House of Wolves

I woke up to a soft beeping noise. I thought Frank would be cuddled up next to me, but he was nowhere to be found. The sun hadn’t rose yet, but winter was starting, so the sun wouldn’t rise till about 7:30. I stretched my feet out, then my legs, then my arms, letting out a small groan. I sat up and looked around the room. In the small mirror on the wall I could see my reflection. My hair was ruffled and my eyes were droopy. I threw the sheet off of me and put my clothes back on. The door was open so I decided to go downstairs. I could hear Frank. He was standing at the counter, hunching over something.
“Good morning.” I whispered as I wrapped my arms around his waist from behind.
“Good morning,” he replied, “how did you sleep?”
“Fine, why didn’t you wake me up?” I asked.
“Because I didn’t want to disturb you,” he turned around in my grip and wrapped his arms around my neck, “You looked exhausted.” he winked at me and I shook my head.
“Oh really.” I leaned in and kissed him.
“Mmhmm.” I heard and he kissed me again. His lips were warm and smooth.
“What are doing?” I gestured to the counter with my head.
“Nothing, don’t worry about it.” Frank nodded and walked away from, and sat at the table. I followed. We ate cereal and decided whether or not we would go to school. After we finished we took the backway to school, holding hands, being close to each other, and being unseen. Bob and Ray sat under the tree waiting for us. We separated, putting a small distance between ourselves.
“Are you guys ready for christmas break or what?” Bob exclaimed.
“Well what makes you so excited for it?” Ray asked, hands on his hips.
“Dude, do you know how many parties Regina and Delaney are going to throw? It’s like Slut Heaven! AND I WAS INVITED TO THE FIRST PARTY!”
“And let me guess, Delaney invited you?” Ray said with an attitude. Bob eyed him down.
“Yes, yes she did. Is that a problem?” he snooted. Frank pitched into the conversation.
“Bob, Delaney is your cousin.” We all laughed and Bob shook his head.
“Well, it doesn’t matter who invited me. I was gonna bring all of you to go crash the party, but whatever, I can just go by myself, alone.” Ray rolled his eyes.
“Your such a baby sometimes. Remember what happened last time we went to one of Regina’s parties?” Bob crossed his arms.
“No actually, please enlighten me.”
“Well Ray’s ex-girlfriend got totally got wasted and cheated on him for starters.” Frank said blankly. Ray looked down at the ground.
“And Frank got kidnapped by Hallie and Taylor and locked him in the attic!” Ray said. I was astonished on how wild these parties sounded. I was almost tempted to go with Bob just to go see what it was like.
“Yeah, but-” Bob argued.
“Oh and let’s not forget! You tried hitting on Regina as usual and her boyfriend totally beat the shit out of you.” Ray had finally won the battle.
“That was bound to happen! Besides, it didn’t hurt that bad.”
“Bob,” Ray turned and put his hands back on his hips, “You ran home crying. I think going to this party is not such a good idea.” Bob stood in silence, biting his lip for a moment. Then he got on his knees.
“Please guys! If a single thing bad happens, I promise, you can make me do the most stupid thing in front of the school, I swear my life on it!” Frank and Ray exchanged glances. I knew what they were up to.
“Deal.” Ray said bluntly as he reached out his hand to shake.
“YES!!” Bob screamed.
“I don’t understand you go to these people’s parties, they’re all a bunch of such-ups.” Ray rolled his eyes and sat back down.
“What I don’t understand is why you guys tag along with me.” Bob pointed out.
“That’s because we take advantage of humiliating you.” Frank said. That, I would apy to see.
“Hey Gerard, do you wanna come?” Bob asked.
“Oh don’t drag him into your nonsense!” Ray yelled, sounding more serious than expected.
“It’s his choice.” Bob had a sinister smile. I felt pressured.
“Uhm, sure, I guess.” I mumbled.
“HE’S DOOMED!” Ray yelled like a damsel in distress.
“He’ll be fine, as long as he sticks with us.” Frank said and took a glance at me longer than necessary. No one noticed though. The bell rang and Bob and Ray raced inside the back doors. Frank and I held back for a while so we could talk for a moment.
“What are you going to do if you see your brother?” Frank asked coming a little closer to me.
“I’ll probably try to ignore him, but if he see’s me I guess I’m obligated to at least talk to him.” I hadn’t thought about my mom and brother. I was pretty occupied with my own life.
“Well, if you need anything, come find me.” he looked around us. Then he spontaneously pulled me down by neck and gave me a quick kiss. It was quick, and too short, but it felt so rebellious. He turned around and started walking into the building, waving goodbye. I stood still, watching him disappear into the buildings walls. The late bell rang and I came out of my daze, dashing to my art class. My teacher was not pleased with me at all.
“Why are you late, Mr. Way?” she called out as I snuck into the back of the class.
