Chapter 24

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The rest of Gerard's weekend is spent in Mikey's room after Ray finally goes home on Sunday afternoon.

He knows it's hard for Mikey to deal with him, but Mikey doesn't complain once. Even when Gerard sneaks into Mikey's bedroom after spending hours trying to sleep in his own room, Mikey doesn't make him leave, and instead allows Gerard to lay out his blankets on the floor.

He doesn't sleep very well, but it's better than what he would have gotten if he had stayed in his own room.

When he gets up for school in the morning, he checks his phone, but there's no messages, no missed calls, no voicemails. He reluctantly goes down the stairs to his room and gets dressed. He's relying heavily for his brain to switch onto autopilot to get him through the day. When he's dressed, he skips breakfast and he even skips coffee.

He knows Mikey is concerned, but Mikey doesn't comment on it, and they're silent on the drive to the school.

Gerard heads straight to his first hour and sits down at his seat in the back. Normally, he would have immediately got out one of his notebooks and a pencil and start drawing something, but he doesn't have it in him right now. Looking at the clock, he realizes that there's still about ten minutes until class starts, so he takes out his phone again.

Still no messages.

Still no calls.

With a sigh, he decides to start typing out a message to Ray.

(7:51am)- hey

Ray responds almost instantly.

(7:51am)^ hey. what's up?

(7:52am)- everything sux.

(7:52am)^ i know. did you at least go to school today?

(7:52am)- yeah. i just...

(7:52am)- yeah

(7:53am)^ i understand what you mean. try and get through the day. i'm gonna try and see you this weekend, but i'll be there sooner if you need me.

(7:54am)- how r u holding up?

(7:54am)^ not feeling the greatest. not sleeping very well :/

(7:54am)- same

(7:56am)^ i'm here for you

(7:56am)- u 2

(7:57am)^ i need to get to class, but i'm gonna call you after school, okay?

(7:58am)- ok. ttys

Gerard sighs and looks up from his phone when the bell rings, and he decides to slide it into his pocket. He keeps his head down as the students start filling the empty seats around him.

The class goes on like clockwork, and Gerard ignores the sheets of paper handed out to him throughout the hour. He's never cared about school anyway, but eventually when class is almost over, he stuffs the papers into a folder and shoves it back into his bag.

When the bell rings, even though he's in the back, he's the very first one out the door.

His second and third hour are relatively the same, and when lunch comes around, instead of going to the cafeteria, he goes to the library.

The librarian doesn't question him when he sits on one of the armchairs instead of walking the aisles to find a book. She's probably used to students skipping lunch to be in the library, so Gerard is left alone.

Mikey sends him a text halfway through lunch.

(11:48am)~ Are you still alive?

(11:48am)- unfortunately

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