A Brutal Romance.

Mikey and I walked back home from school, laughing and joking along the way. I was glad the day was over. My energy was drained and I just wanted to read a few comics, take a shower and get to bed. The sky was grey and the air was heavy, the smell of petrichor invading my nostrils. It had been raining for most of the day and had finally stopped, but the large dark - grey clouds only promised more to come. Mikey was talking about something excitedly, me nodding mindlessly as I thought of other things.

As much as I felt like an asshole to say it, I was relieved when Bert told me he would be busy tonight so he wouldn't be able to come home with me for a while. I really did love him, he was my boyfriend, after all. He just didn't feel like my boyfriend at times. He seemed more like my ''owner''. He was constantly with me and when he wasn't, he'd make sure Bob or Josh would be, or would at least ''watch over me to make sure I was safe''. I wasn't stupid, he didn't want me talking to anyone who wasn't him, his friends or my brother. It was stalking, and I knew that. I knew it was wrong, but there was no point in arguing. If I argued - well, I don't like to think about what would happen if I were to try to argue with him. I knew it was bad, but he apologized after, most times. It wasn't only when we argued, either. There were other times, too. Sometimes, he'd pick a fight that I would always lose, not that I wouldn't try to defend myself. ther times, he'd just be violent out of nowhere. It wasn't just physical, either. He was verbal, too. I always just tried to brush it off, though, I mean, he still loved me, right? That's what he would say. He would sometimes buy me gifts, too, apologizing, crying, begging. I knew that the tears weren't real, after a while. I realized that he was just trying to make me feel bad, and it worked. He knew I couldn't say no and it was fucking horrible. A part of me hated him. I knew what he was doing, but still, I couldn't leave him. He would threaten to harm me or someone I loved, like my brother, if I even attempted to. My brother was my best friend, and I was never going to let anything or anyone hurt him. So I was stuck with Bert. With how violent Bert was, I knew he was never bluffing when he would say the things he said he was going to do. After a while, he just stopped begging altogether. Because he knew. He knew how much I loved my baby brother and he knew that I didn't give a fuck what happened to me as long as it had nothing to do with him. Also, a part of me still loved him. A part of me still thought that the Bert I knew before would come back. The ''real'' Bert. At the time, I didn't know that the real Bert was right in front of me, and those first few years were all just a lie. Or maybe it wasn't that I didn't know - I just thought that he had two sides to him, the bad side and the good side, and for some reason, after a while, he decided to choose the bad side, and son he'd choose the good side again and everything would be okay. I was wrong. I mean, in a way, I was right, because after all he did have two sides to him. They just weren't the ''good'' and the ''bad''. They were the ''fake'' and the ''real''. The fake was a trap, you'd get to like him and love him and see how good a person he was and once you were in too deep, he'd take out his true side and you couldn't go anywhere anymore.

I met him on the first year of highschool. He was so amazing for that year, and for half of the second year, but he started to change. He became more protective, which I thought was sweet at first, and I'm a bit ashamed to admit how long it took me to realize that he wasn't being protective of me by not letting other people speak to me/not letting me speak to other people ''in fear that they might hurt you''. He was being possessive. Everywhere he went, he'd make me follow, and everywhere I went, he and/or (one of) his friends would follow. He wouldn't always be with me, but he'd be somewhere closeby, kind of like a parent watching their child at a playground. Or a prison guard watching their prisoner. Eventually he made all of us, Mikey, Josh, Bob, Tyler, and I exchange cellphone numbers with each other, and we all had/he had everyone's phone number. I didn't quite understand why, but I just went along with it. Sometimes when I was drawing at lunch or on our recess breaks, people would come up to me to compliment my work, but Bert would push the people away. Frank was one of those people, and he was pretty persistant, too. He kept trying to talk to me even though Bert would get him away, but soon Bert had had enough and beat Frank senseless. He never left Frank alone after that. Eventually he told me to stop drawing because he was getting tired of always having to ''protect'' me. When I protested, well, his reaction wasn't pretty. So, I did as I was told - I stopped drawing. And I was miserable, because art was always my passion and it made me happy. I drew at home, though. Sometimes. Whenever Bert would come over, I'd hide my art in Mikey's room, Mikey was okay with it. He just wasn't okay with the way Bert was treating me.

