For the first time in the last few days I was actually excited to go to school today. I had found out that Jamia was in the music club and she could play bass. I heard her play yesterday and she was killer, maybe one day we could start our own band. We'd become rich and famous and go on wild tours. The idea was entertaining for a while before my mother came in and snapped me back to reality. With a good thud to the back of my head; I winced from the sudden contact.
"It's already a quarter past 8 and you're still in bed daydreaming"She scolded. I buried my face into my pillow,desperately hoping this too was a nightmare and not reality.
"alzarsi,Frank" She hissed but I just buried my face deeper and ignored her. Big mistake. I heard her retreating footsteps and sighed out of relief when I had thought she'd leave me alone just for me to get the shock of my life.
SPLASH!
I yelped and fell off of the bed, the icy water still soaking through the thin material of my clothes. My mother just baptised me with a bucket of ice cold water. Rude.
"Glad to see you're awake, now get dressed" She said with a cold grin. I made a disgruntled sound and slumped forward on the floor. "Why do I have to go to school?"
"So you don't end up like your father."
My head shot up on the instant my father was mentioned. Anger already taking over my senses and I stood up quickly. "Don't you ever mention him again," I growled but was interrupted by the whipping action of her hand across my face.
Silence issued by as I held my cheek in my palm and stared at her in disbelief. I couldn't believe she actually hit me. She wasn't done yet. "And I WILL do it again if you ever disrespect me again in my house hold." She basically spat the words in my face. I decided not to respond, it will just get worse if I added more fuel to the fire. So when she left, I took off my clothes and got ready for school.
¥¥¥
"Yo! Emo kid." I turned around on impulse as if it were even my name. And I regretted almost instantly when I realised who it was. Breadbin Urine or whatever his name was, was approaching me. I had two options: either be polite and tell him to fuck off or be rude and...well tell him to fuck off.
"What's up with your--"
"Fuck off," I snapped, turning around to run but he grabbed my shoulder and spun me around. "Hey, I'm talking to you you little fa-" He didn't get to finish because I half jumped, bopping him straight at his nose. He cursed loudly and cradled his face and I bolted down the hallways. I ran so fast that I accidentally collided into someone. A familiar boy with dark hair and hazel eyes. 'Dammit, today just gets better and better' I thought warily as I rubbed my head and got up. He dusted his uniform and was about to start yelling before he realised that it was me.
"Frank?" He gasped on seeing my face and disheveled appearance. His voice grew softer"Who did this to you?"
I could feel my face burning as his full attention was on it. What was I supposed to say? 'My mommy hit me?' Not only would that be lame but it would be so embarrassing.
He was still waiting for me to answer and I grew hesitant. "Gerard, I--"
"Hey! I wasn't through with you," I heard Brendon march up to us, his fist clenched, until he saw Gerard and he stopped dead in his tracks. I was staring down at my vans as the two seniors glared at each other and I was awkwardly in the middle.
"Brendon? You did this??" Gerard sounded so pissed that it genuinely frightened me. I could just see the confusion on Breadbin's face on hearing the wrong accusation. This was the moment where I was supposed to tell him that it wasn't Brendon who hit me.
But he was so full of shit that I didn't feel the need to help him out. "I didn't even touch him!" He protested. "He's the one who hit me."
Gerard scoffed, laughing without the lustre of a normal laugh. "So you want me to believe that a 10th grader beat you up. For Christ's sake, Urie I wasn't born yesterday. I know you hate him and harassed him before." I looked up at him as he spoke and noticed how red he looked, as bright as a tomato. It was so weird seeing Gerard like that--angry,ruffled. He always had this calm, un perturbed aura about him that breathed good natured prep guy. I thought he was like the other drones in this school but I just realised he's not.
He was a guy with unruly emotions, who wasn't afraid to let it out when provoked. And for the first time, I saw him in a different light. A better light.
"Hand over your badge," He spoke and his tone brook no argument. Brendon looked like he was going to faint. He gulped visibly. "Wh-what?"
"Did I speak Italian? I believe I was speaking clear English when I asked you to hand over your badge."
I gawked at him. Was he demoting Brendon,over me?
What?
He was going to make my life a living hell, I haven't known Brendon for long but I knew how much he loved his authority and it would be a fatal blow to his pride if he lost it.
"You're removing me because of this faggot? Seriously Gerard?" He seethed. "If you remember, Urie, what happened the last time you challenged me, you'd submit like a good little soldier" Gerard said and that was enough for Brendon to remove the golden pin from his dress jacket and reluctantly handed it over to the older boy.
Gerard smiled coldly before saying:"Good. Now run along."
Brendon puffed before giving me a look that could kill and storming off.
As soon as he was gone, Gerard drowned me with questions before cradling my face in his palms and observing me closely. I squirmed by the awful proximity.
"I'm okay, Gerard, trust me. It's just a little bruise." He seemed to not believe me but he eased up a bit, only thing was that his hands were still glued to my face and our gazes were locked. I could literally feel my pulse in my neck as his eyes roamed over my face and everything became quiet. His voice became thick with some foreign emotion I've never heard before;
"promettimi,"
My mouth hung open dumbly as I fought for the proper words to say.
"Gerard, I--"
"Oh my goodness, Frank what happened to you??" Jamia gasped, coming into view and breaking whatever spell had fallen as Gerard let go of me. She came over and started doting over me like a protective mother hen, examining me for possible injuries.
"I heard Brendon beat you up so I came as quickly as possible." I politely shook her hand off. Wasn't really in a talking mood at the moment. Nothing made sense.
"He's okay, Jams. He's just a bit shaken up." Gerard informed her before giving me a sly look that made me question my life choices.
"Okay, if you say so." Jamia allowed but didn't sound all too convinced. It was cute that she cared so much. Kind of wished she was 20+ years older, she would've been a great mother:something uncommon.
