If you look in the mirror and don't like what you see, you can find out first hand what it's like to be me

Frank’s POV

So Gerard gets bullied as well… When he told me to go I hesitated, hoping nothing too bad will happen to him, not like what happened back in England, but I didn't want to get involved, so I obeyed and walked off, the cries of Gerard’s pain filling my ears.

I eventually found my way to the art room after asking multiple students and teachers. The bell had rung about five minutes ago, so I was already late. At least I have an excuse.

“Erm, I’m new here, so I don’t exactly have a seat…” I asked the teacher, Miss Waters I think her name is.

She laughed politely, “You must be Frank Iero! Lovely to meet you, I’m Miss Waters, I suggest you can sit next to Gerard, who isn't here yet, but he should be soon. It’s at the back over there.” She pointed me over to where my new seat was, to see it was an empty desk in the back corner. I couldn't help but keep thinking if Gerard was okay.

Just as I got myself sat down and placed my bag on the floor, Gerard walked in. Thankfully he didn't look too bad, compared to the shit I got into. He smiled slightly when he saw that I was sitting next to him.

“Now class,” Miss Waters started, “I have a new assignment for you!” She said in an exaggerated joyous tone.

“You’re going to be doing it with your shoulder partners, so Jessica, you’re with Rebecca, James, you’re with Matthew, and Gerard, you’ve got Frank, and so on.”

At least I’m doing it with Gerard…

“Okay, so what I want you to do this time, is that I want to all to create a joined piece of artwork which represents you, so one half would be one person, and the other half would be the others. Very simple really, you have two weeks, including this lesson. You may use any materials, and are free to come in here at lunch and break!”

I started noting what she said down in my notebook so I wouldn't forget, but then I remembered that I’ll be doing this with Gerard, so he can fill in the bits I forget. Maybe this could be a way to find out more about each other.

“Got any ideas yet?” He asked me, clearly already got some ideas of his own.

“Erm, no, sorry, you?” I asked, hoping he’ll be able to help me a little.

“Well I was thinking about having myself in my room with a forest outside the window and have comic books and music things everywhere, basically you put what you like,” this gave me some ideas of my own.

I was thinking maybe I could do something like Gerard, very original Frank, so maybe I could have myself alone in my room with two other people, mum, and someone else, with different types of music related things around it. I done a quick sketch of what I plan to do in my notebook, and looked over to see what Gerard was doing. His was amazing! He jotted down what he wanted to use for materials; paints and markers, so I done the same, except I decided on markers and colored pencils.

“Yours is amazing!” Gerard exclaimed, approving of my rough draft.

“Aha thanks, yours is really good to, you seem really good at drawing,” I complimented shyly.

“You should see my room, it’s full of little comics and paintings and other shit,” I wasn't taking it as an offer to visit his house, but it seemed a lot like it.

“Maybe we could use this project as a way to find a bit more about each other? I know I've only known you for like an hour but you already seem like quite a cool guy,” He said with a smile and his eyes sparkled a little.

I blushed and went to get the needed materials for my half of the project, and Gerard went to get his. Our arms brushed together very slightly, but even so, I swear I felt shock waves travel through my entire body. I actually think I might like him already… No Frank, stop thinking like that, you've not known him long enough, and he could be an axe murderer!

“Shut up…” I whispered to myself to try and shut my inner critic up.

“Excuse me?” Gerard asked, sounding quite hurt.

“Oh, sorry, inner argument,” I explained awkwardly, gathered up the materials I needed and headed back to my seat. Seeing as I forgot the paper, I went over to get some, but thankfully Gerard had already got some, so I sat back down.

He drew a neat, faint line down the center of the paper, dividing it in two, and started sketching something down.

~45 minutes later~

Five minutes towards the end of the lesson, great. I've hardly drawn anything down whereas Gerard’s already looks like a masterpiece. I sighed in defeat and said “I can’t do this.”

“Why not? Your draft looked good enough,” He asked.

“I don’t know, I feel like, compared to yours, that mine will kind of ruin the whole thing…” I trailed off, embarrassed.

“Don’t worry Frankie! You’ll be fine, hey, do you want to come round mine tonight so I could maybe help you with this? My parents are out tonight and they said I could have a friend round if I wanted, so maybe you’d like to come?” He suggested. God, I hardly know this guy and already he wants me to go to his, however I couldn't turn it down, mum will actually be glad that I've made a friend.

“Sure!” I exclaimed happily. Just then, the bell for break went, so we gathered up our things as Miss Waters was handing out hard folders to keep our work in. I thanked her and walked out the room, following Gerard to my new locker.

I twisted my allocated combination, and fortunately it opened for me, revealing my new books for the year. I shoved a few random things inside and looked at my schedule. Great, maths then physics. Such fun!

“Hey Gerard, what lessons do you have next?” I asked him, hoping we’d be in the same lessons.

“Erm, I’ve got English and physics,” oh, well at least I have physics with him.
We quickly walked outside on our way to our next lessons to waste time. Thankfully, our next rooms aren't too far apart, so we sat on a bench and just talked about what he liked and disliked.

“Well, were should I start? I’ve always been obsessed with comic books, like seriously they are like my life!” He joked and carried on, “I also love music, like Green Day and Iron Maiden and all that awesome shit. I’ve grown up on the stuff! I only moved to this school at the start of last year, so I haven’t been here long enough to befriend anyone yet, but I managed to attract the attention of three of the schools most popular guys; Ray, Mikey and… Bob. They’ve been bulling me constantly since, and the only way I’m safe is at weekends and holidays. Each day, week, month, it gets worse and worse and recently I’ve been feeling really suicidal, because what they say to me gets repeated so often I’m starting to believe it. I don’t exactly know why they don’t like me, maybe it’s because I’m what they’d call an ‘outcast’, so like I enjoy different music, I like being alone and… I’m gay…” It hurts knowing that I’ve gone through similar stuff to him, but I’ll never know exactly what he’s feeling. I decided to tell him about me,

“Well, I moved here from England about a few days ago after my parents had a massive fight over something I’ll never know, which lead to my mum wanting to move here. I don’t know why she chose New Jersy, but I’m not bothered by it. I used to get bullied at my old school back in London because, like you, I was different. I liked different stuff, like Blink 182 and also Green Day, whereas they all liked Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj and all that stupid crap. I also used to get picked on because of my height, I was practically tiny compared to everyone, including my bullies – they were bloody huge! They’ve been bullying me for as long as I could remember and I couldn’t wait until I moved here, away from all that. Unfortunately the nightmares will never go away, and I just kept hoping for a better future, and hoping for at least one friend, which, by the looks of things is going to be you…” I looked him in the eyes just as the bell went. “Plus… I’m also gay.” I smiled, and waved goodbye to him as we went our separate ways to our lessons. All I could think about is whether or not I could have a chance with him, but what does he see in me? I’m pretty sure I’m the most unlovable person on earth…

Notes

This is so long ohmygod >.< So I managed to write about half of this at like midnight last night, so sorry if the first half isn't very good!

Also, happy mothers day! <3

-Axx