If I Was Your Vampire

Frank is quiet for the whole rest of the class, not even moving a muscle. Not speaking isn’t really out of the ordinary for him; comments are sparse and chuckles occasional during class time. In fact, he doesn’t usually speak unless spoken to by the teacher. Despite this, he still sits there doodling, picking at his hands, or even flicking through his Twitter feed. However, after that fiasco ending in a detention, he sits in stony silence, still as a statue.
It wigs Mikey out a little; he doesn’t like seeing Frank like that. Mikey keeps trying to nudge Frank with his foot or meet his wandering eyes, but to no avail. He has to settle for the end of class to talk to him, another attempt that goes haywire when Frank all but bolts out of the room.
Mikey scrapes his belongings together and jogs after him, calling, “Frank! Wait up!”
Taking brisk strides, Frank does not let up his pace, not even for Mikey. By the time the taller boy reaches Frank, he’s just about panting from exertion. “Dude, what the hell? I’ve been trying to talk to you for like forty minutes.”
“I don’t want to talk,” Frank mutters, pushing through the halls. Mikey dodges other students as he walks alongside Frank.
“Is something wrong?” Mikey asks. “This isn’t about the detention, is it?”
Frank stops for a moment to look at Mikey. “No, I’m happy to have my first detention ever.” He curls some hair with one of his hands anxiously, adding, “It wasn’t even my fault.”
“You think it was mine?” Mikey scoffs.
“I sure as hell didn’t do it!” Frank retorts.
“Wait, wait, wait, let me get this straight. You’re angry with me for defending you?” Mikey responds hotly.
“I don’t need to be looked after,” Frank insists. “I’m fourteen years old; I can take care of myself.”
Frank halts in front of the boys’ room, gazing at Mikey. “What, are you gonna go in with me? Stick up for me in case someone looks at me twice?”
Mikey shakes his head, snapping, “You know what, fuck off.” He storms down the hall, not taking one last look back at Frank in his departure. Had he, he would’ve seen the tears fall from Frank’s eyes before he disappeared into the restroom.
Mikey isn’t exactly thrilled about the detention situation either; he has to admit. He’s never been in the library from the dreaded hour of four to five, and he hadn’t ever planned on winding up there. Yet, there he is, using his free time in class to text Gerard saying he’ll be home late.
It could be worse, of course. Sure, Frank’s totally pissed off at Mikey, Mikey isn’t exactly pleased with himself, and they have to share the lousy detention with that scummy junior, whose name Mikey hasn’t bothered to learn since the incident. But then again, there’s always natural disasters, nuclear meltdowns, and spontaneous combustion, so it’s all relative.
Mikey repeats that in his head, “It’s all relative,” as he stalks into the library after school for detention.
Mikey is one of the first ones there, and he takes a seat somewhat towards the middle among the rows and rows of desks. Frank shows up not long after along with a handful of deadbeat looking kids, but the junior that landed them there in the first place is a no show.
For the sixty minutes Mikey spends in there, he mostly reads, stealing occasional glances over at Frank when he can. Frank is sitting across the room and writes in this notebook the entire time, but never consistently. He’ll write a sentence or two, pause for a couple moments, write a paragraph, then spend the next ten minutes trying to organize his ideas before putting them on paper. Mikey has reason to believe that by the end of the hour, Frank has less than a page written.
God, does Mikey feel shitty. He feels awful just looking at Frank. He knows that it’s not all his fault, that’s for sure, but he can’t help but have a little guilt over how heated they’d both gotten, and so quickly. He figures he’ll apologize to Frank as soon as they’re let out of this godforsaken detention.
Frank may or may not feel the same way; it’s hard to tell. He’s really wrapped up in whatever it is he’s doing, and he doesn’t give heed to much else. Heck, when they’re dismissed to go home, Frank sits there for a good minute or so before realizing he’s supposed to leave.
Mikey uses this time to make his way over to the boy. He greets softly, “Hi.”
Frank looks up and frowns. Tucking his notebook into his backpack, he replies, “Hey.”
He stands, swinging the thing over his shoulder. “That was an hour of my life I’m never getting back.”
Mikey forces an awkward chuckle. “Yeah, me neither. I can think of at least thirteen better things I could’ve done in that time.”
Frank stops, spinning to face Mikey. “Look dude, this is too weird. I’m sorry, okay?” His gaze lowers to the ground as he murmurs, “I was just kind of upset about getting the detention. I wasn’t mad at you.”
“I wasn’t angry with you either,” Mikey assures. “And don’t think that I uh… think that I have to protect you, you know?” Mikey tightens his grip on his book bag straps, nodding as he tells, “You can take care of yourself and I know that.”
“Thanks,” Frank mutters. He peers out the adjacent window, squinting into the sun filtering through its glass. “Say, do you still want to hang out? I mean, I like you Mikey. I don’t want this to ruin everything.”
“It didn’t,” Mikey says knowingly. “I like you too.” He also peeks out the window, watching students funnel from the door and to their respective vehicles. “So I’ll see you tomorrow?”
Frank grins brightly. “Yeah, that sounds good.” With that, he parts, waving at Mikey once more before they take their separate routes.

Notes

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