He wasn't okay with me dating Bert at all. He didn't know at the time that Bert had started to... be violent with me, and he had to find out by walking in on me when I was in my bedroom, examining myself half - naked in the mirror I had. The cuts and bruises were pretty big and they didn't look like accidents. He was going to tell our parents but I convinced him not to. I also convinced him not to take matters into his own hands by confronting Bert. I explained to him what was going on, and he didn't take kindly to it. Tears were shed, and he made sure to never leave me alone with Bert and/or his friends. That killed me because I knew he had a life of his own, he had a boyfriend, he had friends of his own, and I felt asthough I was taking that away from him. He constantly reassured me that I wasn't, though. Bob would sometimes pick fights with my brother and he would never listen when I told him to leave him alone, I always had to get Bert to stop him, and sometimes, he wouldn't. It killed me and of course I would always push Bob away and hit him and do whatever it was I could to stop him from hurting my brother, it didn't work a lot of the time. I was just thankful that it wasn't all the time. I also knew that it was hurting Mikey a lot to see me the way I was, coming home with bruises and cuts all over me. It hurt me to see him hurting with me, I hated it, but I couldn't end it because that would mean that Bert would hurt my baby brother. I was stuck in a horrible situation, no matter what I did, and there was nothing I could do about it. We'd been stuck in this storm for four years, now.

I was still on the walk home with Mikey, who was going on and on about - something - I wasn't quite sure, when I swallowed hard, trying to stop the lump in my throat from winning over. I sniffled and shook my head, trying to think of something else. Mikey stopped speaking and walking abruptly and looked at me sincerely. ''Hey, Gee, are you alright? Did something happen today that you haven't told me about? Oh God, what did he do to you this time?!'' He accused, a frightened expression on his face. I shushed him, I mean come on we were in public - I couldn't let anyone hear that! ''Mikey! Nothing happened, I'm okay, I promise. I'm just thinking about Elena.'' I lied. Well, it wasn't really a lie. My brother and I had our Grandmother Elena, who we loved more than anything. We loved her as much as we loved each other, and she was ill. She'd fallen sick and it was bad, no one knew if she'd make it. Mikey and I would be absolutely devastated if she left us, we needed her. The concept of death brought me so much depression and anxiety, and to have her go would drive me insane. I was glad to see that Mikey didn't look past my not - much - of - a - lie - lie. He too was terrified of what would happen with our beloved grandmother. He pulled me in for a hug and I held him right back. We let each other go after a few long seconds, him giving encouraging words. He always tried to be optimistic. One of the things I loved about him.
Eventually, we were home and our mother had already started dinner. Mikey went to the livingroom, sat onto the couch and watched tv. I went down the steps to my bedroom in the basement to grab some pyjamas and a towel. I then ran out of the basement and upstairs to the bathroom. Shutting and locking the door as I entered, I placed my pj's onto the counter beside the sink and began to undress. It woudn't be a painful experience if Bob hadn't seen Frank and I together in the hallway, told Bert, who took me into an unoccupied hallway and hit me repeatedly. He told me if he ever saw Frank and I together again, he would put me in the hospital, and Frank in the morgue. He informed me that he was going to see Frank after he saw me, and again, knowing Bert, I knew he wasn't fucking around. I just hoped he wouldn't hurt Frank as bad, or worse, but the chances of that were pretty slim. Still, maybe this time he'd go easy on him... Maybe. After I was finished undressing, I examined the new bruises on my skin. Gnarly. I continued to look at myself in the mirror when flashbacks of Bert came into my head. ''Ugly,'' his voice taunted. ''worthless. Fat. Disgusting. Only I could love you.'' The flashbacks finished and I grabbed hold of the sink counter
(just like the last chapter, the author of this story has no fucking idea what this thing is called so she will just improvise and call it what she wants. She apologizes. Please have patience with her)
, bracing myself as if I was about to fall, when really I just began to sob. After a while I stopped and walked to the tub, a shaky hand reaching for the shower lever and turning the water on. I walked into the tub and let the water wash over me, calming me. The water was just right and it gave me some relief. As I closed my eyes, I began t think about the day I had. Talking to Frank was the only good part of this day aside from getting home from school. Talking to him was a mistake, though, and I knew I shouldn't have done it. It's not that there was anything wrong with him - exactly the opposite. It's just, me being around him and him being around me only meant danger. I couldn't help it, though. I was honestly dying to talk to him all these years. I always found him cute, and now that I finally, sort of, got to know him, he really was a nice guy. He wasn't how I imagined, but better. He was on my mind most of the time and I would talk to Mikey about him a lot. A part of me hoped we'd run into each other again, and I only wished... I wished I'd met him before I'd met Bert. I told Mikey that one night when I was venting to him about how sick I was of seeing Frank get hurt so much, and how it was all my fault. Because of that, I had to keep my distance. Frank would still get hurt but at least not as much as he would if Bert knew we'd spoken to each other. I would go to someone for help, for both myself and Frank, and some of Bert's other victims, but that only meant more trouble. Bert not only threatened to harm Mikey or me if I left him, but also if I took action by getting help. I was alone on this and it was horrible. The only option I had was to wait until Bert gets tired of me and leaves me - but even that isn't a reassuring thought. Since I knew what he was like, would he kill me? Would he kill me so to make sure I didn't out him? Would he kill MIKEY? Thoughts like those made me shudder. I knew he was capable of doing such - he'd almost killed me once during a heated argument which turned ugly, but that wasn't something I wanted to think about. This relationship ironically made me want to die. I'd considered it many times, I just never did it for Mikey's sake. But I wasn't some ''damsel'' in distress that needed saving. I was still trying to figure things out, maybe Mikey and I could run away or something. Something had to happen, I was certain about that. I couldn't let it go on much longer.

