It's too cold for October. Plain and simple as that. Sure, it's New Jersey, but it's just too damn cold.
It's also my opinion that school shouldn't start at 8:00 in the morning. My older brother once read an article that said the teenage brain doesn't start to function fully until 10:00 AM, and by that point, the school day's almost more than half over already. Mikey says that I'll get used to the early-mornings and late-nights of high school, but I'm not too sure that I will.
"It's not that bad, Gerard," Mikey says. I pull my black hoodie closer around my body as I offer a counter argument.
"I'm 15 and going into my freshman year. Let alone I've missed a month already. Everyone'll wonder why I was held back," I say.
"Tell them that it's none of their damn business," Mikey tells me and chuckles. He brushes his blond and brown mottled hair out of his hazel eyes and adds "Did you sign up for any extracurriculars?"
I shake my head, my dyed-black hair falling into my eyes. "I don't know if there's anything here that I'll like."
"I'm sure that there's something," Mikey says and my breathing quickens as we enter on campus. "Hey, settle down. You'll be fine," he adds, knowing how I can get around new people.
I nod, pulling my backpack higher up on my shoulder. There're very few people on the school grounds— most are inside, I assume. Mikey and I quickly make our way inside, and split to our home rooms.
Here's the thing about Belleville High School— the classes are mixed, which means that a senior can be in a freshman class, and vice versa. From what I can tell about my home room, I'm the only underclassmen.
I sit near the back, since A) I hate being in the front and B) my last name starts with W and I'm going to be in the back anyway. I rest my head in my hands, listening to the din of the teacher-less classroom.
Suddenly, there's a loud shuffling of paper across the room and I peek through my fingers to see two girls. The first one has shoulder-length bright orange hair, and black jeans and a black t-shirt. She has a blue spiral notebook between her fingers and the second girl tries to snatch it from her.
The second girl seems much more different than the first girl. She has on a short black skirt, ending about halfway up her thighs. How does she get away with that? She also has on a white button-front shirt, buttoned all the way up to her throat and the sleeves are rolled up to her elbows. She has on black leather boots and knee high black socks peek out of the tops. Her long, golden-brown hair swings around as she tries to grab her notebook back.
"Oh, the freak wants her notebook?" The first girl says.
"Really? 'Freak'?" The second girl asks. "I thought you'd be more creative with your nicknames, Hayley."
"You're the art freak, not me," Hayley says and delicately opens the notebook. The second girl crosses her arms over her chest and sinks into her hip as Hayley flips through the notebook. "What is this even supposed to be?"
She holds the notebook up and I look up to see a drawing of a skeleton man. He seems to be wearing a marching band outfit. It's pretty cool, actually. Wait— did the girl draw that?
"It's none of your business, is what it is," the girl says and snatches her notebook back. She sits back down and Hayley scoffs.
"You're so weird, Madeline," she says and sits down as well. Madeline rolls her eyes and sits back in her chair.
"That's not my name," Madeline says. She sounds pissed.
"Then, what is your name?" Hayley snaps.
"Her name is Lindsey," the boy behind Madeline-slash-Lindsey says. He has short, dark brown hair and dark brown eyes, with tan skin, like The Girl With The Ambiguous Name. He also has tattoos on his knuckles but I'm too far away to tell what they say.
"Oh, whatever," Hayley says and turns around in her seat. After a short pause, the boy behind Lindsey leans forward and whispers something in her ear.
Suddenly, her head snaps to look at me. Her hazel eyes lock onto my own and that's when I realize that I was the only one watching. Oh, shoot. I quickly divert my eyes to my desk, my face burning red.
"Hey," a voice says next to my ear. I give out a yelp of surprise and turn to see the tattooed boy. "Meet us by the lockers after H.R."
"Oh, o-okay," I stutter nervously. Why is a senior talking to me? Are they friends of Mikey's? He's been coming here since freshman year— it's possible.
"I'm Frank," he says and nods his head towards Lindsey. "As you heard, that's Lindsey. She spells it differently, though. L-y-n-z."
"Okay. I'm Gerard," I say quietly.
"Nice to meet you," he says and jets back over to the other side of the room where his desk is.