“Uhm,” she raised her eyebrows at me, out of all days, she chose today to teach a damn art lesson, “My.. uhm... truck wouldn’t start this morning... so uhh... I had to walk.” I was a pretty terrible liar, but she bought it... for now.
“And why haven’t you been showing up for class, Mr. Way?” UGh, why did she have to keep asking questions.
“I haven’t been feeling to great.” She bought my lies again.
“Well, sit down next to... let’s see.. Julianna and try to catch up.” she pointed to a petite blonde girl, twisting her hair in her fingers. I slowly sat next to her. She smelt like dying flowers and wore a hideous white tank-top that was obviously too small for her. She wore a pastel green mini skirt and wore white knee high socks, with a ruffled lace at the top. She flipped her head toward me. She was chewing a giant wad of gum, smacking it between her overglossed lips. She had thick brown eyeshadow and looked like she had a pound of cover-up all over her face. She smiled at me with the most fake expression. God, I felt like I was living in an American Pie movie.
“Hi,” she smacked her gum around some more. I felt spit fly on my face, “I’m Julianna.” I turned away, trying to pay attention so I wouldn’t get in anymore trouble. She leaned in closer, too close for my liking.
“Is it true that goth’s kill themselves because they want attention from satan?” Oh my god, who does this chick think she is?
“Uh, no.” I said as I looked at her in absolute disgust. I wasn’t even goth, why was she asking me about it.
“Oh.” she kept looking at me and chewing her gum.
“You know, if you ever want to hang out.. We can-”
“Your not my type, sorry.” MAKE IT STOP! There was no way in hell that I was going to ‘hang out’ with this Julianna. She finally shut up and I waited eagerly for the bell to ring. When it did, I shot up and ran far away from Julianna and the art room in general. When it was time for music class, I felt instantly relieved. Frank and Ray were already there waiting for me.
“Hey Gerard!” Ray waved me down and I went and sat in the three person circle.
“How was your morning?” Frank asked. I instantly thought of Julianna and exhaled all the air in my lungs.
“Do any of you know that girl Julianna. I don’t her last name.” My mouth felt tainted just saying her name. Frank and Ray exchanged looks.
“Does she have blonde hair?” Frank asked. I nodded.
“Oh, Julianna Ridges, what about her?” Ray asked.
“Oh you know, I was forced to sit next to her all through art class. She offered to ‘hang out’ with me sometime.”
“Did you say no!?” Frank almost sounded defensive, which was odd, but kind of understandable.
“Of course I did!” I shook my head, in awe of how gross she was.
“Yeah, she’s Regina’s younger sister...” I felt my mouth drop. If that was the younger version of Regina, that what the hell was Regina like? And why did Bob want her so bad!”
“Just keep your distance from her. The longer you’re around her, the more she’ll bug you until you give her what she wants.” Ray insisted.
“What does she want from me? I’m nothing special when it comes to people like her.” Frank gave me a look that reminded me and I saw him blush a bit.
“She thinks your an easy target, therefore easier to get into your pants.” It made perfect sense, but she was wrong about me, I AM GAY. Of course she wouldn’t know that, but of course. I almost felt bad for her, but I shrugged that feeling off quicker than it lasted. We sat and talked about music for the whole hour. We met up with Bob during lunch in the usual place.
“Guess what happened to Gerard today?” Ray told Bob. I didn’t really want to talk to Bob about it, knowing his reputation with these types of people.
“What?” he didn’t seem very interested which made me feel a little better.
“He felt the wrath of Julianna Ridges today.” Bob looked up.
“Oh god, that whore? I’m so sorry man.” he said with sandwich in his mouth. I nodded and tried to ignore his filled mouth. Frank handed me a bag of chips.
“WAIT WHAT?” Ray exclaimed.
“What, I may like bad girls, but I’m not that low.” Ray just shook his head, not wanting to get into that debate. Ray and Bob kept to each other as Frank and I kept to each other. We sat in front of each other, having to share a lunch. We tried not to look at each other too long and we tried to stick to conversations that didn’t bring suspicion. I agree with Frank keeping us a secret, but I was starting to feel a little upset that we had too, especially since I knew he truly cared about me. I tried not to think about it.
After lunch, the day went by pretty smoothly. I didn’t run into Mikey, in fact I didn’t see him at all, and I wasn’t forced to sit next to crazy lunatics like Julianna. After school I met back up with the group in the back. Bob said he had a doctors appointment so he left a few minutes afterward.
“I hope they find out he has herpes!” Ray joked. We all laughed. Ray met up with his friend Louis and he disappeared, leaving Frank and I alone. Everyone had gone home, so no one was around. Frank sat right next to me and took hold of my hand.
“Are you gonna go home today... Again?” he asked. His tone told me he didn’t want me too.“Yeah, I guess. I can’t just keep running from them, I do love them afterall.” he nodded. I lifted his chin with my free hand and kissed him. He leaned on my shoulder.
