I See You Lying Next to Me

***Gerard’s POV***
I was immediately awaken by the blaring sound of my alarm clock as I rolled out of bed. I was just glad that I didn’t have another rude awakening by Mikey. As I looked down at my clock to see I had 20 minutes to get ready, I hurried over to my closet and picked out a Smashing Pumpkins tee and a pair of black-ribbed skinny jeans. I hurriedly threw on the articles of clothing onto my slender body and rushed over to my bathroom. As I looked up at myself in the mirror, I was startled to see a humongous, purple bruise on the side of my nose where Mikey had punched me from last night. “Shit.” I muttered to myself as I tried to find a way to cover the noticeable shiner. There was no way I could show up to school with this on my face. With just a small amount of time left to spare, I quickly decided to sneak into my mother’s room to look for some kind of makeup to cover it up. As I tiptoed over to her bedroom door, I was then alarmed by the sound of my mother’s voice coming from down stairs. “Gerard, hurry up, or we’re going to leave without you!” She yelled. Fuck, now what am I going to do. I then began to panic as I hurried back over to my closet and threw on an old, black hoodie. I then quickly grabbed my school bag as I threw the hood over my head so my face was hidden. “Gerard, we’re waiting for you!” My mother yelled once again. “I’m coming!” I shouted angrily as I rushed down the stairway and met them in the kitchen. “Finally, you’re ready.” Mikey scoffed. “Shut up.” I hissed back at him. “Alright boys let’s go so you’re not late!” My mother chimed as we headed out the door and into the car. Like always I had to sit in the backseat again. I crossed my arms and kept my head low as Mikey turned on his Sport’s station like he did every day.

As I had finally arrived at school, I made sure to run over to Mr. Iero’s classroom. I could not risk the chance of me being late and having him question me about my face. As I slowly crept down the hall and to the entrance of the door, I was angrily greeted by the sound of Mr. Iero’s voice. “Come in!” He grumbled. I then walked in flustered as his eyes widened. “Oh it’s you Gerard. Sorry I apologize-“He immediately stopped what he was saying to notice my hoodie covering my face. I gulped. “Gerard…” My breath hitched. “Yes sir?” He then stood up from his seat and began to walk closer to where I was standing. Before he could speak again, the bell had rung for the beginning of first period. I then quickly took my seat as several more students’ fled the classroom. Mr. Iero’s eyes were still focused on me but he eventually began the lesson. Throughout the lesson, I could tell he was extremely distracted as I made sure to keep my head facing down so my bruises were unnoticeable. “Gerard, could you please read the next section to chapter 6?” Mr. Iero spoke, looking over in my direction. I bit my lip as I didn’t know how to reply. “S-sure I-I uh-“”Gerard?” I swallowed hard. “I know you’re still knew here and all, but it would still be crucial for you to take off you’re hoodie, thank you.” His arms were now crossed as he was tapping his foot impatiently for me to take it off. “Sir, I’m afraid I can’t.” I blurted. He furrowed his eyebrows. “And why not?” I felt as if I wanted to burst into tears as he approached closer to my desk. “Well?” I rubbed the back of my neck nervously as I didn’t know what to do next. “Fine…” I muttered as I finally took off my hoodie, exposing my bruises. His eyes widened at the sight, as many whispers began to go around the classroom. “See me after class.” He whispered as he walked back over to the front of the classroom to continue on with the lecture. I could feel my heart pound hard against my chest as I was afraid of what he would say once I would see him after the class was over. I kept my eyes on the clock as all I wanted was for the day to end and just slumped down in my seat, wishing I could just disappear from reality.

After about an hour of Mr. Iero’s boring lecture, the class had finally ended and all the kids had left to go to break. Hoping that I could escape his classroom without him seeing me, I began to quietly trail behind the other students when he stopped me. “And where do you think you’re going?” I gulped. “Come back here.” He ordered as I slowly turned around and motioned towards his desk to where he was sitting. “Explain.” He spoke abruptly. I then tried my best to play dumb. “Explain what?” I asked. “Explain what happened to your nose…” His expression was not at all happy as it was yesterday. “I-I fell…” I lied, hoping he would buy it. “Is that so? “He replied as he kicked his feet onto his desk. “Then why do I find it hard to believe you?” I began to stutter. “I-I” He then interrupted me. “Was is it a kid in one of my classes?” He asked pulling out a fresh cigarette. “What?” He sighed. “I said was it a kid in one of my classes that beat you?” I shook my head. “N-no it’s not anything like that I-“”Then who did it?” He questioned as he placed the cigarette stick to his lips. “No one…I told you I fell…” He then let out a breath of smoke as he continued to speak. “We both know that’s bullshit, now tell me who really hit you so I can sort everything out.” My eyes widened in shock. Did my Mr. Iero actually swear? Was he allowed to do that? “Gerard I wasn’t born yesterday. I was a kid like you once, now tell me. Spill it.” I finally just gave in. “I-It was my brother…” I muttered under my breath. He froze as the cigarette almost fell out of his mouth. “Y-your brother-he hit you?” I nodded slowly as I tried to hide the emotion that was built up inside me. His eyes began to soften. “Gerard I-““No don’t say anything, I’m fine…” I interrupted. “Gerard you’re not fine. Your nose even looks broken to me.” He then reached to touch my nose when I flinched. “Ow.” I muttered. “Sorry…uh when did this happen?” He asked still examining my face. “Last night when I was doing homework…” He gave me a puzzled look. “Why would he just hit you then?” I shrugged. “Well I don’t really know, but all I was doing was finishing up the assignment you gave me when he came and tore up my homework-“He stopped me before I could continue. “Wait you said he tore up your homework?” I nodded. “Yes sir. I’m sorry I didn’t mean for it to happen I-““No its ok you don’t have to worry about that but please continue.” I sighed. “Ok. So after he did that, I got mad and tackled him, but I didn’t try to hurt him or anything.” He nodded. “And when I did that, he got furious at me and punched me in the nose…so yeah.” I gulped as I was afraid of what his reaction might be. “Oh Gerard, that’s horrible. What did your parents say? You must have told them right?” My eyes then began to sting as I continued on. “Well I did tell them…but they didn’t believe me.” I could tell he was getting angry. “They didn’t believe you after they saw your nose?!” I nodded. “Well, honestly they didn’t care about my nose, they just cared about Mikey cause he was acting like the victim in the whole situation.” I explained. He sighed. “Gerard, we have to do something about this.” I shook my head in disagreement. “No there is nothing we can do…my family is unreasonable and they much prefer Mikey over me…” He then began to come a little closer to my face as he let out the smoke that was in his mouth. I coughed a bit at the strong sent of the smoke. “Gerard, how bout you stay with me after school today.” I looked at him shocked. “Why?” He shrugged as he held the cigarette stick between his two fingers. “Because it would give you a change to have a break from your family, plus I can help you out with the homework that I had assigned you last night since you didn’t get to finish.” I began to think for a while before I decided. “But what would my parents say?” I questioned. “I’ll just tell them that you will be with me for extra tutoring today since that is what we’re doing right?” I nodded. “I guess that will be fine.” He smiled. “Great. And just remember you can tell me anything if something happens like this again.” I felt myself blush as I agreed. “Mr. Iero-““No remember what I told you yesterday? Call me Frank.” He chuckled. “Ok well Frank, why are you being so nice to me compared to all the other students?” He finally got rid of his cigarette as he kicked his feet back up on the desk. “Because you’re my friend. And friends do nice things for one another.”

Notes

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