The next morning I was dragged from Frank filled dreams by the annoying din of my alarm clock.

I groaned but had no trouble getting up, knowing that I’d see Frank in school. Mikey was in a good mood too, the reason being he was taking Alicia to the movies that night.

I hadn’t told anyone about my encounter with Frank. I’d only just come out to them, I didn’t want to land a potential boyfriend on them so soon.

Boyfriend.

Just imagining Frank as my boyfriend was enough to make me break out into a fully fledged grin.

“What are you smiling at?” Mikey asked, drawing me from my thoughts.

“Nothing,” I replied, but the smile didn’t leave my face until I walked into my first class to find that Frank wasn’t at school.

“Hmm, it’s a little annoying that Frank has decided he’s not going to join us today,” Ms. Williams said, “I’d been looking forward to starting work on Caravaggio with y’all.”

She frowned, so now her expression matched mine.

“You’re looking a bit down today Gerard. What’s up?”

“Oh nothing,” I said dismissively, “I just wanted to see Frank.”

“Really?” She sounded surprised. “I didn’t think you two exactly hit it off yesterday.”

“I know, but something happened since then.” I sighed. “I just really need to talk to him.”

“Something happened, huh?” She wiggled her eyebrows, dyed orange to match her hair. “What kind of something?”

I sighed again. I couldn’t tell Ms. Williams the events of the night before, she was my teacher for fuck’s sake. But there was just something about her, something I couldn’t put my finger on, that made me trust her and want to spill my guts to her.

“It was…” I began, “It was… nothing. Never mind” I said, turning my head away from her and focusing on the handout of a painting I’d been given. Frank and Ms. Williams were right, it was a spectacular piece of work.

“Oh now come on,” she exclaimed, “you can’t just start a story, get all my hopes up and then not tell it!”

She reached out and touched my hand, giving me a sincere look.

“Gerard, if something’s on your mind that’s worrying you, you know you can tell me right? I know I’ve only known you a few days, but you can trust me. I won’t tell a soul.” she paused, “…unless it’s murder.”

Her last comment made me laugh.

“I can assure you that I have not committed a homicide.” I giggled.

“Well then come on, tell me what is on your mind, and what’s going on between you and Frank.”

I couldn’t hold it in anymore. I was shit with secrets. So I turned to face her and told her everything, pretty much my whole life story. From being overweight and being bullied for being fat, to losing the weight, being bulimic and being bullied for being thin, to learning to sing, and being bullied because people didn’t like my voice, to losing myself in art and being too afraid to show it off in case I was bullied, and eventually to moving here and discovering I was gay. I left out the sex part, and I was planning on leaving out the Frank part too.

“So I’m still lost as to what happened with Frank.”

This woman reminded me so much of my mother, there was no way to fool her.

So I told her an edited version of the night with Frank, leaving out the part about getting bet up because I still had no explanation as to how we were both magically healed. I couldn’t help but to laugh when she squealed as I told her about the kiss.

“Oh that is so romantic! All you need is rain and that could have been a scene out of a movie.” she chuckled, “You guys would be adorable together.”

Her words shocked me.

“What?” I blurted. “Together? You think Frank would want to be with me?”

“Why not? I’ve known Frank a long time, he doesn’t just kiss people he doesn’t care about.”

“But… but… he was just so horrible to me the last few days!”

“Elementary school technique. If you like them, be mean to them to get their attention.” she said, winking.

“You think so?” I asked, eyes wide.

“I know so. Frank is a lonely kid, people pick on him a lot.” she said, smiling sadly. “He needs someone like you to make him happy, and obviously he’d make you happy too.”

The bell went, and I began to gather my things. I hadn’t drawn or learned anything in this class, but I felt it was more productive than any other class I’d ever had in this school. I thanked Ms. Williams on the way out.

“Any time, Gerard, any time.”

I climbed the stairs and continued on to my next class. It was supposed to be Gym, but I wasn’t doing it that week. I’d hurt my back unpacking boxes and mom had given me a chiropractors note.

