Murders In The New Morgue

~A week later~

I walked onto the bus and sat in the normal seat, Mikey soon following behind me to sit in his normal seat in the very back of the bus. I watched him until he sat down, and then focused on myself. I put my backpack on my lap as I felt the bus start to move, and then we were off to school.

It was a little while before the next stop, but I felt the bus stop and the doors open, and I heard the one and only Frank’s steps echo on the bus as he stepped onto it, walked down the aisle and standing next to me. I looked up at him and smiled, before scooting over and letting him climb over to me to get to the window seat. Him climbing over me never failed to send shivers all over my body, as I could feel his strong thighs and other leg muscles brushing against me. I bit my lip hard to prevent myself from making any noises, and soon sighed in relief as he plopped down next to me.

Over the last week, we had grown closer, almost like magnets. It was definitely strange, but also weirdly euphoric at times just being next to him and hearing his conversations and just seeing him. It was extremely hard to explain in words, as it was a feeling, but that’s the best I could do.

“Uh,” Frank’s voice snapped me out of my state of mind, and I noticed I was staring right at him. I blinked a couple times before looking away, again hoping my long-ish black hair was hiding most of my reddened cheeks. It was helpful, having black hair, but made me look emo so that was one of the downsides.

I might dye it red later, I don’t know.

“Oh, uh, sorry.” I said, my voice slightly muffled as I spoke through my hand, which was covering my mouth. I looked down at my feet in embarrassment, and waited for Frank’s response.

“Do I have something on my face or…?” Frank said and I looked back up at him to see him smiling a little bit. I went along with it, as that was a decent excuse for my accidental staring.

“Yeah.” I said, pointing to a random spot on my cheek, signalling where the fictional spot was. Frank began pawing at the spot on his own cheek, looking at his hand with eyes that were slightly bigger than they normally where every so often to see if he got it. Honestly, it was kinda cute, just watching him. But, I knew it was getting creepy, so I stopped looking at him.

“Did I get it?” Frank asked, looking at me with his doe-like eyes. Damn he can be cute. Even with an edgy mohawk, makeup, and a bulletproof vest, you can still look pretty fuckin’ adorable.

“No.” I said, chuckling a little bit as Frank started to paw at his cheek once again. Suddenly, a bold idea came to mind. It was definitely strange, and weird, but kinda worth it.

“Hey, let me get it.” I said softly, and he froze as I reached up and gently rubbed off the area where I pointed with my thumb, making sure to be feather-light. I didn’t really know what I was doing, other than to take the embarrassment off of me. And my heart did a backflip as I saw Frank’s cheeks dusting with pink under my touch.

And man, his skin was soft.

I scraped a little at his cheek as if I was taking something off, and smiled a little bit as I removed my hand from his skin.

“There, got it.” I said, and I swear I could see Frank start to blush even harder.

“U-Uh thanks… I guess?” Frank said, putting his hand over his cheeks and coughing a little bit. I laughed at his antics and shrugged.

“No problem.” I said calmly, but on the inside my heart was not doing so well. It was running miles on the track inside of me, doing hurdles and pole-vaulting as well. It was definitely a strange experience, but it felt strangely good.

We sat there in a comfortable silence for a bit after that, just enjoying each other’s presence, words not needed in this time and place.

But suddenly, I felt something burning into the back of my skull. I knew it was a stare from the way it felt, and how it burned into my head. I turned around to see Mikey’s eyes just leave the back-now front- of my head and land on the back of Frank’s head. Even though Frank was short, these bus seats were pretty tiny, so you could see his head.

Anyway, Mikey’s stare was hard and firey. He wasn’t angry though, and even through his emotionless expression and stare I could tell that it was like he was suspicious of something. Or he was studying something yet again. It was a mixture of the two maybe.

Mikey soon shifted his attention away from Frank as he noticed me looking at him with a questioning expression upon my face. He looked out the window and blanked everyone out, and I turned back towards the front of the bus, with his stare still on mind.

It was definitely strange, and naturally I was wondering why he would look at Frank like that. It wasn’t like a lovestruck or adoring look, as if he had a crush on Frank, but as I said, a mixture of suspicious and studying. Maybe it was nothing, and he was just curious or something.

I ignored the gut feeling within me that protested against that conclusion and focused back in on Frank, and we sat in silence once again, but this time I felt, at least to me, it was slightly tense. Probably because of Mikey, but I am not really sure.

He has been acting fairly strange as of late, going out for longer and longer each day. I think the longest he had been out was like what, 7 hours? I called and called and called during that time period, and all I got was no answer, and was worried sick about him until suddenly he appeared on the doorstep, a faint gleam in his eyes, but no expression as always.