LynZ. Not Lindsey or Madeline. LynZ. It's unique—I definitely like it.
The bell rings, breaking me out of my stupor. I gather my stuff, watching LynZ and Frank the whole time. LynZ seems to only have her notebook, a small book, and a pencil pouch. Frank has a little more; a few more notebooks and a few textbooks.
I lean up against my locker and look down at my beat-up Chuck Taylor's, waiting for LynZ and Frank. I pull the bottom of my black, paint-splattered t-shirt down towards the waistband of my dark grey jeans.
"This is Gerard," I hear Frank say and I look up to see the two standing next to me. LynZ smiles warmly at me and offers me one of her hands.
"Hi, Gerard. Can I call you Gee? I'm calling you Gee," she says as I shake her hand. It's warm and— somehow— it's soft and rough at the same time. It feels nice; I wonder what it feels like to hold hands with her.
I mentally slap myself. I can't be thinking about her like this— she's one of Mikey's friends and she's a senior.
"How come I've never seen you around?" LynZ asks.
My face burns red again as I say "I didn't start here until today."
"Family moved?" Frank asks.
I shake my head. "No, I just haven't been here. My brother's a senior."
"Oh yeah? Who's he?" Frank asks. "Maybe we know him."
"Umm... Mikey. Way." I say and LynZ and Frank's faces fall at the same time.
"Oh, you poor thing," LynZ says and hugs me like she genuinely feels sorry for me. "Having that dickhead for a brother."
"Wait, what?" I ask. "No, Mikey's a nice guy."
Frank sniffs and laughs, though I can tell that he doesn't mean it. "Gee, being popular and being nice are two different things," He tells me. "That might've been the way it was in middle school, but high school is different."
"Oh," I say quietly, turning my gaze back to my shoes. Mikey's popular?
"Do you smoke?" LynZ asks. I look back up at her and find her messing with something in a pocket of her skirt.
"Umm, No," I say. Obviously not— smoking kills. "And you shouldn't either."
LynZ smiles, showing off her perfect white teeth. "Ya know something, kid? I tell myself that every day."
Frank and LynZ eventually talk me into going out on the quad. Not to smoke, but for— as LynZ said— companionship. LynZ quickly puts her stuff in her locker and grabs a black canvas coat, pulling it on. The coat is longer than her skirt and it takes all of my willpower not to stare at her legs. They're nice and long and tan, and I notice a bit of something peeking out of the bottom of her skirt. Does she have a tattoo?
I ask her this as we sneak out of the building, since class has started already. I keep my head down, afraid of someone spotting is. She stops walking and pulls the hem of her skirt up a bit, showing me a piece of art that spans her whole thigh. It probably extends up onto her body.
It takes me a second to see what it is. "Oh!" I exclaim as I see what the design is. It's a simple outline of the Tokyo skyline. "That's awesome!"
She drops the hem of her skirt and bites her bottom lip as she smiles. "I have chronic wanderlust," she says and sits down on the dewy green grass. She sits criss-cross-applesauce as Frank tosses an orange lighter at her. She deftly catches it as I sit next to her and she quickly lights her cigarette.
Thunder booms a few miles off and I jump at the unexpected shaking of the ground. "So, you're ole Dickbag's brother?" Frank asks and sits down across from LynZ, competing a triangle shape. "Sorry, that's what I call him."
"It's fine," I say shakily. "Yeah, Mikey's my older brother."
"How much older? Because—I'm sorry— but I don't think you're a freshman." LynZ asks, exhaling smoke into the sky.
"I never said I'm a freshman," I note.
"All freshmen have that aura of confusion amongst them," Frank explains, plucking a dandelion from the ground. He moves LynZ's hair behind her shoulder and places the yellow weed behind her ear and she smiles at her.
"Oh, well, I'm actually 15, but I got held back," I explain. LynZ gives Frank her cigarette and I'm reminded of something. "How long have you guys been dating?"
LynZ and Frank stare at me, the latter of whom has an incredulous look on his face. Then, they bust out in psychotic laughter. LynZ turns red in the face as she laughs, her hands balling up into fists and pressing against her mouth.
