~ten~

gerard kept his head down as usual while walking in. he had stayed overtime at his therapists the night before, staying almost til 10 pm. he then couldn't sleep after. he didn't know what to do with all the information he had gotten. but then again, what was he supposed to do?

his heart dropped when he saw frank. he was standing back at his locker with awsten by his side. frank looked absolutely exhausted. his hair was all over the place, his eye bags were treacherous, his eyes itself were bloodshot to the core. he had a bruise on his jaw and an x shaped scar on the bridge of his nose.

gerard sighed as he walked away and to his locker. he didn't realize frank was watching him the whole time. he just kept his head shoved in his locker, thinking.

when he turned around, he saw frank. awsten had his arm wrapped around the smaller boy, pulling him close. he just stared at the sight for a second before frank looked over at him. gerard slammed his locker and headed towards the science lab.

———

gerard messed with the keys for a few minutes before prying the door open. he made sure nobody else was watching before he walked in, shutting the door behind him.

he swung the set of keys around his finger for a split second, observing around. he hadn't been here in a while. not many people went to this lab unless they were up to illegal shit or they needed somewhere to fuck. gerard was here for neither.

gerard's head practically snapped to the side when he realized someone else had been in the room with him. to his right, there stood his brother and pete, sitting on a table and talking.

both boys grew dead silent to their realization. mikey almost went into a state of panic, eyes wide and gripping onto the table. pete didn't know what to do. he sat there, looking at mikey for reassurance.

"mikey?" gerard questioned, still staying calm for the moment.

"i-i'm sorry" mikey choked out, tears filling his eyes.

"what are you doing here? you're gonna be late for class." gerard stepped towards them.

"we were just talking, i don't mean to cause you harm, gerard." pete said confidently, ticking gerard off slightly.

"talking... in here?" gerard paused, trying to figure out what exactly they were doing. "were you guys gonna-"

"no! no, i swear we weren't going to do that..." mikey defended.

"unless you're smoking some shit, which is understandable. but.. there's nothing. YOU GUYS WERE TRYING TO FUCK!" gerard grew furious, getting right up in the boys' face.

before anyone could say more, pete lost it. he kicked gerard right in the face, causing him to fall back into the table. gerard took the back of his hand and wiped the blood from his nose, twitching and flying back up. he tackled pete, slamming him down onto the table.

mikey got stuck inbetween crying and pulling gerard off of his friend, yet gerard just threw mikey back. gerard dug his nails into pete's face, making sure to puncture every crevice he could. pete was screeching in pain, just like music to gerard's ears.

mikey finally got a hold of gerard, dragging him away by his collar. gerard wasn't giving up, kicking and being as violent as ever. even with this, it was too late. pete was practically torn to shreds, bleeding all over. gerard was laughing as mikey ran to his friend, crying over him.

———

mikey ran out, trying to keep pete propped up on him. everyone saw the sight, freaking out. frank, dallon, tyler, josh, and awsten all ran over, going into a serious state of panic. tyler was sobbing all over josh. dallon couldn't bare to watch. awsten was trying to help mikey prop him up. and frank stood there in complete and utter shock.

sirens whirred from beyond while teachers were running all over the place. pete had been taken away from all of them. everyone was now crying on each other besides frank; he sat there, staring at the wall.

he snapped out of trance when he saw police officers enter the school. he jumped up and followed them down the hall, right to the science lab. frank kept his distance, watching what had happened.

the officers busted the door open, causing a huge crash. frank saw gerard sitting there in the corner with a wicked smile on his lips. his face was covered in blood, what frank assumed was pete's. the officers pried him off the ground, handcuffing him and dragging him out the school.

———

frank sat through the whole day, not paying attention to anything but his own thoughts. was pete going to be okay? was anyone ever gonna recover? most importantly, what's gonna happen to gerard?

frank didn't want him getting arrested, even though he might. this could've possibly been his most violent act. yet, gerard seemed so calm about it. like he had done nothing.

he sighed before standing up and walking around, finally meeting eyes with mikey. he looked extremely drawn back to the situation, just staring off into the distance.

"so, do you know what's gonna happen ?" frank asked hesitantly, slumping down beside him.

"pete's still in critical condition. his family really wants to, and needs to, press charges against gerard, but they're scared out of their minds. so, he just might get released. possibly expelled? i don't know, i hate him."

"you're telling me, after that, nothings gonna happen to him?"

"i'm guessing. gerard is capable of anything, you should know this."

frank nodded, scooting closer to mikey.

"i'm sorry.. i hope pete will be ok." frank said reassuringly.

"yea, me too. he was so mangled though. i was sure he was a goner. i don't know how he's gonna pull through, but i hope he does."

they sat in silence for another few minutes, trying to comprehend.

"gerard's insane. and everyone ignoring that. his own therapist has given up. he's gonna end up murdering someone and everyone will just blow it off because oh it's just gerard."

"i'm terrified, frank."

———

"fr-frank? what are you doing here? it's... almost 10 pm." tyler stood there at the door, dressed in a hoodie in sweatpants. his hair was raised in different spots, giving a messy yet aesthetic look.