At least it wasn’t as bad as a couple weeks ago, when he was out for a whole 24 hours PLUS 6 hours into the morning. He had more of a shine in his eyes, like he was excited or happy or something along those lines. But, this shine was… off in one way or another. It was slightly crazed, and that worried me for a minute, until it disappeared from his eyes, and he quickly barged in and ran to the basement, and soon after I could hear faint laughter coming from down below. But, I brushed it off as Mikey being Mikey, as I knew he was strange in the first place.

I furrowed my eyebrows as the bus ran over a speedbump, jostling me and Frank around a little bit as I heard surprised squeals from the other students around us. I sighed and brushed some hair out of my face, and looked over at Frank, who was staring out the window.

“Seeing anything interesting out there?” I asked him, and he shrugged, looking back over at me.

“Nah, not right now. This neighborhood’s kinda boring to be honest.” Frank answered, smirking a little bit. I felt my heart flip a little at that smirk, but I ignored it and smiled back.

“You are not wrong there.” I agreed, blinking slowly and looking away. “The murders are really the only thing that has happened here as of late.” I said, sighing and pursing my lips a little bit. “Not to say that those murders are a good thing, they’re horrible, but yeah.” I said, looking over at Frank to see him nod.

“I know what you mean.” Frank said, and we were plunged back into a comfortable silence for the rest of the ride.

~~~

I stopped off at my locker after 4th period with Pete, and we talk a little bit as Patrick catches up with us and stands by the two of us, occasionally popping into conversation but mostly staying to himself.

“Come on, you guys are perfect for each other!” Pete teased, putting on a sickly sweet voice and an equal smile.

“Shut up.” I said, busying myself with my locker as Pete went on talking to me about Frank and myself. I let it slip that I had a crush on Frank, and Pete has been non-stop teasing me about him, and he has said that he already ships it.

“Never.” Pete said, his sickly-sweet voice turning mischievous.

“I swear…” I whispered to myself, stuffing my binder into the locker and pulling out my lunch. I heard Pete snigger slightly to himself, and even Patrick let out a small giggle. These two oh my god…

~~~

I plopped down in my seat at the usual lunch table, opening up my lunch as I felt Pete and Patrick sit down adjacent from me, Ray sitting beside me. It had always been our seating arrangement, ever since the first time we all met each other.

Soon Frank sat right beside me, and I could instantly feel his body radiating it’s natural heat, and I smiled a little bit.

“Hey!” He greeted everyone, and Pete looked over at me and smiled mischievously, before looking back over at Frank.

Oh no. I thought, and Pete’s smile grew wider as if he heard my thoughts.

“So, what’s the discussion today?” Frank asked, and both Pete and Patrick shrugged.

“I don’t know, but how about we play a game?” Pete said, his voice growing darker, and my eyes growing wider. I knew Pete had something up his sleeve.

“That sounds ominous.” Frank said, laughing a little bit and looking away for a second, and in that second I locked eyes with Pete and shook my head slightly. He winked at me and smiled, and then looked over at Frank as his attention turned back at the rest of us.

“I must ask, what game are we probably going to play?” Frank asked, putting the back of his hand to his chin and setting his elbow on the table, looking straight into Pete’s eyes.

“Truth or Dare.” Pete said, looking back at Frank, and that’s when my stomach plummeted.

You see, Truth or Dare with Pete and Patrick had been unofficially renamed Interrogation and Humiliation by me, because each chance you would either feel like a suspect getting interrogated, or you would never hear the end of the humiliation from your dare. It was awful, but we had fun.

But now that I let it slip, anything could happen. There was no forfeiting, which was just great.

“Alright.” Frank said, his eyes lighting up as he stared into Pete’s eyes some more, obviously seeing a challenge. “Dare me Petey.” Pete smiled even more at that nickname, but brushed some of his emo black hair out of his face like it was nothing. But, I saw Patrick narrow his eyes a little bit at Frank as he said that name, not like in a studying way this time but in an angry way, and there was something else I couldn’t quite put my finger on. He quickly pulled his fedora over his eyes so I couldn’t see, and then I focused back in on the two.

“I had to ask you first,” Pete said, raising his eyebrows a little bit. “But if a dare is what you want then a dare is what you’ll get.” Frank chuckled a little bit, never unlocking his stare from Pete.

“I dare you to hug Gerard.” I silently gulped as Frank furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

“Wha-” Frank began to say, but Pete quickly cut him off with lightning speed.

“No questions.” Pete said in a dismissive tone, and Frank shrugged.

“Okay…” Frank said, slightly dragging out the ‘ay’ as he turned to face me, and quickly wrapped his arms around me in a warm hug.

My heart was pole-vaulting now, doing tricks in the air as Frank placed his head on my shoulder, his mouth right next to my ear, and the sigh he let out blew on my neck, causing me to shiver slightly. I hugged him back, enjoying the feeling of him being so near to me wholeheartedly.

“You’re warm.” Frank whispered into my ear, and I shivered a little bit but quickly suppressed it as I closed my eyes and thought of something to say back.

“You’re comfortable.” I whispered back, and Frank let out a whispery-laugh.

