah I haven’t talked to you since the move! And you moved closer to me! Seems like you hate me.” he pouts.
“Mikes, you know I don’t hate you.”
“..I know, how could you hate the bestest brother in the world?”
“Yeah right.”
“Anyways, what’s happened?”
“Well, Alice made a friend in school. A really good friend, they’re twins I swear. He’s really cool and she always comes home from school excited with new stories about him. She’s told me all about how her dad’s in a punk band and likes cool music and just, this little kid, Dante, is her best friend. Well, a few days ago I got called into the school. It had came out that Dante’s dad was gay and the kids made a scene and Alice stood up for her friend and said that I’m gay too. So I had to go in to school and Dante played his dads CD and he’s in an awesome punk band and of coarse it was “inappropriate”, but I walk in and Dante’s dad is a kid I know from high school.”
“Who?”
“Frank. Frank Iero, remember him? He was in a grade above you?”
“Was he the one that tried to kill himself?”
“...yeah...that one..”
“The one you had a crush on.” Mikey’s voice started to turn into annoying mode.
“Yes, Michael.”
“It’s MIKEY.”
“Whatever, but we talked a lot then blew each other and-”
“I DIDN’T NEED TO KNOW THAT.”
“Too bad. But long story short, we’re dating now.”
“So you’re finally dating your high school crush.”
“Yeah.”
“Nice, Gerard, only took you a decade. Anyway, that still doesn’t answer why you interrupted my ‘Skate 3’ video game session. Not that I don’t like talking to you.”
“Well, Alice wants to come visit and bring Frank and Dante along.”
“Well..the apartments a wreck and I have no real food but yeah sure, come by anytime. I’d love to meet Ali’s twin, and see Frank, I haven’t seen him in a decade.”
“He’s even hotter now.”
“To you, my big brother. I prefer hot girls.”
“Whatever. Anyway, can we pop by later today?”
“Yeah, I’ll put on some pants.”
“Okay good, your Superman boxers and chicken legs aren’t the most flattering.”
“Hey! You have Batman boxers!”
“Touche..anyway, I gotta go. See ya, Mikes.”
“Bye, Gerard.” he said, before I shut my phone. I walk back inside and in about 40 minutes we’re all on the front door step of Mikey’s apartment. He opens up wearing a wrinkled shirt and jeans. He has cheese poofs in his mouth.
“Hey!!” he greets through the cheese poofs. Alice hugs his legs.
“Hi Uncle Mikey!” he swallows and smiles.
“Hi, Alice! Hey, Gerard. And hello to your friends.”
“Uncle Mikey! This is Dante!” Alice introduces. Dante smiles.
“Hey, Dante. I love that name. I’m Mikey.”
“Hi Mikey, thanks.” we all walk in and sit on the couch.
“So, I believe I know you from high school? You look familiar.” Mikey says to Frank.
“Uh..yeah. I’m Frank..Iero..”
“Ah..y’know, my brother here crushed on you f-”
“MICHAEL!” I shove cheese poofs into his mouth. Frankie blushes and laughs.
“IT’S MIKEY DIPSHIT!” Mikey says, throwing back the cheese poofs. “Anyways, Frank, how has life been treating you since high school?”
“Um, well it’s been good lately.”
“That’s good.”
“What about you?”
“Well, my girlfriend just broke up with me but I’ll always have my video games and bass.”
“You play bass?”
“Yeah.”
“Me too. Well, I play guitar, but I can play bass.”
“That’s awesome. I was in a band once, a while ago. Gerard and I were in a band together but it didn’t last long.”
“I’m in a band right now but I think were gonna break up.”
“That kinda sucks. Hey! Why don’t we make a band! Gerard can sing, you play guitar, I play bass, I know another guitarist, and a drummer!”
“Maybe.” I say. Being in a band with Gerard would be awesome. Only if anything happened to our relationship I wouldn’t want it to effect the band. “Pencey just released a CD.”
“You’re in Pencey Prep? I heard of them. My friend Bob told me about them.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, Bob Bryar. He’s the drummer I know. He’s awesome.”
“Hmm..we should jam sometime.”
“Yeah. Gerard, you would need to sing though.” he says, turning to Gerard.
“I haven’t sung since the band broke up years ago. It was before Alice was born.”
“So?! You can sing Gerard!”
“...fine.”
“How about this Saturday?” Mikey asks. “If we don’t get along, fine. But..I have a good feeling about this.”
“Y’know, Mikes..I have a good feeling about this too..” Gee adds.
Well, I guess I’ve found a new band...sorta.
xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx
“C’mon Dante, we’re going to Mikey’s place!” I say. It’s about 2 on Saturday. I have my guitar packed up. When I walk through the door I see Mikey, Gerard, Alice, a blonde dude, and..Ray?
“Ray??”
“Frank??”
“Nice to see you, man!” he says. We set everything up.
“Hey, I’m Bob.”
“Frank.” I say, smiling.
“You’re in Pencey Prep, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, it’s not working too well though.”
“Aw, that sucks. I’ve been to a few of your shows. You can play, dude.”
“Thanks, man.”
“Okay..well..does everyone know Bullet With Butterfly Wings?” Gee asks. We all nod.
“Okay, Bob, count us in.”
“1, 2, 3, 4!”
“The world is a vampire, sent to drain.” Gerard starts to sing. His voice is perfect. I feel something click. Pencey’s never clicked like this. Something to do with how our styles melt together. Mikey and Gerard we’re right when they said they had a good feeling about this. When the song ends everyone is smiling.
“That was awesome!” I say.
“Wooooo!!!” I hear Alice and Dante clap. We all chuckle. “Again!!” they chant. We play probably 7 more songs before we’re tired as fuck.
“That was really amazing, guys.” Bob says.
“I think I just found I new band.” I prepose. Everyone nods.
“Hey..Mikey..y’know that band name..”
“Yes..”
“Well..the band needs a name..”
“I don’t know..that name is special..”
“C’mon, Mikes, you can’t deny what you felt.” Ray steps in.
“What’s the name?” I ask
“My Chemical Romance.”
“Dude, how did you come that?”
“Yeah, damn.” Bob says.
“At work one day a while ago. I’ve been waiting for a special band..but I think this band deserves a good name.”
“I think My Chemical Romance is a great name for this band. I think we could take this band far guys.” Ray says
“Well, I know a guy from Eyeball Records. If we start writing, we could put an album together.” I say.
“This is all happening really fast. I haven’t sang in over 8 years. I don’t even know how to sing really, I just open my mouth and am able to sing.”
“Well, I think you’re great. You’re way better than me. I’m just not cut out to be a front-man.”
“You sing great for Pencey.”
“Not really, plus, I like to move around, not be attached to a mic. C’mon, Gee. Please, for me. I’ve got a good feeling. Plus, I’ve been sitting on some material that I didn’t show Pencey because I felt like they weren’t going to get the feeling of the song, but I think it would be great in My Chem.”
“Okay.”
“So, next Saturday, band practice?” Ray preposes. We all nod.
“And everyone, being any song material you have.” Bob adds. We hang out for a little bit then go home. It’s getting late anyway. Dante and Alice go back to school on Monday and I hope they don’t have to deal with little assholes. I can’t help but feel that it’s all my fault if they get bullied.
♠ ♠ ♠
Mikey! <3