When I woke up, I expected to still see myself in Soho,New York, our familiar bungalow with it's friendly surroundings. To go to my familiar high school and talk to my only friend Jon.
But no, the universe hated me to much to make me think this was possibly ever a dream. And when I had awoken to the cold Jersey air, I just knew that what happened yesterday was real. We had moved from New York to New Jersey.
My mom needed a new job ever since, you know, and she decided of all the other 49 states in the US that Jersey was the best place to move to. What was worse wasn't even the fact that I was saying goodbye to all things normal to me; it was the terrifying fact that I was starting a new school. Scratch that, a new Prep school. That's right, a play den for the species of rich,spoiled hormonal imbalanced teens with bank accounts larger than their brains
"Frank,scendi al piano di sotto, farai tardi!" That was my mom,yelling at me to get ready. She must've been serious because she barely spoke our native language unless she was pissed.
"sto venendo ma," I replied, rolling my eyes. Today felt like it was going to suck. And it was Monday, it was my first day of school so I had to be early and well--Mondays and mornings weren't really my thing.
After spending virtually ten minutes showering and getting dressed, I came downstairs and was greeted with the angry face of my mother. Which, was the normal face of my mother.
"It's your first day of school and you're already late. Here I made you this, now go!" She handed me a small container of pasta and I put it in my school bag before she practically pushed me out of the house.
I didn't expect her to make me brownies and shower me with good luck wishes but a simple'Have a nice day at school' would've been nice. Luckily, it was just a ten minutes walk from my house so it was bareable.
I wondered how my mother even got me into this private prep school; we weren't the richest people in Disney land so it was suspicious. I shook the thought away and focused on how I was going to try and get expelled.
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"At least the surrounding doesn't look threateningly hideous" I thought to myself as I took in the whole all-too-well-maintained environment. After taking a deep breath, I pushed through the double doors of hell. In other words: Pency Prep.
The first thing I noticed was the robotic manner in which everybody moved in. With the matching bland uniforms, they reminded me of soldiers in that Dunkirk movie. I started to rethink my dressing choices: Ripped black jeans, red checkerd vans and my faded Iron Maiden shirt made me look very conspicuous.
Damn it. I was new kid bait. It wouldn't be hard for anybody to realise that I was new; and I was correct because as I walked down the corridor, kids gawked at me like I was an alien from outter space.
"Are you the new emo kid?" A guy with fairly short brown hair and a huge forehead asked. He had so many badges pinned to his dress jacket that I just knew he was of some influence here.
I shrugged"Fits the description" his smile faded as he replied:" We don't allow fags here. If you want to fit in or break dress code, at least dress normal."
Okay, this guy was rude as hell and I already didn't like him. Nonetheless, I smiled sweetly at him,lips puckered playfully. "Oh my, how foolish of me. With a big,strong man as yourself I got lost for a moment. Look, how about we skip class and I'll give you a quickie in the bathroom?" I winked.
And that's when his lack of humour came in and he dragged me by the collar, shoving me into a nearby restroom. "What did you say you little faggot?" He sneered, gripping my collar with his fists and lifting me up by my shirt. He glared menacingly into my eyes.
" oh honey, if you wanted bdsm, that's all you had to say. I-" I was cut off by his fist colliding with my jaw. He punched me again with more force and I stumbled as he let me go. After the brief dizzying pain wore off I found myself and gave him an unexpected sucker punch, straight at his nose. A thin trail of blood began to flow from it. Not really being one to be physical, I quickly ran out of the restroom and blindly collided with the deputy principal.
Fuck.
"It's only your first day of school Iero and you're already getting into a fight" I eyed the deputy principal as he started whatever speech he had planned that I wasn't the least bit interested in.
"It's not my fault your 'lovely' school contains insensitive assholes" I said, eyeing the guy i just had the pleasantry of exchanging words with. He had a gigantic forehead and it made me wonder how many times he had stuck his head up his ass.
"Mr. Urie, this isn't the way to welcome a new student. You're the vice president of the student body, this isn't like you" he scolded, making him scrunch his face in protest.
"I was only showing him the way to the bathroom,sir. He just flipped out on me" He lied fluently. I rolled my eyes skyward. This guy couldn't be serious.
"Yeah, like calling me a fag and harassing me was your hunky dorey way of showing me around" I sneered, sarcasm dripping from my tone.
"I wouldn't think you were a fag if you didn't wear eyeliner like some cringey 13 year old emo" He shot back. I was about to throw a degrading combat but Mr. Peters interrupted our brooding fight.
"Enough Mr. Urie. We'll discuss this later. Iero come with me." The deputy principal said sternly and Brendon gave me the finger as soon as the deputy turned his head. "Ai ai captain" i saluted before the principal shook his head im annoyance and began to walk, beckoning me to follow. Brendon pushed by me and stormed out of the hallways.
There was no difference between Pency Prep and my former high school. The only difference was that here; I had no friends and the place was flooded with self absorbed spoilt rich kids. To make things worse it was Jersey and it was cold as hell and I don't think my Iron Maiden T-Shirt was doing any justice.
