Best Friends Forever

Gerard and I head to school the next morning, making a pit stop in the outdoor bathroom to meet Patrick, the local drug dealer.
Patrick’s sitting on the sink and smoking, and upon seeing us, he hops down, whipping his cigarette to the floor. “What can I get you boys?” He adds, “Frank, did you change your mind on that dildo?”
I turn scarlet, replying, “I’m going to have to pass.”
“What’re you here for then?” Patrick asks.
“I’m actually here to get some weed, and maybe some cigarettes if you have any,” Gerard cuts in.
Patrick scoffs, answering, “Of course I’ve got fucking cigarettes. How many packs?”
“Two,” Gerard mumbles.
Patrick swings his backpack off his shoulders and onto the floor, pulling out three differently filled baggies of marijuana. Gerard chooses the 650`school with me.
We go up to the third floor, and as we climb the stairs, I tell Gerard, “I’m going to introduce you to my friend Tyler. She’s really cool.”
“Ah, sounds good,” Gerard decides. I spot her and wave, jogging slightly to meet her. He tails me, realizing, “Wait, did you say ‘she’?”
“Frank!” Tyler greets. She smacks me in the arm, scolding, “Dude, I texted you last night and you never answered. I thought you died or something.”
“Sorry about that,” I apologize. Although I recall no text messages from her, I’m sure that Gerard just could’ve been that much of a distraction. “Hey, I want you to meet my friend.”
Tyler stands on her tip toes to meet Gerard’s eye level. “Is that who this is?”
“Yeah,” Gerard answers. “Y-you’re Tyler?”
Tyler nods, asking, “And you are?”
“Gerard.”
Tyler hums happily, commenting, “Gerard. That’s a pretty name.”
Gerard opens his mouth to say something, but the bell rings and rudely interrupts. Once the ringing ceases, he stammers, “I’ll-I’ll uh… see you guys later.”
Tyler waves as he leaves, and on our walk back to class, she tells me, “I like him. He’s really cute, Frank.”
“Yeah,” I agree.
“So you’re into him?” Tyler asks.
I make a face at her, bugging my eyes and furrowing my brows. “What? No!”
“You said he was cute,” she points out, cracking her gum.
“Yeah, and I think dogs are cute too, but I’m not so into them,” I grumble.
Tyler nods, then muttering, “Wait, what?”
“Okay, bad analogy, I’ll admit that. But I don’t like Gerard, okay? Not like that. We’re friends.”
She rolls her eyes. She doesn’t believe me, and it pisses me off a little that she’d assume I have a crush on someone just because I agreed they’re good looking.
We part ways not long after the conversation’s over, and I’m thankful for it.
It’s the dreaded Biology class where I realize that the boy Gerard hates so badly, Jared, is the same asshole that had sat next to me that day. He seems to notice, too; his eyes light up when he sees me, and he grins maliciously.
I sit down at my assigned spot between him and his friend, who smirks, “Hey, Skunk Boy.”
“What?” I ask.
“Skunk Boy,” he repeats. He winces, gesturing at his own head as he explains, “You know, your hair?”
“That haircut is rather unfortunate,” Jared agrees. He tells his friend, “So was running into this little prick yesterday. Him and his boyfriend.”
His friend, a junior named Eric, asks, “You mean the Twilight kid?”
“Yeah, him. I see them by my house, right? Guess what I did.”
“What?”
Jared wraps an arm around my neck, making my throat tighten. I panic internally as his grip only gets stronger. “I choked out Way and gave him a wedgie. Iero here tried to interrupt, so I had to sock him once.”
“Dude, the teacher’s coming in,” Eric hisses to Jared.
Jared shoves me away, mouthing at me, “You’re fucking dead.”
Eric and Jared berate me throughout the class, and it’s when Jared is calling me a pussy that I ask, “Hey Jared, I heard your window got broken.”
Jared stops, growling, “How would you know?”
I exaggerate an exhale, running a hand through my hair. “Well, I mean, it was pretty loud. I was right next door at my freak boyfriend’s house, remember? Of course, I could barely hear it over the sound of him sucking me off.”
Eric bursts into laughter. “Jesus Christ, kid!”
“You’re such a faggot,” Jared spits, then turning his attention to the teacher for the first time all period.
I make a mental note that if I want to get them to leave me alone, the only way is through lies about getting off with other dudes.
Too bad that doesn’t work on teachers. In Spanish, Mr. Ross rips me a new one for not having my homework done. Still, it pales in comparison to the way he treats Gerard. It’s almost like he’s looking for excuses to yell at him, which is nothing new. The worst part is, the class totally eggs Mr. Ross on, some even making comments whenever he disciplines Gerard. By the end of the period, Gerard’s almost in tears and I’m sick to my stomach.
Again, I talk to him after class. But now he’s really is crying by the time he walks out of there. He rushes straight to the restroom, and I run to catch up, just to have a stall door slammed in my face.
I can still hear him sobbing, and I tap on the door softly. “Gerard?”
My only response is crying, so I continue, “Gerard, are you okay?”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Gerard sniffles. “Fucking Jared!”
“What, what’d he do?” I worry. I rap on the door when I get no response, repeating, “What was it?”
“Damn it, I said I don’t want to talk about it!” he cries. I hear banging from inside the stall, and it takes me a few moments to realize that it’s Gerard hitting his head against the sides.
I stand there, unsure of what to do. “Gerard, its lunch time.”
“I’m listening.”
“They’re having orange chicken,” I persuade. “With rice and a cookie.”
Two shoes meet the ground from inside the stall. I back up in time for the door to swing open, Gerard standing there with blotted eyes. He mumbles, “I do like Chinese food.”
I can’t help but laugh, and he chuckles too. We head down to lunch, and I keep in mind that while I didn’t fix Mr. Ross or tell him off, I did help Gerard, which was way more important anyways.

Notes

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