“Thanks.” Frank whispered, and we sat in silence for about another second before letting go of each other, my fingers trailing down part of his arm before being quickly retracted back to my space.

Frank returned to his earlier state with Pete, chin resting on his hand as he stared Pete down.

“Alright, now I get to dare somebody.” Frank said, and Ray sniggered a little bit as Patrick tried to hide himself. He never really liked this game, but always participated anyways.

“Patrick, Truth or Dare?” Frank said, and Patrick in that moment looked so small and insignificant I almost burst out laughing right then and there.

“T-Truth…” Patrick never picked dare. Not after that incident where Pete dared him to go to the front of the lunchroom and do the chicken dance in front of everybody, and as there is no forfeiting, Patrick did it. Patrick was almost crying out of sheer embarrassment as he walked back to the table, and from then on he never picked dare again.

“Do you think that Pete is fabulous?” Frank asked, clearly not really knowing what to ask him. Frank probably expected him to choose a dare, but I’d have to tell him the story later.

Patrick looked relieved as he heard that question, and looked at Pete with an amused look for a second as Pete flipped his hair sassily, before returning back to Frank.

“No.” Patrick said rather bluntly, and Pete placed a hand over his heart as he looked at Patrick with comical offense.

“I am so OFFENDED Pattycakes!” Pete said, and I noticed that Patrick blushed a little bit at the nickname, but quickly covered it up.

“Not my fault you’re not fab.” Patrick said teasingly, and Pete started laughing like crazy.

