I Drew You Once in Art Class

Twenty

Frank arrived to school earlier than normal. He'd never noticed how maybe not completely horrible this school was as he walked down the hallway, lightly smiling to himself.

He walked into his math class, five minutes before the bell. The teacher was so surprised she practically spit out her coffee. "Frank! What are you doing here?"

Frank was resisting the urge to laugh, but he kept his face completely straight. "Learning math."

Her eyes widened. "But you-"

Frank could have said a lot of things here. But his mind was in that sugar-high state where everything is colorful and hilarious, so he responded, "I am just so ready to learn math."

He was very thankful no one else was in this classroom right now.

It didn't stay that way long. Almost a second after he'd said that the students started trickling in and the teacher had to close her mouth and compose herself. Maybe she needed that self-help book.

Frank, as much as he had joked before, did find that he actually was absorbing some of the math language being tossed at him for once. He'd probably forget it the second his foot left the classroom, but. Progress is progress.

All day, he looked forward to art class.

Anxiously watching the clock throughout chemistry, he readied his bag, waiting for the sound of the bell that would release him.

When the hand finally hit the stubby little line, the bell chimed over the speaker, unglueing Frank from his chair. He speed-walked to art, little happy tenses building in his throat.

He turned into the doorway and-

Gerard wasn't there.

His stool was empty.

Frank's face dropped, disappointed.

It stayed that way for the rest of the class. He felt pretty stupid for this being such a big deal, but look, if you'd finally make a friend after years of solitude you'd get attached to them pretty quickly too, don't even lie.

Frank drew a familiar slug bug.