She walks into school to star her senior year with her best freind Frank and fresh scars on her arms. They get all the usual insults hurled at them, but they just cling to eachother and walk towards the assembly hall. They file in with all the other kids, being pushed and flicked and punched as they pour into the line with the rest of their form. Frank sits behind her. The teacher opens the new school year with the usual line of "I hope you all had a good Summer break!" and does the same speech she does every year. Finally the assembly ends and they all creep back to their first lessons. Ari and Frank have exactly the same timetables, apart from Art. Ari's in top set for Art. They have English first. They sit next to eachother on the back table next to the window. Ari and Frank slide effortlessly into their seats. No-one sits infront of them, but two girls sit on the left side of them. Lindsey and Jamia, the girls who sit next to them, immediatly start saying stuff to them. Jamia has a massive crush on Frank, but she'd never admit it. Ari only knows because this one time they all had to swap seats with someone and Frank had to sit with Jamia and she started playing footsie with him under the table and stroked his arm a couple of times, she had even tried to hold his hand. Obviously Frank told Ari all of this. But today was different, even though Jamia and Lindsey were saying really hurtful things, well, things that would be hurtful to other people, but not Ari and Frank because they are used to it, but it was different because their was a new guy and a new girl that sat infront of them.
The guy had black hair that was slightly hair-gelled into little spikes, the most sparkling hazel eyes Ari and Frank had ever seen that were thinly outlined with jet black eyeliner, and the palest, softest looking skin in the world. He was dressed in a black leather jacket, black skinnies and an American flag t-shirt. The girl had piercing red hair that illuminated her bright brown eyes. She also had paleish skin the was slightly tinted with foundation, and pale, rose pink lips. The girl was dressed in a Kurt Cobain t-shirt, purple hoodie and blue skinny jeans, with black vans on her ridiculously small feet. Ari has jet black hair, dull blue eyes, pale skin and dead-rose-pink lips. She was wearing an Iron Maiden t-shirt, black skinny jeans, a black military jacket and black Air-Walks. And then there's me. Dark hazel eyes outlined lightly with black eyeliner, black hair with red bangs, red and black stripped top with 'scumbug' written on it, black, ripped-at-the-knee's skinnies and black converse all-star trainers. "Class, we have two new students today, they are sat infront of Ari and Frank. Okay, so in todays lesson..." everyone turned around to look at those two, who sunk back into their chairs and covered their faces with their new English books. Frank guessed that Ari felt sorry for them, because she looked at him, then them and then said: "Hi, I'm Ari, what's your names?" It was the guy who replied, the girl just sat there staring at him, then Frank, then Ari. "Um, we don't want any trouble, so, just, please don't, like, hurt us or anything. But, um, I-I-I'm Gerard, and this is Kym.." he said, looking scared out of his skin. "It's okay! We're not gonna do anything to you, I was just wondering what your names were." Ari said, in a nice a voice as she could manage. "Nice to meet you, Gerard and Kym" Ari said. She kicked Frank gently in the shin, obviously wanting him to say something. "Yeah, nice to meet you guys" was all he managed to mumble out. To Frank, Gerard was the.. beautiful-est guy he's ever seen. To Frank, he had the most perfect skin, perfect teeth, perfect eyes.. Frank just thought he was genuinly perfect. "Um, so, I-I-I-I guess your Ari, and your Frank?" Kym said. She has a really soft, caring voice, but you could still here the slight fear in it. "Yeah, I don't know what's wrong with Frank, he doesn't normally just stare at people" Ari said in a jokey tone. "Shut up Ari" Frank said, hitting her lightly in the right arm, which was covered in cuts. "Ow! Cuts!" Ari said, rubbing her arm. "Sorry Ari, you know I didn't mean to" Frank said, pulling her into a hug. She wrapped her arms around him. "I know you didn't, love you Frankie" she said, rubbing her nose against the red side of his head. "Love you too" he said, rubbing his nose against the side of her head, gently brushing her ear. They both sat back from the hug, looking at the two new people in front of them. "Are you too, like, together or..?" Gerard asked them. Ari and Frank giggled slightly. "No, we're just best friends" Frank replied, suddenly regaining the power of speech. "Oh, same with me and Kym, we grew up together" Gerard replied. "So, where did you guys move from?" Ari asked them. "Oh, not far. We moved from the other side of Jersey? We live together..Family reasons, on my part" Kym replied. "Me and Ari basically live together, she comes round mine everyday, and she stays nearly every weekend" Frank replied, rubbing Ari's arm, over a bruise that her mum had left on her. He then lifted his arm and gently brushed a piece of hair behind her ear, careful not to touch the circular bruise that clung to her right eye. "How did you get that black eye, if I'm not being rude asking..?" Gerard asked, staring at her eye. "Oh, stuff with my mum and her boyfriend, nothing serious" Ari replied. "Nothing fucking serious? Ari, your MOTHER and her boyfriend fucking beat the shit out EVERY NIGHT! Adrian even fucking stabbed you in the leg once!" Frank said, then cursed her mum and boyfriend to hell under his breath. "Yeah, but it's for my own fucking good!" Ari retaliated. "Whatever"Frank replied. "Guys, I'm sorry for bringing it up Ari, really, really sorry" Gerard said, looking sympathetic. "It's fine, I'm sorry Ari, you know I love you" Frank said, hugging her again. "I know you do, I love you too" she said, hugging him back. By now, the teacher had fallen asleep, double English...It's the best for Ari and Frank because everyone (well, nearly everyone) just leaves them alone. They don't want to take the piss out of the weird emo kids sat at the back, talking about horror movies or 'scary' bands. "Man, my arms fucking kill.." Ari said, rolling her sleeves up, revealing lots of deep, scabbing cuts. "Fuck, those look...deep, and painful" Kym said. "Yeah, they are pretty deep, I guess. Well, they're not really that deep, just pussy scratches really" Ari replied, rolling her arms around, taking in all the cuts. "No, not like you had to go to hospital and have them stitched or anything" Frank said, turning his head to look at Ari, who also swivelled her head around to look at Frank. "You had to go to hospital? I've self harmed before, but never that bad" Gerard said, rolling his sleeves up to reveal a few pretty deep scars. Kym nodded and rolled