“Ouch, that hurt. Anyway, Gerard, it’s your go.” Pete turned to me, and the onslaught of truths and dares began.

~~~

We played Truth or Dare for a while, having fun while we were at it, before…

“Truth or Dare Pete?” Ray said, an extremely mischievous glint gleaming in his eyes and an equal smile adorning his features. I could tell he was up to something. Even his fro looked mischievous.

“Dare, because I’m not a pussy.” Pete said, and Patrick glared at him.

“I dare you to use your flirting skills on Mikey.” Ray said, and the whole table went silent. Even Pete, who was usually up to a challenge, had his jaw wide open.

You see, Mikey had built himself a reputation as the outcast who you DO NOT talk to. Everyone avoided him, except for me of course. Hell, even the school bullies avoided him (after the ‘incident’ in freshman year for Mikey, they were picking on him and he almost downright put them in hospital). Teachers understood when students told them they didn’t want to sit next to Mikey. But, Mikey didn’t seem to mind, as if he liked being alone.

I just gulped and stared at him, knowing there was no forfeiting from this and Pete had to do it.

Pete shook his head slowly in disbelief.

“On Mikey? Uh… I don’t know…” Pete said in a smaller voice, and I was taken aback by how it sounded. I was always used to hearing his voice loud and big, but this small really did surprise me.

“No forfeiting.” Ray reminded, and Pete sighed and got up out of his seat, waving his hand over his face as his expression changed from slight shock to slightly flirtatious, as he headed over to Mikey, his hips swinging ever so slightly.

~Pete~

I had to suck it up and do it. There was nothing I could do about it.

Damn me and my rules of the game!
I walked over there, making sure my hips swung ever so slightly, and the instant Mikey’s eyes snapped onto me I felt fear, and the urge to go back and change the rules of the game.

But I was no coward.

I wouldn’t back down from a challenge.

So I just shoved those fears to the back of my mind and YOLOed it.

I slid down next to him, and I swear I could feel his body heat from where I was sitting.

“Hey, did you just sit on a pile of sugar?” I asked, and of course, I got no answer as Mikey just stared at me with slight annoyance and ‘what the fuck are you doing here’ through his white and black rimmed glasses and blonde-tan hair hanging over his eyes. “Because you have a sweet ass.” I said, winking at him. I got no answer.

“Are you from Tennessee? Because you’re the only ten-I-see!” I said, adding in a wink and a wolf whistle as I clearly checked him out.

Now that I look at him, Mikey was actually decently attractive. His thin build was somehow still fairly muscular, his hair framing his face almost perfectly. His glasses gave him a more nerdy and dorky look to him, and it would be pretty cute, if it wasn’t for the being behind them.

Nothing I wouldn’t go for, but I mean, Patrick…

Wait… what?

And as I was looking over him, he then did something totally unexpected.

He bared his teeth in this incredibly menacing way and started growling at me, his eyes locking me into place, as I felt couldn’t move.

The fear inside me grew as I fought to regain control over my body, and I quickly hopped out of my seat and ran back over to my seat, feeling Mikey’s eyes bore into my back like drills every step of the way.

~Gerard~

I watched as Pete threw a couple cheesy pickup lines at Mikey, and then Mikey bared his teeth and did or said something (I couldn’t really hear) and Pete froze up for a couple seconds, before quickly getting up and running over to his seat, sliding in next to Patrick and sitting closer to him than normal.

“What happened?” Asked literally everyone, including me, as we were all curious as to why he got up and ran like that.

“So I did the basics, threw a rather bad pickup line at him to see if I would get a reaction, and obviously no acknowledgement that I was there. So I tossed another one at him, and then he..” Pete hesitated for a second. “He barred his teeth at me and started growling at me.” My eyebrows raised and furrowed at the same time in confusion. What the hell?

“Oh wow…” Was the only thing that I could say in that moment of time, because I never expected Mikey to react to something like that . Maybe just a simple, ‘Go away.’ or something along those lines I would have expected, but nothing as animalistic as a fucking growl.

I’ll have to talk with Mikey later, if he’ll let me.

“Alright Ray, what the hell?” Pete said, his tone of voice annoyed and slightly mad as he stared at Ray.

“Sorry Pete.” Ray said, laughing a little bit, but it quickly died off as he noticed Pete’s angry stare. “I’ve been waiting for a while to use that one.” Pete’s stare grew even harder. “And you’re the only one who could have done it. Not me, because I avoid him and I think he dislikes me more than much anybody else, not Patrick, because he doesn’t do dares,” I saw Patrick cower slightly. “Not Frank, because well, he is a noob in our group,” That earned Ray a slight chuckle from Frank. “And not Gerard for obvious reasons.” I heard Frank make puking noises and my eyes widened at Ray.

“Please no.” I whispered, covering my face with my hands. I then felt someone’s arm wrap around me in a comforting, and I looked up to see Frank with his arm around me, a slightly concerned facial expression upon his features. I smiled weakly as I drove that vision of unspeakable actions out of my head and leaned into Frank, closing my eyes and snuggling closer to him, ignoring the feeling of my stomach and my heart competing in the Olympics.

I cracked one eye open to see Pete removing his stare from Ray to rest upon the both of us, just as I felt Frank’s head rest atop mine. His eyes widened slightly as his angry frown morphed into a more insane one. It was hard to describe, but much like a fangirl smile… you know… that almost always looks slightly insane….

Wait a minute…

That little shit shipped it, didn’t he?

As if seemingly reading my thoughts, Pete smirked evilly as his eyes glinted slightly, and I sighed and let him do what he wanted. If he shipped it, oh well. I kinda shipped it to be honest, what with me having a crush on Frank and all, but I mean, it was just wishful thinking.

Pete winked at me discreetly as his chocolate eyes reverted to their previous state, boring into Ray’s own angrily.

“Right.” He said, clearly annoyed with the situation as he blew some of his black fringe out of his eyes.

~Mikey~

How DARE that fucker try and talk to me!

I hissed and held my thermos containing my soup for lunch angrily, my knuckles growing white with the force I was putting onto the thermos walls.

I was really mulling over what just happened, and why that emo shit tried to flirt with me. Must've been a dare from what I've seen from Gerard's rather strange group of friends. They tend to play Truth or Dare a lot.

On a side note, I was glad that Gerard had made friends. Good ones, from what I've observed from them on my perch at the back of the lunchroom. I've always enjoyed being alone, secluded from the rest of society, so I never have really bothered with making friends.

I’d probably just murder them anyway.

I sighed and released my harsh grip on the thermos, and my eyes lazily rested on the emo shit and his small ‘friend’ who was sitting suspiciously close to him. I use the term ‘friend’ loosely because I know that there is something going on between them. Something only I probably knew of.