"LynZ and I aren't dating," Frank says after calming down. "She's my sister."
"Step-sister," she corrects him, taking her cigarette back.
"We're related. Why split hairs?" Frank asks. "Yeah, my mom's brains hit the ceiling one day and Dad married her mom."
"Thank you for putting that so eloquently," LynZ says, letting her hands fall to her lap. Frank hands her the cigarette back, not having take a drag. She stubs it out on the rubber sole of her boot before standing up and crushing it. "Come on, it's cold as balls out here."

---

"How was your day?" Mom asks. I shrug and look down at my dinner plate, moving some beans around with my fork.
"It was okay," I say.
"Did you make any friends?" She asks.
"Yeah," I say. "They're in my homeroom. They're pretty nice."
"Oh, yeah?" Mikey asks. "Who're they?"
"Umm... LynZ and Frank," I say, unsure of their last name. Mikey drops his fork in shock, letting it clatter onto his plate.
"Wait, hold on," he says, laughing a bit. "You're telling me that you made friends with the Ieros?"
"I guess," I say. "I don't know their last name."
"They're freaks, Gee. You can't hang out with them," Mikey say, which earns a full-name exclamation from Mom.
"Michael! Those are Gee's friends. Be a bit more respectful!"
"I can't help that LynZ's suicidal and Frank's crazy!"
"What?" I ask quietly. "LynZ's what?"
"She wants to kill herself. Junior year, she tried to—" Mikey starts but Mom hits his shoulder, silencing him.
"That's enough of that," she scolds and turns back to me. "Tell me about them."
"Umm... LynZ's an artist. Has this whole notebook filled with sketches and stuff. And she has a tattoo. It's pretty cool— it's, like, an outline of the Tokyo skyline," I start and watch as Mom's face falls for a split second at the mention of LynZ's body mod. "Frank's pretty nice, too. He's really short."
"They sound very nice," Mom says.
"They're seniors," Mikey points out as he eats.
"Oh—oh, yeah," I stutter. I tried to purposely leave that detail out—thanks, Mikey. "They're seniors."
"Interesting," Mom says.
Then, at an attempt to change the subject, I say "Did you know that Mikey's popular?"
Mikey gives me a dead look. "Thanks, Gee," he says at a flat tone and fiddles with his dogtag necklace. "I wouldn't say popular. I just have a lot of friends in a lot of different social groups."
"Umm, that's popular," I say sarcastically.
"Shut up," Mikey mutters and looks down at his plate. "You don't know what you're talking about."
"Okay, what happened to you today?" Mom asks. "I don't appreciate this attitude."
Mikey sets his elbows on the table and holds his head in his hands. "Nothing happened," he says, his voice muffled. Mom and I exchange a look that clearly says "He's lying".
"Why don't you want me hanging out with Frank?" I ask. Since I know about LynZ, I might as well find out about Frank.
"He's just... Strange," Mikey says. "He got expelled from his last school."
"Why?" I ask.
"Boys, we're not talking about this at the dinner table," Mom says and takes up our empty plates. Mikey and I quickly escape to our room— yes, we still share a room. We're pretty close.
"So, what happened to LynZ?" I ask, unable to hold the question back any longer. Mikey sits down on the edge of his bed and looks over at me.
"You really want to know?" He asks, pulling his boots off. I shrug and nod.
"Yeah, I mean... I'm curious now," I say and change into my pajamas as Mikey talks.
"Okay," he says. "It was Halloween last year— I think it was Halloween— and just out of the blue, she jumped off of the Harrison Avenue bridge in Kearny. No one knows why but Frank pulled her out. He was barely her brother at that point— it had been maybe a month."
"Wow," I say and sit down on my own bed. That's crazy— LynZ didn't seem like she was suicidal. Maybe I just haven't known her long enough. "And what happened with Frank? You said he got expelled?"
"Yeah. No one knows why, though," Mikey says. "The Ieros are an effing enigma. No one knows anything about them, other than the fact that they're freaks."
The conversation leaves off at that. Mikey turns off the overhead light and we both quickly fall asleep.

Notes

My chapters are pretty short, tbh. Comments are encouraged! xo