I grabbed the shampoo bottle on the floor of the tub and squeezed out its contents, placing it back onto the tub and lathering the scented stuff into my black hair. When I was finished, I rinced my hair well, when suddenly the conversation starter Frank wrote onto our notes popped into my head. I burst into laughter, getting soap in my eyes and swallowing some soapy water. Sputtering, I recomposed myself, coughing and simultaniously still giggling. Laughing only made me cough more but I couldn't stop. Soon, I calmed down and started to think of our art teacher as I turned the water to cold, rinsing my burning eyes off, then changed it back so it was warm again. Ugh, what the fuck? I mean, this dude was way too fuckin' serious to be an ART teacher. Too strict. Then again, that's what happens when you're in a school full of asshole teenagers for too long. Thing is, though, I've never seen the guy around school before. Hmph. Weird. I shrugged the thought off and stayed in the warmth of the shower for a little while longer, cleansing my body gently as not to touch the bruises too much. When I was finished, I reluctantly turned the water off, still wanting to be in the warmth. I grabbed my towel and dried off, dressed in my pj's and headed off into my bedroom. The rest of the night was spent reading comic books and drawing some of my own characters. I had been working with a character in particular that I called ''Kobra Kid'', based on my brother. Finally, after a while, a said goodnight to my family and dozed off to sleep, reluctant for tomorrow to come.

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(The next day, Frank's pov)

I awoke with a start, the nightmare I was having about getting beaten half to death by an all too familiar face frightening me into conciousness. My eyes went wide as I jolted upright in my bed. The nightmare wasn't real, but the pain sure as fuck was. It took a while for the pain to subside. Yeah, I knew this was going to hurt in the morning. I turned my head to my alarm clock. It read ''4:43AM''. I sighed, I knew there was no way I was going to be able to fall asleep again with the throbbing pain in my jaw, ribs and chest. Was definitely not eager to start the day. I was reluctant to get out of bed, but there was nothing else I could do, really.
I decided that, since my hair was as greasy as a fast - food restaurant, I would take a little shower. I got out of bed, chose what I was going to wear that day and walked into the hallway and to the bathroom, closing the door behind me. Placing my clothes on a pile in the floor and undressing, putting those clothes into a different pile, I procceeded to walk into the shower and turn the water on to luke - warm, but not before catching a glimpse of myself in the mirror and damn - near shrieking at the sight. My jaw was hideous - you'd think I'd get used to seeing myself in this state but when you'd just woken up from a nightmare, injuries like these don't look exactly normal. I knew it was bad, but my god, it was bad. I was surprised Bert hadn't fuckin' broken my jaw. Broken or not, it still hurt. I examined myself further and sighed again. I've always wanted tattoos but was underage. I wanted tattoos so badly that, in my fucking dream about Gerard the other night, I was full of them. I don't quite remember what they were, but they were fucking awesome. My mom promised she'd let me get a tattoo as a birthday present. I was pretty psyched about that, even though I didn't really know what I would get.