As I looked at them, I debated on killing again tonight. Part of me knew it would be far too soon to make another move, but another, more animalistic and psychotic side of me fought back against the more sane side of me, arguing that it would do the monster inside of me good.

It's really hard to explain, but it was like a presidential debate. Everyone was yelling at each other and tensions were high.

But, I had to succumb to the more sane side of me’s reasoning, as I knew last night was enough for me. And I knew as well my knives needed cleaning, and maybe I could illegally sneak in some ammunition for my numerous handguns…

But I decided against that last part, as I almost never use my handguns, and I would have plenty of ammunition for the time being.

And my knives were dirty, and I planned on using the bath tub in the basement for cleaning them this time. I had never intended for that last killing to get so damn bloody, but I guess I was just into the moment.

I smiled into my soup, but quickly stifled it as I realized people might see me. I don't know what it was, but I hated people, other than who I was about to kill, seeing my true emotions. I guess it was in fear of something, but I couldn't place my finger on exactly what it was.

I sighed yet again and brushed some of my hair out of my eyes and pushed up my falling glasses as I looked around the lunchroom, eyeing everyone who dared to look me straight in the eye. From my little perch at the one lone table in the back, I caught a couple eyes, grinning on the inside as their eyes widened and quickly looked away. I've been told that my eyes are rather… piercing. To say it simply. I won't go into full detail, but they’re described sort of like that.

It gets really confusing so I’ll leave it there.

As I sat there, I wondered who my next killing should be. I decided on picking someone from this school, as I haven't done that yet and I always want to try new things so the police and the FBI and whatnot have a harder time hunting me down. It's a good enough strategy for now, and it certainly seems to work well.

My eyes suddenly latched a skinny, shorter girl with shoulder-length brown hair and shining brown eyes. She had a huge, toothy smile as she talked to her friends, laughing along with them as they all told jokes and shit.

She’ll be missed.

Good.

I decided on keeping an eye on the girl over the next two weeks, learning her name, where she lived, who was important to her, almost everything about this girl.

The next two weeks were gonna be fun, for sure.
Ooh I am so excited!

~Gerard~

We had finished with our long game of Truth or Dare and now Frank and Patrick were in some conversation about guitars and Pete and Ray were talking about God knows what, but I knew it involved a lot of waving their hands around and yelling. So I was left just sitting there, kinda bored, and I decided to take a quick look around the lunchroom, to see what was going on between other groups of people.

There was one group of about four girls, who I only knew as the other group of misfits, and two of the girls were watching something on a laptop and bursting out in laughter every so often, and once I even saw them completely horrified as one of the girls shut their laptop and left. The other two were leaning on each other, one of them surfing around on their laptop and talking occasionally with the other. It was definitely a strange group. I mean, one of the girls, who was a rather tall girl, her brown hair always pulled back into a messy ponytail and a fading streak of blue hair hanging over her eyes, was almost always talking loudly about something. It had even gotten to the point where I was mildly worried if she was quiet.

I moved on from that group to see other groups of people. The normal cliques, the preps, the douchebags, the sluts, the populars, the nerds/geeks, the people who didn't really fit into a group but kinda made their own, and the complete outcasts.

But as I did my surveying, my eyes landed on Mikey. My eyes instantly narrowed in confusion as I saw him staring at something, and I followed his stare to a shorter, normal looking girl with bright brown eyes and a big smile as she chatted with her friends. I got even more confused. Did he like her? Finally want to make some friends? If it was something along either of those lines, it was definitely a first that I've seen. But as I traced back to his face, I saw the edges of his mouth twitch upwards before falling back down to it’s normal straight line/frown. And at that point, I was really surprised. What on Earth?

I pursed my lips slightly at his odd actions, but he soon noticed me looking at him and flickered his eyes over to me, before grimacing slightly and moved his eyes towards his lunch.

I shook my head slightly and returned to the table, watching the others do their conversations. Pete and Patrick were now talking intensely with each other, staring straight into each other’s eyes as they talked about something. Frank was kinda talking with Ray around myself, and I decided to kinda jump in, I guess?

“Uh, so what are you all talking about here?” I asked, and Frank shrugged and looked over at me.

“Eh, a mixture of things.” Frank said, being very vague with what he was talking about with Ray. I don't really know why, but it was weird.

“What may those ‘things’ be?” I inquired, sassily flipping my hair and smirking a little bit at Frank. Frank raised his eyebrows slightly at me, but looked away.

“Mostly the Madman. He’s a hot topic around here, so you kinda had to expect that.” Frank said, and I nodded slowly.

“He definitely is. How many has he killed, like, 28 so far?” I said, my eyes widening at the large number of murders.

“Nobody really knows for sure. Guess we’ll find out when he gets caught, I guess.” Ray chimed in, and I nodded again, placing my hand on the table, suspiciously close to Frank’s.

“Such a large number, it’s kinda scary…” I said, and they both grunted in agreement. Frank looked at me with a soft expression adorning his features.

“I will never let them hurt you,” Frank whispered, more to himself than anyone, but I still heard it. “I promise.” Frank smiled softly, and I raised my eyebrows at him, ignoring my heart doing Olympics in my chest.

“Why thank you.” I said, and I saw Frank blush a little bit and look away. I didn't know whether to hug him or kiss him because it was so adorable.

So, me being me, I took the bold route and quickly pecked him on the cheek, earning me shocked stares from almost everyone, including Frank, and a happy but still slightly psychotic smile and equal look from Pete.

Frank gulped and looked down at the table as I felt a warm fuzzy feeling envelope my insides as I sighed, feeling extremely happy with myself.

“My otp.” I heard Pete whisper to Patrick, and I glared at him harshly before looking back over at Frank.

“Shut it.” I spat out, and Pete quickly closed his mouth and sat closer to Patrick, if that was even possible.

I vaguely wondered where Ray went, and I turned around to see him gone. Mildly confused, I looked around to see Ray laughing along at another table with a couple of girls. He was the only completely straight one in our group that we knew of, as I don't think Patrick knew nor cared. Something jabbed slightly at my heart, but I knew we were kind of ignoring him and he deserved to enjoy himself.

