The World is Ugly

Never in my life did I think I'd be so excited over someone's arrest.

"Oh my god! I don't have to deal with her anymore!" I half yelled, half whispered. I bear hugged Gerard without realizing it. I heard someone come downstairs. "God, get a room!" Mikey croaked. I pulled away, blushing.

We had leftover pancakes for breakfast.
"So... how are you liking Belleville High?" asked Mikey.
"Eh. I'm assuming Gerard told you what happened to me?"
"Yeah. I'm really sorry to hear about it. You seem sweet. They have no reason to bully you."
"Thank you."
"You sound like mom," Gerard chuckled. I looked at the clock. We had apparently spent like an hour and a half eating pancakes. I excused myself and went upstairs. I headed to the trunk in front of his bed and pulled out jeans and a plain black t-shirt. My hair was an unruly mess but I didn't want to use his brush (I actually didn't even see one), so I grabbed a black beanie that had been thrown in the trunk. After I got dressed, I put on my eye liner. I cringed a bit at the thought, but I had to use his toothbrush. Once that was all done, I went back downstairs.

Mikey and Gee were sound asleep on the couch. "ITS LIKE 6:30, GET UP!" I yelled. That startled Gerard enough for him to roll of the couch and hit his head on the wooden floor.

~TIME ELAPSE~

We arrived at school at 7. We talked about my life in Portland most of the walk. When we got there, Mikey left to his wing of the school and it was just me and Gerard.
"So, what do you wanna do?" I asked him.
"I've never gotten to school this early. I don't even know." He pulled out his phone. "Wait, I got some people I want you to meet."

As we walked down the halls, I could feel everyone's eyes boring through my head and their whispering. It didn't bother me that much now; I was just really happy I had friends.
"Thanks for letting me stay the night," I told him.
"It's really no problem." He flashed a smile. He grabbed my arm and led me into the cafeteria. He stood there in the corner, gripping my arm and looking around, before dragging me behind him. He led me to a table. Sitting at it was a brunette with hair not much longer than mine and a guy who had the king of all afros. "Guys, this is Rose. Rose, Frankie," he pointed at the brunette, "and Ray," he pointed at the Afro king. I shook their hands and sat next to Frankie, and Gerard next to Ray. "So... why is she wearing your clothes?"'asked Frankie, suggestively wiggling his eyebrows at Gerard.
"Dude, we met yesterday. I didn't fuck her. She stayed the night at my house."
"If you just met her yesterday, why did she stay the night are your house?"
"Tiffany wants to burn me at the stake," I butt in.
Frankie hugged me, shaking his head. "Dude, it's one thing to have JJ on your ass but Tiffany? I'm sorry. I'll start writing your eulogy."
"She, her clique, and a few jocks beat me up Monday. She tried to drown me Tuesday. She tried to get me yesterday, but I ran away and ran into Gerard and he walked me home but saw someone in the bushes so he took me to his place."
"But did you guys hear? She got arrested," Gerard whispered.
"What?!" Frankie and Ray said in unison.
"Yeah. Beat someone yesterday and pushed a girl to suicide."
"Dude. That's... that's a godsend."
Just then, a group of jocks walked up to the table. The one that was apparently the leader, spoke and I knew he was the one from yesterday.
"Who's this little whore, huh?" He nodded towards me and I curled my hands into fists. It's 7:15 on my fourth day of school. No fights. I can't throw a punch to begin with.
"Leave us alone." hissed Gerard through his teeth. I looked over to stay and Frankie and they seemed ready to start a fight.
"You're trying to stand up for yourself because the emo bitch is here?" He feigned a laugh. "You piece of shit." He grabbed Gerard by the shirt like they do in the movies, threw him to the floor, and lifted his foot, ready to stomp on him. I threw myself at JJ, landing on his back and causing him to fall forward, face first. I snickered before someone grabbed me by the waist. The red sweater arm told me it was one of the jocks. I really didn't know what I was doing at this point. Human instinct got the best of me. I kicked my leg back as hard as possible without hurting myself and whoever was holding me dropped me and fell to the floor. All eyes were on me, I could tell. Frankie helped me up and Ray helped Gerard. We ran out of the cafeteria, up the stairs, and into a spare supply closet. They had apparently gone this route before. "Are you okay?" I asked Gerard.
"I'm fine. What even was that? You just jumped on him!"
"I honestly don't know."
"Shut up!" hissed Ray.
The squeaking of tennis shoes surrounded us. We waited several minutes, probably half an hour, before we heard anyone speak
"They're not here," JJ said, obviously ticked off. The squeaking got farther away from us, but we waited a few more minutes until the bell rang to get out. We went back to the cafeteria to get our stuff.
"It was a pleasure meeting you two," I told Ray and Frankie before I went to class.
"You have the same lunch period as all of us, so we'll meet you at the same table," Gerard told me. I nodded, and went back to class. I found myself smiling when I say in my seat in the back; I had friends.

Notes