Devil child (petekey)

Chapter ten

Mikey was good humoured for the rest of the week and everyone marveled at the amazement that was Pete Wentz who had managed to tame the wild beast everyone feared.

The maths buddies became closer and closer and soon Pete had more friends than he ever had before. He became part of a group of friends, of people he was in awe of. There was something about each one of them that he just wanted. They were just the kind of people Pete had hoped and dreamed to just meet, not even imagining he could be friends with such incredible people. He loved all of them and they shared a kind of joy only friendship could create. For once in his life Pete could smile a genuine smile sometimes and feel so good and happy about it, not an ounce of guilt anywhere.

He loved Mikey most of all though. They had a special bond, something between them that made them so close and connected it would be a sin to be broken. Mikey was in awe of Pete, in his eyes Pete was as close to perfection as any human could get. Mikey didn't believe in perfection, he thought the whole idea of the thing was complete and utter bullshit. Then again sometimes 'ideas' can turn into the greatest things imaginable. He didn't believe in stereotypical perfection, he believed in Pete Wentz and his magical ability to cheer him up from the darkest of thoughts and emotions in seconds and have him laughing so hard he could barely breathe. Mikey never knew anyone quite like him. He was bizarre. He had an amazing quirky personality that no one could ever match and for some odd reason, that attracted Mikey to him even more.

The week went smoothly up until Friday. Friday 9th April. Pete couldn't help but note Mikey was off that day, like really off. Nothing Pete could do could cheer him up. Not even a hug. He was distant and no one, not even Pete, could bring him in again.

'I'm really worried about Mikey' Pete said to Patrick, biting his lip nervously.

'I know you are, you can tell. Don't worry about it, he's always like this at this time of year. Its probably just like his thing' Patrick shrugged it off avoiding eye contact.

'Oh. OK... What have you got next?'

'Music'

'Sames, shall we go?'

'Yeah we better.' Patrick sighed and they started walking down to music. Mikey was already there sitting in the corner by himself absentmindedly playing with the sleeves on his hoodie. Pete walked over and sat down behind him in silence, staring at him for a moment and thinking for the millionth time how beautiful he was.

'Hey Mikes, I know you probably don't want to talk about it but, are you alright?' Pete asked nervously putting his hand on Mikey's shoulder.

'No.' He huffed, still facing away from Pete.

'Tell me whats wrong?' Pete asked, he already knew the answer but thought it would be worth a shot.

'Its not a telling kind of thing. Its more of a 'you just want to stay in your dark depths of self pity and sadness and avoid all human contact' thing.' Mikey sighed turning to face Pete.

'So pretty much same as usual?' Pete forced a smile but Mikey didn't return it. They just sat there in silence until the lesson began.

A teacher finally walked into the lesson 10 minutes late and sat behind her desk. She flicked through a couple of folders before deciding the fate of the poor teenagers in front of her.

'Listen up class, for the next few lessons I want to divide you into pairs. I'm going to go through the register and tell you who's with who. Basically the task is, there's going to be a teacher and a student in each pair and one person has to teach the other an instrument.' Pete looked at Mikey his eyes full of excitement.

'Mikey we have to be together our last names both begin with W! For once the shitty alphabet system worked out!'

'You're gonna be the teacher, I can't play for shit. I've only messed around on a couple of instruments now and then, not properly. I've wanted to though. That's why I'm in this shitty class. Can you play any instruments?' Mikey asked almost monotonously.

'Yeah I play bass...' Pete blushed.

'Cool I've always wanted to play bass.' Mikey said, his mind clearly elsewhere but he meant those words. Bass had always appealed to him.

'...And finally Pete and Mikey you guys are together.' The teacher said turning to the boys, smiling at finally being able to fuck off for the rest of the lesson. She really hated her job.

Pete grabbed a bass and an amp and quickly made his way to a small practice room with Mikey trailing behind. He sat himself down in the middle of the floor and plugged the bass in before playing a bit just to try and get used to it. He soon got absorbed in his playing, as he usually did, and started playing every bass line he could remember until his fingers nearly started bleeding. He then remembered he had company and turned to Mikey.

'Sorry! I'm supposed to be teaching y-Mikey! What's wrong!?' Pete asked his eyes full of alarm. Mikey was sat there looking down trying not to sniff too loudly as tear after tear fell down his cheeks.

'I-I'm s-s-sorry' Mikey stuttered as he got up and ran out of the practice room, Pete got up to follow but soon saw Billie and Ray standing in the door way.

'Pete what's wrong with Mikey? Was he crying!?' Ray said just as astounded as the rest of them. Pete just stood there mortified. What was wrong with Mikey? Where was he going? He needed to help him but why couldn't he move? He looked back and forth between the blank faces in front of him, his eyes full of fear.

'Go after him Pete.' Patrick said, appearing out of nowhere. So Pete did. That was enough for his body to start co-operating again. He ran out of the classroom and started going down the corridors. Looking from left to right and side to side in any hope of spotting Mikey. He failed at every turn. He was soon back to where he started and he couldn't find him anywhere. There was one last resort. The boys toilets down in science. It was a long shot but in Pete's eyes definetly worth a try. He ran down the stairs and finally burst the door open to see one of the cubicle doors locked and hear occasional sniffing. It was Mikey. He'd finally found him.

'Mikey! Mikes its me! Please let me in we need to talk!' Pete shouted banging his fist on the door. No response. Perfect silence. He looked down to the floor and suddenly his whole world came to a stop.

Blood.