I sighed and turned to Frank, who was now blushing furiously while staring at Pete, who had a mischievous smile on his face.

“I swear to God Petey, I’ll rip you apart.” Frank growled at Pete with his hands now covering his beet-red face, shaking his fringe over his eyes. Patrick looked slightly annoyed, and Pete looked particularly happy with himself.

“What even…” I said, and Pete shrugged and Frank cowered even more, Patrick looking at him with an even more annoyed expression.

“You really don't want to know, Gee. Wait, can I call you Gee?” Frank asked, cocking his head slightly at me. I nodded eagerly, a slight blush spreading across my cheeks. “it would make already awkward moments even more awkward.” Frank shot a rather sharp glare Pete’s way, and Pete just replied with a sassy hair flip.

“Bitch please.” I said, putting in my best sassy diva voice as I raised my eyebrow at Pete. “I can do better.” Pete seemed to catch on to what I was saying, and he smiled evilly, his expression saying everything. He was challenging me, but he didn't need to say it.

“Try me.” Pete said, puffing out his lips slightly.

I did my best hair flip I could do at that moment, adding in a sassy wink and a lip bite, and I could see both Frank and Pete widen their eyes.

“I did.” I replied, licking my lips.

“Fuck.” Pete said, shaking his head as he looked away. “I don't know if I can compete with that.” Pete said, looking towards Patrick.

“Petey, you’re nothing compared to the sass queen here.” Patrick said, and Pete nodded sadly.

“Please forgive me, oh great sass queen!” Pete held his hands in a praying position as he bowed down, yelling out those words for the whole cafeteria to hear. We caught a couple stares, so I played along.

“Girl,” I fanned my face with my hand and quickly glanced around, before looking back at Pete. “You are forgiven.” Once Pete had risen and his eyes were focused back on me I blew a rather sassy kiss at Pete, who returned with a wink. But I couldn't take that with a straight (or whatever the hell it was) face, and neither could Pete, as we both burst out in loud, wild laughter, it sounding out for the whole cafeteria to turn and stare at the two buffoons making the racket.

“Oh man,” Pete said, out of breath as we both calmed down. “that, was funny.” Almost flirting was an almost common thing in our weird group of misfits, and was usually taken lightly and not too seriously.

“Agreed.” I said, shaking my head as I sported a rather huge smile. But, I could feel eyes boring like harsh drills into my body, and I looked over to see Patrick staring harshly at me. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion, and I shot him a look that clearly said ‘hm?’ and he grimaced slightly and pulled his fedora over his eyes yet again, so I couldn't see them. But boy, I knew they were there.

“So, how's about that gathering, then? You guys still up for it?” Pete suddenly asked, and everybody, including me, nodded. “it's all gonna be at Gerard’s place, probably some time next week.” Frank looked mildly confused at this, and Pete rolled his eyes slightly and smiled as understanding.

“So, every couple months, we have what’s called a ‘gathering’ of sorts, where we meet up at someone’s house and do whatever the hell.” Pete explained, and Frank looked a little less confused as he nodded slowly. “That clear it up for you?” Pete asked, and Frank, again, nodded slowly.

“Alright!” Pete exclaimed as he clapped his hands together, and Patrick’s eyes returned from their hiding place under his fedora to look at Pete weirdly.

“So it’s gonna be at Gerard’s place this time around, and hopefully it all goes well.” I glared at Pete as he said that, because everything could go horribly wrong whenever Pete said that. It was like he jinxed the whole thing the moment those words left his mouth. Pete noticed my slight glare and he shot a rather mischievous smirk at me, and the first thing I wanted to do was groan, because if he didn’t have anything up his sleeve before, this was a sure clue that he did now.

“Oh no.” I whispered to myself, putting my palm to my face and shaking my head. I heard Pete snigger slightly before shutting himself up, and throughout this whole conversation Frank was hopelessly lost.

“You’ll find out at the ‘gathering’ how bad things can quickly get when he says anything like that.” I explained to the confused Frank, and he nodded slowly and grunted in a response. I sighed and cracked my knuckles, making Patrick cringe slightly as I did so.

Pete suddenly spoke up again in a dismissive, almost teacher-like voice. “So, it’s decided, all but the date. Saturday next week?” Pete said, eyeing me for an answer. Racking my brains to see if my family where doing anything next Saturday, and coming up empty, I smiled and nodded a yes.

“Pretty sure we’re not doing anything. But I’ll text you all if we are.” I said, and suddenly I snapped my fingers as I remembered, I didn’t have Frank’s number! Oh god, now I have to ask him for his number. As if things couldn’t get any more weird between us…

“Hey uh, Frank…” I felt myself blush a little bit, and I gave myself a mental slap and kept me right on the topic. “I don’t have your number.” God this is awkward! “Could I somehow get it from you?” I asked, and Frank narrowed his eyes slightly at me before nodding. I could hear the cringing noise Pete made, as I’ve been around him for years and I should have learned something about getting a guy’s number SMOOTHLY by now. This was just awkward and uncomfortable.

But my insides didn’t feel the same, as they were trying out for the Olympics by now. They would have probably won as well.

We both pulled out our phones and opened them to the contacts, before exchanging phones to record our numbers. I put my name as Geesus Way in his contacts, as sort of a joke, and took a rather weird selfie of me making a grr face at the camera, before handing Frank’s phone back to him. I soon got my phone back from him, to see that his contact name was ‘Fronkadonk’ and his picture was a picture of a dog. I started to laugh a little bit, and I think he started to crack up at the weird contact I made in his phone.

“Wow.” I said, putting my phone down and clapping, and Frank did the same.

“‘Geesus’, I think that’s one of the best names I’ve seen.” Frank said, looking at me with a smirk. “Good job, Gee.” Frank said warmly, and I looked down as pink started to sprinkle on my cheeks like snow.

“It’s, well almost, settled.” Pete spoke up, using that same tone of voice as earlier. “Gerard, check your calendar and make sure you aren’t doing anything that day, please?” Pete implored, making puppy dog eyes, his own brown ones wide with pleading. I smiled slightly and nodded, and Pete’s eyes lit up with excitement as he turned to Patrick. “You, could you bring the food again? Last time your food was the SHIT.” I nodded as Patrick cowered slightly and put his hands over his now red cheeks. “Did you make those?” Pete said, cocking his head at Patrick, only to get a murmured ‘yes’ from Patrick.

Pete smiled widely and wrapped his arms around Patrick in a hug, embracing him tightly as Patrick look bewildered at this sudden closeness to his friend. I awwed at this interaction, grinning widely as Patrick hugged back, a soft smile on both of their faces.