her sleeves up too, revealing about 20 scars on both arms. "Oh, might aswell show my arms then" Frank said sarcastically and rolled his sleeves up, showing about 15 cuts on both wrists that were slowly going. "Wow, you guys, do it deep..." Kym said, her voice cutting off at the end of the sentence, because they were rudely interupted by one of the Jocks, Matt. "Ari, I don't get why you don't join us, at least then we wont have to beat the fuck out of you" Matt said. "Because I don't want to be a whore." Ari replied bluntly. "You won't have to be, your so much hotter than the rest of those skets over there. Don't you think she's hot new kid?" "I, um, I don't really..uh, um.." Gerard mumbled, slowly turning a steady red. "Just say yes, faggot" Matt said sharply. "Yes, yes she is" Gerard shot out quickly. "See, even the new kid thinks your hot. Come on baby, it would be awesome to fuck you, I bet your good at it" Matt said, putting his arms on Ari's bruised shoulders and standing her up, moving one of his hands round to touch her ass. "Get the fuck off me, and no. Because, ew. Fuck off, low life." Ari said, pushing him off her and sitting back down, leaning into Frank, who wrapped his arms around her protectively. "Whatever, your call. See you later for your daily beating Iero." he said as he walked off, but not without sticking his tongue down Lindeys throat. "Fucking Jocks, hate them. Always have, always will" Ari said, sitting back up in her chair. "Same" Frank replied. Finally the end of class bell rang, letting the pupils know that it's break time. "Put your books away and go to break" the teacher said, not bothering to open her eyes. "Fucking about time, I need a fag" Ari said, grabbing her 'The Cure' messenger bag and propping it over her shoulder. "Same" Frank agreed, standing next to her. "You guys coming?" Ari called. "Um, yeah sure, sure!" Kym and Gerard said, and they all walked out of the class room.
The four of them paced slowly down the locker hall, only to be met by Matt and his Jocks and Cheerleader freinds. "Well, look who decided to show up! The freaks have two new members! What's your names weirdo's?" Matt said, walking towards them. "None of your fucking business, leave them alone." Frank said stepping forward, only to be smashed into the lockers and held there by Ray and Bob, two of the Jocks, leaving Ari and Gerard and Kym to be cornered by Matt. "So, what's your names, freaks?" Matt said still walking towards them, even though they were all pushed up against the lockers. "G-G-Gerard and K-K-K-Kym" Kym stuttered. "Just fucking leave them alone, it's their first day Matt" Ari said, stepping infront of them. "Makes it even better!" Matt said, and started punching Gerard. Obviously, he wouldn't hit a girl, so he got Lindsey and Jamia to take care of Ari and Kym. Ray and Bob had already started on Frank. "Just fucking leave him alone!" Ari shouted just as she watched Bob and Ray kick and punch Frank and push him into lockers. "Why should they?" Jamia said to Ari, just before she kicked her in the stomach. Obviously Jamia would take Ari, because she's so close to Frank. This carried on for a few minutes, until they decided it was 'boring' and walked away. Kym ran to Gerard and they clung to eachother, crying and kneeling on the floor. Frank walked over to Ari and they just stood there, with blood dripping off their chins and Ari's cuts torn open and sleeves rolled up, watching them cry into eachother. "Wow. I guess they ARE close friends." Ari said, nudging Frank with her elbow. "Yeah" Frank replied. And they walked over to them and helped them up. "I'm so sorry guys, I honestly didn't know that was gonna happen. I'm really, really sorry, it's probably why you don't want to hang around with us" Ari said, helping Kym up. "Yeah, I mean, we try to fight back, well, we USED to try and fight back, but we didn't get anywhere, so we gave up. It gets kinda boring year after year. You just kind of stand there and are all like 'Oh, again, really?' It's actually really boring. But I'm really sorry too" Frank said, with his arm around Gerard, helping him up. Frank and Ari led the way to their little place that they go to smoke and get away from school, even if it is only for five minutes.
They sat in the little patch of green behind everything, the place that no-one bothers to check. They rest their aching backs against the fence as Ari and Frank roll themselves cigarettes. "You guys want one?" Ari asked. "Yes, yes please" they both said. "Right, there's gonna be a little something more in the baccy then just... Baccy." Frank said, looking at Ari with a cheeky smile. "Weed?" Gerard said. "You guessed right! You can have my one, I'll roll another one" Ari said, gently knocking Gerards leg. Frank gave his to Kym. And they sat there smoking and laughing right past the bell. "It's only Maths and then German" Ari said. "Nothing worth showing up for."
After lunch, it was double Art. Gerard was in Ari's group for Art, and Kym was in Franks.
"I don't understand why they put me in this group, I can't draw." Ari said, flipping through her green sketch book. "Well, you obviously can. Hey, what's that?" Gerard said, stopping Ari's hand on a page with a boy and a girl on it, both with their faces covered in red. "Oh, it's..um, this stupid thing I drew, it's rubbish" Ari said, staring down at her artwork. "No, it's not. What is it?" Gerard said, slowly releasing her hand. "It's just.. well, demolition lovers? It's just this thing I made up. It says 'I'd end my days with you, in a hail of bullets'."
"Ari, it's really good, do you mind if I have a look through your book?" Gerard said, gesturing his hand towards the paper-back book. "Yeah, sure. Just, please don't laugh at it like everyone else does" Ari said, handing him the book. He looked through the rest of the pages, taking it all in. "So, you, like, design comic book characters?" Gerard said, quickly glancing up at Ari and then back down at the page. "Yeah, comic books are the best, but still, I'm not very good at it" Ari said, turning her head to scan the room for a new book for Gerard. "Okay, I'll be right back, I'm just gonna go and get you a book" Ari said, standing and walking towards the side that was covered in stupid freshman paintings over dragons. Some were pretty good, but the rest were, well, shit. In Ari's opinion anyway. One looked like a dog with wings. She grabbed the book and silently passed it to Gerard, sitting down. "Thanks" Gerard said with a sheepish smile. "It's fine" Ari replied, with a smile also on her face. "Okay class, today I want you to draw your own version of Alice in Wonderland. It can be anything you want, aslong as you can tell what the characters are. It can be creepy, strange, magical...Anything. So go ahead! You have fifty minutes, and then we'll present out work to the class. Have fun!" Mrs Cronin said.
