Witness

“I’m so glad it’s the weekend tomorrow,” Gerard said, leaning against the locker next to mine as I rummaged around inside looking for some of my books. It was shocking that I’d been at this school less than a week, and my locker was already in a hideous state.

“Oh yeah? Why’s that?”

“Because—” he started before being shoved by a hand that came literally out of nowhere, falling backwards slightly.

“Fuck off!” James’ voice suddenly rang through my ears.

“That’s why,” Gerard shrugged at me, turning back and walking down the hall.

“I was talking to him,” I said, slamming my locker closed and looking up at James.

“So? He’s hardly worth conversation, let alone capable of it,”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Why do you stand up for him?” James said, all of a sudden very cynically, narrowing his eyes at me.

“Because if I don’t, who will?”

“No-one, but that’s the point,”

“Why?”

“Why do you care?”

“Because he is just as human as you or me, so he deserves to be treated as one,”

James just stared at me, an unsure look on his face. “If I didn’t know any better I’d say you’re dating him or something?”

I laughed through my nose and glanced over his shoulder at all of his friends who were all looking at me with the same looks as James was giving me. “I’m not ‘dating him or something’, I’ve just been talking to him a lot and I think he’s a great guy,”

“A great guy?” he snorted.

“How much have you talked to him, James?” I snapped before his last syllable had a chance to leave his mouth. “The yelling matches, and the abuse doesn’t count as conversation,” I shouted, ignoring the fact that the hustle and bustle of the hallways had stopped and all eyes were now on me and James, as we stared one another down.
Okay, so he was staring me down, I had to stare him up since he had a lot more height than me.

“You know what, Iero,” James started, his top lip practically turning up into a snarl. “You come here, out of fuckin’ nowhere, and try to rearrange the fuckin’ social hierarchy – and for what? So you can make yourself feel better for defending a silly little queer? Who the fuck are you to decide?”

“Who the fuck are you? You decided that Gerard should be bullied for being who he is! You accepted me on the first day, before you even knew who I was! How do you even know, that I am who I say I am?”

“Why? Are you hiding something?”

I was taken a-back and my mouth hung open a little before reality hit me once more .”No, I’m not hiding anything, I was just giving an example,”

“Well, whatever,” The bell rang through the halls, but no-one moved, just continued watching us.

“Whatever? Is that the best comeback you could think of?”

“It wasn’t a comeback, it was a conversation ender, because I want the last word!”

“Why’s that? So you can make yourself even more high and mighty than you already think you are?!”

“I am high and mighty,”

I laughed outright at this, chuckling throatily as I looked out over the sea of faces watching us, not missing Gerard's and Mikey's, somewhere near the back. I could just see in Gerard's eyes that he was pleading with me to stop standing up for him, but I was in too deep now, it was all or nothing.

“High and mighty out of fear! No-one here actually likes you James, they’re terrified of you!” I yelled, waving my hand out towards the group of people.

“And so they should be!” James roared, his fist curling at his side.

“What on earth is going on here?!” A shrill female voice filled the hallway, and every single head snapped towards it. “Half my class is missing, and for what? So two idiots can stand in front of a locker and fight? Get to where you need to be, now!” she finished, arms flailing.

Straight away, people scurried off to where they needed to be while James and I stood completely still, feet rooted to the floor, eyes glued to one another’s. “You watch your fuckin’ back,” He growled, stalking off with his little mob following him.

I stayed where I was until he turned the corner, before huffing and walking towards where I was certain my math class was. I could hear people behind me yelling my name, but I just wasn’t in the mood to stop and chat. I was pretty much fuming.

“Frank, stop!” Gerard said, placing a hand on my shoulder. I shrugged it off and turned to look at him, glaring straight at him. “Why did you do that?”

“Because that little asshole fucks me off!” I shouted, turning away from him. I didn’t want to think about what had just happened anymore, because I was certain I’d probably lose my cool and end up hitting Gerard or something, and I wouldn’t really want that.

One, because like I said, he’s a great guy, and I wouldn’t want to lose him as a friend, especially now where I really, really need someone in my life who isn’t my mother.

Secondly, because that would be a little hypocritical of me, wouldn’t it? I’ve just stood up for him against James, telling him that it’s not cool to be beating Gerard up all the time, and then I go ahead and hit him or something? Yeah, I think I’d rather go with ignoring him for now, as long as it meant that, that argument wouldn’t be brought up for a couple of hours.

I opened the door with ‘Math’ written across it and into the classroom where all eyes were already on me as the teacher smiled up at me, a glint of mischief in her eye, before looking at a register in her hand.

“You must be Iero, Frank?” the teacher chuckled. “Getting off to a good start?” She’d obviously heard the argument.

“Wonderful,” I smiled sarcastically, moving to a seat at the back by the window.

“You’re in my seat,” Gerard said from next to me, smirking slightly. I hadn’t even seen him follow me in.

“You’re in this class?”

“Looks like it,”

I just smirked at him, and placed my bag on the table in front of me. “This is my seat now,”

“Whatever,” Gerard smirked.

“Conversation ender?” I asked, laughing through my nose, already feeling a little calmer knowing that Gerard was trying to make me happier.

“You know it,”

And already, I was starting to feel better.