Very Much Alive

-Frank's POV-
Trigonometry, once again, was a waste of time. When Mr. Deeds wasn't digressing on some depressing story from his childhood, he went over the different classifications of triangles, which I'm pretty sure we all know how to do already. I got bored and doodled in my composition notebook for most of the time. The doodles ranged from anatomical hearts to Godzilla to fluffy little clouds that vaguely reminded me of Ray's hair. More daydreams of me and Gerard ensued within the confines of my jacked up brain. I peeked over at the clock. '9:40. Eh, could be worse, only need to get through another 5 minutes. 5 agonizing, god awful minutes... Oh you can do this Frank,' Just as he was about to regale us with the gruesome story of the time he had knee surgery, we were saved by the bell. I think everyone was as disgusted as me, because we all practically charged for the door, trampling over each other as we left. Once I got out, I spotted Ray coming out of his English class. I had to fight through a current of frantic freshman before getting over to him
"Hey, how was class?" I asked him. I really didn't care that much, I just want to make small talk to distract me. I'm not sure why, just one of those moods I guess. I really just wanted the day to be over so I could hurry up and talk to Mr. Way.
"Total drag, and he gave us a shit ton of homework, that jackass... and my stomach wouldn't shut up either. I'm so glad it's lunch time." I replied with a little nod, after which we just walked in silence. We made sure to walk through the school to get to the lunch room instead of passing the stadium. I did not want a repeat of yesterday, especially since they were probably looking for me now that I had provoked them. I really wanted to just be invisible again, not hunted. It was slightly longer going through the school, but it was well worth avoiding the risk of getting beaten into the ground. I needed my halfway-decent-looking face saved for Gerard.
We finally got to Section A and entered the double doors leading to the lunchroom. There was much hustle and bustle going on towards the center. Ray and I started pushing our way to the front. It was a fight.
Well...not exactly. More like one unfortunate freshman getting helplessly pummeled to death by three of our finest douche bag seniors. Students formed a perfect circle around the rumble to watch, all cheering and whooping for no one in particular, just cheering for the action. Nobody dared to intervene-that would only avert the three idiots' attention away from the kid to themselves. Helping would be a suicide mission, everyone knew it. It made me absolutely sick. A gut wrenching feeling was pitted in my stomach, urging me to help the poor student. 'I need to do something!' I had been in that situation plenty of times, not so much recently, but I sympathized with him. But what was there to do? Those seniors wouldn't listen if you tried to talk to them. If, somehow, I managed to get them to leave the freshman the hell alone, they would just go after someone else. It's like the Teenage Law of Highschool - Those picked on as freshman usually turned into the seniors that pick on the new kids.It was a vicious, petty, never-ending cycle of torture. A cycle I wish someone, anyone could break.

