Unknown Identities

Gerard walked into the nurse’s office while Frank walked away towards the bathrooms for paper towels. Friends, he thought, one step closer. He smiled to himself as the nurse rushed over to him.
“Well, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you walk in here smiling!” The greying older lady said as she was within talking distance.
It was true, never once had he come in happy and he had come in more times than he could count since he moved here last year. Normally, he would be complaining rather angrily about the boys who had added another bruise to his body or crying over how hard it was to only be able to watch the person he loved and never be brave enough to talk to them. The nurse listened to all his problems as was her job, not only as the nurse but as the school’s psychologist as well. He could talk about anything and the nurse would listen intently and give her own opinions and advice. She was the one who had given him the idea to leave notes in Frank’s locker. However, she didn’t know Gerard was head over heels for another guy. He had talked about a crush and she had automatically assumed it was a girl. He was too just too embarrassed to ever correct her.
“So what put you in such a good mood?” She asked as he sat down on one of the grey leather beds, extending his legs in front of him for the nurse to see.
“I made a friend in class, today,” He said, the nurse was wetting down a wash cloth to clean up his scrapped up knees of gravel and the deep red liquid coating them. “He helped me here when I was fell, his name’s Frank,”
“He sounds like a nice guy,” She said smiling. It’s nice to see him finally smiling. This boy must mean a lot to him. “Now, how did you scrape up your knees so badly?” she questioned.
“I was walking off the track and some asshole tripped me. I fell pretty hard on the gravel surrounding the track outside,” he explained. She nodded her head, completely ignoring his language, she had grown accustomed to it.
“Why were you guys outside in the first place? Isn’t it close to snowing outside?” she asked.
Gerard winced as she started dabbing at the wounds to clean them of the blood.
“No clue, but after a while the cold really didn’t bother me” he admitted remembering how close Frank was to him. It drove him crazy and took all his effort to not wrap his arms around the smaller, shivering boy. The nurse rose an eyebrow at him as the boy’s face dusted a light pink.
“And what about your crush? Are you still leaving letters? How’s it going?”
“It’s going,” he replied wondering what was taking Frank so long, “I just can’t find the nerve to tell them,” he added in, making sure to avoid mentioning the gender of the person.
“Well, are you guys’ friends?” she asked, washing the blood off the washcloth and then wringing it out.
“Only recently,” like, just this period. He thought.
“Well, when you feel that you are close enough to her, you can tell her and sort it out from there,” she said walking back over to him and wiping the rest of the blood away.
“Yeah, her,” he said to himself. But the nurse had heard him and looked, confused, at him. His eyes were downcast and he looked rather embarrassed. There’s something he’s not telling me, she thought shooting him a questioning glance. But the boy’s eyes were no longer on her. They were focused on the door as it swung open to reveal a smaller teen clad in all black with the same color hair.
“Hey, Frank! There you are, I was beginning to think you got lost,” Gerard said smiling. His smile faltered a little however when he saw that the shorter teen looked a little disheartened. How much of that conversation had he heard? He thought.
“So you must be Frank, Mr. Way here has told me about you,” the nurse interjected laughing at how much Gerard’s face brightened when Frank walked in. I understand now, it isn’t a girl Gerard’s in love with. It’s Frank, that’s why he looked so embarrassed when I said she. Why did he never say anything?
“Good things, I hope,” Frank said, bringing a smile back on his face. He couldn’t stay upset for too long, just looking at the black haired boy sitting on that bed smiling was enough to make him truly smile again. The guy had such an adorable smile.
“Good things? Really, where?” The boy said looking around the room. The nurse was bandaging his legs up, smiling slightly to herself. This boy really does mean a lot to Gerard. I’ve never seen him so happy.
“Asshole,” Frank mumbled causing the other boy to chuckle.
“Okay, your knees should heal rather quickly. The scrapes aren’t all that deep. Just try not to bend them too much so you don’t break open the newly forming scabs,” She said, finishing up the bandaging.
