Three Cheers for Sweethearts [Frerard AU]

PART II: Chapter 3

                  

CHAPTER 3 – THIS IS THE BEST DAY EVER

It didn't take long at all for Frank to click into our lives. After about a week we were used to having one more person at the lunch table to talk to every day, as well as an extra classmate around.

Before the morning bell every day, all of the students were to congregate in the commons so that we weren't wandering the halls before all of the teachers were in their rooms. Somehow, I got to school extra early and so I stood around, staring into the mob of people and watching the way they gestured with their hands or fiddled with their uniforms while they talked.

How Hunter managed to single me out in that kind of a crowd, I'll never know.

"Guess what, Gerardine?"

I appeased him. "What..."

"Guess who's going to be the mascot for the basketball game? ME!" He chuckled. "I know you're jealous. I mean being the mascot is a great way to cover your face from the public for a few hours."

He paused, maybe expecting a rebuttal from me or something, but I didn't bother. It was still early, I was still tired, and Hunter was still obnoxious.

"Well, I have to say," he continued, "though it's really exciting for me, because it's really cool to be the mascot, I am a little... disappointed. Don't get me wrong, Gerardine, but on the contrary to your dream of covering your face with a mascot head, I, personally, say it's a shame that I have to cover this face. The ladies love it. At least that means no one will take pictures – I'm the only one authorized."

"Why are you telling me this...?" I muttered quietly, tempted to start a conversation with anyone else nearby and essentially mute him. On the other hand, he was running out of things to taunt me with; I could tell by this dumb little spiel, indirectly calling me ugly and insecure. He was really just embarrassing himself.

He'd never let it show that he didn't know what he was doing. He cupped his hand over his ear like some elementary school bully. "What's that? You want me to tell you more about this?"

I walked away.

Hunter followed.

Too closely.

So he could land a nice punch to my face.

The thing was that I could ignore words. Simple: pretend you can't hear them and tell yourself that the words you're ignoring are the opposite of what is true. Tactics like this had always helped me.

But if things got physical, I was in on it.

I turned and returned a punch equally hard, straight to his jaw.

My scrawny build was something Hunter liked to pick on, but now, it helped me dodge at least three of his blows at me. And let me just say: I was having fun.

The warning bell rang, and I sprinted ahead to get away from him. I took the long way to my locker, between a few areas that weren't really hallways, just in case he was following me. Luckily, he wasn't.

But we both knew that it wasn't over. It never was, was it? It couldn't ever be, at least not until graduation.

During Chemistry, I shared with Ray that maybe we should all rethink going to the first basketball game of the season if Hunter would be there.

"So what?" he said. "It's not like we'll have to talk to him, or even go near him. It might actually be better this way: he'll be on the court, we'll be in the crowd, and there's no chance he'll run into us!"

His logic wasn't wrong. But I still had some weird feeling that going to the game would not end well.

***

Health came and went, the most exciting thing being Lindsey spicing up her little act. She turned around in her seat and her ponytail lightly slapped her face, and then she licked her lips. She licked her lips. I felt myself turning red, giving away that I was watching despite how hard I was trying to make it look like I didn't see her at all. That girl really was something else.

Third period came and went, fourth period came and went. At least I had lunch to look forward to. Finally, half an hour to pretend to have friends.

Ray didn't bring up the whole Hunter-is-the-mascot thing in the first half of lunch (probably assuming I had let it go), so I brought it up myself.

"So have you given the game any more thought, Frank?" I asked. "Ray and I are probably planning to go. Just to hang out, yeah?"

Frank nodded. "I'll probably go. May as well try to meet some more people, right?"

I nodded approvingly. "Definitely. Only... one thing."

"What?"

I paused to take in the odd expressions around me. Ray was giving me a half-glare, knowing exactly what I was going to say. Frank looked concerned, completely in the dark about what I was going to tell him. Mikey's expression was unchanged (who knew if he was even paying attention).

"Hunter is playing the mascot."

Ray's glare intensified when his prediction was correct. Frank, on the other hand, visibly relaxed.

"Okay, I can deal with that," he laughed nervously.

"You're not worried about him?"

"It's not like he can even find us if he's supposed to be on the court the whole time," Frank shrugged, then returned to his sandwich. Ray raised his eyebrows at me, nonverbally saying I told you so.

I didn't bother trying to find something else to say about this.

At the end of lunch, Frank and I walked to US History. I could feel the desire to start a conversation coming off of both of us, but I couldn't bring myself to even look at him, afraid that if I did, I'd have to try to keep up a conversation. Kicking myself for not saying a word to him, I completely blanked out on something to start a conversation with.

Making friends is hard when you can't read minds.

History came and went. Study Hall came and went. I got an 80 percent on my Latin test out of sheer guesswork (I considered good guessing to be a talent of mine. I wondered if I could put that on a resume). As I was walking into Latin, though, Frank was walking out. Who knew he was in the class right before me? Strange I'd never noticed. I waved at him, but I guessed he didn't see me because he didn't return the gesture, leaving me a little embarrassed.

Theatre came and came and came and went. Then, at last, Drawing.

When the final bell rang, I took my time finishing up the shading for the girl's shadow, then meandered to my locker. GERARD GAY HAS A NEW BF was fading, but it still indicated to me which was mine from a few steps away. In a sense, it did help me get there faster.

Suddenly, I heard a loud, feminine scream to my right. I flinched and turned my head to see what in the world had just happened.

The scream had come from Lindsey, it appeared: her mouth was wide open in shock at her open locker.

And rightfully so – Frank Iero's head was popping out of it.

Frank... what are you doing...?

Frank jumped out grinning, straightened his tie, and high-tailed out of there.

I stared in dumb silence, like everyone else in the vicinity, but I was the first one to burst out laughing. Loudly. And I couldn't stop, nor did I care what anyone who saw me thought.