Three Cheers for Sweethearts [Frerard AU]

PART III: Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5 – THNKS FR TH TTRNG

I slammed the locker door shut and carried my things to the library.

For a small school, the library was enormous. I'd only been there a total of two or three times, maybe, but now that I had the time to notice, it was a pretty posh library.

The place I'd told Frank to meet me was right at the entrance, where a giant globe sat in a wooden stand with a few leather chairs and short tables surrounding it, like the globe was the chair god or something. I took a seat and let my mind wander (which was always a bad idea, I was aware, but that didn't really change how often I let it happen).

I knew it was dumb of me to even start on Hunter, but that's just what my mind involuntarily did. It was hard not to think about him. He'd been leaving us alone, which was really scarier than him just continuing to beat us down; bracing ourselves for nothing was downright obnoxious. As soon as we let our guards down, though, something was bound to happen. Thoughts about the words on my locker, the words he'd verbally said – to both me and my friends – flooded my mind fast, as if the only time they would be able to fill my thoughts was in this specific silence.

That graffiti? Why would I want to die? The half of me I always showed to everyone, and the only one I ever allowed myself to listen to, said he was running out of ideas, and that he simply wrote the first thing that came to his mind. The logical half said he just wanted the reaction he wasn't getting with everything else he did, and so he was just upping his act. The half of me I kept hidden away with a password and a padlock even from myself whispered that he wanted me to die.

Maybe my problem was that I had three halves.

I shook those useless worries out of my mind and dug through my backpack until I found what I needed. I flipped to an empty page in my sketchbook and let the pencil fly wherever it needed to.

I didn't even notice when someone sat down right next to me.

"Whoa," Frank's voice in the dead silence made me jump. "Sorry," he said quickly.

"It's cool," I said, flipping the book shut again. "So... ready to start?"

Frank shrugged, but he looked eager. "I have to go at 3:30, though. Thought I should let you know."

"Yeah, yeah. That's no problem." That gave me a grand total of fifteen minutes to teach him something. That was both way too little time and way too much.

"And... how much do you charge for...?" He started shuffling through his bag, but I reached out a hand to stop him.

"Please. No payment necessary."

"Really?"

"Of course."

I had planned out a few things during ninth period to teach him, but I ended up trashing nearly all of my ideas.

"Why don't you start by drawing something?" I said, handing him a blank page.

He looked scared.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he lied. He didn't even try to hide it. "What do you want me to draw?"

"Anything. Just curious what kinds of art you're good at." He hesitated. "I won't judge it or anything," I added futilely.

He nodded slowly at the blank page in front of him. For a scary moment I thought he was going to sit there like that for the next fifteen minutes and we'd leave with nothing but wasted time and an awkward pause in our memories.

But the tip of his pencil touched the paper and he sketched in some lines. I didn't want him to be the kind of artist who did care when someone was watching him, so I turned slightly away from him and fiddled with my fingers. I looked over now and then to see his progress. Eventually he put his pencil down to indicate he was done.

"Let's see..." I picked up the page and took a look at what was on it. It looked like it was a drawing of two people doing High-School-Musical-esque jumps, but he was trying too hard to make them look realistic and therefore magnified the minor details. "Well," I said, moving in closer to him so we could both see the paper, "it's honestly not that bad. The first thing I want to point out is that you've got to keep in mind proportion..."

I gave him a few pointers, and he seemed to understand them. At 3:38, we realized we were late and dashed out of the building, laughing at ourselves.

"Thanks!" Frank called over his shoulder when he kept running and I stopped. I smiled and waved at him. That wasn't hardly as awkward as I feared it would be.

But really, how did someone manage to get a sixty percent in art, especially when he was relatively talented? Maybe that was the one class where he didn't turn things in. I shook my head, smirking to myself.

It looked like rain, or snow, or something (east coast weather... you never know), so I called Mikey and asked for a ride. When I got into the passenger seat, he insisted he switch with me since he had a feeling something bad would happen if he drove us home. I was all for superstitions so agreed to drive us home.

He asked me about Frank, and I honestly had never seen him more talkative.

"I don't know what I think about him. He's a nice kid and all, but sometimes he acts strangely. He might be scared of me. Gerard, did he talk about me while you were staying after with him? Wait... what were you guys doing exactly? I never really asked that... It doesn't matter. You do what you need to. But anyway, I'm just confused and at the same time I wish I was a closer friend to him, I wish he'd never come to our school to begin with. You know?"

"Slow down, bro," I said as I pulled into the garage. "Where is this coming from? No, he's never talked about you unless you were there, as far as I know. I consider the four of us – you, me, him, and Ray – friends. Like... a group of friends."

"Yeah, I dunno. I've just been thinking too much. It happens." Beat. "There are some rumors going around... you know, about the two of you?"

I shrugged, though that hit me harder than I let on. "We're not together, okay? Spread that rumor." I didn't mean to snap at him, but it came out harsher than I intended and he looked a little startled.

We headed inside, and were smacked in the face with the smell of burnt meat. Our mother was using a huge piece of cardboard to fan out the kitchen. We asked no questions. "Hi, kids!" she called over the beeping of many timers.

"Need any help?" I asked, trying not to laugh at her.

"No no, you have homework to do, I'm sure. I'll be fine!"

I raised my eyebrows and left for my room.

I hadn't looked at my phone since calling Mikey, and I hadn't really checked the notifications. Ray had texted the three of us in the group chat.

I am coming down during 8th period to watch your skit.