I got under the water of the running shower, shivering a bit as it hit me. At least today I wouldn't forget to have a decent cup of coffee. When I was done showering, I dried off, cautiously, and got dressed into a large black hoodie and ripped jeans, last but not least my liprings. My next move was to go down to the kitchen to fix myself, and my mother, some coffee. It was around five now, so she'd be up soon. She was an early bird, and a busy woman. To this day I still don't know how she did it. Taking a seat at the kitchen table and sipping my hot coffee, I thought about what could happen at school. Heh, nothing new. Get my ribs broken, - fuck, they probably already were - get stuck in boring classes, get stuck in boring classes with someone I hate, get sent to the principal's office for, either something I didn't fuckin' do, or something I did because I got pissed at said hated persons. Example - person pisses me off, a responsible adult doesn't notice, or brushes it off, I take the matter into my own hands, responsible adult notices, sends me to principal's office. Can't wait until it's all over. School, that is.
As I continued to indulge in my beverage, I waited for my mom while mentally preparing myself for the day.

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8:38AM, Gerard's house (Gerard's POV)

When I woke up a few minutes ago, Mikey was beside my bed. I wondered why, so I asked, and he told me we were late for school and he'd tried to wake me up, but I wouldn't, so he just sat there and waited for me. This made me laugh, but I jumped out of bed and scolded him, telling him that he didn't need to wait for me and that it was important for him to go to school with or without me. He just nodded and followed me as I grabbed some clothes at random from a pile on the floor of my bedroom and ran upstairs and into the kitchen.
''There isn't time for coffee, you know.'' Mikey remarked, staring at me with amusement in his eyes. I scoffed, ''Y-yeah, well there also isn't time to wait until your big brother wakes up so you can get to school. Mikes, you know I can be a heavy sleeper, I could've woken up after school had finished!'' Mikey just laughed at this. ''You're my big brother, I'm not gonna go anywhere without you, okay? Jeez, you'd think you'd be a bit more appreciative of that, but noooo.'' ''Bro, it's not a matter of being appreciative,'' I said as I quickly dressed in the kitchen while waiting for the coffee to be ready, Mikey no longer looking at me but down towards the floor,'' your education matters whether I'm with you or not. But yes, I do appreciate that you'd always be by my side, you know that, and I'm always by yours, and that's exactly it,'' I continued to explain, fully dressed and pouring the coffee into two white mugs, ''I'm always gonna be by you and I'm always gonna make sure that you do well in life, get an education or whatever, you know.'' My brother just rolled his eyes and retorted, ''Okay, mom.'' I rolled my eyes back at him and we sat down at the table, sipping our coffees. After a long moment of silence, I spoke again. ''Well, at least you're dressed and ready to go. Glad you didn't wait in your trousers.'' Mikey, who was sitting next to me, nudged me lightly. ''Ha - ha. Very funny. Yeah, no, I knew at least one of us had to be ready.'' I laughed a bit. ''Yeah. Ready. Well, we shouldn't be sitting here for too long. We'd better get going.'' Mikey's expression changed and he seemed a bit nervous. Scared, almost. ''Hey, Gee?'' He questioned. ''Yeah, Mikes?'' ''Can we uh, can we blow off the first few hours of school, y'know, until like, lunch or something?'' I could tell that something was wrong. I regarded him. ''Is... is there something you'd like to tell me?'' I asked. He didn't respond for a while. He then looked into my eyes. He opened his mouth and hesitated before he spoke. ''Uh, well... I've been thinking about what you said yesterday. You know, about Elena? And uh, I... I need time to think. I mean... G-gee, I don't know how we can live without her!'' Mikey exclaimed, his eyes welling up with tears. He wiped them away as they fell onto his cheeks, not wanting to cry in front of me. I sighed in sadness and hugged him tightly, forcing back tears aswell. Our grandmother meant everything to us. Mikey continued, ''I- I know that we've had all summer to deal with it, b-but I can't, Gerard, I can't!'' He was crying hard now, as if to forget he didn't want to do so in front of me. I didn't care, though, he could cry as much as he wanted to and I would never judge him for it. He never seemed to understand that. But that was just Mikey. I rubbed circles on his back, trying to calm him. ''I understand, Mikey. I'm scared, too. I don't want to lose her, either. It's horrible that she's ill, but like you said yesterday - she'll be okay. She will.'' I reassured. Honestly, I wasn't sure. But even in the most jaded times, I still had hope. ''Now, today's only the second day, and to be bailing on school already wouldn't exactly be the best idea... But, you're right. You need more time - WE need more time to prep- no, to get through this. She'll be fine, I'm sure she will, but I think we should take at least this morning to go over the situation.'' I said, smiling at my brother. He returned the gesture and took a sip of his coffee, rubbing his eyes under his glasses. ''So... what do you have in mind?'' I asked. He sighed before speaking again, ''Well, I don't know. Take a walk, go to a coffee shop... beats me. I just don't want to stay here and I don't want to go to school.'' He responded, almost assertive. ''That sounds alright, Mikey, I mean... yeah. Sure. Let's-'' I was about to suggest that we walk to the mall, or someplace, when I was interrupted by a loud crack of thunder outside. It was raining profusely,the hard pitter - patter of the rain hitting the windows outdoors. Mikey sighed. ''I guess we won't be doing anything but staying here until the lunch break.'' He mumbled. ''Aw, jeez... I'm sorry about that, Mikes. Why don't we just read some comics and talk about stuff here? I know you don't want to be here, but right now, we don't have much of a choice. There's going to be a big storm today, too dangerous to go outdoors. Besides, it would've been too dangerous to go out there, anyway. I mean, we don't exactly live in a safe neighbourhood...'' My brother just nodded at this. ''You're right. Okay, alright. Let's stay here until the lunch break.''

