“I just know you're going to have a better day today, baby.” Frank's mom cooed at him from the driver's seat. “Honey.... did you hear me?”

“Huh.. what? Sorry,” he mumbled.

Patiently his mother smiled, “ I said you're going to have a great day. I know that yesterday sucked, but it was your first day to a new school, so I'm sure since your nerves aren't as bad today, it'll be better. Remember, we moved here to-”

“Better our lives, I know mom.” Frank interrupted the oncoming speech. Yes, he knew that they had moved to this random New Jersey town so that everyone's lives will be better, that they'll improve, but he can't help but to feel guilty. His parents were perfectly happy in Oregon, and moving to Jersey was all his fault. His mother was a physical therapist assistant, while his dad worked for the local fire department. Everyone was really surprised when the do- no- wrong Mr. & Mrs. Iero's son tried to overdose on sleeping aids, and failed at that. Since the move, such “accident” hasn't been mentioned, though it's the pink elephant in the room.

“Well, we're here, I'll see you tonight,” his mom said with a loose smile. The glimpse of hope in her eyes disappeared when Frank just nodded and silently got of the car. “I love you!” she added, but he only returned a half-minded wave.

- - -

“Well yeah, totally man! I'll give you a tour of the shitty place sometime.” some girl from Frank's class offered. “I mean, it's not so bad here.”

She was friendly enough, but Frank wasn't up for making new friends. He examined her face for a minute without replying to her. Her face was extremely thin, but she wasn't underweight by any means. Brown hair framed her chin, her bangs extremely thick on her forehead. Her black rimmed glasses complimented her boring eyes fairly well, and her skin was tanned probably from a tanning bed. “So what do you think?”

“Oh.. uh, I don't know, maybe.” Frank replied quietly, with absolute no genuineness behind it, but the girl smiled and it seemed like it was enough of an answer for her.

Frank sat alone at lunch and just analyzed the lunch room. Everyone was paired up in their separate cliques. The sports people stuck together, the football players, and lacrosse mostly, as well as their posse of anorexic cheerleaders. The artsy kids with multicolored hair, dark rimmed makeup and pierced up faces were together, the “normal kids” bunched up as well. But then, Frank noticed a table in the far back corner. A boy sat alone with just his messenger bag, a can of soda, and a sketch pad on the table. He sat there staring at the pad of paper. From where Frank was, he couldn't see that anything was written on the paper. He was very light skinned, pale even, and his dark hair covered most of his face. He intrigued Frank for a reason unknown to him. He just watched him across the room, subtly, and took note of every time he would move. Mostly it was just to scratch his nose or to move his hair from his eyes. He was working away at his paper now, his hands moving effortlessly at the paper, like he wasn't even trying at all. He'd stop every now and then, sometimes to scratch his head, other times to take a swig out of his Coke, but every time he moved, Frank never failed to notice.

Shortly after the bell rang, Frank realized he didn't even take a bite of the cold, most likely previously frozen pizza that was in front of him, but he couldn't be bothered. He wasn't hungry, and hasn't had much of an appetite lately. He threw his lunch away, taking the water bottle with him to his next class. Walking up the stairs to his Art class, he noticed the boy from lunch followed him. Frank hesitated and examined him walk into the classroom. He wasn't there yesterday, Frank would have noticed for sure. The mystery of this kid just kept expanding as Frank payed more and more attention to him. Shaking his head softly as if to clear his thoughts, he just sat down and subtly looked at the kid in front of the class. He was just standing there, looking completely out of place. His dark clothes and long, dark hair didn't help him blend in against the colorful walls of the Art room.

Shortly after, the teacher walked in and smiled towards the outcast. “Hello, Gerard, welcome back,” she said, “you can sit where you please.”

And with that, he sat at the back of the class. Frank twisted in his seat to try to catch one last glimpse of him before class started. Suddenly, they met eye contact, and the kid took a double take when he realized that someone was looking at him. Embarrassed, Frank quickly turned around and didn't look behind him in fear that he would be caught again, but he detected that the enigmatic guy was always at the back of his mind.

“It's so fucking lame that big companies boycott against homosexuality, don't you think?” Frank's cousin who was visiting for the next two weeks. She was his only escape of the monotonous days he'd been living up until this point. “I mean for fuck sakes, leave sexuality out of it and just eat your god damn chicken, ya know?” “FRANKIE!”

“Oh, what? Sorry, what were you saying?” Frank said as he snapped out of his trance. His cousin just smiled faintly, “I said, that it's so lame that big name companies are spending so much time on homophobic bigotry.”
“Hm, yeah. I guess I just haven't really paid attention.”
“What's your thoughts on being gay?”
Frank paused, “I don't know, I don't care either way I guess. I mean, stick it wherever you want, it doesn't affect me.”
Aurora kind of laughed, “That's what I like about you, man. Would you ever stick it in a guy?” she said lightheartedly.
He just grinned and shook his head, “Nah, not for me. I'm kind of just celibate at this point anyways.”
“Mhm, the real virgin Mary! Frank Iero! He's a saint!” Aurora screamed at the top of her lungs in the empty house.
Frank laughed for the first time in a while, “Shut up Ror!
“So have you talked to her?” she asked him.
Frank stopped laughing immediately and turned grim, with a stutter “N- n- no, I haven't.” Aurora realized she made a mistake. She went in to console her cousin with a hug but he brushed her off. “Sorry,” she said. “It's fine don't worry about it. Let's go eat.” he said, dropping the subject.