Teachers would never help unless called on. They turn a blind eye for those delinquents and pretend it never happens. Even when students do ask for help, they never deal out punishments, claiming they didn't know the whole story and who was behind what. Just a bunch of bullshit so teenagers didn't make their lives anymore of a living hell. I, being the coward I am, could only stand and watch. It wasn't just cowardice though, I think it was partially the pent up anger from when no one helped me when I was in that position. Maybe that's why I'm bitter- why should I be nice now when nobody came to my aid? That code of living "treat others the way you want to be treated," you know...
After another minute of pleads and screams to stop, the bullies got tired of beating up the kid and left the room. I guess you can only punch someone in the stomach, crotch, face, etc. so many times before it gets old. A skinny, awkward-looking male with glasses- who I assume was the victim's friend- ran to his side, helped him up, and half walked, half carried him to the nurse. Blood was running down his face, probably from a broken nose and plenty of scratches. Students, no longer interested, dispersed to their tables and carried on like it had never happened. I guess to them it didn't. It wasn't reality for those it didn't affect. It was all very surreal to me.
By that time, my appetite was totally gone. I forgot that Ray was standing next to me. When I looked over, he seemed as sick as I was with the whole matter. We walked to our table, solemn with the recent events still fresh in our minds. Before long Mikey entered, bought his lunch and sat beside us. He had gotten chicken tenders, mashed potatoes with gravy, small, cubed carrots and an 8oz. bottle of water. Ray went up to the line and got the same thing. When he got back, we stayed silent for a while, just watching those two push around their food with the forks.
I couldn't stand it much longer. I broke the silence. "So, um, Mikey, why did you never show up to Art?" I regretted even saying it. Mikey's eyes widen, back straightened. He seemed to go completely stiff.
"Well, I.. I, well..." he trailed off. Sighing, he set his fork on a napkin and folded his hands together. "I just, uh, don't know how I feel about this new teacher. Don't like him, don't trust him, so I just didn't show up. Uh, Yeeeah, simple as that." Now something was definitely off. No matter my many attempts to make eye contact, he avoided it, staring straight at his hands. He's such a terrible liar. I wasn't sure how to respond to that, though after a while, I didn't have to.
He started in, clearly bothered by my last question, "Well Frank, here's a question for you. Why was your guitar case and backpack in Mr. Way's room after school?" OH. Shit. I had completely forgotten about my case and bag being in the open for anyone to see when I had hid in the closet. What was I thinking?! Why had I been so careless when doing something that risky? That made me realize that I couldn't ask why he was in Mr. Way's classroom that afternoon either. If I did ask how he knew that my stuff was there, the story I told Ray wouldn't match up and that would be like admitting I was, in fact, in his room. It'd make me look too suspicious. It was my turn to stutter.
"Well, I was, uh... I was-"
"He was asking me a question about an assignment in his Creative Writing class. He needed to run back to his locker and grab one of his books and left his stuff in my room. Isn't that right Frank?" That voice made my heart swoon. I felt two strong hands grip my shoulders, giving them a reassuring squeeze. I didn't think my heart could take it. It was Mr. Way, come to my rescue. Where had he even appeared from? Impeccable timing, though- how he did that, I had no idea. I turned to see that he was right behind me, looking just as adorable as he had earlier, now with a little devious smirk on his face. He had taken off the trench coat though, his sleeves rolled up. 'Oh those veins, that perfect skin...' Wait what?
"YES! Uh, yes. Good thing, too. Could've gotten into trouble if I hadn't, haha," I said, faking a smile. It almost wasn't, I couldn't help but smile around Gerard anyway. I couldn't believe that he just lied for me. He could've easily let me embarrass myself as I failed at trying to formulate some lie that covered for us both. He smiled at the others convincingly, then glanced down at me and winked. That sent my heart into a frenzy.
"Yes well I hope you didn't have any problems with your homework Frank. You can ask me a question anytime you need. I'll see you later in seventh period." With that, he smiled directly at me and walked off. I watched him walk off, blatantly staring at his ass and the way his hips swayed. 'I bet he does that on purpose now, just to tempt me.' Did I mention I still have mixed emotions on the incident yesterday?
When I turned back around, my friend were staring at me, rather confusedly. I shrugged their odd looks off. I was too busy thinking anyway. 'Why had he covered for me? Maybe to make up for yesterday? Or maybe to hide something from Mikey... I'm still not sure about those two, something odd is going on between them, pisses me off...' 'OOH, someone's jealous,' my left side commented.The bell sounds, spitting me back into the real world.
"Okay, what was that all about Frank? Mikey you too. We need to talk-wait, Frank!" Ray hollered after me. I was already gone though. I really didn't want to talk about all this until I talked to Gerard, got our stories straight. Not that there was much of one. It was going to be a meticulous process, getting a single puzzle piece at the time, waiting to fit them all together. But that's just what was going to have to be done.
Economics went by quickly again. It started out with a few kids sharing their homework, a couple questions here and there, but that was mostly it. Ms. Jordy still didn't have her shit together, so it was like a free period for the most part. I finished our stupid Trig worksheet before it was time for the next period. Mrs. Fair was passing out copies of books for our first novel study. The first book was going to be Dante's Inferno. I'd heard of it before, never really cared to try and read it. We were assigned the first 170 pages which were due by next Wednesday, completed with notes and connections so we could discuss it later. She then proceeded to pass out a small packet of questions for us to answer as we read. I personally was not excited for this little assignment. I glanced over at Ray, who I guess was ignoring me. Probably mad at me for walking off earlier.
She gave us the remaining part of the period to begin reading. I ignored that request and listened to the rest of "Damaged" by Black Flag. I would've finished the album earlier, had I not been interrupted by an old hag named Mrs. Cothran. Every time the teacher looked at me, I just pretended read (me staring at the title page, mostly) I began looking at the clock. 'Ugghhh, 3 more minutes....' 'Two....' One....!' RIIINNG! Everyone stood at once and shuffled out. I threw my things and new book into my book bag and headed out. I was on my way to Creative Writing, where I would probably end up writing 10% of the time and staring at Mr. Way 90% of the time. Then I would get to that talk with him, which I felt slightly more comfortable about now. At least I knew we were 'friends' or at least that's what I had concluded from his stunt in the lunchroom. 'Just the first puzzle piece of many,' I reminded myself. Hey, at least I was getting somewhere now.

Notes

I'm so sorry for not updating this yesterday! I had a band concert at 6 which didn't end til 8 and I still had a bit of an essay to write. But hey, I'm officially on Spring Break now! Yay! There will be plenty of time to write. I had zero motivation/inspiration for this chapter, so sorry if it's not the best. Next chapter will include some Frerard! Hit 1000 views, thank you all so much for reading! Updating (for sure) tomorrow

-xo OfSaintsandSinners
p.s "May Death Never Stop You" finally came in the mail! I freaked out when I saw the package... I've listened to the full thing like 5 or 6 times now.