During this time, Mikey and I read a few comics, watched some tv, and did other things to keep ourselves busy. We voiced our worries on the matter of our grandmother's illness, and Mikey spoke about his friends and his boyfriend, Pete. I was really happy for Mikey being happy with his boyfriend. In a way, I envied him just a little. But I was more happy than I was envious. I'd seen Pete around, he'd come here sometimes to hang out with Mikey. They met before summer vacation began. I got to know Pete more and came to find that he was actually a very sweet guy, funny, and was glad to see that he would most - likely never break my brother's heart. If they were happy, I was happy.

We'd been talking about the day before and the things we did, I told him about Frank and our conversations, and Mikey just laughed and smiled. He also warned me about the consequences, but was happy for me nonetheless. I wasn't going to tell him that Bob caught us in the hallway with the teacher, told Bert, who then beat me after class. I couldn't put him in more pain than he was already in. I then remembered that, when Bert had given Frank trouble that morning, Mikey had stayed behind with him after. ''Hey, so, you never did tell me what happened with Frank after what Bert did.'' My brother got very quiet for a moment. He looked up at me and cleared his throat before speaking. ''Well, I went with him to the nurse, and then after that we went outside, to where the bleachers are, and we just kinda, like, talked, I guess.'' My eyes narrowed as I listened to him say this. ''Hm. Okay... But wait, so, you skipped the first class?'' He began to tense up. ''Hey - no, it's alright. I mean, it's not - but, I get it, it was nice of you to look out for Frank. So, that's why mom lectured you yesterday about skipping class. You know, it's probably not a good idea to be staying here. Didn't she tell you that you'd be grounded if you attempted to do that again?'' I said. ''W-well yeah, but this morning, before she and dad left for work, I spoke to her a bit, told her how I was feeling and stuff, told her I felt sick so I took the first period off. She understood, and I told her about our concerns on Elena, and she understood. She still won't like it when she gets a call from the school saying that we both skipped most of the day. But if she really knew how we felt, she'd understand, right? Before she left, she told me to make sure you woke up in time... And now, uh, here we are.'' I just nodded. ''I'm sure she'll understand. It'll be okay, Mikes. Elena will get through this.'' I reassured once again. ''But... er, what did you and Frank talk about?'' Mikey tensed more, panic in his eyes. ''You.'' He choked out. My eyes went wide. ''Me? Oh. What exactly did y-'' I was interrupted by a loud clap of thunder that made us both jump. I was about to repeat my question when he opened his mouth to speak. ''Y'know, I just said that you care about him and stuff. I mean - I didn't tell him, y'know, that you like, like him or anything - I just told him that you think he's cool. That's all.'' I relaxed at this, relieved. ''Oh. Oh, okay. Well, thanks for that.'' We both just sat there for a moment in silence, when Mikey spoke again. ''I... I also might've mentioned that you... that you wish something, but like, I didn't tell him what, I promise!'' My heart jumped in my throat, my anxiety replaced by anger. ''W...what? Mikey!'' He looked away from me and spoke again. ''No - wait, Gee, relax, okay, I'm sorry! I didn't tell him what - he, I... I... It just came out, I shut my mouth right after ''wishes'', I promise you.'' His panic and the trembling in his voice made my anger and anxiety disappear. I believed him. ''Okay, Mikey alright. I believe you. After all, I know you'd never betray me. Sorry, Mikey.'' He just sighed. ''Now, we'd better be off.'' I said, and we both got up and wandered towards the entrance of our home, procceeding to head in the direction of our school.