"sorry ty, can i come in?" frank asked, twiddling his thumbs. tyler nodded and opened the door wider.

"everyones asleep and i'm not really supposed to be up." tyler shut the door, watching frank's every move. "i'll show you to my room."

frank followed tyler down the narrow halls, making him claustrophobic. it must've grown on tyler, which nothing almost ever does.

"i'm here to talk about... gerard." frank said hesitantly, sitting down next to tyler on his bed.

"oh," he sighed, looking down.

"if that's ok, of course-"

"yea, it's fine." tyler didn't pick his head up, only moved his gaze a few times.

"you're really smart tyler, ok?" frank smiled slightly, grabbing tyler's shoulder. tyler began to smile, blushing before picking his head back up.

"now, what all do you know about him?"

"gerard?" frank nodded. "well, he's interesting. and i know you've only been here for a few months, but you seem to know a lot about him already. i don't wanna be giving you information you already know."

"well, before i was here, what was he like?"

"he never talked. for his whole sophomore year, nothing. not a word. he wasn't as violent. yet people still feared him. ever since middle school.... nobody dared to talk to him."

"what happened in middle school?"

there was a short moment of silence. tyler looked like he was trying to recollect his thoughts of something. he then let out a sigh and rested his head in his hand.

"you can't tell anyone i told you this, ok?" tyler looked up at frank, at which he nodded to in response.

"he used to be a regular kid. all throughout elementary school, he had friends. he still didn't talk that much, but  at least he had someone to talk to. his old friend, bert, said during that transition from elementary to middle school, his parents got a divorce. his father had been abusive towards him all throughout childhood, so it wasn't a surprise that a divorce had occurred."

"that's why his dad wasn't at the house..." tyler nodded.

"he started going to therapy after that. not doctor verne, though. just everything went downhill from there. when school started back up, people started getting worried about him. but he only told bert. because they were best friends, devoted to each other. bert was the only one to know gerard was gay. but somehow everyone figured it out. and that was only the start."

"bert swore he hadn't told anyone. and gerard believed him. but bert was never trustworthy. so everyone blamed him for making gerard like.. this. eventually, his other friends gave him proof that bert told everyone. then gerard didn't show up to school for almost a month. when he finally showed up, he lost it. gerard had assaulted him infront of everyone. it wasn't as bad as pete, but it wasn't normal to anyone."

"he got suspended for the rest of the seventh grade year. then, when he came back in eighth grade, nobody dared to talk to him. and it's been the same ever since."

"what happened to bert?"

"once he got out of the hospital, he hung himself."

frank let out a sigh of regret, looking off to the side. he began rethinking everything that had happened in the past couple months.

frank snapped out of trance when he heard tyler sniffling, realizing he was on the verge of tears. frank leaned into tyler, still the two sitting in silence.

"not many people know, though. or they just forgot. so i beg of you, please don't tell anyone."

"i won't, ty. don't worry." frank smiled lightly, looking up at tyler.

silence.

"i cant believe you knew all of that." frank shook his head, staring down at the floorboard.

"bert was my.. studying buddy for a while. he lived right down the street and we would hang out every so often. he documented nearly his whole life in a notebook. when he was away, i would read it. then i took notes, paraphrasing it. but he would also say really weird things about gerard." tyler's words fell right out of his mouth, like he was citing something from a paper.

"what are you trying to say about bert ?" frank asked.

"like i said, he was never a trustworthy kind of guy. he always seemed really suspicious. you would see him watching people from a distance, taking notes. but with gerard, it was odd. he seemed really fascinated in him. some said he was toxically possessive. and gerard never looked at ease with that thought. rumors are that gerard got uncomfortable with the way bert was acting because he was obsessed with him. so, bert being himself, he leaked all of gerard's biggest secrets."

"i mean, even if it's just a rumor, it does seem like a possibility. from what you're saying." frank nodded along.

"when he... k-k-killed himself, i had to go talk with his parents and say everything i knew. i didn't say anything. they let me go back up to his room and i found his notebook in the drawer it always was in. last page he wrote in, suicide letter." tyler paused, sniffling. "i took it home.... i still have it if you wanna see it."

"that'd be.. g-great."

tyler got up, walking towards a shelf leaned against the wall. he opened a makeshift box, pulling out a leather notebook. he blew off some dust before sitting back down next to frank.

"i could read you something he wrote about gerard, if that's any interest to you."

"i-i... please do."

tyler flipped through the pages. tyler's hands looked as if he was going to break the fragile piece, yet it stayed all as one. he then finally stopped and looked up at frank. then looked back down and sighed.

day 64. gerard just left the house. he left his pen on my dresser so i'm writing with such. he came over to show me a few of his comics. he's extremely talented. i cant stress it enough. but something bothered me. when i was just trying to be a good friend and trying to help him with some homework, which is another reason he had came over, he acted so peculiar. i made a list of what might be wrong. •his dad did something and he didn't tell me.•he's embarrassed for having trouble with the work•he forgot to take his antidepressants •he knows my plan.i'm going with four. i'll keep you updated. -b.m