"Okay guys, I have to go to my student council meeting and make an important speech." He ran a hand through his ruffled up hair. "Take care." Then he was out, leaving Jamia and me behind.
"Are you okay?" She asked as soon as we were alone. I sighed in more of frustration than annoyance. I wasn't a baby anymore and I wish people would stop treating me like a kid---I was going to be 18 in a few months.
"You really need to listen to me,Jamia. I mean it, I'm okay."
"I'm just worried about you, Frank. You seem like a good guy, I'd hate to see you get hurt." Her voice was firm yet still contained the familiar soft undertone of a person who cares.
Overwhelmed, I gave her a brief hug, which took her by surprise but she hugged me back nonetheless.
It felt good--her warmth, her sent. Everything about her felt good and I just relished her presence. We haven't really known each other for long but I was attracted to people beautiful at heart.
And Jamia was definitely one of them.
¥¥¥
Classes went by very slowly to the point that I was afraid that my wrist watch had stopped working. Once again, music class was my only safe haven. We were given an assignment to play any 60s genre rock song. It would carry 30% of our grade so it was very crucial. Although I hated school..I kinda still cared about my grades, if that made sense.
We were put in groups of four and it wasn't hard for us to pick our members. Ray would play leading guitar, I'll play rhythm guitar, Jamia would do bass and Peter Wentz will do vocals. The idea sounded fun, almost like a band.
"So what song should we play guys?" Ray asked, nibbling on a cupcake that Jamia apparently brought to school. "These cupcakes are amazing Jamia," I moaned over the chocolate goodness of the pastry. She went a little pink just then.
"Frank," She giggled. "Stop moaning."
That made Pete and Ray to burst out laughing. "What?" I asked with my mouth full of icing. "It's normal--wait so you guys don't get sexual with your food?"
"No, we don't Frank. There are other...reasons to get sexual with, not food." Pete chimed in, making Jamia and Ray to keel over with laughter. That made me wonder who the lucky lady Pete was probably referring to. My curiosity was killing me.
"Oh, you've got a girlfriend?" I asked, casually taking a sip of the crap-pple juice Pency Prep had to offer.
"Boyfriend." Pete corrected and I choked on my juice.
"Wait, so you're gay?" I asked, disbelief leaking from my tone.
"And proud, honey."He replied defiantly, crossing his arms over his chest. "Any problem?" "No, not at all. You just don't seem like the gay type is all."
"You don't have to wear rainbow sneakers and a gay pride sticker before you can identify as gay, Frank." Ray said, a bit defensively and an awkward silence took over.
"Anyways," Pete said, breaking the silence. "So you all like David Bowie,right?" He asked as if it was an obvious fact. Which no doubt it was.
"Yeah, I love David Bowie. So what's up?" I said, trying to not trigger the fanboy within me. "Like, really like him." I added.
"Cool, so I was thinking we should do a cover of Space Oddity. It's a nice late 60s jam that really reps the whole 60s rock essence." He explained brightly.
"Totally! I love that song." Jamia agreed,squealing. Her happiness was sickly contagious so I agreed to. "Plus it's good for my vocal range and the beats are mad."
I was so happy to perform. My mother always told me that music was a waste of time and for potential school drop outs. Plus I would enjoy playing with Pansy.
"Pansy would give that song a run for its money." I boasted and they all turned to me with interest, especially Jamia.
"Who's Pansy, Frank?" She asked, a hint of jealousy in her tone. How adorable, she was already feeling threatened by a potential female opponent.
"Sorry to burst your bubble but Pansy is the name of my guitar. She's my baby." I smiled at the look on Jamia's face. It was priceless.
"So, you don't have a girlfriend?" She asked modestly. I shook my head." I'm as single as Angelina Jolie."
She let out a small'oh' and looked else where. "Who names their guitar?" Pete asked bewildered.
Ray scoffed."Who doesn't? I name my Gibson Les Paul Standard Electric Guitar Rainbow Princess." Ray admitted and we all stared at him. "Um, Ray, I think your gay is showing." Pete chided and we all submitted to another round of laughter.
Just then, Ryan came over in a frenzy. He looked utterly disturbed about something. And when he asked to speak with me my anxiety got the best of me.
"What's wrong Ryan, the school cafeteria ran out of milk?" I laughed nervously. He rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Not funny Franklin," He snapped and I stopped laughing, also because whenever someone called me by my first full name I knew they were serious.
"My boyfriend's pissed at you." Even Ryan had a boyfriend? Was everyone here gay?" What?" I asked, confused.
"Yes, Brendon but don't tell anybody, no one is supposed to know he's not straight. He'd get kicked out of every prominent society in Pency Prep." He said in distress and I tried to calm him down."Take it easy,Ry, why would his sexuality possibly a negative factor?
"You don't understand how things work here,Frank. You're new, this school is theocratic in nature. If you're not highly religious and straight, no society will accept you." He said flatly.
"That's bull shit." He shrugged.
"That's Pency Prep."
He sighed," I know where you're from it's normal, there's freedom to act how you want and be who you are but it's not the same here...just please-- Brendon is really mad and he's planning a way to hurt you. Just, thought you should know.."
I looked him over to make sure he was serious. He was. And it scared the living shit out of me. Brendon may have lost his position as vice president of the student body but with all those damn badges on his shirt I just knew he still welded some form of power. The very thought frightened me.
"Can't you do anything about it?" I asked, feeling more helpless by the second. Ryan shook his head, his lips quivering. "I can't, I've never seen him like this. I can't just challenge him and get him more mad, he's my boyfriend." He concluded with some finality in his voice. I didn't press any further, it was useless.
I was screwed and this time I knew that even Gerard couldn't save me.
.
