I'll Wait Forever

-31-

Alternatively titled "I get my shit together and actually write a fucking chapter"

***

"Frank! Get your ass outta bed, we've gotta go. Gerard's already here!" I heard Emma yell to me through my door. Ugh, school actually wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have to wake up at the asscrack of dawn every day.

"Hnnghhh... I'm comin'!" I called back before peeling myself from my bed. It is physically painful to have to do that every morning. I wiped the sleep from my eyes before digging through the pile of black shirts on my floor in an attempt to find a clean-ish smelling one.

I pulled out what I thought to be a Judas Priest shirt and threw it on before sprinting to the bathroom to grab my toothbrush. I tossed my toothbrush aside before running a hand through my hair and grabbing my backpack and heading outside to meet Emma and Gerard.

"Nice shirt, Frank." Emma stifled a giggle as I climbed into the backseat.

"Wha-?" I glanced down. My shirt was not, in fact, Judas Priest as I had thought, but Shania Twain. "Fuck!" I sighed.

"Why do you even own that?!" Emma asked, clutching her stomach from laughter.

"Look, she's- Shania is fucking fabulous so shut up. I also haven't grown since I was eleven and went to her concert, where I got this shirt. I didn't even know I still had it!" I exclaimed.

"Uh huh. Sure. Well, have fun explaining this to all your little friends." Emma chuckled, getting out of the car and sprinting towards her group of friends.

"We're the same age!" I called after her, but she didn't hear. "Fuck, oh well. I'll see you later, Gerard." I smiled and quickly pecked his lips before hopping out of the car and off to the hell hole they call school.

---

"Good morning, class!" A woman who I had never met stood at the front of the classroom. She looked over at us, expecting some response to her warm welcome and beaming smile. She got neither of which, so she continued to speak, "As you can see, Mrs. Begnaud isn't here today. Yesterday, after getting home, she 'slipped and fell' from the second floor of her home and broke her foot. In the hospital, after muttering 'I'm not okay' for a good few hours, she stated that it was a sign to end her teaching career. Now, here we are. I am your new teacher Miss Jackson."

After a few moments of silence, the class muttered a few 'hello's before returning to their previous conversations. I sent her a warm smile before pulling out a book and beginning to read, seeing as she hadn't had anything planned for us to do today.

Not even ten minutes had gone by before a loud shrinking bell rang throughout the school. It was the fire alarm. Kids groaned, thinking it was another drill before getting up and heading towards the door and out the building. I sighed, getting up and following the group outside to wait for the signal that we could reenter the building.

I was looking at my phone when I heard someone come up next to me, "Hey, fag. Long time no see."

Bert. I froze. He wouldn't do anything now, would he? Not while there were so many people and teachers around... "W-what do you want, Bert?" I asked, without turning to face him.

"You look at me when I'm talking to you," he snarled. "Now, come with me. We're gonna go on a little walk." I tried to protest, but he grabbed my arm and pulled me away towards the woods. "Now, I'm gonna talk, and you're gonna listen." Some of his friends had decided to join us and made a small circle around me. "You're gonna tell that psycho that beat us up that we stopped bothering you, or you're gonna die. You're also gonna stop talking to Emma and putting ideas in her head, or you're gonna die. We're also gonna beat the shit out of you, and you're not gonna tell anyone, or you're gonna die. Are we clear?" He asked.