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''Get the fuck out of there, asshole!'' Growled the voice of Bert, who was standing in front of the door to the girls' bathroom. We made it five minutes before lunch was over and the final class of the day was to start, so not many people were around. Probably getting ready for class, I guessed. I ran over to him after telling Mikey that it was okay for him to go see his friends and boyfriend for whatever time was left, which he did. ''Bert!'' I shouted, making my way over to him and placing a somewhat shaky hand on his shoulder. ''Bert! What the hell are you doing?!'' I demanded, my voice cracking. I hated to admit it, but everytime I saw Bert, I didn't get those nervous butterflies you get in your stomache when you see your crush. It was more like a wave of anxiety washing over me, and when he was acting this way, it only made the anxiety worse. ''Bert!'' I repeated, ''What are you doing?!'' Bert didn't look at me, he just kept screaming ubscene things into the girls' bathroom. I tried pulling him away from it to get him to tell me who was in there, but he shoved me away hard, almost causing me to fall to the ground. Anyone could've been in there, he had many victims. There was just one that he prefered over the others, and I'd hoped I was wrong about who might be in there. I recomposed myself and marched back over to him, anger replacing hurt. ''Bert! For the last time, who the FUCK is in there and what the SHIT do you want from them?'' I shouted, trying to sound tough but my voice cracked again. ''PISS OFF, GERARD! Can't you see I'm fucking busy right now?!'' It defenitely wasn't the first time he'd used that language on me. I decided to try another approached, seeing as being tough wasn't doing anything for me. In the calmest voice I could muster, I gently placed my hand on his back and said, ''Bert, honey, come on... whoever's in there isn't worth it, okay?'' He seemed to calm down and stopped screaming at the person in the bathroom. ''Okay? S-so come on, just go join Bob, and Josh... where ever they are, okay?'' He turned to me and we locked eyes. ''They're on the other side - the other door.'' There were two doors to get into the bathrooms, one on each side, the front and the back. That explained why the person was still in there, they would be out of there by now. ''O-oh, okay, well just go around to the back of the other side and tell them to go - go with them where ever it is you have to go, okay? J-just leave whoever it is that's in there alone, okay?'' Bert nodded. ''But - you're coming with me.'' He stated firmly. ''Bert, I will, but not right away, okay? I need to take a leak right now, don't wait for me, okay? Just go, like, smoke some weed or something, I don't know. I have to go to the bathroom.'' He nodded again. ''Okay, but you have to tell me why the fuck you weren't here this morning. I called you like fourty times and you never answered, I was going to go see you at your place.'' This surprised me, I don't know what did more, that he actually seemed to care or that he actually calmed down when I tried to convince him to get away from the door. Of course, though, it was selective. He was just feeling affectionate today, I supposed. ''You called? I didn't get any calls...'' I trailed off, thinking. My cellphone was at my nightstand, so I should've heard it this morning. Unless... Unless Mikey turned it off when He waited for me to get up. ''Oh - I'm sorry! I slept in, I didn't hear my phone, I was out like a log!'' I lied, worried he'd see through me. I couldn't blame Mikey - Bert would probably do something to him. He never really usually did anything to him, but Bob did. It didn't really matter who did what, though, the matter was that I wasn't taking any chances. Bert just nodded and kissed my forehead lovingly before walking to the other side, disappearing behind the corner. Next, I heard him order his little minions to go with him to where ever they were going. I saw them walk to the nearet exit of the school, Bert waving at me as he left.

