A Frerard Story Part 36

The school week ended and so did the weekend. All that I did was stay home, play my guitar and watch TV. There was not much I could do even if I wanted, due to the fact that I was grounded and couldn't leave the house, so I was forced to stay home. And even if I wasn't grounded, there was no one that I could hang out with, with the exception of Ray. But he was more of Mikey's friend than mine.
Monday and Tuesday were the same, dull and boring. I went to school and headed straight home, with mom calling from time to time to make sure that I was still there.
Wednesday arrived and it seemed different. I woke up and took a shower. For some odd reason, I had a good feeling about today. I put on black skinny jeans, black boots and a Black Flag t-shit. I did my hair and put on red eye shadow around my eyes and black eye liner.
Since mom went to work early, I took the school bus.

When I got to school, I headed to my first class, not paying attention to what was going on around me. As I walked down the hall, I had the felling that this was going to be an interesting day. Not sure if it was good or bad, just interesting.
I got to my classroom, and as soon as I was about to walk threw the door, someone was coming out and we bumped into each other.
"Sorry." I took a step back and looked up. My heart skipped a beat when I saw Gerard standing right in front of me. We hadn't seen each other in almost a week, so I knew that he was surprised to see me as I was on seeing him. I looked into his eyes and my nerves started kicking in as well as my body started to get tense. We looked at each other for a moment without speaking. After a few seconds, he was the first one to break the ice.
"Hey... Frank." It took me a few seconds to respond.
"...Hey." We took pauses before each response.
"How are you?" I nodded not looking away.
"Alright... How about you?"
"Fine." He nodded and looked at me from head to toe. "...You look good."
"Thanks." There was an awkward moment of silence. Seconds later the bell rang. He nodded and looked straight at my eyes.
"It was good seeing you." I nodded.
"You too." He nodded once again and slowly walked passed me. I stood still for a second trying to figure out what had just happened. I shook my head and walked into the classroom then headed towards my seat with my head down not paying attention to anything around me.
As I walked down the row of desks, I put my thoughts away and looked up. My body got tense once again as I saw Mikey on his seat looking straight at me. I went to my desk and took a seat next to him taking a deep breath. I looked down at my hands and placed them over the desk. Mikey looked straight ahead but looked over at me from time to time. Clearly, this wasn't the first time that we weren't speaking but it sure felt like it.
I kept my eyes on my hands. Mikey turned to face me about to say something but quickly turned away looking straight ahead once again. I wanted to say something but didn't know what. A lump formed in my throat every time that I even thought of something to say to him.
The bell rang and class started, neither of us said a word.
The teacher stood up from her chair and walked over to the front of the class to start the lesson.

When the lesson was over she gave us an assignment and we started working on it. Mikey and I worked in silence while everyone else talked.
Halfway threw, I got stuck on question six and couldn't find the answer. I went back and forward on the pages of my textbook and still couldn't find the answer. After giving up, I went back to the page where I had left off and started reading it again from the beginning.
"It's on the next page." I looked up and over to Mikey. He pointed at my textbook. "The answer to number six is on the next page."
"Oh... Thanks." He nodded and gave me a small smile, then turned back to his own work.
I looked back at my textbook and turned the page right away seeing the answer. I started writing on my paper and tried to hide my smile from Mikey talking to me.

That was the only thing that we said to each other the rest of the class.
When the bell rang and class was over people started leaving the classroom. I stood up and put on my backpack. Mikey carefully stood up and put on his backpack before getting his crutches. Before he got a chance to get them, I bend down and picked them up off the floor, then handed them to him.
"Thanks." I nodded and waited for him to say something else. "...You look good today." I gave him a small smile.
"Thanks." He nodded and returned the smile.
"So... Have I missed anything?" We started walked towards the door.
"Not really. Other thank boring lessons and more work, I think you're good."
"Oh, okay."
We walked to out lockers in silence. It was a little strange going from the classroom to our lockers, since we hadn't done it in a long time, because of the fights, the days absent, and not to mention Gerard always meeting me after class and me leaving Mikey alone most of the time.
As I opened my locker and took out some books that I was going to need for the next class, once again Mikey broke the silence between us.
"I know that you and Gerard had a fight the day that I came home from the hospital." I stopped what I was doing and stared blankly into my locker. "Frank, I never meant for you two to get in a fight." I slammed the locker close and looked at Mikey. His eyes staring down at me.
"We should got to class." He nodded and closed his locker.

