That Monday morning was oddly stressful. Pete disliked having to go to school most days, but today he felt like going to school was a bad idea. He knew why, though, it wasn't like he suddenly began hating school. He didn't want to have to walk to school with Gerard and Mikey, especially not if Patrick was going to come. It wasn't that he disliked either of them, he just didn't know them well, and worried that they might not get along with him. Then again, Pete didn't know Patrick that well really, but he felt like they had a pretty good bond, even if they had kind of only just started speaking.
Pete knocked on the door of the Way family's house at eight am, which would leave them half an hour to walk to school. It only took about fifteen minutes, but Pete thought it would be a good idea to get there early if it was both of the Way brothers' first day there. The door was answered by Mrs. Way, who said good morning in a tone that suggested she was not a morning person. Rather than inviting Pete in, she just shouted at Mikey and Gerard to come downstairs quickly. The two boys came rushing down the stairs and gave their mother a hug before getting out of the house. Pete was surprised by how desperate they both seemed to be to leave, but he didn't know them at all, so it made sense.
"Now that our mom isn't here," Gerard said, "tell us honestly, okay? You didn't want to walk with us, did you?"
Pete didn't really know what to say. He had invited them to walk to school with him, even if it had been prompted by Mrs. Way. If Pete was going to be honest, he didn't want to walk to school with Gerard, but he did want to walk with Mikey. He wanted to get to know him, but he wasn't sure why.
"We should wait at the bottom of the road for Patrick," Pete said, avoiding Gerard's question, "he's really nice, I'm pretty sure he'll be able to help you get anywhere you need to be."
"I'm in year 13," Gerard sighed, "and you didn't answer my question."
"Patrick's in year 13, too. The honest answer to your question is I would rather walk with Mikey, because you he doesn't seem to have a lot to say when you're around, and I think that might be your fault."
Mikey suddenly became more interested in the conversation between Pete and his brother when his name was mentioned. Pete was right, but Mikey didn't know how he could tell that after meeting him once, when his parents could barely see it, and they'd known both of them his whole life. It wasn't like it took a genius to see that Gerard loved the sound of his own voice, but it wasn't quite as easy to see that he was the reason Mikey barely spoke himself.
Gerard laughed, "Pete, it's impossible for anyone who hasn't known Mikey since he left the womb to get him to talk. Isn't that obvious?"
"No," Pete said, unsure of why he felt the need to argue so much with someone he had only just met about their own brother, "I think it's obvious that he would talk more if you let him for once."
"I-I'm right here," Mikey mumbled, Gerard didn't hear it, but Pete did, and that was enough to set him off.
"Hey, Mikey, you're in my year, right?" he asked, hoping to get some conversation out of the younger Way brother.
"Year 11? I'm in year 11."
"Cool, that means we'll probably have some classes together. You have to be my friend! I mean, you don't have to but--"
"No, I would like to... That sounds good."
There was no time for anyone else to speak, as Patrick appeared in front of the group. Pete had to admit, he was probably the cutest person he'd ever seen, and his kind of awful fashion sense was somehow making him look even more sweet. That wasn't the issue at hand, though, Pete had to explain where these other guys had come from, and why they were here.
"Hey, Patrick," Pete said, kind of feeling his face heat up as he spoke, which was more inconvenient than anything else, "this is Gerard and Mikey. They just moved in next door, and they're starting at our school, so..."
"That's great," Patrick said, with a very real smile on his face, "it's nice to meet you."
"Are you Patrick... Stump?" Gerard asked, trying to contain his laughter and looking like he might explode in the process.
Patrick just nodded, "Yeah... Why? Have you heard of me from someone else or something?"
"There's a really funny video of you online. It's from about a year ago. You know, two guys come up to you and ask you where your friends are--"
"I already know what happens in that fucking video, okay?! You don't have to tell me!"
Needless to say, no one was quite expecting Patrick to suddenly yell at Gerard like that. Either because they didn't know him, or because they thought he was a sweet angel who was incapable of such anger. The only person who thought the latter was Pete, obviously, but that didn't make it less shocking for Gerard and Mikey.
Patrick was obviously only partly sorry for his outburst. It was fair enough, since he really didn't need to be reminded about his experiences with bullying that had ended up online. The video was unpleasant, to say the least, it showed two guys in particular coming up to him and asking about where all his friends were. Of course, Patrick didn't have any, so the answer was 'nowhere', but apparently they weren't looking for an honest answer, all they wanted was to laugh at him.
"You know," Mikey piped up, kind of surprising everyone, "if something like that really bothers you, you can go to the police about it."
"Oh, no, it's okay," Patrick said, back to his usual nice self, "that would only make it worse. Honestly, they don't bully me anymore, I just get ignored a lot. I'm okay with that now, it's a lot better than being beat up and laughed at all the time--"
"They beat you up?!" Pete interrupted, unable to understand why anyone would have to resort to violence with Patrick.
"It was a few kids who thought they were total badasses for hitting the 'fat fag', as they used to call me," Patrick sighed, laughing towards the ending, "it's funny actually because the school said they couldn't call me that because I wasn't gay. Ha, idiots."
Pete couldn't believe his ears, in that moment he thought he might actually implode, or explode, or both. That wasn't technically possible, but Pete was pretty sure that science could be totally ignored in that moment.
"You're gay?" Mikey exclaimed loudly, "Don't take that the wrong way, I am too. I was just surprised to meet two gay people within a weekend, you know?"
"Who's the other one?" asked Pete
"You...?"
YOU ARE READING
The Rock of Loneliness {{PETERICK}}
FanfictionThe Rock of Loneliness, as it had been named by the students of the past, had been on the school grounds for as long as Pete Wentz could remember and, for as long as he could remember, no one had ever sat on it. Still, there was always someone sitti...