Ari and Gerard sat silently sketching away at their twisted versions of Alice, the Mad Hatter and the White Rabbit. In Ari's drawing, Alice only had one eye, she was wearing the other one on a silver link-chain necklace. She was wearing a tainted red dress that was ripped at the bottom and slightly at the sides, with faded grey-pink ballet shoes on. The white Rabbit also only had one eye, but the other was stitched into his black waist coat. He was wearing (underneath the waist coat) a black button-up shirt, red tie, black formal trousers and black formal shoes. The Mad Hatter had crazy orange bushy hair with wide green eyes, deathly white skin and extrordinary red lips. He was dressed in a ripped grey coat, wrinkled black waist coat, grey button up shirt and black and white stripped tie, with black skinny jeans and long, shiny, black shoes. Her picture had the words 'Alice, I do believe it's death and dispair down that rabbit hole' scrawled in Gothic style writing over the top of the page, and at the bottom of the page, it said 'Well, to die would be an tragically beautiful and awfully sadistic adventure'. Then, next to Alice it read in small writing 'Maybe I'd lose the other eye'. In Gerard's sketch, Alice was a zombie, with half of her skull missing, dark green skin and eyes that looked vacant and stained. She was wearing a black dress with red frills laced around the bottom and top of it, and a red ribbon around the waist. The White Rabbit was lying on the floor in a pool of blood. He was wearing the same outfit as the rabbit in Ari's drawing. The Mad Hatter, however, was strung high from a tree, his hat lying on the ground, near a Jack-O-Lantern that read 'Welcome to Wonderland'. He was wearing black and green stripy jeans, with black lace-up army boots, with a black jacket on over the top of an Iron Maiden shirt that had anti-christ symbols along the bottom. Blood was trickling out of his mouth and landing on his hat, which it then trickled off of and onto the pumpkin. It was scarily realistic. "Wow Gerard!" Ari exclaimed when she sat back and looked at his work. "What? Is it really that terrible?" Gerard said, wide eyed and looking hurridly between Ari and the page. "No! It's fucking amazing!" Ari said, rubbing his back in a calming manner. "Oh, thanks. Yours is amazing too" he said, his breathing calmed and his eyes back to normal size, with a slightly embarrased look on his face. "Okay class, times up! Please bring your books to front of the room" Mrs Cronin called. Ari and Gerard picked up their books and stood at the back of the class. One of the cheerleaders (Georgia) was first to show hers. It was rubbish. Alice was dressed in a stupid mini skirt and crop top, caked in make up in a fucking night club. The White Rabbit had nothing on, and was looking up her skirt, where-as the Mad Hatter was on the mixing decks. "Um, that's very... Creative Georgia! Well done, I think I'll give it a 4C.. Thank you for presenting to the class, you may go and take your seat" the teacher said. The rest of the class filtered through, showing their different images. In Ari's mind, none were as good as Gerards.
Finally the time came to present their work. Ari went first, to make Gerard feel a tiny bit better. "Arizona, that is truly amazing work! I love the colours and the imaginative designing and what does the writing say? 'Alice, I do believe it's death and dispair down that rabbit hole' and 'Well, to die would be a tragically beautiful and awfully sadistic adventure..Maybe I'd lose the other eye.' Arizona, this is...amazing. 6A! Class, give Arizona a round of applause!" Gerard was the only person who was clapping, with a wide smile on his face directed straight at Ari. "Okay, you may go and take your seat" "Actually, can I wait for Gerard? It's his first day.." Ari said, stepping back and standing next to him. "Okay, sure. Gerard, would you please step forward?" Mrs Cronin said. He look worridly between Ari, the teacher and the class, who had started laughing at him. Ari had to go on tip toe, but it would be worth it. She whispered in his ear "Your work is perfect, fuck what the others think. Never let them take you alive" and went back onto the balls of her feet. Gerard looked at her, smiled, and stepped forward. "Gerard, this is extrodinary. This is, the best I have seen for a few years. It's just, wow. I, don't really have any words for it. 7A. Well done, truly, well done." she said, and Ari and Gerard ran back to our chairs. The rest of the lesson went pretty quickly, they just talked about different colours and textures and stuff. When the bell went, Ari and Gerard were the first out the doors. "Um, I'm going to meet Frank, I think him and Kym are in the same lesson? You can come with me if you want?" Ari said as her and Gerard reached the bottom of the stairs. "Um, yeah, yes please. I don't really know my way around the school yet" he laughed, well, breathed, but it kind of sounded like a laugh. "Yeah, sure" Ari said, and they walked silently to the other Art department. Frank and Kym were already standing outside of the door. When he Frank saw them, he ran to them, shouting Ari's name, and Kym stood their for a minute, then walked towards them. Ari was running to Frank and shouting his name back. They ran into eachother, causing them to both wobble, and then balance themselves against the wall. "ARI! ARI! YOU WILL NOT GUESS WHAT HAPPEND TODAY!" Frank shouted, holding her elbows. "FRANK! YOU DONT HAVE TO SHOUT ANYMORE, I'M STOOD INFRONT OF YOU!" Ari shouted back, holding his elbows back. "YEAH, sorry. Anyway, Jamia.." and he had to stop there, because he started laughing. "Okay, okay...I can't... Kym, tell Ari and Gee" he managed to giggle inbetween laughs. Kym and Gerard were stood next to eachother, holding onto eachothers waists. "Oh, um, well, Jamia, tried to, um, kiss Frank" she