“My OTP.” Frank said a little loudly, and I sniggered a little bit as I saw Pete’s face go completely red as he quickly detached himself from the other boy.

“How do you like that now, Pete?” I asked, shooting Pete a rather evil smirk as he got a taste of his own medicine for once.

Pete didn’t answer.

Patrick just laughed as he poked Pete's red cheeks with his index finger, giggling as Pete playfully slapped his finger away as his blush grew more.

“So, Pete and Patrick…” Frank said, turning to me as his eyes narrowed, staring straight into mine. “What’s a good ship name?” He asked me, tapping his chin with his finger thoughtfully.

“Patpete?” I said out of the blue, but Frank shook his head and hummed a no.

“Nah…” Frank said, and we sat there in silence for a little while, thinking of possible ship names that could suit the two, who were now annoying each other, Patrick continuing his poking and Pete using Patrick's nicknames.

Then suddenly we both exclaimed-

“PETERICK!” We yelled at the exact same time, staring at each other as Pete and Patrick looked very confused at our strange actions.

“Perfect.” Frank growled, and I shuddered as a strange yet pleasant feeling rushed through me at that voice. I shook my head and blew a stray strand of hair out of my eyes, smiling widely as Pete continued to blush harder and harder. He just flipped us off as we started laughing, Patrick taking a hold onto Pete as he patted the other boy’s back softly.

Frank and I eventually calmed down, and I found myself leaning against Frank as I looked at the two in front of me, who were both embarrassed and looked like they wanted to hide forever. Especially Pete.

Then, Pete’s rampant blush disappeared and was replaced by a mischievous smile, and I knew he had something up his sleeve as he opened his mouth and said-

“Frerard.” Pete smiled widely as we both froze, me staring at him with anger as Patrick started to giggle.

“FRERARD!!” Pete yelled, pointing at the both of us as I could feel everyone in the cafeteria turn and stare at us. I felt myself sink into Frank’s body as the pool of embarrassment filled, and Pete sniggered as others started to laugh as well.

I even saw Mikey’s lips twitch upwards as he looked at the both of us with faintly interested eyes, which was kind of a first.

I growled deeply, trying to mask my embarrassment with anger as I reached over and grabbed Pete by the collar and pulled him up, and I stared right into his mischevious eyes.

“Listen you…” I said, and Pete smiled flirtatiously as he looked me up and down, his eyes half-lidded and had a faint aura of almost want.

“Oh, well then, what’s our ship name gonna be?” I swear it took everything in me not to slap that stupid smirk right off of his face.

“I fucking hate you...” I said, finally pushing him away.

“You know you love me!” Pete said, sitting back down in his seat. I simply ignored him as I shoved everything back into my lunch, kind of done with the bullshit here, as I was way to embarrassed to even function and I kinda just wanted to get out.

I could feel Frank’s eyes on me as I zipped up my lunchbox and got up from the table, shooting glares at people that were staring at me, even Frank, as I quickly made my exit and shoved through the small crowd of people that had gathered around the double doors leading into the cafeteria.

There was a little outside place you could eat, away from the noise of the cafeteria, and that’s where I was headed.

I walked down the little path, ignoring slight sniggers and cat calls that were shot at me while I made my way down the path.

Finally I made it, going through the wall of trees and to a clearing with picnic tables and a few people speckled around the place. I sighed slightly and sat down at the first table I saw, quickly grabbing out my half-eaten lunch and scarfing it down. All of the tastes and textures hit my mouth head on, and I smiled as I brought out my phone, relieved that I was away from that Godforsaken lunchroom.

I checked everything I could from my phone, being careful not to show my phone too much, as there was a teacher sitting out here, eating her own lunch as she inspected the few students sat here.

I sighed as I finished my lunch and put my phone back in my pocket, stuffing my garbage back into the box and sitting there, kind of bored. But anything was better than that cafeteria.

I lay my head against the wood of the picnic table, eyes looking towards and into the trees that lined the small clearing. I saw some critters in there, birds, rodents, and I swore I saw a cat before-

“Hey.” I whirled around to see an awkward and blushing Frank standing there like a Japanese schoolgirl with his eyes averted from me, even though he was talking to me. I looked up at him with my eyebrows furrowed, and gestured for him to sit down, which he did.

“Hello.” I said back, looked at him as he sighed and brushed some of his hair out of his eyes.

“Pete apologized, saying that he knew it would annoy you, but not to this extent.” Frank said, and I nodded slowly and grunted a response.

“It’s okay. I just needed out of there anyway.” It was silent for the next ten seconds, except this wasn't a comfortable silence that we’ve been getting so used to as if late. It was surprisingly awkward and uncomfortable, and each second was agony to sit through.

“Will this change anything between us?” I could see Frank’s blush grow even more red as he asked that question. I quickly nodded, knowing we could easily bypass this bump in the road, even though I am quite reluctant to.

“Most likely not. Once you get really integrated into this weird group, much worse happens all the time.” I didn't dare go into detail on that. Well, most of it at least. “Like that game of Truth Or Dare. If we weren't in a lunchroom, on school grounds, it would have probably ended up in one of us making out heavily with another.” I said, and Frank’s eyes lit up as he stared at me. “Pete’s dares are literally the worst.” They indeed were.

“I thought Ray’s was pretty odd.” Frank said, and I snorted a little bit.

“Yeah, that one was strange. I'll have a talk with Mikey later, if he’ll even let me.” I said, blinking slowly at Frank. Mikey most of the time doesn't want to talk with me, and he just avoids me at points. Hell, he doesn't talk to me, or anyone for that matter. It's gotten to a point where I don't even remember what his voice sounds like.
“Alright.” Frank saud, laying his head on the table as he looked at me. I could feel my stomach flip but I ignored it.

“But I think you’ll like the gatherings. They are fun, even with our small group of friends.” I said, smiling slightly. “We play games, watch shows and movies, and other shit. Hell, sometimes even Mikey comes up from his lair to watch some of the games. Probably from all the noise but yeah, he’s there.” I said, reminiscing on the times I saw Mikey standing against the wall, looking at us with a faint raised eyebrow. “it's awesome.”

“Hey uh,” Frank said. “What do you mean by ‘lair’?” Frank asked, putting finger quotes around ‘lair’.

“Oh, Mikey lives in the basement.” I said, and Frank nodded. “Although nobody knows what’s down there. The only glimpses of it I got where from when we first moved in and some floor plans I had with me a while ago.” I pursed my lips slightly. “He’s so damn secretive…”

“Huh, weird.” Frank said, and I nodded swiftly.

“Weird indeed.”