I waited until he disappeared from sight and burst into the girls' bathroom, the bell for class ringing almost on cue. ''H... hello? Anyone in here?'' I asked soothingly to show that there wasn't any danger anymore. ''Hello?'' I repeated. ''Gerard?'' Came a familiar voice. Of course. ''Frank? Frank, where are you?'' I asked, breaking character. I was no longer soothing, but just my regular, worried self. ''Hey! Yeah, hey! Uh, I'm in... I'm in the only stall that's closed.'' ''Oh... Okay, uh, why?'' I asked. ''I was hiding in here and I kind of g-got stuck.'' He sighed. ''Got stuck? How?'' ''Listen, I'll just open the stall door and you'll see for yourself. Please just help me, okay?'' He said impatiently as I made my way to the closed stall. It then opened slowly and, there stood Frank, one foot on the toilet seat, and one foot... stuck in the toilet bowl. I burst into laughter and doubled over, catching the nearest wall before I fell to the floor, gasping for air as I laughed. ''Oh my - Oh my God! H.... How? F... F... Frank! How?!'' I gasped, wiping tears from my eyes. He just looked so done. ''Could you just shut up and help me?!'' He barked. I was still laughing my ass off on the dusty floor, my stomach hurting. I stood up, taking deep breaths to calm myself. ''Frank... You... You have no idea how you just made my year.'' I laughed, walking closer to him. ''So, what do... what exactly do I do to help you?'' He just sighed. ''Well, damn, I don't know, pull me out.'' I just fell into a fit of laughter again. ''Your foot is stuck in that hole!'' I exclaimed, laughing harder now. ''Yeah, well when this is done, my foot will be stuck in YOUR hole if you don't shut up and help me!'' He snapped. I was in stitches. I finally got myself to calm down and stepped closer to him. ''How did you manage, I mean the tube thing - the hole or whatever... It's pretty small.... The angle of your foot, oh man... How did you fall?'' I asked, trying not to laugh again. He sighed for the third time. ''It doesn't - I was really... I was trying to be quick and I kinda just jumped onto the toilet too quick and at the angle I was at, I don't know, okay, I seriouly don't know how I could fuck up this bad. I mean, is this... Is this even fucking possible? Anyway, please just help, my foot's all wet and the ankle of my jeans is soaked.'' '' ''Well I can see that, good thing it wasn't recently used and the water hasn't been - '' ''I KNOW, okay? Good for me, please just help me.'' I stepped over so I was right in front of him, who was looming over me. ''This - is an awkward position.'' I said. His crotch was basically right in my face almost, so it was pretty awkward. He blushed, then shook his head. ''Just help me!'' He begged. ''Okay, Frank, okay.'' I grabbed his leg and we both pulled as hard as we could. He finally came free, lost balance and fell directly on me, sending me onto the ground with him. ''Awh, shit. Sorry, Gee!'' Frank said, frantically trying to get off of me and back onto his feet. It took him a whie, I was guessing it was because of yesterday's beatings. Shit, he must've been in pain still. When he did get up, he recomposed himself and held out a hand for me. I grabbed it and he pulled me up. ''It's no problem, thanks for helping me up.'' I replied, patting dust off my clothes. ''If you don't mind me asking, why were they after you... again?'' Frank just looked down at his shoes, one soaked with toilet water. ''I was eavesdropping on them and they caught me. I had to run quick, and well, I came in here. I was actually pretty surprised that they didn't come in after me, but I guess they were too 'tough' to go into the girls' room. Hah.'' He explained, one hand in a pocket of the jeans he was wearing and the other placed on his still swollen jaw. ''Oh... Yeah, That's Bert for you. So, how's the jaw? And the - uhm, the ribs. I know they gave you hell yesterday, your ribs must be killing you. Shit, I'm glad I was there to break your fall.'' remarked. ''Yeah - I... I'm glad you're here, too... I mean, I mean to break my fall, I'm glad yu were there to break my fall, yeah, thanks...'' He said, avoiding all eye - contact while blushing furiously and scratching the back of his head with the hand that was previously in his pocket. I just smirked, blushing back. He was so cute. There was a bit of a long pause, and he must've remembered that I asked him about his condition because he added, ''O-oh, and yeah, my jaw, it's still... y'know, yeah, it doesn't exactly feel orgasmic. Neither do my ribs.'' I just nodded, his choice of words making me blush harder. ''Hey, I'm really fucking sorry about them. Especially Bert. Like, I'm real sorry.'' I said, the smirk on my lips fading. ''No, don't apologize. They're the porchdicks.'' He shrugged. ''Porchdicks?'' I snorted. ''Yeah. Porchdicks. Got that word from a show. But anyway - we should get out of here, now. Girls' bathroom.'' And we both did, seperately. Back to my abusive boyfriend it was.

Notes

FINALLY HERE. Fuck, did any of that make sense? I'm sorry. It's pretty long. Hope you enjoy it. Sucks ass. Here it is, though. I'm really sorry if it's bad.

Out of the subject - Anyone know the videogame ''Life is Strange''? Fuck. Awesome game.

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