“Thank you,” He said getting up off the bed and heading towards the bathroom attached to the office to change into his pants. No matter how comfortable basketball shorts were they would just not work with the new additions to his legs. “I’ll be right back,” he said shutting the door.
“In all the many times he’s come in here, I’ve never seen him so happy, the poor boy doesn’t have many friends and is pushed around by other boys a lot,” the nurse said, cleaning up the leftover bandages and washing her hands. “He really does like you, though,” She added. Not as much as I’d like him to, he thought sadly. The nurse smiled at him as if she sensed what he was thinking. Oh, this is going to work out quite nicely. She thought. Just a little time.
The bathroom door opened and the hazel eyed teen walked out with some difficulty. Skinny jeans was definitely not the best idea today. He thought wincing slightly as he took another step. Frank looked up as the attractive as ever boy walked back into the room. No! Stop thinking like that! Frank scolded himself, He’s a friend and that’s all he’ll ever be! He smiled to stop himself from looking completely upset but the look that he received from the teen told him that smiling really didn’t work at all.
“Thank you again,” The boy said, turning towards the nurse.
“Oh, no problem, honey,” She said, “Do you want me to write you boys up a pass back to class?” she asked even though she already knew the answer.
“No!” They both shouted in unison. She chuckled faintly, yep, some time together is all they need for the pieces to fall into place, thought the older lady.
“I mean, no thanks,” Gerard said, “class is almost over, anyway,” he added, looking over at the clock. Ten minutes left of class. No use going back to the gym. Frank nodded, agreeing with Gerard.
“Well, have a nice day you two,” she called as the two boys walked out of the room.
“Bye,” Gerard said, then he was alone again with Frank.
“Sooo, how many times have you been in there?” Frank questioned, the boy looked confused. “To be able to talk freely like that, I mean,” He added to clear up whatever confusion the boy had. The teen ran a hand through his hair. He’s nervous. Frank thought, why would he be nervous?
“To tell you the truth, I don’t really know how many times. Lost track,” he admitted, quietly. “That sounds really pitiful,” he laughed, trying to get rid of the awkwardness he felt. Not even Mikey knew that he went to the nurse’s on almost a daily basis. So why was he telling Frank this when he had really only known him for a class period.
“No, I don’t think so. I used to go to the nurse a lot as a kid. I got really sick really easily but I guess you’re not going because you’re feeling sick,” Frank said
“I don’t think I’ve ever gone because I was sick,” Can I just hug you? Frank wondered. Though he really wanted to, he stopped himself, that would just be plain creepy. He vowed, however, to make sure this boy didn’t go to the nurse with bleeding and bruised limbs anymore. Not if I can help it.
“Let’s talk about something else, this is making me feel all depressed,” the boy said.
“Okay,” Frank started, “Why’d you dye your hair?”
“How can you tell that it’s dyed?” Gerard asked playing with a strand that had fallen in his eyes.
“Your eyebrows,” He said, “They’re lighter than your hair,”
“Nice to know when you’re staring that you notice my eyebrows and not my eyes,” he said. Is he flirting? Frank wondered, No, just teasing. But that didn’t stop him from blushing a bit. “Anyway, to answer your question, I’ve got no idea why. Just felt like it one day, bought a box of hair dye, and here it is. Nearly gave my mother a heart attack. She thought I was doing drugs or something,”
“Were you?” Frank questioned
“At the time….” He trailed off, “Yes, but not anymore, I quit when I moved in last year,”
“What made you quit?” Frank asked, this guy was so intriguing.
“Well, my brother for one, and I…I met someone who made me want to be a better person,” he admitted, blushing slightly and not meeting Frank’s eyes. Must be that girl he was talking about with nurse. Frank thought.
“Anyway, I was thinking of dying it something different on Friday,” he said changing the conversation.
“Really?” he said, “but I like the black,” the other boy smirked.
“I’m sure you do,” now I’m certain he’s flirting…or he could be teasing! Oh I quit. “Why’d you dye yours?”
“Mom said I couldn’t” He said simply, shrugging. Gerard chuckled.