"Don't wear that tomorrow. I'll just assume you're new and didn't know the dress code." He said matter-of-factly taking a right turn and I followed.
"Oh. I knew the dress code, it was all just too shitty and bland for my fashion taste"
He didn't reply and I heaved a sigh. This was all so boring, I missed Bellard High school. Sure i was an outcast but at least I had a great friend to talk to. I missed Jon already, he wouldn't of hesitated to show that asshat a lesson.
"This is our most praised student. He will show you all you need to know about Pencey Prep." He began, stopping in front of a dark haired boy. He had a fairly fit physique and if it weren't for the bland, black suit paraded as a 'uniform' he would have passed for feminine. The older boy smiled at me and i couldn't help but notice his tiny teeth but I think the most defined thing about him was his eyes. They were the most precised shade of green and brown that I almost thought they weren't hazel.
Over all he branded this all too clean starched appearance that breathed"Cliche over pampered prep guy" and the vibe didn't settle well with me.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Gerard by the way." He said enthusiastically,stretching out his hand, a wide smile on his face. God was all this show even necessary? I mean really. Everyone here was either rude and annoying or fake and cheery and Gerard fitted with the latter.
I didn't return his handshake or greeting. He seemed a bit hurt at first but I shook it off. I didn't care what others felt, feelings were for the weak.
"And you are?" He asked, still branding a smile.
"Anti-social"
There was a brief silence and I yawned.
"Is there anymore of your heartfelt charisma you'd like to share with me, sweety?" I said in any manner but sweet.
Gerard and the deputy exchanged a look before the former spoke again:
"That's alright, i know transferring to a whole different school is hard and you may feel a bit on edge but don't worry. Here at Pency Prep, we're like brothers and sisters and we look out for each other. We're family here" Mr.Peters looked impressed by Gerard's choice of words but I wasn't. He sounded like a slick salesman trying to sell a bad product to a gullible costumer but unfortunately for them---I wasn't buying it. I was going to do everything in my power to get the heck out of this hell school whether my mom liked it or not.
"Okay Mr.Way I see you've got the situation handled. Make sure he gets to all his classes on time."
"Sure thing,sir." He replied as the deputy disappeared down the hallways leaving Gerard and I alone. Great now I'm stuck with him. Well at least it wasn't Brendon.
"I have a feeling you'll love it here." He said warmly.
"Whatever" was all I said.
He was about to talk again when a fit, perky blonde skipped down the hallways and hugged Gerard whom gave her a light peck in return. Ah, of coarse: Cliche goody goody prep guy and his matching fake blonde cheerleader girlfriend. They really suited each other.
The blonde turned to me after realising there was probably another living being present. She looked pleasantly surprised yo say the least.
"Aw Gee, who's this cute little fellah?" She came over to me and ruffled my hair and I flicked her hand away. How old did she think I was? I'm 17 not seven. I'm way too approachable today, tomorrow I got to apply heavier eyeliner and a "I hate everyone" tee shirt.
"Lindsey, this is Frank Iero. He's new grade 10 intake. Frank this is my girlfriend Lindsey" Gerard introduced us and Lindsey gave me a brief welcoming hug. A wave of strawberry mist hit me before her boobs did. Wow, a hot girl hugged me willingly. I must be doing something right today.
"Nice meeting you Lero"
I sighed internally. Of coarse, she couldn't pronounce my name properly, no one seemed to,well, apart from Gerard.
"Oh no Lins, it's I-ear-oh"Gerard basically spelled it out for her. "It's Italian,right?" He asked, facing me.
"Yeah, how'd you figure?" I asked, genuinely intrigued.
He smiled a bit."I'm half Italian,e sei anche italiano?"
His accent struck me and I gawked at him like a moron. I nodded my head"yes, yes I am."
"Well then isn't that nice. I've been looking for someone to have a nice ol' native talk with" Gerard said, in a wierd voice making Lindsey giggle. Ugh,
Before anyone could talk or I could barf, the bell rang and I've never been happier to hear the damned contraption before in my life.
"Well time to show Frank to his first class. Talk to you later beautiful." He half whispered in her ear and I looked away, clearly uninterested in their PDA.
Only the first day and I already hated it here. Only the first day and I was already hatching my escape plan. The first day and the only thing replaying in my head was the bitter sweet accent of a guy asking me a simple question in Italian.
This was going to be a long semester.
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"So, how was your first few classes,Frank?" I recognised that accent anywhere and I realised who it was, i groaned internally. Why was he so interested in my day? I wasn't his friend or anything. Plus he was a senior so I was a bit surprised he was actually sitting down with me. With Lindsey ,of coarse.
I shrugged nonchalantly," It was okay. All the classes were boring but it was interesting to say the least." And when I mean interesting I mean I found a cool kid in Music class that could play killer tunes on an electric guitar. He seemed nice and we played 'Wrong Number' by The Cure. The kid was really skilled and he had a very unruly afro which suited his energetic persona perfectly.
