Wanna Be Somebodies

FRANK’S P.O.V.
My heart has never beat faster than in those moments in that bathroom. I was sure my life could end at their discretion, and I was unwilling to give it. Unfortunately, there is five of them and just one of me, so I’m not really in the position to be calling the shots. Beggars can’t be choosers, but I still hope they only paralyze me from the waist down.
“Hey, fag,” Matt greets, knives in his voice. He advances toward me, informing maliciously, “I’ve heard stuff… you know, what goes around comes around.” He gets in my face, hissing, “I take it someone’s let the cat out of the bag.”
All I can do is stand there and try to play dumb while fighting the urge to wince at the rancid stench of his breath. I shrug, lying, “What are you talking-”
I feel that I was formulating a great lie, but he just has to go and shove me, cutting me off midsentence. I was always a great actor, but all those years in theater don’t help me when I spiral backwards at an alarming speed. It should be totally fine; I’ve fallen before and I’ll fall again, wipe the dirt off and move on. If only that damned urinal wasn’t in the way.
I crack my skull on the butt of the thing pretty hard, enough so that I immediately become disoriented. I don’t feel pain so much as I do a throbbing, a sort of pounding tremor beneath my hair that is pulling at the back of my head. Settling slowly to the floor, I reach a hand up to the area out of instinct, not pain, but the pain comes when I retrieve my hand at the feel of warm blood.
That’s when I start to yell, when I feel the pain surging through my skull like some kind of hot driving iron through the bone. I crumple to a fetal position, gripping madly at the back of my head in a desperate attempt to somehow ease the debilitating pain. Kicking my feet on the floor, I continue with my moans and groans.
I don’t see or hear much in those moments and the amount of time I spent on that floor is unknown, but I know that when I try to regain my footing, there is but one person there. It’s not Matt, or even one of his main accomplices; just a quiet figure in the background, probably a nice enough kid easily swayed by the wrong influence. He’s kneeling next to me, his brown eyes wide and jaw agape. “Are you okay?”
Deciding that one more groan is sufficient enough, as the pain subsides, I murmur, “Y-yeah, I’m fine.” I slowly gather myself to a sitting position, mumbling, “You know, concussion or whatever but it’s cool.”
“Gosh, do you need help back to your dorm? I can walk with you,” he offers.
“You know what, pardon my manners, but eat my ass,” I growl.
His face assumes the expression of a baby falling victim to object permanence foolery. “Y-your ass?”
I roll my eyes, snarling, “It’s an insult, ass munch.” I try to stand, immediately falling back onto the floor. He reaches a hand for me, which I swat away, cursing, “Fuck off.”
“What’s wrong with you?” he asks, seemingly irritated. Honestly, I’m surprised he isn’t furious; Lord knows so many others would be. However, I’m not grateful for his patience; he’s still part of the reason I’m lying on this cruddy bathroom floor, unable to stand even. I bark, “Gee, I don’t know, maybe the fact that you and your asshole friends incapacitated me.”
He frowned, offering, “Can I at least walk you back to your dorm?” I look at him with nothing but hatred in my eyes and a rock in my gut. He hastily adds, “I don’t think I’ll be hanging out with those guys anymore.”
“Don’t know why you ever did,” I grumble, this time allowing him to help me to my feet. I start to walk, almost limping from the pure heaviness of my head- for lack of a better word. I feel as though I’m about to give at any moment; the floor seems to be an almost certain ally. He rights me when I falter and steadies my pace, keeping me bumbling slowly down the hallway in somewhat of a zigzag pattern. It’s not his fault; my head is hazy and my feet aren’t about to cooperate either.
Instead of giving the directions to my door, I have him lead me to Gerard’s. Despite our quiet, but meaningful nonetheless, walk home, I still don’t trust the kid and I’m not about to let him lead me from an empty hallway into an empty dorm. Coulter has been all around lately; I hardly see him these days. But the nice thing about Gerard is that he’s as static as he is handsome; he’s almost fixed to the comfort of his bed no matter what he’s doing.
I’m grateful that he’s there when we arrive; but then again, it’s Gerard, when is he not there? He answers the door with first a smile, but after seeing the boy with me, his amiable grin turns into a look of blunt fear and apprehension.
“It’s cool,” I assure, somewhat quietly. I’m still not entirely sure everything’s peachy, so it’s not ideal that this kid know anything about Gerard being afraid of him. I stumble into Gerard’s arms, who helps transport me from the threshold to his bed. His eyes double when he observes my state, and he presses, “What happened?”
I’m trying to find the words to respond when another voice fills in the silence. “Frank got his bell rung,” the boy answers solemnly. “Might want a concussion screening.”
“How’d he get his bell rung?” Gerard demands. “Because based on prior events, I’m going to have to guess it wasn’t an accident.”
“Matt Ellis and… others,” the boy answers carefully.
“And you found him?” Gerard questions.
He replies earnestly, “I was there.”
More silence, the only audible sound being the faint hum of the air conditioning. Gerard shakes his head and scoffs, growling, “Get out of here.”
The kid nods, muttering, “I figured as much. Feel better, Frank.”
“Fucking leave,” Gerard repeats, more hostility in his voice now.
“I’m Jared, by the way,” the boy informs. With that and a swing of the door, he’s gone, just as quickly as he’d came.
“He didn’t hurt you Frank, did he?” Gerard demands.
I shake my head, answering honestly, “Matt was the only one. The rest of those cowards followed him out.”
“You should go to the nurse,” Gerard advises. “The concussion screening isn’t a bad idea.”
Groggy, I murmur, “Uh-hum.” Gerard helps me to my feet, and before I even reach the office I know that the diagnosis will be a concussion.

Notes

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