You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In High School

Gerard had always been an outcast. Even when he was a child, he used to be more interested in art and creativity than action like all the other boys. The problem was, that over the years all the name-calling, bullying and even the tiniest of remarks had built up into a tower that was, seemingly, one day going to crush Gerard. This tower had always cast a shadow on him, making him feel worthless and eventually leading to self-hate and self-destruction. One way he coped was the alcohol. He would often attempt to drink his troubles away, hoping that the toxic liquid would kill the pain he felt. Gerard had been struggling with this for about six months and the only person who knew about it was Mikey. Gerard and Mikey were very close, but it was mostly Mikey who spoke to Gerard about his troubles, rarely the other way round. Gerard felt like he had a responsibility to Mikey, and that he shouldn’t burden him with personal shit. He was there for Mikey, Mikey didn’t need to be there for him. Another way Gerard coped was with music. He spent more time with headphones on than without, and that wasn’t a bad thing. Well, people did call him ‘anti-social’, but Gerard didn’t care because he couldn’t live without his music.
***
A strangely familiar ringing coursed through Gerard’s systems, shaking him into consciousness and ripping him from his dream-like state. His alarm clock. Gerard swung his arm out violently, completely missing his target and hitting the lamp. It clattered to the floor, and Gerard struggled to sit up. ‘Fuck.’ He groaned, before pushing the button on the top of his alarm clock in a calmer manner. He got dressed slowly and brushed his teeth, then headed upstairs and out of the front door. Before he made it down the drive, Mikey came bounding after him.
‘Hey!’
‘Hi Mikey.’
‘Okay, bye!’ Mikey chirped, and ran off down the street toward school. Gerard was always amazed at how much energy Mikey had, especially in the morning. Gerard slid on his headphones, allowing ‘The Smiths’ to near-deafen him and wake him up.
***
That day at school, Gerard didn’t see Frank, the new boy, which was a disappointment because Gerard wanted to talk to him about the day before. There was definitely something unusual about Frank, especially in the way he lashed out at school. When the 3:30 bell rang, Gerard made it home in record time. By the time he was in his bathroom, tears were streaming down his cheeks. Depression did this to him, every now and then, he would just break down into a crumbling mess. Suddenly, the stitches holding his soul together snapped, and he fell to the floor. Gerard’s thoughts and attacked the inside of his skull, trying to escape through his insecurities. He was a freak. Life was pointless. He would be better off dead. These were the thoughts that encouraged his urges. He scrambled to his feet, and tore open the wooded cupboard. Inside was an unopened can of beer, Gerard’s toothpaste and his shaving equipment, as well as some old bits of paper. He ripped open the can and downed it in one. Then he reached for his razor, stood still for a moment and put it back. These urges for Gerard to hurt himself were rather compulsive, but Gerard had never actually done anything. After sitting still and letting the tears fall for ten minutes, Gerard pushed himself up and turned on the shower. He stepped inside and let the hot water run down his pale, naked body, soothing and calming him. This helped to stop the intrusive thoughts. After his shower, Gerard distracted himself by drawing and listening to music, as always. He also re-read some old comic books.
***
Suddenly, the landline rang, and Gerard heard Mikey pick up the phone.
‘Gerard, it’s for you! Some guy called Frank?’ Mikey yelled. What? How had Frank gotten his number? Gerard put down his comic book and made his way upstairs. He took the phone from Mikey and gestured for him to go away.
‘Hello?’ He said.
‘Hi. Is this, um, Gerard?’ Frank whispered.
‘Speaking.’
‘Okay, um, this is Frank?’
‘Hello Frank, are you okay? How did you get my number?’ Gerard asked.
‘I’m fine thanks, and, um, I got your number from school. I-I just wanted to thank you for helping me yesterday, so, um, thank you.’
‘Oh, it’s okay.’
‘Okay, I’ll see you at school? Bye, Gerard.’