said with a sheepish smile on her face. "Aha! Oh my god! REALLY?" and then Ari joined Frank in the laughing fit, whilst Kym and Gerard stood in their little awkward embrace, looking kind of creeped out. "Oh, I'm, I'm sorry.. we don't usually break down into random laughing fits..Oh god, haha, really Frank?" Ari said, helping Frank up, then they both wiped their eyes. "Yeah, when she lent in, I just started laughing in her face, which cause everyone to turn around, but she like pulled away before anyone could see" Frank said, looking at Ari. "So, what sick, twisted and awesome thing did you draw today?" Frank asked as the four of them walked towards the doors. "Oh, we had to draw our own versions of Alice in Wonderland. Mine's shit, as always, but Gerard's is fucking amazing!" Ari said, looking at Gerard and smiling, he still had his arm around Kym. "I wanna see!" Frank said, and they all sat on one of the tables, whilst Ari and Gerard pulled out their sketch book, and presented them to Frank and Kym. "Wow, oh my god guys, that's way cool..No pun intended" Frank said, looking up at Gerard then down at the books again. "Thanks. Shit, Kym, we have to go. Sorry guys, see you tomorrow" Gerard said as they got up and ran to a car, leaving Frank and Ari at the table. Ari packed her stuff away and her and Frank walked casually out of the school gates. "Well, I'll be at yours in about half an hour, love you Frankie" Ari said. She gave him a hug and walked down the little path and up the stairs to her flat. Frank could see Adrian sat in Ari's bedroom window. Of course he would be, she's fucking five minutes late Frank thought to himself as he carried on down the round to his house. When he walked in the door, he was greeted by a "Good day at school sweetie?" from his mother, he just replied with a grunt. A million thoughts were racing through his mind. 'Gerards so hot, but he's really weird'. 'I wonder if he likes me'. 'Wait, he's a guy..I swear I'm fucking straight' those kind of thought were flashing through his brain. "Fuck this, I need a fag" he said outloud, to no-one in particular. So he pulled out his packet of straights and ignited, chain smoking and listening to music as loud as possible until he heard Ari's voice out side of his bedroom door. "Come In!" he shouted, and Ari entered the room with tear stains on her cheeks. "Ari what happened?" Frank said, calling her over to the bed. She sat on it and he quickly pulled her into a hug. "Just, mum and Adrian, the fucking cunts" Ari said, wiping her face on Frank jumper. "Well, your safe here. Want a fag?" he said, releasing her from the hug and tilting the packet of straights towards her. "Thanks" Ari said as she lit the end and breathed in the sweet smoke. Randomly, her phone buzzed in her pocket, but she ignored it. That started to annoy Frank. He kicked her gently in the leg and said "You gonna read it?"
"Nah, it's probably mum or Adrian"
"Just fucking read it Ari, you don't have to go home tonight anyway, you have spare stuff here" Frank said. "Fine!" she said and pulled her phone out of her pocket. "Oh, it's Gerard" she said, looking slightly confused. "Wait, you have Gerards number? When did this happen?" Frank asked, now it was his turn to look VERY confused, because he was. "Oh, we switched numbers in Art" she replied casually. "Well, what does it say?" Frank asked, sitting up to sit back down next to her, to read the text. "It says: 'Hey, you with Frank? Anyway, do you like, I dunno, wanna meet up? You don't have to if you don't want to, me and Kym are just.. really bored'." she said, reading from the screen, she pressed reply. "Um, so, do you wanna meet up with them?" she asked. "Yes!" he replied, abit to enthusiastically, resulting in Ari looking at him funny. "I, I mean yeah, sure, I'm not really bothered, it's up to you" he said, looking away. "Sure.. Frank, do you like Gerard?" Ari asked. "He's an alright guy, I guess, maybe if I got to know him more.." Frank trailed off, playing it cool. "No, Frank, I mean, do you LIKE like him?" she said, looking at him playfully. When Frank didn't reply, that's when Ari caught onto the plot. "OH MY GOD! You like Gerard! Awwwwww that's so cute! Awh Frankieee!" she said in mimicky love tone. "Shut up Ari, just say yeah" he said, elbowing her playfully in the ribs. She replied with "Yeah sure, where?" and a couple of minutes later, he replied. "Oh, um, we don't really know our way around, um, how about at School?" "Frank, we're meeting them at school" Ari said, reaching forward to grab her shoes. She replied with "Okay, be there in like five minutes:3x" and they left Franks.
Gerard and Kym took a lot longer than five minutes. Actually, they took about thirty. "Fucking finally" Frank breathed, getting up from his comfy position of resting his head on Ari's legs. "Sorry we're late, Kym couldn't find her shoes" Gerard laughed, playing with some hair on Kyms head. "Yeah, sorry" Kym said after him. "It's fine guys. Well, I've got to be in at five, and it's four, so we've got an hour, but you can always stay with Frank" Ari said. "Um, okay, well, we have to be in by six" Kym said. They just stood there for about five minutes, wondering what to do. And that's when the awkward silence was interrupted by Matt and all his friends. "Oh what a pleasent suprise!" he called. "For fuck sake" Ari muttered under her breath, and then that's when she realised, he was carrying a bat. "Not this again. Frank, get Gerard and Kym out of here" Ari said, in a bored voice. "Um, no. I'm not leaving you here.." Frank began, but Ari didn't let him finish. "Just fucking take them to mine and tell them to wait in my room" she said, and pushed all three of them in the direction of her flat, even on the inside she wanted to run away with them. Frank had always said to her "You can runaway with me anytime you want."
