don't speak (frank iero)

detention

Rotting in detention, Frank sat with his cheek squished against the library table, bored out of his mind. Occasionally, he would glance over to his friends, Gerard and Mikey, talking in their chairs around the big globe and try to read their lips but his supervising teacher prevented him from ever going over to them. They would sometimes look over at his sad state and laugh as he sulked about the consequences of his actions. Not being able to talk or move, he was left to people-watch as his only source of entertainment. That was until he saw Sydney bounce up to the front desk with a boy who looked a bit like her.

He watched them for a second. It was the first time he had seen a smile come from her, not that he'd known her for more than just an hour. She was rambling on about something as she loaded a cart up with books to put away. Her secret twin just followed awkwardly behind her, his eyes wandering, scanning the room.

Sydney flinched a little as she spotted Frank staring at her, but unlike Sydney, when Frank got caught staring, he owned it. He gave her a big grin and a wave, to which she rolled her eyes and her cart in the other direction.

"I can't believe this," She groaned. "Are you sure this Gerard guy's the one for you?" Sydney asked her brother as they wandered down the fiction section shelving books. "I talked to his friend Frank for maybe twenty minutes in my chemistry class and I thought I was gonna die, he's so annoying."

"Well you can't really judge someone based on their friends, can you?" Ray shrugged, his eyes wandering around everywhere but Sydney. "And besides, Gerard's different, he likes art and music and comics and he plays croquet after school."

"Wow, he sounds like your dream guy!" Sydney said unenthusiastically.

"Shut up!" He smiled. His eyes wandered back to the sitting area in the middle of the library. This time Sydney's gaze followed and landed right on Gerard sitting in a big comfy chair by the globe in the center of the room.

"Oh...My...God," She gasped and turned to her brother. "You followed me in here just so you could see him, didn't you?" Ray just shrugged and avoided her gaze. "And to think, I really thought you wanted to hang out with me for once."

"We hang out all the time!" He laughed.

"I'm your sister! You have to hang out with me!" She huffed and pushed the cart down to the end of the aisle. She turned around to see him staring at her. "Go on! Go talk to him," She rolled her eyes. She smiled as Ray walked off to the center of the room, a slight smile on his face.

Frank watched curiously as Sydney's look-alike walked up to Gerard. He looked nervous. As soon as Gerard saw him, his face lit up and he invited him to sit down with them, in Frank's seat. Frank jerked up out of his chair a little bit before quickly sitting back down. He glanced over to the teacher to see if he'd been caught. It looked like he was in the clear. He raised his hand high.

"Yes?" The teacher asked.

"Could I grab a book?" Frank asked. "Just for the next hour and I'll put it back."

"I don't see why not."

Frank barely tried to hide his urgency as he jumped out of his seat and walked across the library. Gerard noticed him immediately and tried to wave him down but Frank walked right past them. Mikey and Gerard shared a look as they watched him speed through the aisles and disappear into the fiction section. Ray's eyes followed him all the way to Sydney's cart.

"That was our friend Frankie. He's in here a lot," Gerard said to Ray, a slight bit of confusion in his voice. "Normally he's super into meeting new people and hanging out."

"Yeah, That was kinda weird, I dunno what's gotten into him," Mikey agreed. Ray's eyes trailed back to them.

"I think I might, actually," Ray said.