‘Yeah, bye Frank.’ Gerard said. Then the line went dead. At that moment, Mikey came strolling in the room.
‘So, how is Frank?’ Mikey teased.
‘Piss off Mikey.’
‘Okay, okay.’ Mikey said, holding his arms up as if to surrender. Gerard wasn’t joking.
***
The next day was Wednesday, and Gerard was in the cafeteria when he saw Frank sitting alone. He walked over slowly, and put his tray down on the table
‘May I sit here?’ He asked.
‘Yeah, sure,’ Frank replied with a small smile. The two ate silently for about five minutes before Gerard spoke. ‘Um, so, how are things?’ H asked awkwardly.
‘Uh, okay I guess? You?’
‘Fine, fine.’
‘Hey, so um, I was wondering if, um, you would like to hang out some time? Just because, um, well, yeah. I don’t know.’ Frank managed.
‘Uh, okay, when?’ Gerard, weirdly, quite liked the idea of hanging out with Frank. He was alone and could do with a friend. It sounds cliché but it’s true. He also wanted to learn more about this mysterious new boy, as Frank intrigued Gerard.
‘Uh I don’t know, after school? There’s a park near my house?’
‘Okay. 3:30 school gates? Gerard suggested just as the bell rang.
‘Okay, see ya,’ Frank said before zipping into the crowd and out of sight. Gerard was extremely confused. No one had ever asked him to ‘hang out’ before, and it seemed strange. Maybe Frank felt bad about the other day and somehow wanted to make it up to Gerard? Or maybe he was just bored. Whatever the reasons, Gerard was pleased, because he had taken a bit of a liking to Frank and wanted to know more about him. This was all happening very fast, and Gerard had had more social activity in the last two days than he had in the last six months. It scared him a little, having to interact with people. Normally he hated everyone and everything, but Frank was different. Gerard liked Frank.
***
The bell ringing startled Gerard, he had fallen asleep in Spanish class, but this wasn’t a rarity for him. He collected his things and battled through the waves of insults flooding the corridors. Once he was outside, he headed to the school gates mounted the wall just outside. A few short minutes later, filled with torments and bits of paper thrown at him from various groups of kids, Frank appeared. He really was short. He was wearing baggy jeans and a big sweater, with his skeleton gloves and a pair of tattered converse. This was the first time Gerard had gotten a good look at him, and he was adorable.
‘Hey,’ He said, interrupting Gerard’s thoughts.
‘Hi,’ Gerard replied. ‘Shall we go?’
‘Um, yeah, okay.’ Together, they headed down the road, somehow shielding each other from the ugliness of the world, and the bullies’ torments, Gerard had a friend. He had never had a real friend before, but he didn’t mind. He liked the solitude, though it may have affected him more than he realised. Neither of them said a word as they walked, but the silence was quite nice. They passed Frank’s house and a few more before turning down a narrow, graffitied alley. At the other end was a small park, with a children’s playground at one end and a basketball hoop on the wall. There were also metal benches scattered around and a wire fence separating the park from an empty parking lot. Gerard used to come here as a kid. The two sat down on a metal bench by the wall, and stayed silent.
‘So…’ Frank started.
‘Uh huh,’ Gerard grunted, unsure of what to say. Minutes passed and Gerard decided to get out his sketchbook. He opened it and before he could reach for a pencil Frank gasped.
‘This is amazing, can I see?’ Frank startled Gerard with his enthusiasm.
‘Um, yeah, sure,’ Gerard said, handing Frank his sketchbook. Frank flipped through the pages, tracing the lines with his finger and admiring the detail.
‘This is amazing Gerard. I-I love this.’
‘Thanks, do you draw?’
‘No, I’m shit at it, but I do play guitar.’
‘Oh cool, I’d love to be able to play guitar but I’m absolutely shit. I was once kicked out of a band for being so bad at it.’
‘Oh, oh well,’ Frank said, and glanced at his watch. ‘Um, sorry, I have to go now. Thanks for showing me your drawings, they’re awesome.’
‘Um, no problem, you’ll have to show me your guitar playing some time.’
‘Yeah, okay, see you at school.’
‘Yeah.’ Gerard replied. Frank left down the alley and turned back to his house, while Gerard put his sketchbook away and slowly made his way home.

Notes

Thanks for reading the second chapter. I will be updating regularly, so enjoy. :3
-Gee