“Rebellion, I like it, same with the piercings then, I’m guessing,” Frank subconsciously, brought a hand up to his ear. He wanted his lip pierced but he was already on unsteady ground with his mother, best to wait a year or two so she doesn’t completely murder him.
“I don’t like authority,”
“Makes sense,” then the bell rang and students flooded the hallways, desperate to flee whatever class they were trapped in for the hour.
“Well, I’ll see you during art?” Frank said.
“Yeah, art.” Gerard said. Frank smiled and walked away towards his locker. How long will it take you to notice, Frankie, that we have all the same classes together?
He then walked to his own locker and then towards his next class. Frank sitting in the front, the whole time never noticing that he sat in the back corner doodling as always.
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When the final bell finally rang, Frank was out of that school as fast as he could go. But first making sure he said goodbye to the still unnamed boy. At least I have part of his name, Way. Where the hell have I heard that name before? He was having a really off day today.
He walked home, noticing as he walked up his driveway that a car was parked in the garage. Guess mom’s home early today. He walked inside the front door and was immediately bombarded by his mother.
“Welcome home!” she called, “How was school,” She asked, meeting him at the front door. Frank didn’t answer and worry spread over his mom’s face.
“Did something bad happen today?” she asked, worriedly.
“No, quite the opposite actually, I made a new friend,” he said, throwing his backpack on a nearby chair and kicking off his shoes.
“Then what’s with the distraught look?” she was thoroughly confused. Why is he acting like this then? Oh…I bet it’s a girl! My little Frankie, having girl problems! “I get it,” she said out loud. Frank looked worried for a minute. “The new ‘friend’ is someone you want to be more than friends with,” okay, she doesn’t think it’s a guy so I’m okay. I should just leave it like that for now. Maybe some other time.
Frank nodded unable to find the right words. I’m I really going to have this conversation? His mother smiled.
“Ooo, you’ll have to tell me all about them,” she said, excitedly.
“Yeah, sure,” Frank said.
“So what does she look like?” she asked. I wonder what he would look like as a girl. Frank thought, he smiled at the thought.
“Umm, short black hair, hazel eyes,” he said.
“She sounds pretty,” she said thoughtfully. “Are you going to ask her out?”
“No!” Frank said a little too quickly, his mother laughed, “I mean, I only met…her today, so that would be weird,” he said. Plus, she’s actually a he, so that’s another problem.
“Okay, okay, I understand.” She said, “Anything else interesting happen today?” Should I tell her about the letters? Maybe she’d have some advice for that as well. No, I’ll keep that to myself.
“Not really,” he said. “I’ve got a whole bunch of homework though,” That was an understatement. That’s why on Friday he was going to Mikey’s, so they could all work on the piles of homework the teachers decided to dump on them the week before exams. He really did hate school.
“Okay, well why don’t you get to work on that, I’ll make dinner tonight,” she said and Frank grabbed his backpack and walked up to his room.
It wasn’t ten minutes later that his phone went alight with multiple texts from Bob:
“For the math homework, what you get for question number 1?”
“And 2”
“And 3”
“And 4”
“You know what, what’d you get for all your answers?” Frank read all five messages and laughed slightly.
“I don’t quite understand why you would ask me for answers,” he replied
“Good point, I’ll go bother Ray,”
“Wait, speaking of math, do you know the guy’s name that sits next to me?” Maybe Bob new, this way he wouldn’t have to ask the guy and seem completely rude for not ever learning his name.
“Not a clue, Why?” Bob questioned.
“No reason, thanks,” he replied.
“No, there is a reason, ooo, that’s the guy who’s captured your heart isn’t it?” Bob teased.
“Why would you think that?”
“Oh, so it is. I knew it,”
“But I don’t even know the guy’s name!” Frank defended.
“That doesn’t matter, you’re still in love with him!” Frank wasn’t even going to respond to that. He flung himself on his bed, landing with his face into his pillow.
“Why does this have to be so difficult,” he groaned, “And why do you have to be right, Bob?” I hate my life, sometimes.
“But seriously, though. What’d you get on the math homework? Ray won’t give me the answers!”

Notes

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