I’d intended on spending the class sketching different parts of Frank into my sketchbook. First his eyes, then his hair, then his lips, his hands…

“Whoa, those are really good.”

I was pulled from my thoughts by Taylor, who’d come to join me sitting on the bleachers.

“You not doing Gym?” I asked.

“Nope, I fill my Gym requirements on the basketball team” he replied.

We both went silent and I returned to my drawings.

“So… who is that?” he enquired.

“Just someone.”

I wasn’t eager to make conversation, but Taylor obviously was. He continued trying to spark off a conversation, but in the end I just cut him off.

“Tay, what do you want?” I said, not feeling like making small talk.

“Erm, nothing, it’s just…” he said reluctantly, fidgeting and looking away.

“Taylor, just say it!”

“Okay!” He sighed. “So I was at the top of the art room stairs yesterday, because I wanted to get some paint from Ms. Williams for a banner for the b-ball team. And I looked down, and I saw you… like making out or something with that Iero kid. And now you’re like, drawing him. Are you… Are you like… Do you like…”

He trailed off, but I understood what he was implying. How had I thought nobody would see us? I wanted to point out that we hadn’t actually kissed at that stage, but I felt now was not a good time to add that into the mix.

“I’m gay, alright? That answer your questions?”

I began to worry in my head. Surely if Taylor had figured it out, someone else had too. I groaned and pushed away from where he was sitting. He didn’t come near me for a while after that. I got back into my drawing and barely noticed Taylor’s presence as he slid over the seat.

“I didn’t mean to make you mad,” he whispered. He was now sitting right next to me, our thighs touching.

“I-I just wanted to find out.” He swallowed. “Because I think… I think I am too.”

My head shot up from my sketchbook.

“Wh-What?” I stuttered.

“You can’t tell anyone, you hear? Not even the guys. I haven’t even told my mom yet. Fuck, I have a girlfriend too and I don’t know how I’m going to explain this to her.”

His head fell to his hands, his long, curly, brown hair falling in his face. I saw him shake a few times, and I realised he was crying.

“This is so fucked up dude,” he managed to say in between sobs, “I don’t know what to do.”

I put my arm around him, not really sure what else to do, squeezing his arm and giving him a gentle shake.

“It’s going to be okay. But come on, here’s not the best place to do this.”

Look at me, acting all calm and cool. A bit ironic, considering I only came out yesterday.

The bell went and he sat up, nodding.

“You’re right dude. Can you come over to my house after school? I-I need to take my mind off this, we could play GameCube or something.”

“Sure,” I said, smiling. “I have to give my brother and his could-be girlfriend a ride to the movies first, but we can go to yours straight after.”

“Great,” he said, looking much happier now. “I’ll see you later.”

Nothing else major happened that day. I talked to Ray in Biology, and later Spanish, about the new Green Day CD, and also the EP I’d bought, which Ray was eager to borrow. I promised I’d bring it in for him tomorrow and let him keep it for the weekend.

Once the day’s final bell had rang, I went to my locker and grabbed my Poetry book. We had a poetry project due on Monday, and since my partner was a no-show, I guessed I’d have to do it myself. I locked my locker and joined the stream of people flowing towards the exit.

I met Mikey, Alicia and Taylor by the car, and they seemed to have hit it off. Apparently, Taylor and Alicia already knew each other quite well, they used to play in a band together. Mikey and Taylor had a lot in common too, so they took the back seat and I was left with Alicia in the front.

I was a little unsure of what to say, she came across as a girl who took no shit. However, her personality totally didn’t match her appearance. She was quite shy, but bubbly at the same time. It was kind of creepy, she was like the female version of Mikey. She opened the glove compartment, browsing through my CD collection and making light conversation about music. She had good taste, a little more hardcore than me but she appreciated the classics like Queen and Bowie. She stuck one of my Beatles tapes into the sound system and we sung along to it together, Mikey and Taylor joining in for an encore of Band on the Run. I could see why Mikey liked her, she really was a lovely girl.