"Matt, why do you have a bat? You haven't used it for two years now" Ari said, but she slightly shaking. "Exactly. It's two years today since I broke your arm with this bat. So, I thought I'd commemorate it, with braking your other arm" he said, with an evil smile twisted into his face. "But obviously, I wont hit a girl, not since I went into Juvee for a couple of months because of it, so, I'm going to let Jamia handle it" he said, handing the bat over to Jamia. She stepped forward, which made Ari back into the fence. And just as Jamia was getting ready with the bat, Ari saw him. "MIKEY! MIKEY IT'S ARI! OVER HERE!" "ARI? OH MY GOD ARI! ARI I'VE...ARI, QUICK DUCK!" what he said confused Ari, but she did it anyway, and she jumped when she heard the sound of the bat smashing into the fence behind her. Mikey came running over to her, his stick thin legs bound tightly with black denim hopping over the curb and pushing Jamia away from me. "What the fuck do you think your doing?" Mikey shouted at them, and that's when Frank returned. "Oh my god, Mikes, is that you?" Frank said, running over. Ari saw Jamia getting up and positioning the bat again, so she grabbed Mikey and Franks hands and pulled them along with her. They heard them shouting, but they just kept running until they reached Ari's door, and they all fell through it, quickly pouncing up the stairs and throwing themselves into Ari's room, slamming the door behind them, causing Gerard and Kym to jump out of their skin. "Sorry for scaring you guys, we...we just.. fuck I'm unhealthy.. we had to run from those guys" Ari said, trying to catch her breath. "It's okay" Gerard mumbled. Then Ari threw herself on Mikey, so they both fell over, and she pinned him down and started kissing him all over his face. "Mikey I've missed you so much!" she said, getting off him and pulling him into a hug. "I've missed you too Ari" he said in his quiet, caring voice. Ari could here Frank fidgeting about, so she decided to let go of Mikey. Frank instantly pounced on him, pulling him down into a little wrestle/roll around thing on the floor, and planted a kiss right on his lips. "I've missed you so much Mikes" he whispered. Well, it wasn't really a whisper, because everyone had heard it, but it was supposed to be a whisper. "I've missed you too Frankie" he giggled back. "Arizona, keep the fucking noise...Oh, hello. Arizona, can I speak to you for a minute?" Adrian, Ari's mums boyfriend, said. "Um, yeah sure. Be right back guys" Ari said strongly, but you could hear the slight fear in her voice and see her shaking.
Frank, Gerard, Mikey and Kym listened intensly for anything. A minute later, they heard a slapping noise, Ari saying "Ow! Get the fuck off me!" a pushing noise, and then a loud bang on the door, and Adrian sayin "Don't EVER speak to me like that again, or I swear to god I will fucking kill you, you worthless piece of shit!" and Ari whimper, choking through tears. "Okay, I'm sorry!" and than a loud hitting noise, like he'd punched her but really, REALLY hard, and then another loud bang on the door and a sliding noise. Then Ari's door opened and Ari crawled back in, instantly running over to Frank and hugging him tightly, crying into the crook of his neck. "Ari, what happened?" Frank said kindly, stroking her hair and pulling her closer to him, so she was sat on his lap, both of their bodies shaking because of Ari's ferocious crying. "I'm pretty sure you heard, but he, like, strangled me and punched in the ribs, and slapped me across the face" Ari choked out through tears. "Hey, it's okay, I'm here. I'll never let them hurt you, I promise" and they all just sat there in silence until Kym, Gerard and Mikey had to go, but Frank stayed. Eventually Ari stopped crying, and her and Frank sat back and talked and smoked and listened to music until Ari's mum came in and announced that Frank had to go home. "But mum, can't he stay tonight, please?" Ari begged, but her mother just replied with a stern "No." So Frank had to leave, and there was nothing either of them could do about it. Ari sat in her room all night, trembling violently whenever footsteps were heard going up or down the stairs.
The next day finally raised it's dreary head and blinked light upon New Jersey. It was about 6:30, but Frank wanted to see Ari and make sure she was okay as soon as possible. She already has Depression, Anxiety, Paranoia, she doesn't need the shit she gets from her mum and Adrian. As soon as Ari heard the knock on the door, she ran down the stairs and prised the door open, pulling Frank in and hugging him as tightly as possible. "It's okay Ari, I'm always here. I'll keep you safe" he said, and buried his head into the side of her neck. Eventually they let eachother go, and trailed up the cracked wooden stairs to Ari's bedroom. "Okay, I'll go in the bathroom and get changed, be right back" Ari said, grabbing her black skinnies and Nirvana top. She returned about five minutes later. They smoked and listened to 'In Utero' until about 7, when they heard a knock on the door. "I'll go and see who that is..?" Ari said, confused. When she opened the door, she was suprised to see Kym and Gerard stood there. "Oh, um, hey guys? Come in..." Ari said, still confused. "Mum dropped us off at school early, so we decided to come here..If it's not okay, we can leave.." Gerard said. "No, No! It's fine, I just, wasn't expecting you s'all" Ari said, and led them up to her bedroom. They all sat in Ari's for about five minutes, then Ari had a bright idea. "Be right back guys. Frank, come with me a second" Ari said, and before Frank had a chance to answer, she pulled him out of the room. "Frank, you like Gerard, right?" Ari asked, standing with Frank outside the bathroom door. "Um, yes!?" Frank replied, giving her a 'well, obviously' look. "Well, bring him out here and tell him!" Ari said, like it was the best idea in the world. "No, Ari. He'll just reject me and then I'll feel like shit. Why would someone like him go for someone like me?" Frank asked her. "What do you mean 'someone like you'?" Ari asked. "Ugly." Frank replied bluntly. "Frank, you are NOT fucking ugly, okay? You are the most beautiful guy in the world! And the kindest, and funniest! Just, tell him, okay?" Ari said, cupping Franks face in her hands and staring deep into his glistening hazel eyes. He looked at her, begging her not to carry on speaking like this, and to just take him back in the bedroom and forget that coversation ever happened, but she was determind to make this happen. "Frank, seriously. He wont reject you" Ari said, letting go of his face. "How do you know that, Ari?" Frank asked, he was seriously bored of this now. Nothings ever gone right for him before, so why should it now? "Well, when you and Mikey were having your little wrestle thing last night, he looked really sad. I could tell from his facial expression and how his hands were buried into his lap that he wanted to reach out and grab you. Trust me Frank, he likes you back" Ari said, with a smug look on her face. "But Ari.." but before Frank could finish, Ari was calling Gerard out there, and when he appeard, she disappeard back into her room, leaving those two alone. "Gerard.." Frank begun, but Gerard stopped him before he had a chance to speak. Seriously, why was no-one letting him speak? It was starting to really annoy Frank. "Frank, listen. Your probably gonna get really creeped out and like, get rid of me and never speak to me again, but, ugh, fuck. Ever since english yesterday I've, fuck, umm..." he said, creasing his eyebrows together, obviously trying to think of how to word his next sentence. "Frank, I..erm.. I, like you" Gerard said, then took a step away from him.