For the next class, Mikey and I barely talked. We only exchanged glances at each other from time to time, and the only time that we did talked was for help on an assignment.
When lunch time came, we went over to the cafeteria and stood in line to get our lunch. I wasn't really hungry, but I felt that I had to be there with Mikey just in case he needed help, it was my fault that he was this way after all.
We got our lunch and headed to the lunch tables. We found Ray along with two of his friends and sat with them. I saw down next to Mikey and stared at my plate. I found it funny how we were doing the same things that we used to, but yet, nothing was the same.
Minutes into lunch, Ray and his friends were in the middle of a conversation, Mikey quietly eating his lunch commenting from time to time and me, staring at my barely touched food. Mikey pulled the sleeve of my shirt slowly to get my attention.
"Aren't you gonna eat?" I shook my head and shrugged.
"I'm not really hungry." He nodded and looked back at his own food.
Then a small group of people approached us and one of the guys tapped Mikey on the shoulder. I looked up and saw Gerard with Kevin and two other guys behind them. My heart started beating faster and my palms started to sweat.
"Mom wants to talk to you." Gerard handed Mikey his phone and keeps his eyes on him with a blank expression. A few seconds later he looked over to me, making out eyes meet. I started to get nervous so I looked at Mikey, still feeling that Gerard was looking at me. All that I did was try to act interested on what Mikey was saying. I felt Gerard's eyes heavy one me so I looked down at my food.
When Mikey was done with his conversation he hanged up and handed the phone to Gerard. I looked up at Gerard one last time knowing that he was going to leave soon. He looked at Mikey with the same blank expression and spoke in a flat tone.
"You need to hurry up when school ends. I don't want to be with you, let alone wait for you." Mikey looked down at his food and nodded. Gerard looked at me one last time and walked away with his friends following him. I looked back at Mikey.
"Why do you let him talk to you like that?" He shrugged not looking away from his food.
"He's my brother."
"That doesn't give him the right to talk to you that way." Mikey was about to say something but quickly closed his mouth. After a few seconds of silence, he finally spoke.
"After you left the house the other day... he went after you, but when he saw me, he completely lost it. He said that it was my fault that you guys fought, like the other time, and that I should just leave you alone because you're never going to like me like you like him, that I should find someone else's relationship to ruin, and that... he doesn't want a brother any more." My chest started hurting and I felt something on my throat as I watched Mikey glassy eye next to me. I didn't know what to do or say. I just looked at him trying to come up with a solution.

For the rest of lunch we didn't say much. When the  bell rang I walked him to his next class. Before he went inside the classroom I pulled his aside.
"Hey, wait for me after school alright? Just stay outside your sixth period class and I'll come find you." He gave me a confused look and nodded.
"Okay." I gave him one last look and went to my class.