We dropped Mikey and Alicia off at the movies and I offered to collect them, but they said they’d get a cab. I’m sort of glad they did, I’m happy for Mikey and all but I was not going to endure a make-out session in the back of my car.

Taylor came and sat shotgun when Alicia was gone, and I made a special effort to keep the conversation away from sexual preferences. Despite this, it still ended up there.

“So, what made you, um, turn?” Taylor said awkwardly.

“I dunno. Just realising that being with girls didn’t turn me on I suppose.”

I shrugged. I wasn’t going to tell him that one of his games that was the cause.

“What about you? You said you had a girlfriend, right?”

He nodded.

“I suppose I’ve always known. That’s how I met Josh you know. I tried to kiss him in kindergarten and he thought I was wrestling.” He sighed deeply.

“I really thought getting a girlfriend would make me come to my senses, you know? I’m in a band and I’m a jock so I could pretty much get any girl I want. My girlfriend is amazing. She’s called Charla and she’s got blue hair and she’s a cheerleader… and she’s just so nice and I do love her, but like a sister, not anything more.”

I could see he was getting emotional again and I was glad we had reached his house. I got out of the car as quick as possible and offered him my hand to get out of the car. He took it, and once we were standing he pulled me into a bone crushing hug.

I felt him shudder as he cried into my shoulder, and I really felt sorry for him. The guy was such a wreck just because society said it was wrong for two guys to date. I rubbed his back supportively until his sobs had slowed down and eventually disappeared. I peeled him off me and coaxed him inside. I met his mom inside, and I introduced myself while Taylor went to the bathroom to clean himself up.

When he came out and his mom saw his blotchy cheeks and red eyes, she was worried and immediately shot over to him.

“It’s nothing mom, really, just hay fever. There were some dudes trimming trees on the way here and it totally sparked up my symptoms.” He sneezed for effect.

“Oh, my poor Taydy bear!”

I struggled to contain a laugh, eventually letting it out but disguised in a cough.

His mom got him anti-histamines from a cupboard and gave them to him with a glass of water. He took them and she ushered us upstairs to the safety of Taylor’s bedroom.

“Taydy bear? Really?” I said, raising an eyebrow.

“Shut up,” he said, throwing a cushion from his sofa at me jokingly, “I was four when I thought of it and I truly thought it was the best nickname ever, okay?”

I laughed, and we settled into a night of video games.

***

Far away, somewhere on the outskirts of the city of Overton, a dark haired boy was being woken from his slumber by an older man. The room was pitch black except for the glow of a lava lamp which occupied a table next to the boy’s bed, casting white and red shadows over the walls of the room. The older man was dressed in all black, with his bleached blonde hair spiked up down the centre.

“Wake up, you lazy fucker,” the older man spat.

The dark haired boy said something undecipherable, due to his head being buried in his pillow.

The older man picked him up by his shirt and dropped him on the floor.

“Get dressed,” he said, “we haven’t got time for these games.”

“Jared, I need time to regain power.” the boy insisted, his voice still thick with sleep, “I used up way more than I intended on using last night.”

“Not my problem. You’re in this Legion, you don’t have a choice, you have to do what you promised to do.”

“Please, be cool for once and let me off for tonight. I can barely stand up.”

Suddenly, the man’s pupils began to glow blue and the dark haired boy was lifted from the ground, levitating in mid-air. Light began to pulse through his veins and he writhed in pain. His screams echoed around the room, but no one else was there to hear him except the man who was the source of his agony.

The glow faded from the man’s eyes and the boy dropped from the air with a thud.

“You know the rules by this stage Frank. Do as I say, or you will be eliminated.”

The boy clutched his stomach, evidently still in pain, and nodded.

“Good. Be ready in five minutes.”

The man strode to the exit and walked out. He slammed the door shut, plunging the room and the dark haired boy’s vision back into darkness, broken only by the gentle pulsing of the lava lamp.

Notes

Title credit: Starlight - Muse