The last three words echoed around in Franks head. "I like you." Gerard likes Frank back! Frank thinks there's no words that could describe how he feels right now, so he just walked to Gerard until he was stood in front of him, grabbed his face and planted their lips together. Gerard wrapped his arms around Franks neck and Frank returned the gesture by wrapping his arms around Gerards waist. They both pulled away at the same time, and they just stood there, staring up at eachother with huge smiles on their faces, enjoying every minute of the embrace. They finally let go of eachother, and Frank burst into Ari's room, making Ari and Kym jump. Frank then ran over to Ari and jumped on her, wrapping his legs around her waist and his arms tightly around her neck. "ARI YOU ARE THE MOST CLEVER PERSON IN THE WORLD, I FUCKING LOVE YOU ARI!" he shouted, and kissed her gently on the cheek. "What happened, oh my god Frank, you have to tell me, Frank seriously! Tell me!" she said hugging him back, but leaning forward to much, making them both fall of the bed. Gerard walked back in and sat on the bed, still looking smug. Kym whispered something in his ear, and then he whispered something back, and they both just sat there smiling, watching Ari and Frank roll around on the floor, both filled with happiness as Frank explained what happened. Then Ari's mum walked in. "Ari, get the fuck to school, or you'll be late. And if I get a call from school saying you've been late or you've miss behaved in a lesson, you will get it. Seriously, I am NOT joking. Get to school, NOW!" and shut the door again. Ari and Frank just looked at eachother and burst out into a giggle fit, then they both grabbed their bags and all four of them walked into school.
In Maths, Gerard couldn't concentrate. He didn't talk to anyone, and all he did was stare out of the window, write down lyrics to songs that he was making up as he went along, one was inspired by Ari's drawing. It was called 'Demolition Lovers'. He also kept drawing really weird, twisted, but awesome drawings. Like teachers being killed by students, clowns slitting eachothers throats, and an Astro Zombie crawling towards Neil Armstrong, ready to eat him alive. But the song was the thing that amazed Frank. Whenever Gerard lent forward to write some more lyrics, Frank would lean forward to see what he scrawling down. Frank decided that he would question Gerard about it. Kym and Ari were getting along quite nicely. They were both obsessed with Nirvana and The Cure, and Pink Floyd and John Lennon..basically they were into the same music, but so were Frank and Gerard. Frank wrote his own songs aswell, but he hadn't even told Ari about them. He was working on one at the minute called 'Sunsets are for Muggings' and it starts with 'This is for the kids who aint got no soul, never think twice got no where to go. This is for the pills that never fucking work, but it's hard to find blood on a black t-shirt' but that's as far as he'd got. The teacher gave everyone a sheet of mental maths to work on, but Ari, Frank, Kym and Gerard decided not to do it, well, Kym did half of it, but then she gave up because it was "too hard." Frank decided this was the right moment to ask Gerard if he could read it. He leant over to Gerard, rested his head on his shoulder and asked "Gee, can I read what your writing?"
"Um, well, er, um..You, er, can if you really want? But it's really shit, so just, please don't laugh at it or something" Gerard said, sounding embarrassed and confused at the same time. "I wont. I never would. I would never laugh at anything you did" Frank said, and kissed him lightly on his defined cheek bone as Gerard handed it over to him. It was really, really good. Gerard had only gotten like half way, but Frank still thought it was amazing. Some of the best things he's ever read. It goes:
'Hand in mine into your icy blues,
And then I'd say to you,
We could take to the highway,
With this trunk of ammunition too,
I'd end my days with you, In a hail of bullets.
I'm trying,
I'm trying to let you know,
Just how much you mean to me,
And after all things we put eachother through.
And I would drive on to the end with you,
A liquor store or two keeps the gas tank full,
And I feel like there's nothing left to do,
But my prove myself to you,
And we'll keep it running'
"Gerard, this is really, really good! I mean this, it's fucking awesome. Misfits would be proud" Frank said, kissing him lightly in the same spot and handing him the paper back. "Thanks, Kyms the only one I've really showed my songs too, do you think Ari would like to read it?" Gerard asked. Frank turned to ask Ari, but he noticed that she'd drifted off to sleep, resting her head against the wall. "Um, maybe when she wakes up" Frank laughed, looking at her in disbelief. She always tells him before she falls asleep, just so he can wake her up if the teachers about to look or something. "Oh, okay" Gerard laughed back, staring at Ari too. The teacher then called on Ari to read out the first answer, so Frank hit Ari in the leg, causing her to jump, and look around the room, her eyes half closed, sleep still burning in them. "Arizona!" the teacher shouted. "What!" Ari shouted back. "Do NOT speak to me like that. C2. One more, and you get a detention. Now, what was your answer to the first question?" the teacher asked again, looking impatient and pissed off. "Um...It's, er.." she started, but then Kym quickly flashed her sheet at her. "It's 42" Ari said, leaning back against the wall. "Good. Matt, what's your answer to question 2?" she sounded really pissed off that Ari got it right. "Thanks Kym" Ari said, nodding slightly before shutting her eyes again. "ARIZONA! YOUR NOT THINKING OF GOING TO SLEEP ARE YOU?!" the teacher shouted, she was standing up now. "No miss, just listening really intensely, so that it really sinks in what the answers are miss" Ari said, in the most innocent voice Frank had ever heard her use. "Well, at least your paying attention, but try and mark your answers at the same time, please" Miss Williams said, sitting back down, and brushing a few strands of her bright orange hair behind her ear. "Fucking hell that was close" Ari said, sitting forward and rubbing her eyes. "Yeah, thanks for telling me you were deciding to drift off by the way, I would've been able to wake you up quicker" Frank said jokely. "Sorry Frankie, and seriously, Kym, that was really cool of you dude, thanks" Ari said, smiling at Kym with a very thankful, kind smile. "It's okay" Kym smiled. "Oh, Ari, Gerards got something for you to read!" Frank said, looking at Gerard hopefully. "It's not very good though" Gerard said, handing it to Ari and looking at Frank unsurely. "It's amazing, trust me Ari" Frank said, stroking Gerards arm comfortingly. Ari read it slowly, taking in every single word. "Gerard, seriously man, this is fucking kick-ass. Maybe Frank could throw a few chords at it, and I could hit some drums, and we could totally make this into an awesome song!" Ari said, sleep still apparent in her voice. "YES! Oh my god, Ari, that's an awesome idea!" Frank said. "Hey, Kym, do you play anything?" Frank asked, looking at Kym. "Um, well, I play bass guitar, but I'm seriously not good at it" Kym mumbled, looking down at her sheet that just saved Ari from a detention and a beating at home. "Kyms amazing at guitar" Gerard said, looking at Kym and rolling his eyes. "Sweet, oh man, this is gonna be kick-ass! Oh my god, I totally just remembered! I know this guy, and he owns a record label! Guys, this is gonna be mega." Ari said, suddenly wakeing up properly and started to bounce around in her chair, causing the teacher to look at her impatiently. "Sorry" Ari said, looking