After that night in detention, things went back to the way they were. Gerard would insult me whenever he saw me, and this didn't exactly win him any favours with my friends. The footballers (I say footballers, but American Football is just rugby but easier, really) had taken to walking with me wherever I went. Partly because, as I found out from Charlotte, Dean Stainton was planning on asking me out, and partly because my friends had told them that Gerard was harassing me and they feared for my safety. This led to Gerard being beaten up one lunch time as he passed me and deliberately knocked into me. I tried to laugh it off and say it was my fault, but the boys were having none of it.

Seeing Gerard in French after lunch ruined my entire week. His face was cut up and a bruise was forming under his left eye. I tried not to look at him, but I could feel his eyes burning into me every time I moved.

Mr Boucher had decided to do his speaking exercise again but had learned to keep Gerard and I separate. I noticed that the Eve girl Gerard had spoken of was sitting on her own. I'd never noticed who she sat with before, but guessed they were absent so I moved over onto her table.

"Hi," I said, placing my bag on the table top. She looked frightened when she realised who was sitting next to her. "It's Eve, isn't it?" Gerard's eyes were on me again; he knew what I was doing. Maybe I could show him my insides weren't made of stone. Eve nodded. "I'm Evie," I said kindly

"I know," she muttered.

"So, how's your French?"

I spent the rest of the lesson trying to coax Eve out of her shell. It worked and by the time the bell rang she was almost happily chatting away to me. She was really interesting and we had a lot in common - she loved Nintendo, N64 was her favourite console, Pokemon Snap was her favourite N64 game and her favourite Pokemon was Pikachu! I was pretty much in love with this girl and I couldn't wait to talk to her in my next lesson. I also felt that I'd done a duty; I'd made her realise I wasn't a massive bully and I'd proved Gerard wrong.

I held a smile on my face as I walked out of the classroom, but it soon disappeared when I saw a battered Gerard leaning against the lockers on the opposite side of the corridor. He was staring straight at me, his eyes full of hatred.

"Don't think that makes you a better person," he said calmly as I approached him, "I still have to go home and explain to my mother why my face is like this." He jerked a finger in the direction of his face.

"Gerard, I tried to stop them!" I reasoned, "you saw!"

"Did it work?"

I fell silent and shook my head.

"Maybe when you climb down from that little cloud you live on, you'll realised that by just being who you are, you're ruining lives. So what if you tried to stop them? Maybe if you didn't surround yourself with those dicks in the first place..."

"And who do you suggest I 'surround myself' with, huh? People like you? Let me tell you something, Gerard. I've tried to reach out to you, I've tried to make you see that I'm not who you think I am but I'm tired! I've given up! So stay away from me, go back to running away from me. That way, you won't get beaten to a pulp and I won't get made into the bad guy."

And I was done. I turned and I left the beaten-up Gerard by the lockers to go and find my friends; the 'dicks' I surrounded myself with.

When I found them, they instantly knew that something was up.

"It's nothing, really," I assured Charlotte as I scribbled down the value of x. She wasn't buying it.

"You look like you've just been slapped in the face," she said, her dark eyebrows furrowing as she pierced me with her brown eyes, "what is it?"

"Nothing! I just..." I sighed and dropped my face in my hands, "I need a drink."

I knew that would get Charlotte away from the subject.

"Funny you should say that," she said mischievously. I lifted my head and gave her a quizzical look, "my parents are down in Florida next weekend and I have a free house." I smiled equally as enthusiastically as she did. "Two weeks from now, we will be recovering from a two-day hangover, talking about the events that had occurred on Saturday."

"You have no idea how much I need a hangover," I laughed, dropping my pen on the table.

"Yeah yeah," she smiled, "I was thinking of inviting Dean..." She took a quick glance to gage my reaction.

"Oh?" I said, making it easier for her.

"You know he's into you, Evie," she stated, looking at me from under her long eyelashes.

"So?"

"So?! Do you know how many girls would kill to be in your position right now? Let me tell you - pretty much every girl in the school! Evie, you have to go with him, you'll be the most popular couple in the school! Everyone will love you."

"Not everyone," I muttered before I could stop myself.

"Who wouldn't?" Charlotte asked with sceptical tones.

I paused for a moment before shrugging. "Gerard Way?"

"Gerard Way?" She said blankly, "Evie, he doesn't have an opinion. Why are you worrying about him?"

"I'm not!" I defended, "just making a point..."

The weather turned bad again after Monday. Lunch time cheer practice was held indoors again. I hated practice anyway; Ebony expected us to wear our uniforms all day to show as much skin as possible and still get away with it. Practice during school hours was even worse; anyone could come and watch, which they frequently did. Performing was not one of my strong points, but when I was at games I'd had months and months of practise to perfect my routine. During this session, our routine was far from perfect.

"And lift!" Ebony shouted from her place at the head of the group. Being one of the smaller people in the squad, I was thrown up into the air. I landed perfectly in Megan and Louise's arms, but it still wasn't good enough for Ebony. "I don't know what's going on up there, but it wasn't good enough. Guys, we have a game in three weeks! Again!"

Once again Megan and Louise threw me up in the air. I performed a perfect spin and positioned myself in time for my landing, but Louise wasn't ready. The arms that were supposed to catch me were nowhere to be found and I tumbled the height of two people to land on the not-so-soft gym mat. My ankle, which was tucked underneath me, gave a painful twang.

"What the hell, guys?!" Ebony called as everyone came down to surround me. "Okay, I think that's enough, but get your acts together! Evie, you were out of time and Louise dropped you! Practise or I'll give your part to someone else!"

The girls all filtered into the changing rooms, leaving me alone, sitting on a gym mat with a potentially broken ankle. I grumbled as I gingerly got to my feet and limped out of the gym. I had no intention of going to the changing rooms, or to complete my day at school. I just wanted to get home so I could lounge on the couch with a bowl of ramen and some shitty American drama.

The instant I left the shelter of the school entrance I was soaked to the bone and shivering. It would probably have been a smart idea to change into some warmer clothes before I came out, but I don't think I could have even managed to get my sock over my ankle with the pain it was causing me. So I bit the bullet and trudged ahead, ignoring the violent shivers that were pulsing from my body.

I managed to drag my leg ten metres from the school gate before I had to stop. I sat down on the floor, not caring that deep puddles had formed around me. The rain was so thick that the road in front of me was covered by a wet grey curtain of water droplets. I lent my head against the school fence and let out a furious sigh. Why me? Of all the fucking people in the cheerleading squad, why did they have to drop me? I was going to kill Louise for that, and Ebony for blaming me.

I could just see a car coming towards me, it's headlights barely making a dent in the sheeting rain. It was moving slower and slower as it approached me until eventually it stopped. It was probably an old couple wondering why a girl in blue and gold barely-there clothes was sat in a puddle in the pouring rain. I was wondering that myself, too.

"Evie?" A voice came from the road. I squinted into the rain and saw a beat up black car parked opposite me.

"Gerard! Couldn't stay away?" I asked sarcastically.

"What the fuck? What are you doing?!" I heard his door open.

"Enjoying the rain, what does it look like?" I laughed humourlessly. Gerard was stood next to me now, looking down on me with worried eyes.

"C'mon," he said, gripping my arm with his hand and pulling me to my feet. He started dragging me to his car before I could protest, so I just limped along behind him. Once I was safely sat in his passenger seat, I decided I had made the right decision. The car was warm with the heating going. The engine was vibrating and the the wipers were still frantically flicking water away from the windshield. Gerard slid in on the other side and we sat in silence, parked outside the school.