Three Cheers for Sweethearts [Frerard AU]

PART I: Chapter 7

                  

CHAPTER 7 – TEENAGERS

Wishing I had a magic memory eraser (or even better – a magic button to mute Hunter (or even better – a magic button to make Hunter nice (or even better – a magic button to make Hunter nice and a magic eraser to get rid of the memory of him not being nice (or even better – a magic button to make him nice and change all the bad memories to good memories of Hunter (or even better – the ability to stop caring))))), I headed to Study Hall.

At the corner, Ray turned in front of me, but he didn't see me. I followed him into the classroom.

"Hey," I said, plopping down next to him and starting to unload my bag. I knew I wasn't going to do any homework, but our teacher was psychotic. She therefore wanted everyone to have something on their desk, dead silence, no texting (but using your phone is fine), and, oh, by the way, don't sit in any of the eight random desks throughout the classroom she expected you to know, even though they changed every day and weren't marked in any way. The first few weeks we all obeyed the dumb rules (and were occasionally kicked out of perfectly fine desks), but by the semester break, everyone either talked or tried to sleep. Our teacher just tolerated us.

"Hey, Gerard... How was History?" Ray asked.

"Fine."

"Isn't... Isn't Frank in it?"

"Yeah."

A pause.

"How's your day been going the past hour and a half since I last saw you?" I asked him. The bell rang to indicate the beginning of class and the teacher began taking attendance, though this was the one class we could skip in good conscience.

"Acceptably."

"Good."

We spent Study Hall playing Defend the Dot (yes, that's the dumb game you're thinking of: the one elementary schoolers play where you draw a dot, then something to destroy it, then the next person draws something to destroy your weapon, and you destroy theirs, and so on) until finally I won. Ray put down his pencil and solemnly looked into my eyes.

"Be honest. What do you think of Frank?"

I hadn't been expecting this question, though I probably should have been. I just shrugged. "He's cool."

Ray nodded in agreement. "Do you have any other classes with him?"

"Other than Chemistry and History, just Theatre. Do you?"

Ray smirked, as if remembering something funny (which was probably exactly what he was doing), and said, "Yeah, Phys Ed. He's insanely good, and Hunter doesn't like that. He hates it, actually." Ray said. "Oh no, Hunter isn't the best in the class anymore!" he added sarcastically. "He's really convinced Frank is gay. Apparently he was 'checking everyone out'" – he used air quotes – "in the locker room. So dumb."

I laughed, but only for a second. "Hunter wasn't much fun in US History either... He kept calling Frank variants of 'nerd' and got a little physical. As for the gay thing, who even cares if he is? Not like Frank is hitting on any of us."

Ray pursed his lips and sighed. "So Frank has become another kid for Hunter's amusement. Fantastic."

It hit me: Ray was right.

I guess that made Frank our ally.

A/N
Hey friends! Hope you're enjoying the story so far. I can't believe this already has 200+ reads! Thank you so much!!

Anyhow, I decided to enter this in the #Wattys2016 contest on a whim even though what I consider to be the "good part" of the story is Part III, and we're just finishing Part I right now. What that means, though, is that I need your help as readers! All you have to do is vote at the ends of chapters (the little star in the corner!) and share this with your friends, enemies, pets, siblings, and whoever else your heart desires. Get the word out!

Thank you all so much for your support this far!! See you next Monday. :)

~Cassidy (Acting_is_mylife)

((June 2017 update: I'm also planning to enter this in the #Wattys2017 contest! Thanks for all of your supportive comments and keep on voting!))