Perspective

Part II

Daily life for Gerard became as monotonous as his literature class.

Blink.

Breathe.

Blink.

That's all it felt like for him. Life was slipping away from his grasp, and fast.

He needed something in his life, but he didn't know what.

It was lunch, and Gerard was sitting at his normal table. No one else was sitting at it, but he didn't mind. Instead of bringing a sandwich to lunch today, he brought a sketchbook. His mother got it for him for his birthday a month ago. He hadn't touched it yet, but he thought he might as well because there wasn't much else to do at school.

He ran his fingers along the seam going down the book and carefully opened to the first page. It was a moleskine book and the paper wasn't very heavy duty, but that was fine. He set the book down on the table and pulled out a pen. He set the pen to the paper, but didn't move it. Chewing on his fingernails, he looked around desperate for inspiration. Again his eyes laid upon the boy from yesterday.

After studying the shape and posture of his subject, he dragged his pen across the paper creating fine strokes and details. A wrinkle here, a crease there. The boy was wearing black earrings, and Gerard did not forget that.

The final product was not illustration worthy, you could say, but he put his emotion into it and that's what counted.

The bell rang, loudly. Gerard was sitting next to the PA speakers so it was extremely loud for him. He covered his ears and cringed, waiting for the loud sound to subside.

Making sure no one saw his book, he closed it quickly and tucked it under his arms, hugging it to his chest as he walked out of the cafeteria alongside of his peers.

Gerard liked to think. He was very smart. He spent most of his time thinking. About what you say? Probably everything there is to think about.

Out of all the things to think about, however, his thoughts kept going back to the boy with the black earrings.

He needed to know the boys' name, and he was going to find out what it was.

~

Gerard trudged slowly out of his final period, exhausted and glad the day was over. He walked down the hall, avoiding eye contact. His hands were sweaty and he was breathing in short rapid breaths. He knew where he was going, he was just nervous. As he neared his destination he took a moment to fix his hair and try to calm down.

"H-hi, w-what's your name?" 

Gerard choked out and cringed at his awkwardness. Why couldn't he just speak like a normal person and not get all worked up over something as simple as introducing himself?

"I'm Frank." the boy replied, smiling kindly "I haven't really seen you around, what's your name?"

"I'm Gerard," he paused "y-you can call me whatever you want though." he said scratching his neck awkwardly and looking at the ground.

"Cool man. My ride's here, I'll talk to you some other time." Frank said, doing a little wave.

Gerard stood there staring. He couldn't believe he just did that.

As Frank was walking away, he turned his head to the side and took a last look at Gerard and Gerard could've sworn he saw something flicker in his eyes. What was it though?

~

Gerard was lying on his bed. He didn't have his music on, he wanted to be able to think to his full ability. As he stared at the ceiling he thought of his encounter with Frank. Mostly he thought about the look that Frank had flashed him while he was walking away. He had never been looked at like that before. Gerard didn't feel as empty as he did previously, he almost felt happy.

Gerard started dosing off, just repeating what had happened earlier that day in his head.

He wanted to know what was making him feel this way, and he wanted more of it, whatever it was.

~