at Ms. Williams. Everyone knew her first name was Hayley, but she made all the students call her Ms Williams. Finally the bell rang, releaving all of the students of the double hell they just enduced. "So, shall we go for a fag?" Ari asked, as those four walked lazily to the little patch that was now THEIRS. She pulled out a bag of green and a pouch of baccy and some papers, and hastily rolled all of them a doobie that was more weed than anything. Even though it only took her a minute to roll all four, they still came out perfectly. Break seemed to go faster than usual, and we all had music with Mr Armstrong, but he let the children call him Billie Joe, because he said that "Mr Armstrong sounds too clinical." "I love music" Ari said as they all walked to a table at the back. "Billie Joe is the best, he lets us listen to music and talk through the whole lesson. Hey! Maybe today we could go in the music room and practice a bit?" Ari asked, sounding really optimistic and hopeful. She looked genuinly happy for the first time in years. Her eyes were electric blue, and they looked like pulsing stars, full of hope and joy, sparkling out of her pale, smooth skin and black outlined eyes. "Um, yeah, sure" Gerard said. Even Gerard was looking hopeful now. Kym was even smiling. Ari walked over to the teacher, and he obviously agreed, because she ran over to Frank, Gerard and Kym, and some how managed to grab all of their hands and pull them into the music room, with sound proof doors, walls and windows. Ari instantly walked over to the silver drums. "Shit, the snare's missing...Be right back, gonna go find another one" she said, and walked out of the other door, only to return moments later with a blue snare that didn't fit in with the rest of the drum kit. Frank reached out for the acoustic guitar that was propped up on the piano, and Kym reached for the bass that was next to it. They all got ready, plugging in wires and lining up seats, and tuning, until eventually they were ready. They all tried out different tunes, seeing which one's fitted, and finally they found one which made it sound perfect. The way the guitars harmonised with eachother, and the way that Gerards voice flowed over the loud sensations from the drums that Ari were hitting, it was just...perfect. "Okay, hang on a sec, let me ring my friend at the record label" Ari said, getting her phone, clicking a number and putting it on speaker. "Hello?" a male's voice suddenly filled the room. "Alright Brian? It's Ari..Yeah, yeah. Right, me and few mates just put this together, listen to this and tell us what you think" Ari put her phone on the side and put it on loud speaker. "Ari, I've got about 10 minutes, but lets hear it" he said, the guy who Frank, Gerard and Kym now know is called Brian. Frank started introducing the song with a little guitar intro bit, then Kyms guitar joined in, then Gerard angelic voice filled the room with the starting lines "Hand in mine into your icy blues, and then I'd say to you, we could take to the highway.." and then Ari joined in with the drums. It sounded...amazing. And when Gerard had finished singing the lyrics, Ari stopped with the drumming, Kym slowly drifted away with the bass, leaving Frank to carry it on for a few seconds with a couple more chords. Ari got up and picked up the phone. "So, what do you think?" Ari said, still catching her breath. "Ari, that was fucking MEGA! I want you and your band.." "Err, it's not my band" Ari cut in. "Right. You and THE band to come down to Eyeball on Friday at about five, okay? Right, see you Friday. Oh, and Ari, I've got a cd that I want you to check over, it's this new band I'm trying to get heard, it's called Mindless Self Indulgence. Okay, I'll drop it to yours in a bit, see you on Friday at five, bye"
"Bye" Ari replied and clicked the 'end call' button. "Guys.. Guys, seriously. Brian likes us. We could become big. Seriously. Like, seriously." Ari said, going all serious, then her straight face breaking, curling up into a massive smile that seemed to rub off onto Frank, Kyms and Gerards faces.
Friday was suddenly hurled towards them, and they walked out of the school building. "Okay, guys, you need to be at mine by 4:30, okay? It's about a half-an-hour bus ride to Eyeball, so just, yeah. Be at mine and be ready. You don't need to bring any instruments, but Frank, you can bring Pansy. Because I know she's your baby and that you hate playing without her. Kym, you can bring your guitar if you want, but they have SWEET basses down at Eyeball. See you in abit!" she squealed, giving us all a tight squeeze before running off to hers. A million thoughts flashed through Franks mind again, which is why he hated being alone. He would over think everything. Getting depressed by dissecting every little thing anyone had ever said to him. Even if Ari said 'I love you' he would dissect it, and ruin it for himself, make it sound to clincal and fake. Frank had got so caught up in his thoughts he didn't realise that the time had slipped away so quickly from him, and that it was five. He grabbed his guitar case that held his precious 'Pansy' in it, and walked out the door, after being questioned by his mum about where he was going, when he'd be back and why he had his guitar. By the time he managed to walk out of the door, it was 15 past, and an impatient Ari was calling him. "Frank, where the fuck are you? The bus is gonna be here in five minutes, we're at the bus stop, hurry up! I love you Frankie" and hung up again. He had to run to the bus stop, and he just managed to apologise to Ari for being late before the bus rolled up. They sat silently on the bus, all four of them racked with nerves, and excitement at the same time. Frank, Ari, Kym and Gerard clambered out of the bus outside of the small building that was Eyeball records, and walked in through the doors. They had to stand at the reception desk and write down their names and what they were doing here in a small notebook, that held three other bands hoping to do something with their lives. Get out of the small New Jersey and show the world their talent. The four of them walked into the waiting room and sat down on the tattered red sofa's, Ari igniting four straights she pulled out of a pack that was lying on the table and handed them to the others. It was five-past-five by the time they were called into the medium sized office that Brian was sat in, plugging in amps, and placing a snare down to make the drum kit whole. "Hey Ari. So, who're these guys?" Brian asked, shaking everyone's hands, but giving Ari a quick hug. "Well, the short one's Frank, the tall one with black hair is Gerard, and the short girl with red hair is Kym" she said, jokingly. "And, obviously, I am Ari!" she said, smiling and hugging Brian back. "So, Frank, what do you play?" Brian questioned, sitting down in a ripped, old leather spinny chair, folding one leg in his lap, turning on his laptop and peeling random sticky-notes off of it. "Um, well, I play..er, I guess backing guitar. But also acoustic and electric" Frank said, siddling up next to Ari. "Uh-huh. Kym, what about you?" "I play Bass" she said in a quiet mumble. "Okay. Hey, you don't have to be scared or nervous! No-one's going to laugh at you or anything. And Gerard, I'm guessing your the vocals?" Brian asked. "Yeah" was all Gerard replied with. "So, does anyone do backing vocals?" Brian asked, looking at the four of them. Well, three of them, because Ari had sat down on the stool hidden behind the drum kit. "Um, no. We haven't planned that far" Gerard said. "Right, well, lets get started, and then I'll give a few ideas" Brian said, and then he gestured with his hands for them to sit down and get ready.
