Give Me A Better Cause To Lead

2. Meeting The Gang

Frank woke up that morning with his phone going off in his ear. He groaned and rolled over reaching onto his nightstand and clicking a button to make his cell screen light up. He narrowed his eyes tiredly and looked at the screen trying to read the text.

Gerard: Hey, Frank. If you want a ride to school from us, just walk on over before 7. We can give you a lift.

Frank smiled and propped himself up to text back. He texted back a sure and a thankyou. Then he got up and began to get dressed. He pulled on a Black Flag band-tee and some torn up skinnies, he geled hid faux-hawk and went downstairs. Linda was making special pancakes.

"Hey, Frankie." Linda said as she glanced over her shoulder, Frank was opening the fridge to pour a glass of orange juice.

"Mornin' Ma. I've got a ride to school, you don't gotta drive me and be late for work." Frank told her as he sipped his glass.

"Oh, who's driving you?" Linda asked.

"Mikey and his brother." Frank answered, Linda smiled at him.

"I'm happy that you've already got some friends, Frank. That's a good start for school." Linda said happily. Frank nodded and she made him a plate of pancakes. He quickly ate and then grabbed his back and walked out the front door and crossed over to the next yard, Gerard stood on the porch with his intoxicating cigarette between his lips in the corner of his mouth. Gerard's eyes flicked to him and he smiled.

"Hello, Frank." Gerard said, his voice was wondrous to his ears. Something about Gerard's voice made Frank want to bear the shit out of him so he talked more. He wanted to hear his voice. He didn't know why.

"Hi, Gerard." Frank said nervously, he chewed his lip ring. Gerard was tallish, not as tall as Mikey thought. Frank thought that older brothers were always taller than their younger brothers. Gerard was way paler than Mikey, and kind of darker looking. He tucked a tangle of his hair behind his ear and took a drag on his cigarette.

"We can drive you to school every day, if you want." Gerard told him.

"That'd be..nice." Frank said, his voice wavering. Gerard cocked an eyebrow.

"You alright?" Gerard asked curiously.

"Yea, I'm just worried about school." Frank lied, well half lied. He was nervous about school, but he was more nervous about talking to Gerard. Something about Gerard made him nervous. Mikey walked out the front door with a bag slung over his shoulder, he waved at Frank and said a hello. Gerard motioned towards the black Cadillac and they made their way to it. Mikey dove into the front seat before Frank was at least a yard from the car, Frank chuckled to himself. Gerard opened the door for Frank and told him not to be nervous about school, he chuckled and went to the front seat. Frank sat down.

The car ride to school was full of talking, Frank learned that Gerard drew comics and that Mikey played Bass. He also learned that Gerard was also into the bands Mikey was and that they all liked the same music. Gerard agreed with Mikey that Bert would probably like Frank as well.

Once they got to the school, Gerard lead them the way down a hallway. They made their way to a line of lockers. Mikey ran and tackled a guy with a fro. Gerard laughed silently, Frank didn't really understand. The guy with the fro was laughing and saying Mikey's name repeatedly.

"Oh, well now. Who's this? Freshmeat?" Said a boy with long black hair, he was palish, he was the other pale face that Frank had saw in the window before he had pulled into his new house yesterday. He had eyeliner on, smudged for a smoke look, Gerard did as well. Gerard turned to Frank and gave him a small reassuring smirk.

"Bert, this is Frank. Frank, this is Bert." Gerard introduced them. Bert stuck out a hand, his black nails glinting in the dim light. The hallways were empty, they were there early. Frank hesitantly took his hand and shook it, but before they released grips, Bert tightened his grasp on Frank's hand.

"Hey there, Frank. You're Freshmeat here ain't you?" Bert asked with a smile. Frank pulled his hand out of Bert's and flexed his fingers. His bones hurt.

"Yea, I'm new. Why?" Frank said. Bert narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms.

"Just wondering. You know the Ways? How?" Bert asked.

"I'm their new neighbor." Frank said nervously. Gerard laid a hand on Frank's shoulder and laughed.

"Bert, don't freak him out. He's probably scared shitless of you. Be the teddybear you normally are." Gerard joked.

"I'm no teddybear, Gee." Bert said with a warning glare. Frank grew more nervous, but then Mikey and the guy with the fro walked over. "Hey Mikey." Bert said with a smile and a bro-hug.

"Who's he? That neighbor you were talking about, Mikey?" The fro guy asked

"Yeah, his name is Frank." Mikey said.

"Oh cool. Nice to meat you, Frank. I'm Ray." The fro guy said smiling.

"Hi." Frank mumbled nervously. A large group of guys made their way over. A strawberry blonde tall boy was talking about a cat, when they got close enough they all stared at Frank until he felt like he was going to pass out from being stared at. Mikey walked over to the strawberry blonde and looked at Frank.

"This is Bob, Bob that's Frank." Mikey said. He then walked to the bright blonde boy, "this is Quinn. Quinn, that's Frank." Mikey said. He walked over to a guy with a single lip ring and short black hair. "This is Dan, Dan that's Frank." Mikey announced. He then made his way over to the guy with gauges, snakebites, and fringed black hair. "This is Jepharee, call him Jeph or Jepha. Jepha, this is Frank." Mikey said smiling. They all said hello and Bob walked over and leaned down to stare into Frank's eyes seriously.

"D'you like cats?" Bob asked, his voice was deep, it made Frank on edge.

"I..I'm a dog person." Frank mumbled. Bob sighed heavily.

"Dang it! Everyone seems to hate cats around here!" Bob said gruffly, he crossed his arms and his head hung low.

"Its alright, Bob. I'll take care of the damn cat for you." Jepha said patting his shoulder. Gerard still have his hand on Frank's shoulder, and when he looked at Gerard the hand dropped away and he gave Frank an awkward look but brushed it off. The guys chatted about music for a bit, and Frank realized they were all into the same genre. That's when the bell rang and they had to start their first hour. Bert snatched Frank's schedule.

"I shall guide you to your first hour. Alright, Freshmeat?" Bert asked.

"Uh. Okay." Frank whispered, Bert handed him his schedule and then walked away. Frank followed the black haired boy slowly. Bert glanced over his shoulder.

"Come up here, I wanna talk to you." Bert said motioning for Frank to come closer. Frank hesitantly stepped beside Bert and took step with him. "In sorry if I scared you. I guess I get a little jealous when people are near Gerard. Him and I are best friends, so I..I get jealous. I didn't mean to be mean if that's how I came off to you." Bert said.

"I wasn't scared." Frank lied.

"You weren't?" Bert asked.

"No." Frank lied again.

"Oh. Well I want us to be friends, you seem cool dude. I'm sure that the rest of the guys like you." Bert said smiling. The two walked into their first hour English. They sat together in the back of the class and Bert looked at him. "If the bell rings, wake me the fuck up. Okay, Frankie?" Bert asked.

"Yea, sure." Frank replied slowly. Bert put his head down quickly falling asleep. Frank sighed, was this guy good or not? Was he really going to get mad if he talked to Gerard? Or would Bert hurt him, Mikey said he had a bad temper. That made Frank nervous. He thought about the rest of the guys were nice, Ray knew a shit lot about videogames and planned to have a game marathon with Frank one day. He sat silently through the rest of the class thinking about Gerard's voice and how it lured him in.

~~~

A/N: well what'd you think? Tell me how I did and if you want more. -Gerard