~~~

I trudged home as my legs shook heavily with the weight of my books in my bag, almost breaking out into the ‘hallelujah’ song when I finally reached the front doorstep of my house. I quickly used the house keys I had and got into the house to see that the house had been cleaned well. More well then my parents did.

I saw my mom, who was home rarely, staring at something down the hall, and I heard the vacuum cleaner being used. I waved a hello to my mom as I made my way up the stairs, intrigued as to what she was staring at.

I quickly made it to the main landing and threw my keys onto the kitchen counter and my bag onto the ground in the corner, then turning to see Mikey vacuuming up down the hall.

What?

He wore a long black coat that reached his ankles, different than what he was wearing earlier, his hair was slightly messy and he seemed to be almost dancing as he vacuumed up. This was definitely strange.

Although, thinking it was because he just wanted to, as he has done this once before, I shot a weird look at him and traveled down the hall, saying a quick ‘excuse me’ as I squeezed past him as I made my way to my room.

But just as I was about to put my hand on the doorknob, something told me to turn around. So I quickly obliged, only to see something within Mikey’s coat glimmer in the hallway light, light something made of metal would. Mikey soon turned his back to me though, so I couldn't see it anymore.

What the hell?

I shouldn't be thinking too much of it, because it could easily be a button or his phone or some shit, but what?

I shook my head and walked into my room, closing the door behind me as I threw myself onto my bed, quickly throwing all thoughts aside as I swiftly passed out on the bed.

Notes

I AM SO SORRY I AM SO BAD AT KEEPING TRACK AHHHHH this is so unfair i am really sorry :<<br>
also mcrx what the fuck no mcr you can't do this to me no no no