Shadows You Left Behind.

Sitting on the bus, watching the miserable rain dripping from the windows and drifting down the glass, before tricking off the sides of the vehicle, I sighed.
I was sick of seeing the same views, same people, same weather for everyday of my life here. It was always the same. Rain always depressed me, I'm not sure what it was about it, maybe it was how it re-enacted how it felt to have tears on my face. I don't know.

Just then, I felt a pair of eyes on me. I sheepishly turned round, to see a boy around my age, trying to get my attention awkwardly.
"Can I sit here, please?" He asked, a thick Jersey accent like mine escaping his mouth.
"Sure." I said, and he smiled at the familiar voice.
He had noticeably green eyes. Even though they had a lot of brown in them, they still stood out from his pale face and dark, floppy hair. His mouth was strange, moving to one side as he spoke. His chin was rounded, yet chiselled. He said his name was Gerard.

"I like your bag." He said a few minutes later, after sitting in a timid, observant silence of sideways glances.
"Thanks, you like Misfits too?" I asked excitedly, life just got considerably better.
"Yeah, I love them. Please tell me you like Maiden?" He laughed, making me grin.
"Of course." I replied enthusiastically.
"You like The Smiths?" Gerard nodded eagerly.
"Black Flag?" I smiled. "Yes."
"NOFX?"
"Fuck, yeah."


The rest of the journey went pretty much the same way, until some jock behind us told us to shut up. We kindly told him to fuck off. He didn't seem to like that.
"Oi, shut up." I flustered and tried to think of a comeback. Luckily Gerard managed to think of one before I messed it up any further.
"Oh, look, this boy is so clever, he's learned to differentiate sexuality! Gold stars for you!" I laughed, but also worried slightly, I didn't like to provoke bullies, I could deal without that.
"So you are gay?" The jock jeered, I learned his name was Josh.
“Why, do you have a crush on me?" Gerard asked, faking a rather convincing innocent face. Josh looked completely horrified.
He shouted to his friends, but the bus had already stopped and me and Gerard had quickly made our way off.




We strolled into the hallways, we weren't gonna stay in the cold any longer if we could help it.
"So, you're new?" I asked Gerard, who nodded quietly, absorbing his surroundings shyly.
"What's wrong?" I asked him, sensing his hesitation not to talk.
"Nothing." He said meekly.
"Spit it out, I don't mind." I told him, leading him out of the middle of the rush of students.
He shook his head.
"No, really, it's fine, I'm just a little nervous. I mean, my last school wasn't exactly the most pleasant experience."
I nodded. “Same here, don’t worry, you won't get much grief here, they're not as tough as in jersey.”
He giggled.
I opened my locker, twisting the combination this way and that, almost forgetting the stupid code.
"Have you got a locker yet?" I asked Gerard, who was peering around the room, taking everything in. I noticed he had a little smudge of black over his tired looking eyelids. He was wearing makeup. That made him a target.
I turned back to my locker, grabbing my books and slamming the door. "Yeah, number 107 I think?" I smiled. "Mine is 106, your's is right here!" He grinned back, so easily pleased.
"Erm, Gerard..." He looked up at me, awaiting my response. "You might not want to draw much attention to yourself. It's just, people bully me, and I don't think it's a good idea to get you more enemies..." I looked down, embarrassed. He nodded again.

Gerard looked a little deflated after our conversation, I guess he wasn't looking forward to meeting the rest of our school. "Is your first class art, too?" He asked, timidly.
"Yep." I chirped, trying to brighten the mood.

...

Miss Carlie placed a paper down on my desk, it fluttered slightly and began to fall off onto the floor, Gerard grabbed it before it hit the ground, I hadn't even noticed him there.
"Thanks." I said, smiling at him, a little disorientated by my inability to sense him there.
He walked past, smiled back at me, then sat down on the other side of the room.
I wished I could be sat by him. I sighed, slumping down again, looking at who was sat next to me. She was a plain girl, with small, delicate features, but she had a warm, pretty face.
She also had long, brown hair and a dusting of freckles.
She was wearing a navy hoodie, hiding her hands inside the sleeves and resting them on her face in a last ditch attempt to warm herself up a little.
The classroom was cold, but it wasn't that bad, she must have been one of those people who really feels the cold, or she just liked hiding in her hoodie. Either way, it didn't really concern me.
"Hi." She said quietly, I jumped internally, facing her properly. "Hi." I said back, smiling that someone had actually bothered to pay attention to my existence.
Come to think of it, I seemed to remember her face, she often sat at the back of the classes I was in, watching me sometimes, maybe she noticed I was often so lonely.
I smiled and looked back to Miss Carlie.
This second day back wasn't going to be so bad as the other years.

"Today, since you're all in new classes this year, I want you to get to know each other better. We will work in pairs today!" The whole class mutually groaned. I wasn't particularly sociable at the best of times, especially not early in the morning, looking like shit.
I felt sorry for Gerard, he was sat next to some girl who looked like the type of person who would proclaim herself as a 'scene kid' and then giggle in a brain-numbingly annoying way. She was flirting intensely with him. He was gonna have a fun lesson.

"I want you to interpret your secrets onto the page, in the most subtle way. Use your imagination, do not make it obvious, you don't want people to know, remember." Miss Carlie continued, before being interrupted by someone at the back of the class.
"What if you don't have any secrets?"

Miss smiled mysteriously. "Everyone does, they need to dig deeper, when I say the word secret, something must spring to mind, something that makes your chest pang. Think harder."
He nodded and looked as if something had come to his mind.

I had something I was thinking of, but I don't even know myself if it's true, so I'd rather not use it.
"We're not starting today, since this is only a single lesson and we need a double lesson to fit everything in, so for now, I'm going to hand out some paper and you draw what you're thinking of right now. I will not show anyone, just draw."
Gerard bit his pen and held it to the page.
He then began to draw something.

Notes

Hope you like it! It's a little longer this time, I like this fanfic I think, I've actually planned it out! :D
~Xøxøg
(yay fancy 'ø's')