“What are you gonna do tonight, go hang with Ethan?” I felt his grip get a little tighter.
“I don’t know, my dad is coming back home tonight.” he had a completely different tone in his voice.
“Well, if you need to come to my house, you can.” I leaned my head on his for a bit and we sat in silence.
“Well, I should get going then.” Frank got up and brushed off his shirt. He was in a completely different mood. The same mood he was in when I first met him, and I didn’t really like it.
“Okay. Need me to walk you home?” I asked, throwing my backpack on my back.
“I’m okay.” he said. He came and wrapped himself around me.
“I love you Gee.” he mumbled. I couldn’t help it but smile.
“I love you too Frankie.” he looked up and stole one more kiss from me. he pulled away from and put his hands in his pockets.
“See you tomorrow.” he said. I waved goodbye to him and watched him disappear into the backway. I took a deep breath and started to walk home. I wish I had taken the truck when I stormed out of the house. It took about twenty minutes to get home. I stood on our porch and stared at our door. “Am I really going to confront them?” I asked myself. I took a deep breath and walked in. I heard the sink running. It was soothing. It seemed like my mom was always running the sink. The light was on in the kitchen, but I heard no talking, maybe Mikey was in his room. I set my backpack down and went in, standing as straight as I could. Mikey was in fact at the table. He looked up at me in awe.
“Mom.” he mumbled. My mom was at the sink. She turned around looking at Mikey, but her eyes caught me and she did a double take. Her eyes widened and she looked speechless. I took a step forward.
“DON’T YOU DARE MOVE!” my mom yelled. I put my hands up as if she were a cop with a gun. She walked up to me instead.
“Where the hell have you been!?” she asked. I kept my hands up.
“I stayed at a friends house, don’t worry.” I mumbled.
“Don’t worry? Don’t worry!” her voice escalated, “Gerard, I have to worry, I a your mother for god sake and it is my duty to worry!” she screamed. I could see tears welling up in her eyes.
“Mom, I’m sor-”
“You don’t even understand how horrible you made me feel,” she interrupted, “All of us are always arguing and...” she trailed off into a soft sob.
“Mom-” I tried again.
“And then you run away and I thought I lost you forever! How could you do that to me, ho-”
“MOM LISTEN TO ME!” I screamed louder than I wanted to. For the first time ever, Mikey sat still quiet and my mom took a step back to listen.
“YOU don’t understand what’s it’s like being ME,” I had no clue where this was going, “I always loved you and dad, even though I hate him to the core. Your divorce was just as hard on me as it was for you two. Dad and Mikey,” I looked straight into Mikey’s soul, “They always pushed me away because I was different, not the perfect son, but you mom, you stood beside me. Ever since you left him, you’ve treated me different, always arguing and bantering about this and that! You moved here so we can all start over, and dammit, I’m gonna start over!” I felt tears rolling down my cheeks. I pushed them away with the heel of my palm. “Wow, I just lectured my family.” I thought to myself. I didn’t want to look at them anymore. My mom stepped towards me.
“Don’t touch me.” I resisted, but she didn’t listen to me, just as defiant as she usually his. Her loving arms wrapped around me and I felt myself release. It’s been a long time since my mom truly hugged me. I could hear her muffled cry from under my shirt. I wrapped my arms around her and laid my head against her shoulder.
“I’m so sorry Gerard,” she whimpered. I could tell it was genuine, “I’ve been a horrible mother to you both.” I heard Mikey get up and go to his room. I knew he wouldn’t want any involvement in this whatsoever.
“No, you’re a wonderful mom an-” I said.
“No I haven’t. I should’ve been easier on you and I’m so sorry.” She sobbed into my shirt, soaking it with her tears. I let her do it too. I never really seen my mom show her true emotions, and it made me feel much better.
“She let go of me and wiped her eyes. Then she put her hands on my shoulders and smiled. She took one hand and brushed away my tears.
“Oh, I’m so proud of you,” I smiled, “I love you. Now go down in your dungeon and be yourself. Dinner should be ready shortly.”
“I love you too mom.” I replied and I turned around to go to the basement. She tugged at my hand.
“You’ll always be my favorite son.” she whispered and that made me feel like the happiest person in the world.
“I know.” I snickered and she went back to cooking, wiping away stray tears. I went downstairs and unpacked my bag and hung back up my picture of Frank. I turned on my music and relaxed. It was the first time me and my mom had gotten along in a long time.

Notes

Here is yet another chapter. I guess I wasn't to happy with this on, but I guess only because it was sort of a transitional chapter (for me anyway YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT I HAVE UP MY SLEEVE)
I guess that gives you all a hint, but yes, HOPE YOU GUYS ENJOYED.