Diary of a Jersey Misfit (Frerard)

Two- First Breakfast

Frank woke up at six AM. He groaned and rubbed his eyes, yanking his earbuds out of his ears. He'd fallen asleep listening to music last night, because he wouldn't have been able to any other way.

Ray was sitting at his desk, mumbling under his breath. He hadn't seemed to notice Frank's alarm.

Frank sat up and stretched. His back popped loudly. "Ow."

"Hey." Ray finally turned around, a friendly smile on his face. "Good morning. How'd you sleep?"

"Good, actually. It's surprising." Frank yawned again. "Sorry."

"No worries. Breakfast is in about two hours, but there's snacks in the common room if you need them. Bathrooms are at the end of the hall that the stairs aren't on."

"Cool, thanks." Frank got out of bed. "Where can I change?"

"Either here or there's changing rooms in the bathroom. People mostly change in their rooms, though, 'cause there's no stalls. I'll leave if you want."

"Uh, no, it's okay. Do we have to wear uniforms today?"

"Not for the tour. But wear shoes that are easy to walk in, you'll regret it if you don't."

"Rad." Frank got a random shirt, ripped skinny jeans, and his leather jacket out of his dresser. He slipped on some shoes and opened the door, peering out into the hallway. No one else was out besides a guy who looked much younger than Frank walking back to his room.

Frank made his way to the bathroom at the end of the hall. There were two doors, one with a toilet sign and one with a shirt sign. Frank pushed open the door with the shirt on it. It was a big room, empty except for a wall of shelves and lockers. There were a few other guys changing, but Frank's eyes were immediately drawn to Pretty Boy, who was buttoning up a shirt. His hair was hanging over his face in a curtain as he kept his head down, and his chest was almost as pale as the shirt he was wearing. He finished buttoning his shirt and slipped on a blazer.

Frank looked away quickly before he could get caught. He pulled his pajama shirt over his head and instead slipped on a band shirt. Nobody seemed to care, but he was worried about changing his pants anyways. He glanced around before chickening out and running back to his room.

Ray was still at his desk, but looked up when Frank came in. "Hey. Wanna finish changing in here?"

"Please."

"No problem. It's a little unnerving in there. Just let me know when you're decent." Ray stood up and walked out into the hall.

Frank closed the door and finished changing, throwing his stuff in the bottom drawer and then let Ray back into the room.

"All good? Showers might be kinda scary too, there's just curtains covering them. And there's not really a space to change, so if you change in there you either need to deal with slightly wet clothes or change out in the open."

Frank bit his lip. "I'll deal with the wet clothes."

Ray smiled. "I get that. It's- you have a lip ring?"

"Oh." Frank touched his lip. "Uh, yeah."

"Yeah, you're gonna have to take that out."

"What? Why?"

"And your earrings. Only girls and nb kids can have piercings, and even then nothing too fancy. Just studs. And no face piercings or anything. I mean...I guess you could get your bellybutton pierced or something. Teachers wouldn't see that."

"That's stupid. Who came up with that?"

"I dunno. This place is pretty conservative. You're gonna get a lot of weird looks today."