Gerard seemed happy about that for some reason."Well, I'm glad you're making friends" I rolled my eyes"Yeah, because it's so hard to believe a loser like me could possibly make friends.." I didn't mean to come off too sarcastic but Gerard's surprised state made me a little angry. He may be an important and popular person but that didn't give him the right to dote on me like some naive awkward teen.
His countenance fell slightly: "I didn't mean it like that, I meant--"
"Whatever." I cut him off, taking a sip of my apple juice which pretty much tasted like fruit flavoured cancer. For an exclusive prep school, you'd think the stuff here would taste great.
"Look buddy, Gerard is just trying to be nice and you being an asshole isn't really gonna do any favours for you," Lindsey said, the corners of her lips going down in a frown. I couldn't help but laugh. This chick wasn't serious.
"What's so funny?" She fumed, and I laughed harder. "You're just realising that I'm an asshole?" This is priceless. "Reality check, honey, not everyone you meet is going to bend to your standards. This is the real world, not the buttered-up dream land that this school makes you believe."
Just then, I spotted Brendon and a shorter, better looking guy walking with him. They were in an animated conversation with Brend-head throwing his hands up in laughter and the guy with the cool fringe smiling. Something about the whole seen seemed off. How did asshats like Brendon get friends like that?
"Hey!" Gerard called over to them and my chest tightened, i took in a breath and tried to ease up a little.'calm down, he can't harass you when the president;Gerard was here. As long as Gerard was in a superior position to him, he wouldn't risk anything that would get him on his bad side. Like bullying, Gerard hated bullying because I cought him yelling at Brendon for harassing me earlier in the corridor. He looked pissed, and Gerard plus pissed didn't blend well. I didn't even know why he cared so much, what favour was he even trying to gain? More popularity than he already had? It didn't make any sense.
Nothing in this school did.
"Hey man, what's up?" Brendon asked, sitting next to Gerard. He smiled in authenticly at me. I felt like barfing, for the millionth time this day. "Weren't you just harassing me a few hours ago?" I spat venomously, eyeing him. His fringe friend gave him a funny look."You what??" He half-shrieked, as if surprised that Brendon was capable of doing such a thing.
"Ryan, calm down. It was just a little 'welcome tradition' nothing serious... Right, Oreo?" He smiled wider at me and I rolled my eyes before resisting the urge to correct him. I felt Ryan's gaze on me. "Yeah, right,whatever" I concluded. Anything for this conversation to end so I could go home and die.
Ryan got out a carton of milk and started sipping it noisily. "Ry, stop it." Brendon said, in a half scowl. Ryan pretend to be ignorant of whatever Brendon was saying. "Buuut--Brendon, you know I really have a thing for milk.."
He nodded understandingly."I know Ryan, I know." Then it was silent after that. I stared at Brendon and Ryan for a while. god, everybody here was weird as fuck.
"So," Ryan began and I looked up and caught Gerard staring at me. My face went red as I noticed he instinctively looked away. Talk about weird. "What made you move all the way down here to Jersey in the middle of the term?" Ryan asked, finally dropping his carton of milk and fixing his full attention on me, just like the others. I began to panic, nobody is supposed to know...not even Gerard. If he, or anyone found out the real reason I left New York--I'd be screwed. Literally.
"U-um," I stuttered out before clearing my throat and starting again.
Calm. The. Hell.down.
"It's a long story," I tried to laugh but it came out tensed. "No probs,"Ryan replied, shifting in his seat and getting comfy. "We've got plenty of time."
I felt so tense all of a sudden and on the very edge of having a break down. I even forgot how to breathe for a moment.
Gerard gave me a worried look before speaking up:"Oh yeah, Frank and I used to hang out at summer school. Remember that camp I told you guys about in New York? Yup, turns out Frank went there and I told him about Pency Prep. I forgot to mention it to you guys because I never thought he'd consider it." He lied fluently and by the looks of everyone, they looked surprised,but convinced. He turned to look at me then,before giving me a reassuring smile.
"Wow Gee, and you never told me this." Lindsey said just as the bell rang, signalling lunch over."Sorry sugar, slipped my mind" he replied before leaning in to claim her lips. That seemed to distract her and she smiled. "Okay I forgive you" she giggled, getting up just as Ryan and Brendon stood up to leave. I was still in a state of disbelief.
"Later, Lero!" Brendon called out as he and Ryan left. Gerard scribbled something down on a small piece of paper before sneaking it under the tray and pushing it towards me. I stared at the tray uncertainty.
"See you around, Frank." He took Lindsey's hand and they both took off. I stared down at the tray with the paper peeking out from under before deciding to read it.
'non ti preoccupare, ti ho preso'
I reread the line over again, to make sure I wasn't misinterpreting it and forgotten how to read or function properly. I looked up to see if he was still there but he was long gone.
After a few minutes of realising I was going to be late, i stuffed the note in my pocket and stood up to leave for my next class, but not without repeating what I read on the piece of paper in my head:
'Do not worry, I got you.'
Who knew such simple words could turn everything to shit?