Everyone moved things around, tried out a few different chords, tuned up the guitars, tried out the different sounds the instruments made and finally they were completely ready. "Give me everything you've got" Brian nodded. Frank started off with the few chords as he did earlier, then Kym joined in, then Gerard, and finally Ari.
When they'd finished performing the 'Demolition Lovers' set, they didn't really know what to do. Frank looked straight at Ari, Kym looked straight at Gerard, then they all looked forward at Matt with hopeful grins on their faces. Brian had his eyes shut, then he suddenly blinked them open. "Okay, we definatly need some backing vocals. Your singing is truly awesome Gerard, but it kind of gets hidden by the loudness of them drums" he said, nodding at Ari who replied with a "sorry". Brian smiled a little. "It's not your fault, you can't help how loud the drums are, especially as you seem to get so lost in the rythm. Right, Frank, let me hear you sing a line." Brian said, grabbing a pen and notebook from his untidy desk. "Oh, um, I, er.." Frank started, turning a violent reddy purple. "It's fine, no need to get embarassed. The walls, windows and doors are sound proofed, no-one but us five will be able to hear you. So, when your ready" Brian said, placing the nib of the pen onto the crisp white, blue lined paper. Frank looked around for a minute, shut his eyes, and sung the four lines of "I'm trying, I'm trying to let you know, how much you mean to me, and after all the things we put eachother through." Frank really did have a beautiful voice. It was harmonious and angelic and it kind of soothed your ears and relaxed them. It cradled your body, and when you listened to him sing, it felt like nothing could touch you. It was like his voice had a sort of protection spell. If Ari couldn't sleep at night, she would call Frank and get him to sing her to sleep, it always worked. "Frank, your voice is...beautiful. You could really use it, it would go hand-in-hand with Gerards. Ari, there's no point in trying you out, you wouldn't be able to hear it over the drums, but you know you have an awesome voice. Kym? Can we try yours?" Brian asked, and what happened shocked the fuck out of everyone. Kym opened her mouth and sung two sentences from John Lennon's song 'Working Class Hero'. "There's room at the top they are telling you still. But first you must learn how to smile as you kill" her voice was nearly as breath-taking as Franks and Gerards..Nearly. "Perfect. We have the backing singers! I'm definatly deciding to try you guys out, do you have a name?" Brian asked, looking at Frank, Gerard, Kym and Ari, waiting for some kind of response, but one never came. "Okay then. Ari, give me a call when you think of one, and we can start recording! Come down again whenever you guys get the chance, thanks for coming! Oh! Ari, what did you think of Mindless Self Indulgence?"
"Well, they're okay, I guess. Maybe work on them a bit more, some of the keys were off, but yeah! They're great! I would definately buy their album if it was on sale!" Ari said, handing him back the cd, that she never actually listened to. And they walked out of the place, with their heads held high, and massive smiles on their faces. They all fell into a group hug, which ended in Gerard and Frank kissing, tongues exploring the foreign textures of eachothers mouths, hand running up and down bodies, until they eventually seperated lips and rested their forheads on eachothers. "The bus is in about an hour...Pizza anyone? I'll buy" Ari said, her and Kym already heading towards the cliche named 'Antonios Pizza Parlour'.
Ari bought everyone their own pizza. Frank had Mozzerella, no meat, because he's a vegetarian. Gerard a meat feast, herself a Pepperoni and chicken, and Kym a four cheese, with cheese stuffed crust, because she's vegetarian too. They ate pizza and talked for nearly the whole hour, and then ran back to bus stop, only to find it just about to leave as they all bundled onto the bus, paying for the tickets and sitting at the back. Gerard next to Frank and Kym next to Ari. Gerard rested his hand on Franks thigh, moving it slowly up and down, causing Frank to turn semi-hard and moan a little, quiet moan that made Gerard and Kym and Ari giggle.
That night, Ari decided to go and see Mikey in his little job at the stupid, old bookstore that smelt like old people. As she walked in the door, she noticed Mikey leaning into a shelf filled with books, and watched as he pulled out one and started reading the blurb. "Hey Mikes" Ari said, wrapping one arm his waist and planting a gentle kiss on his protuding cheek bone. "Mikey?" Ari asked, taking the book out of his hands and reading the back aswell. "Yeah Ari?" he asked back, kissing her lightly on the head. "I'm kinda..I'm...I started...urgh, I'm in a band but we don't have a name" Ari groaned, tipping her head backwards. Then realistion hit her, and she threw the book at the shelves. "Hey! Careful!" Mikey said, stepping forwards and picking up the book, placing it back gently in the correct place. She pulled out her phone with the cracked screen and made a group text with Frank, Kym and Gerard. She typed the words so fast she made a mistake in every word. The text read 'I have a name for the band.. thing. xo' and sent it. Frank was the first to reply, quickly followed by Gerard, then Kym. All of them reading 'What is it Ari? xo' and she couldn't help but smile widely as she typed the next three words. 'My Chemical Romance' and clicked send.