Never Coming Home // Frerard

Chapter 4

Frank was quiet during Math. He introduced himself shyly at the front of the class and then came and sat down next to me and didn't say anything for most of the lesson, just kept his head down. He looked worried, almost sad, so I passed him a note.

 Are you okay? it said in my messy handwriting. He scrawled something down and passed it back to me.

 Just thinking. Don't worry. His handwriting was neat, the words lining up perfectly on the page.

 Math is that boring, huh?

 Well, I never liked it anyways, so it's pretty easy to zone out, seeing as I've been doing it for most of my life. I breathed a laugh as I scrawled a reply.

We ended up passing notes for the rest of class, learning random facts about each other. He's a vegetarian, he plays guitar, he's into photography, and he switched schools because of an incident that he didn't want to talk about.

This was definitely the Frank Iero from the hospital.

I don't know why that lady even caught my eye in the first place. Maybe it was the guilt in her teary eyes, maybe it was the drops of blood on her hands and pajama pants. Maybe it was the way she wasn't sobbing, wasn't staring into space, and wasn't talking to anybody.

She was thinking dreadful thoughts that made her feel guilty.

This told me maybe Frank had some sort of injury or illness that she wasn't aware of until it threatened his life.

"Gerard? Earth to Gerard," Mikey waved his hand in front of me as I was putting books in my locker and exchanging them for the ones I needed next. He said something, but only the ring of his voice registered in my mind, my thoughts still on Frank Iero.

"Sorry, what did you say?" I asked as I closed my locker.

"I asked what you thought of Frank so far," He sounded annoyed.

"Oh! Um, he's pretty cool so far. I don't know a lot about him yet, but he's a cool guy," I faked a smile that Mikey didn't believe for a second.

"Something's bothering you," He stood in front of me to stop where I was going, narrowing his eyes at me.

"It's... I'll tell you in gym, okay?"

"Promise?" He raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Trust me." He sighed, clearly giving up, and continued to walk next to me.

-

"So Ray just told her to shut the fuck up?" I laughed as I pulled off my band t-shirt and put it in my gym locker.

"Yeah," Mikey was trying not to laugh, "And the look on her face was fucking priceless!"

"How does one guy always manage to get in so much trouble?" I sighed, still laughing a little bit.

"I don't know, but it makes for some pretty good YouTube videos." It was true. Mikey had a whole channel on YouTube dedicated to sneaky videos of Ray talking back to, and pranking, various teachers.

"You need a priority check," I said sarcastically as I pulled gym shorts over my boxers.

"Alright," Mikey's tone changed, "Spill. What's bothering you?"

I sighed. I could lie and tell him it was just being back in school after Lindsey died. I was thinking about doing that, but he's my brother. I could be an Oscar winning actor and he still wouldn't buy a single lie I told him.

"Mikey, I... I think I know something about Frank that I shouldn't," I sighed. His face was a mixture of confusion and sympathy. He didn't say anything, so I continued. "When I was in the hospital, there was a girl in the waiting room who was there for a boy named Frank Iero." Mikey nearly choked on air.

"He... say that again? I'm not sure I heard you right."

"If it's outrageous enough that you would ask me to repeat it, then you heard me correctly," I said as I tied my shoes.

"How do you know it's the same Frank?"

"Frank told me in math class that he transferred schools because of an 'incident'" I used airquotes, "And he didn't want to talk about what it was. The woman there for him at the hospital had blood on her hands. I don't think there's a very large possibility of them being two different people with the same exact name, Mikes."

"You're right. But what are you gonna do? You can't just ask him about the past he's not comfortable talking about."

"I know," I sighed, running a hand through my black hair that desperately needed to be cut. "I guess I'll just wait, and if he wants to tell me one day, he can," I shrugged as we walked into the gym.

-

"Let's get out of this hellhole!" Ray said enthusiastically as we practically sprinted out the school doors.

"Where are we going?" Frank asked from beside me.

"How about Starbucks?" I asked. "Is that okay with everyone?" I could practically feel Ray rolling his eyes at my oh-so-predictable request.

"Every. Fucking. Day," Ray turned his head to face Frank. "Literally, I end up getting pulled off to some coffee shop by these two," He gestured to Mikey and I, "Every day after school."

"It's not that bad," Mikey rolled his eyes.

"Dude, you two live by coffee," Ray laughed.

"Should we invite Patrick?" I suggested before we got in the car.

"I heard my name?" A familiar voice called behind me. I turned to see the blonde man himself, sporting his usual glasses and fedora.

"Hey, Patrick. Wanna come to Starbucks with us?" I asked.

"Yeah, I've got nothing better to do," He shrugged.

We all climbed in the car, Frank, Ray and Patrick sharing the backseat and Mikey sitting next to me in the passengers side, and set off to get coffee.

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I always end up writing these on my phone at ungodly hours in the morning and then having to wait until I can use my laptop to post them and it bothers me so much ;-;

Erm, I don't have anything else to say

~XoChase