Drowning Lessons

Frankie's P.O.V.

I wanted some motherfuckin' Skittles. I had begun eating them to replace my smoking habit, and now this addiction was just as bad. They were my stress reliever. Odd, don'tcha think?

"Come on, let's go inside. I wanna see if Ma's got some Skittles," I said after a long pause.

"Are you worried, Frankie?" asked Mikey.

"No... I know Gerard can handle himself. Its just that nagging doubt, ya know?" I said.

They knew.

"Maaamaaaaaa!" I called as we clomped back into the house.

"Skiiiitttlleeesssss!" she called back from the kitchen. I smiled. This had been our little greeting since I was 8.

"Speaking of which, do you have annyyyyy?" I asked.

"Cupboard above the siiink," she answered.

"Love you, Maaamaaa!" I said, my own little version of thanking her.

"And I you, Skittlesss!" I could hear the laughter in her voice.

She had gotten 3 packs of Original. She knew exactly what I looooved.

I ripped a package open, hopped up on the counter, and ate them by the handfuls. Bob eyed me worriedly.

"Don't eat those too fast. You know how you get with massive Skittle ingestion," he said with a smile. I tried to smile back. It was a weak one.

I heard a car in the driveway. Looking outside, I saw the red Tempo and we waited anxiously for him to come inside.

He didn't.

We looked outside, and he was leaning against the door, his face contorted into an expression of disgust and sorrow. I got worried.

Running to the car, I looked in the driver side window, and was horrified to realize he was trembling.

Crying.

I opened his door. "Gee!" I exclaimed. I saw his face. His lip was swollen, but otherwise he seemed unharmed. I knelt down.

At the sound of my voice, he collapsed into my lap and let his sobs become audible. The other guys ran out to see what the hell was going on.

"I... Frankie I... I st---I sta--- I fucking stabbed him!!" he said with difficulty. He was crying fucking hard. I'd never seen anyone cry like this.

My blood ran cold.

"Gerard, what? What did you just say? Calm down, bud. It'll be okay. You need to elaborate on what you just told me," I said, trying to keep my voice calm and steady. After hearing what I'd just heard, you can imagine how hard that was at the moment.

"Frankie, I STABBED R-RICK. Right in the fucking st-stomach. I just bolted. I di-didn't know what else to do. He pulled a w-weapon on me... He... I just... Oh, God, Frankie!" he said, breaking into sobs again and holding onto me. I pulled him out of the car and we leaned against it.

"Jesus, Gerard... Is he even okay? Do you know?" Ray asked.

"No, I don't fucking know! I pulled it out and ran. I came straight back here. I almost hit someone because I couldn't concentrate on where I was going. Jesus Christ, guys, what if I killed him??" he said, thoroughly terrified.

"Calm down, Gerard, I'm sure he's okay. If it was just in the stomach, maybe he just walked back inside the school and got help... Maybe they don't even know it was you..." said Mikey soothingly, coming to sit beside Gerard, "Everything will be okay, Gerard. I swear to you."

Damn, that guy was good.

I looked at my watch. It was 5:30. I have to stay here tonight. I have to make sure he's okay.

We went back inside and sat in Mikey's room. Gerard had calmed down a little bit, and we decided to just relax. I convinced Gerard to go draw something at Mikey's desk, Mikey started throwing pencils from his table into the soft ceiling tiles, Ray started putting tiny braids in his fro for some strange reason, Bob flipped through Watchmen, and me? I amused myself with more Skittles.

Donna had apparently gone to a friend's house, so we didn't need to worry about her.

Gerard tensed up when he heard the wail of an ambulance siren, but I said, "Gerard, it's New Jersey. HOW many sirens do we hear every single day? We'll be hearing a lot of them. You hear a humpback whale, that's weird, you worry about that shit, but not a siren," trying to lighten the mood...

It worked. He smiled and went back to his picture. I didn't want to look at it until it was done, so I started sorting Skittles into colors to make little pictures. I also flipped out my cell phone and told my mom me and the guys would be staying here tonight. I didn't know if they were or not, but it was easier than telling her the truth.

But of course they would be. We're family. Who could leave a brother at a time like this?

None of us.

We all eventually crashed, and we were pretty relaxed by then. We were convinced that nothing bad would happen.

Gerard's P.O.V.

I woke up early and started a large pot of coffee. I knew the guys would be up pretty soon, and we couldn't function without it.

Around the time the beeper went off, I heard the guys start to mill around up there.

"Coffee Time," I called. It was a well known phrase at the Way household.

They clambered downstairs and took their places at the kitchen table.

"Gerard, you know I can't have my morning coffee without my morning paper," said Bob, smiling, as he held his hand out for his news. Unfortunately, he wasn't kidding, and we knew this. I handed him the rolled up wad of paper and he looked content. I poured everyone's coffee and took my seat in between Frankie and Ray.

I heard a spoon clatter.

I looked over at Bob, who stared unbelievingly at the front page.

"Holy fuck, you guys..." he whispered hoarsely.

We were confused, so he placed the paper in the center of the table.

So we could see today's fun headline.

"TEEN MALE FOUND DEAD ON GROUNDS OF LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL".

Oh, someone's God, help us.