When school was over, I went to meet Mikey. He was waiting for me outside of his classroom. I took a deep breath and approached him.
"Hey Mikey."
"Hey." We started walking on our way out the building.
"So, are you gonna get a ride with Gerard?"
"Yeah. He has to take me home. Mom kind of forced him to." I nodded and opened the door for him. He walked out the building with me after him, then headed to the parking lot.
We walked in silence. A few minutes later we approached Gerard's car. He was leaning against the bumper with his arms crossed and wearing sun glasses. When he saw Mikey he took out his phone and looked at the time.
"About fucken time!" He put his phone away and kept talking, not looking up. "You know, just because you have a guaranteed ride doesn't mean that you can take your time. I have better things to do than to have to put up with your dumb ass." I shook my head in disbelieve. Mikey and I stopped in front of Gerard. He looked up and his expression changed when he saw me. It went from frustrated and annoyed to surprised and speechless. I looked at him straight in the eyes and spoke in the same annoyed tone as he did.
"It's my fault Mikey took so long. I'm sorry it I made you waist any of your valuable time waiting for him." Gerard kept his eyes on me and his expression changed back to annoyance. You could feel the tension starting to build up. Mikey touched my arm making me break eye contact with Gerard.
"Thanks for walking me Frank." I nodded and he walked over to the passenger seat of the car. I looked at Gerard one more time and went after Mikey. I helped him put his crutches in the back seat and opened the passenger door for him.  Before he got in, I wrapped my arms around him and rested my head on his shoulder. I guess that I took him by surprised because it took him a while for him to hug me back.
We stood still holding each other for more than it takes an average friendship hug. Before I pulled away, I got on my toes and whisper on his ear.
"Don't let anything that he says get to you." I pulled away slowly and studied his face for a second. He seemed confused at first but then looked at me and nodded.
"Thanks." I nodded and helped him get in the car.
"See you tomorrow."
"Thanks Frank." I swallowed as I closed the door. I looked up and saw Gerard on the other side of the car, leaning against the door on the drivers seat and having a smoke. I took a deep breath and walked to the front of the car.
"Gerard?" He turned around and looked at me. "Can I talk to you for a minute?" He stood still for a moment, then he dropped the cigarette and stepped on it, then walked towards me.
He stood in front of me and shoved his hands into his pants pockets.
"What do you want to talk about?"
"Oh there are several things that I want to talk about. But the most important right now is the way that you're treating Mikey." His annoyed tone came back.
"How am I treating him?" I shook my head in frustration.
"Don't act like you don't know."
"I don't know! Please tell me cause I'm dying to know."
"I heard how you talked to him at the cafeteria." He shrugged. "I heard how you talked to him now!"
"That doesn't mean anything. We're brothers, we suppose to talk to each other like that."
"Come on Gerard. He told me what you said to him after I left your house." He nodded.
"Of course he did."
"What does that suppose to mean?"
"It means, that he's only telling you this and acting innocent to get your sympathy!"
"That's not true."
"Yes it is! Can't you see it? It's his fault that we have gotten into fights."
"No it's not!"
"We're fighting right now!" I took a deep breath and looked down.
"Look. I don't want to get into another fight with you. I'm barely starting to get over the last fight we had, so just please, listen to me." He nodded and waited for me to continue. "I'm really trying to make this work, I'm really am. I'm trying to make things go back like they used to, especially with Mikey. And I would really appreciate if you could do the same."
"I don't know what you want me to do."
"All that I want you to do it to start treating him like your brother. Like you used to before all of this happened. Before we even got together." He nodded.
"Is there anything else that I could do to help us work this out?"
"...Yeah, but I don't think that we should discuss them right now."
"...Maybe we should discuss them at home."
"I can't. I'm grounded. Can't leave the house or have people over. And we can't discuss them over the phone." Gerard sighed and nodded. I looked behind him and saw the school bus leaving. I ran my hand threw my hair and sighed. "And I just missed my bus." Gerard turned around and saw the bus going up the street about to turn the corner. He turned back to me.
"I can take you home."
"No, no... I'll walk."
"Come on Frank. It's just a ride. And besides, Mikey is going to be with us." I hesitated at first then nodded.
"Alright."
"Come on." He touched my shoulder and chills went up my neck.
I walked over to the passenger side and opened the back door. I took off my back pack and moved Mikey's crutches out the way then went inside the car closing the door. Mikey looked over to me then at Gerard.
"We're taking Frank home." Gerard's voice was still flat, but I could tell that he was trying to be nicer to Mikey. Or at least in front of me.
"Okay?" Mikey looked at me again. I gave him a small smile and his cheeks turned a light shade of red. He turned around facing forward. Gerard turned on the engine and backed down the parking lot.