Drowning Deserts

Mr. Way had gone out of his way to insult Frank these past few weeks. Frank felt like crying or punching a wall, or something. He was filled with emotions and had no clue what to do with them. Maybe he should scream.
If anything, he wanted to throttle his teacher. Starting with his History teacher, whose class he was in right now. Frank’s bored mind developed a plan that he would never use, but was enough to keep him occupied for the rest of the period.
The walk to Art took nearly no time at all, as he was so engrossed in his argument with Ray, after all Batman was much better than Superman.
Mr. Way’s door stood tall and daunting in front of Frank. For a moment he considered just walking away and skipping class. He was interrupted when Bob grabbed his sleeve and yanked him inside, babbling about anything that crossed his mind, mostly to distract him. “Why do you wear a jacket? It’s so hot. And all that black. Are you frying? Oh I know this great fried food place we have to go. We’ll all go, once Mikey finally comes back to school.” He paused. “Sorry to remind you, but you still have to ask Mr. Way about him.”
The rest of Bob and Ray’s conversation was finally cut of by Mr. Way. “Quiet. We have a guest today for you to draw.”
A guest? What the fuck.
Frank watched as a woman walked into the class from Mr. Way’s office.
“Hi,” She offered, “I’m a model, I guess you could say. Or a muse if I need money. Which is why I’m here.” She laughed nervously.
Mr. Way took this opportunity to stop her, she looked like a nervous talker. “This is my friend Lindsey. It’s your job to draw her. If you want extra credit, paint her.”
“Are you dating?” A girl asked after whispering to her friends. Frank thinks back, and thinks her name is Dana. Or Danielle. It starts with a D, he knows.
“First of all, my love life is my personal business. If you really want to know, we were together a long time ago, but er- I uh well- We broke up.” Mr. Way ended simply.
The girls seemed happy at this information. All of them were practically in love with him, Frank thought bitterly. It was obvious he was gay, no one that looked and acted like him could possibly be straight. And he was nearly perfect for Frank. Except for the fact that he hated his guts, was much older than him, and his teacher. Those were minor setbacks anyway.
Lindsey sat down on a stool and relaxed while Mr. Way passed out supplies. As he walked by Frank’s table he dropped a note onto his desk.
He picked up the pink post-it and examined the words written on it curiously. Meet me after class, was written neatly in scrawling cursive.
Frank looked up to see Mr. Way smirking half-heartedly. The teacher moved to turn away and blew a kiss at him snidely.
*
GERARD POV
Emotions rushed through me suddenly, and the urge to do something, anything, overtook me. For the past couple of days I haven’t felt a thing so these emotions were accompanied by adrenalin. I pushed against the table and began twisting the office chair I was sitting in. My chair creaked as I twirled around. I was sure the whole class was watching me, but I didn’t care. I started giggling hysterically and spun faster, until I was laughing so hard I began crying.
I stopped and steadied my vison. The class looked horrified, except for Frank, who was smiling at my behavior.
I stood up and through tears I spoke. “Take care.”
Bowing, I walked out of the classroom. My therapist was going to kill me. That emotional breakdown was going to cost me some points with the principal too.

The bench on the wall opposite my classroom was empty, and was better than the floor or the nurse’s office. I sat and sobbed for several minutes in near silence until the door to my classroom creaked open.
“Are you uh- okay?” Frank asked gently.
“You sh-should go back to class.”
Frank sat down next to me and crossed his legs. “And what if I don’t?”
“Well, um. It’s bad?” I answered uncertainly.
Frank laughed. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“But you hate me.”
“I don’t hate you.”
“I- I- I was horrible to you though.” I burst into tears again. Good going Gerard.
He wrapped his arm around my back and pulled me in for a hug, rocking back and forth. “Shh. It’s okay. It’s all going to be okay”
I knew that wasn’t true, but it felt good to think that, even for a moment, that it was. I was too far down the rabbit hole to ever recover. It was a miracle I hadn’t already been fired.
My head raised slowly to look at him.

“There you go,” He encouraged, “What’s wrong?”
I collapsed again. ”E-everything.”
“Shit.” He muttered under his breath. “I uh didn’t mean-“
I giggled a little, “Don’t curse.” Frank brushed that off, but looked happier now that I was in better spirits.
“Um… I’m not sure if this is the right time for this, but I was wondering where Mikey has been?”
My back stiffened and I could feel my face drop. They hadn’t told the school yet. Tears began running down my face and Iero’s face became lit with fear. I cleared my throat and began to talk. “A few days ago Mikey was, “I stopped to decide if I should tell him easily or just give it up. “Brutally killed and God knows what else is how the police told it.” I summarized as quickly as I could.
The boy looked like he had been shot. “Oh. I’m… sorry.” He struggled to pull himself together. “I’m going to the bathroom.” He said in a strangled voice before standing up and pacing his steps before giving up and sprinting, his sobs echoing through the halls.

I jumped up and started running after him. “Frank! Frank!” I yelled, hoping no other teachers would open their doors to see what the fuss was about. I slowed at the end of the hallway and slipped into the bathroom. Muffled cries came from the side of the bathroom where Frank was sitting. I walked over and limply sat next to him, letting everything I had pent up about Mikey out.

Notes

I’ve thought quite a bit a bit about how often I want to update and I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t know, so I’m going to update inconsistently. There could be a chapter a day or a chapter a month, but if I can I’ll try and even out updates.