Can't take it any more!

As the senior class filed in, Frank watched them take their seats, and saw Gee curling in on himself again and trying to hide in his hair. Most of Gee's homeroom class were there, including Tyler, Dick and Meadow...this was going to be interesting.

Once everyone was seated, Frank closed the door a little louder than necessary, getting everyone's attention. The class fell into an uneasy silence as they could see anger in their teacher's eyes.

"So..."

Frank began, pacing over to the front of the class.

"I'm Mr. Iero, but if you can't pronounce that, then call me sir..."

He looked around the nervous faces, purposely not looking at Gee right now.

"The majority of you are in my homeroom class, but we didn't exactly get to meet this morning, did we?..."

A few weak laughs sounded out, but stopped quickly.

"For those of you not in my homeroom, don't worry, you're not in trouble and I look forward to meeting you in a few minutes. For all you little shits that I have the unfortunate pleasure of having seen first thing this morning...you are in trouble."

Gee watched through his hair as Frank coolly and calmly admonished the ones who'd watched and laughed as he was hurt and humiliated. He then watched as Frank turned to the three assholes who had done the hurting.

"...and as for you three, I will not tolerate such behaviour in my class, or anywhere else. I will not have the three of you in my classroom, and if I can manage it, I will have you thrown out of this school, permanently. Now, leave my classroom and report to the principle...he's expecting you."

"Y' can't do tha' mister...y' can't chuck us out!"

Meadow screeched in her annoyingly whiny voice.

"I can, and I am. Now leave."

Frank pointed to the door, his eyes firmly on the trio.

"Fucking asshole cunt..."

Tyler spat as he got up and headed to the door, the other two following close behind him.

"Not like we want to learn about faggy art shit anyway."

He slammed out of the door and the three teenagers disappeared off down the hallway...away from the principle's office. Frank sighed and walked over to close the door with a soft click. He took a breath, then turned back to the class.

"Well, now that's dealt with, let's get on..."

Gee smiled from behind his curtain of hair, perhaps he could make it through these next three months in one piece after all.

"So, those of you who are from my homeroom, you all have detention after school..."

A collective groan sounded around the room. Frank gave the teens a look and they all fell silent again.

"I will not be taking the detention, you'll have the pleasure of Mr. Willis' company today..."

Another groan, because Mr. Willis was known for being a seriously grumpy bastard at the best of times, but if he had to stay late with a bunch of trouble makers, he could be a downright asshole.

"Now, as I'm new here, I'd like to get to know you all, so we're going to go around the class and each of you is going to stand up, tell me your full name, the name you prefer to be called, your preferred pronoun, and what you want to do when you leave school..."

He saw a few slightly confused faces at the pronoun bit, but he figured they would work it out by listening to the others.

"So let's start with you."

He pointed to the girl sat in the front row, nearest the door. She blushed a rather unflattering shade of red, then stood up and began.

Gee listened as one after another, the students stood and said their piece. Without exception, the pronouns matched each teen's gender, and Gee got more nervous by the minute. Should he just say what was expected?...should he lie?

There were two people left before Gee's turn. They were sat behind him and he was pretty sure he didn't know them...they must've been new. The first one stood and spoke clearly.

"Hi, my name's Joshua Dun, or Josh. I go by he/him pronouns , and I want to be a musician."

He smiled as he sat down and Gee noticed him give his companion's hand a little squeeze for reassurance. Josh's friend looked totally freaked out, but the hand squeeze and smile calmed him a little. He stood up.

"Hi, I'm Ryan Ross, but I prefer to be called Ry...I...I go by she/her pronouns..."

A murmur went around the room, hushed quickly by Frank clearing his throat. Ry looked down, trying to hide in her hair...unsuccessfully.

"I want to be a musician too."

She mumbled, then sat down quickly. Gee knew he needed to get to know these two. Right now though, it was his turn. He stood up shakily, keeping one hand on his desk for support and his head lowered.

"H-hi, I'm G-Gerard W-Way, but I p-prefer Gee..."

He said quietly, staring at the ground.

"I g-go by...by th-they/th-them and I w-want to be an artist."

He sat down fast, and tried to disappear inside Frank's cardigan. Frank took a breath, he hadn't even thought that Gee would go by anything other than he/him...but it kind of made sense, now that he thought about it.

"Ok then..."

He said to the class to gather everyone's attention back and stop the quiet gossiping that was now going through the classroom.

"Well I guess it's only fair that I do me too, huh...so hi, I'm Frank Iero, but my friends call me Frank. I go by he/him pronouns, and I'm doing exactly what I wanted to do when I left school..."

He looked at the clock on the wall and saw they still had twenty minutes left.

"So, I'm going to give you all your first project, and that is to draw yourself. Now I'm not looking for a picture of what you look like now, but what you hope to look like in five years time. This can be done in any medium you choose, and you have three weeks to complete it. Please, collect whatever materials you need, and begin. Feel free to talk amongst yourselves, but please keep the volume low, ok?"

A murmur of agreement went around the room and then most of the class was getting up to fetch what they needed. Frank looked over at Gee and saw that he had his sketch book open and was hunched over it already, he smiled fondly at the sight, then walked over.

"Hey, you ok?"

Gee looked up, his hair falling away from his face...he looked even paler than usual. He nodded.

"Y-yeah. I j-just don't like t-talking in front of p-people."

Frank sighed, crouching down next to Gee's table and lowering his voice so no one else would hear.

"That was very brave before...I'm proud of you."

Gee smiled slightly.

"I wasn't going t-to say that...if it w-wasn't for Ry."

"I get that. Hey, maybe you should talk to her...could help you both I think."

Gee nodded.

"Yeah, I was th-thinking that too."

Frank smiled.

"It's lunch next, I'll ask her to stay back for a minute if you like...Josh too."

"Ok, thanks Frankie."

Gee blushed, glancing around to make sure no one heard them using the nickname...no one had. Frank smiled.

"You're adorable. Get to work."

He winked quickly, then stood up and stepped over to Ry and Josh's table. Gee sighed, happy for the first time in a long time. This last three months were probably going to be the best of his whole school career...he hoped so anyway.

Notes

Hi there chipmunks, how's you?...

I'M SO VERY SORRY FOR THE WAIT...FOUR MONTHS IS UNACCEPTABLE!
I have no good excuse except for procrastination...sorry.

But now I'm back again and I hope someone is still reading this and that I haven't disappointed you too much.
So new characters, Josh and Ry, and a new pronoun for Gee...please tell me if I get their pronouns wrong from here on.

Anyway, til next time...PLEASE COMMENT, and peace out babies!
<3