Summertime. {A My Chemical Romance Fan Fiction}

Chapter Eight~"He's Okay."

"We'll have to check the Way's house." I explained to Frank's mother, who looked as if she could burst into tears at any moment. "Maybe he's just hung out at their place for a little bit."

"Yes, we'll check there. But Donna would have phoned me if Frank was at their house." She bit down hard on her lip, but didn't seem to notice the pain.

"Come on, let's go look for him." Carefully, I took her hand and guided her down the street, heading to the Way's house. I had only been there on one ocassion, which was when they had a band practice. But luckily, Mrs.Iero had been there several times and knew the way better than me.

When I knocked on the door, it was Mikey who answered. His hair was messy, his glasses at an odd angle on his face - as if he had been asleep.

"Um, hi-" I was cut of by Mrs.Iero.

"Frankie is missing!" She cried, panicked.

"Frank? Hang on a second, I'll get Gerard." Mikey ran back into the house and called up the stairs. Moments later, Gerard appeared, his hair also messy and his clothes creased.

"Huh? Frank's missing?" Gerard asked, brushing a hand through his unruly hair, forcing it out of his black-ringed eyes.

"Yes!" Mrs.Iero's eyes were beginning to brim with tears, so I took over.

"Where do you think he'll be?"

"Hmm..Should we try the school first, as that was the last place we saw him?" Mikey asked, and his brother nodded in agreement.

"Okay then." I nodded too, before turning around and heading towards the school. The journey didn't take very long, as the Way's house was only a few blocks from the school. When we arrived, the caretaker was just about to lock the doors.

"Wait!" Mrs.Iero shouted as she ran towards the caretaker. "My son might still be in there!"

The caretaker looked startled, and it took him a while to respond. "Why would he still be in there? I checked the whole school."

"But he might be locked somewhere!" Mrs.Iero insisted.

"Fine, half an hour, no longer." The caretaker sighed, handing me the keys, as - judging by the expression on his face - he believed Frank's mother was a bit crazy.

"Thank you!" Mrs.Iero cried as she ran into the school building. We quickly followed after her, not wanting to waste a minute.

After 20 minutes, we had checked the whole school, including the second floor, and there was still no sign of Frank. We were about to give in, when I heard a faint noise from one of the corridors.

"Shh!" I hissed to the others. They fell silent in an instant. There is was again. It was definately a human voice. As quietly as possible, I crept down the corridor, listening carefully. There was a sudden banging noise - like someone kicking a metal bin.

"Hello?" The voice was clearer this time. "Is anyone there?"

"Frank?" I called, scanning the corridor. There was nothing, apart from rows upon rows of lockers.

"Hello?" The voice definately belonged to Frank. There was another bang, followed shortly by a quiet cursing. "Crissy? Is that you?"

"Yes, it's me!" I said loudly, trying desperately to locate him. The others were following silently behind me, there eyes scanning for any signs of Frank.

"Crissy!" The voice was directly to my left. My head spun round so quick I felt I could have almost broken my neck. But the only thing to my left was a locker. But then I saw a pair of eyes staring at me through the thin slits located near the top.

"Frank!" I cried, running over to the locker. My hands fell onto the lock. "I found him!" I called to the others. For a moment, I panicked. I didn't have the key to the locker! But didn't the caretaker have a key which fitted all of the lockers? It was worth a try.

After a few seconds of trying to locate the key, I put it into the lock and turned it. Before I even had time to pull the keys back out, Frank was ontop of me, knocking me backwards onto the cold, hard, tiled floor.

"Crissy! I'm sorry!" Frank cried desperately. He had quickly pulled himself to his feet, and was holding a hand out for me. I took it gratefully. His eyes were wide with both fear and shock. His black hair was matted and unruly, parts sticking out at odd angles. "Thank you so much for finding me!"

He turned to the others, a small smile spreading across his face. Before he even had chance to say 'hello', his mother was embracing him, her arms wrapped around him like a vice, threatening to break his ribcage.

"M-mom!" He gasped, trying desperately to struggle free from her grip. After a few minutes, she finally let go.

"I'm sorry, I thought I'd lost you!"

"It's okay, it's okay." He patted his mother on the shoulder. He turned to smile at me, but Gerard made a noise - something between a whimper and a growl. Frank looked confused.

"What's up, Gee?"

Gerard looked shocked, as if he hadn't meant to make the noise. "Oh, I just...I think we should get out of here before the caretakers kick our asses." He set off down the corridor quickly, leaving us no choice but to follow. At the door, I handed back the keys to the caretaker, who seemed quite irritated that we'd gone a minute over our agreed time.

"Thanks again for rescuing me!" Frank kept thanking us all the way back to Mikey and Gerard's house. We kept saying that it was fine, and that it was our pleasure, but he wouldn't take it. He kept insisting that he paid us back. Eventually, we reached the Way's house.

"See you tommorow, yeah?" Frank said to them. I guessed they had decided to meet up or something.

"Yeah. See you tommorow." Mikey smiled at Frank, and turned to close the door. Behind him, I caught a short glimpse of Gerard, his eyes fixed on me, his expression pained. But it was only there for a second, and then Mikey closed the door.

All the way home, I was wondering what Gerard was so upset about. And why was he staring at me like that? Before I knew it, we had reached the Iero's house, which was right next to mine.

"See you later, Crissy." Frank smiled and waved, before closing the door behind him. My mind wandering, I meandered up the path to the door and opened it. Before I had even taken my shoes off, my aunt and cousin were upon me, asking me questions to which I could only reply:

"He's okay."

A/N: Okay, I'm so sorry I haven't been updating this lately, I've just had so much homework and I've been busy with so many other things. If you liked this chapter, please comment what you think - as I would love to know. Thanks.xo ~Atomik Punk.