Take My Hand and Never Be Afraid Again

"That's a beautiful name for a beautiful girl." I blushed and smiled slightly, giving a quiet thank you. At that moment a group of boys ran up to us and tackled Frank, laughing and patting his back. These must be his friends...I hope.

"You cocksuckers!" Frank squealed, being careful not to burn himself as they bombarded him. "Can't you see I'm talking to somebody here?" It was only then that they turned to look at me, four new pairs of eyes glancing me up and down as I began again to play with my sleeves.

"Why hello, hello, what might your name be?" The boy I assumed was Gerard due to the fire-engine red hair asked, sauntering up to me and holding out his hand. Just as he did the bell rang and we all looked towards the school.

"Her name is Pandora," Frank answered, grabbing my bag with one hand and putting his other around my shoulder, "and we must be off so that she isn't late on her first day of school. So long fuckers, see you at lunch."

He turned to me, laughing, and shrugged as we walked to class together, occasionally pointing out classrooms but mostly asking me about the music I liked, books, movies, nothing and everything at the same time. Though both of us were highly attentive during the lessons themselves, breaks and passing periods were filled with this back and forth interrogation and endless conversation, and I began to grow used to our interaction.

By the time lunch came around I could even say that I was actually.....happy. Frank was incredibly funny and had amazing taste in music and movies. The coolest thing I found out was that we were both born on Halloween, though I got the bragging rights of being the oldest, if only by 15 minutes.

He led me out onto the school grounds, past the football field and into a little cluster of trees. Gerard and the others were already there. Frank introduced the lanky, shy boy as Mikey, Gerard's brother, the boy with the crazy fro as Ray and the quiet, burly blonde guy as Bob. For the most part I stayed quiet, occasionally speaking if I was addressed directly. I think Frank noticed because at one point he squeezed my hand and quietly asked "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just nervous around people." I softly replied back. He smiled sweetly.

"Don't be, not around us at least. We're all weird and loud." He squeezed my hand again. "And if you're going to be our friend, you're going to need to find your inner weird and loud."

I blushed and looked away. Was it possible that they could be my friends? Did I really get this lucky? I smiled slightly and shifted my position, taking my hand from Frank's but leaning slightly against his shoulder. We sat that way for the remainder of lunch until Gerard whisked me away to art class. I waved good-bye to the others as we dashed across the school, arriving in a huff just in time and cursing our smoker's lungs.

I enjoyed getting to know Gerard better during art class. Our first project was to spend the week working on portrait's of eachother, free-style. I loved that aspect, planning on taking a different approach to my drawing. Occasionally having to snap at Gerard to be quiet and still, I drew him darkly, opting for charcoal on parchment and creating shadows that left a mysterious, almost sinister effect. His eyes were my main focus, and I spent far too much time working on them capturing the dazzle they had and transferring them to paper. By the time I had finished school had been over for an hour.

"Oh, fuckstick! I'm so sorry. Why didn't you tell me school had ended?" I gasped, guilty for having kept Gerard at school and giving him no time to start his own piece, as a rough draft was due the next day.

"I understand the craziness art brings." he laughed. "I didn't mind staying at all. Do I get to see?"

I hesitated for a moment before reluctantly turning the paper around. At his gasp I peaked up at him, nervous that he didn't like it. As I opened my mouth at an attempt to defend myself I was silenced by his fingers to my lips.

"I know what you want to do. Don't you dare." he warned, keeping his fingers to my lips as he studied the portrait. "Pandora....this is incredible! I've never seen someone work with charcoal the way you do." I gently took his fingers from my lips.

"You..like it?" I asked, voice cracking from the nerves. He responded with a chuckle and smile before surprising me by pulling me into a hug.

"I fucking love it and I'm going to ask the professor for it after she grades it. I want to show this off." That caused me to smile and I hugged him back, pleased that he was happy with it.

"But what about your rough draft? You haven't had time to work on it. And I've kept you after school...I'm sure your friends miss you." He looked at me with a strange look in his eyes.

"They're your friends with you too and this was a wonderful way to spend the afternoon. I've enjoyed getting to know you, and having the honor of being a subject for a piece of your work. I have an idea though, why don't you come over to my place to hang out? I'm sure the other guys are already there with Mikey and I can sit you down for a bit to bust out a rough draft. Shouldn't take too long, I mean hell you came up with this masterpiece in three hours!"

"Okay!" I exclaimed excitedly, causing him to let out a giggle. After packing away the art supplies, I texted my mom to let her know where I would be and Gerard and I walked the mile to his house, discussing music, art and everything in between.

Notes

Hope you guys are enjoying this so far! I'm hoping to update again on Tuesday. Almost finished with the next chapter. Read, enjoy, subscribe and comment if you are liking this story!


-Motor Baby