hymn

1

"What if they're mean?"

"Then I'll call and talk to the principal."

"What if something happens to you when I'm at school?"

"Then they'll call you to the office and tell you and someone will take you to the hospital."

"What if I don't like this school?"

"You only have this school year left anyways."

"What if I--?"

"Patrick," Andy sighs. He rubs his temples. "It'll be fine. The school year will be fine. The students will be fine. They'll be nice. I'll be fine. Please, just get out of the car. I'll be back as soon as I can. I have a appointment with my new doctor, okay? I don't know how long I'll be because he wants to do all the same tests the other doctors did."

"You'll call me if anything happens, right?" Patrick whispers, staring at Andy and twisting his fingers nervously.

"Of course, 'Rick. It'll be fine, though. There's nothing to worry about. I'll be fine. Now go. You have, like, ten minutes to talk to the principal. And, 'Rick, he knows about my cancer. He'll let you know about any updates on me. You'll have to hear from him until we can get your phone replaced. I'll see you later. Love you, bub," Andy says and leans over to kiss Patrick's forehead, hugging him as best he can in the car. "Hey, you got your pills, right?"

"Love you, too," Patrick says. He shakes the pill bottle in his hand. "Got it."

"Good. Take two. You can take another two in six hours. Good luck, bub."

"Th-thanks," Patrick mutters. "I'll see you later, Andy," he says as he swings the car door open and gets out. He shuts the car door behind himself gently. He looks at the students filing into the building. "Here we go," he whispers.
-

"Watch out!" A voice yells in Patrick's ear. He flinches and stumbles forward as someone pushed him forward to the ground and lands on top of him. "Dude!" The person yells at him and pushes off of him.

"S-sorry!" Patrick whispers and looks up at the boy with streaks of  red in his brown hair. He sits up and rubs his elbows. He blinks and his eyes water. The boy immediately looks away and begins to stand up. He begins walking away. "I-I--"

"Peter! That was so fucking rude!" Someone yells from behind Patrick. He flinches yet again and turns around to see the boy with bleach blond hair.  "Are you okay?" The blond boy asks Patrick softly. "I saw him run into you."

"I-I'm okay," Patrick nods, a tear betraying him and slipping down his cheek. He swipes it away quickly, forcing a shakey smile.

"Aw, man, are you sure?" The boy asks gently. Patrick shakes his head and takes his backpack off, digging through the front pocket to find that bottle of those damn pills. "What are those?" The boy asks in concern as Patrick takes two. Patrick shows him the bottle. "You've got anxiety?"

Patrick nods. He rubs his face. "Yeah. Yeah, sorry, man," he whispers. "It just freaked me out, I guess."

"Again, sorry about that. I feel bad. Pete's in a hurry," the boy says. "Oh, and I'm Gerard."

"I'm Patrick," the auburn boy replies shakily.

"You're cute," Gerard says bluntly, shaking Patrick's trembling hand. "Are you new?" He asks, to which Patrick nods. "Cool. Can I see your schedule?" Patrick the paper to him and he scans over it quickly.  "Oh, sweet, we have mostly the same classes. We just have different languages."

"Okay," Patrick nods. "So, uh, can you, like, show me to the classes?" He asks, twisting his ankle nervously. "If-if it's not a-a bother."

"Of course!" Gerard nods, smiling. "Don't worry about it. Not a bother at all, Patrick. Right now we have lunch, obviously," he motions to the cafeteria. Patrick nods. "You can sit with my friend group. Come on," Gerard says softly and leads Patrick to the table with four other kids sitting here. "Guys, this is Patrick. This is his first day here. You can go on and sit down, man. Introduce yourselves."

"I'm Brendon, I'm the slut of the group," one black haired boy says, his arm around a boy with curly hair.

"I'm Joe," the curly haired one says. "Brendon is fortunately my boyfriend. He's not an actual slut, though," he tells Patrick.

"Awh," one girl says. "I'm Ashlee. Pete and I dated but then he figured he was gay. Which is cool, I realized I loved him more like a brother. I'm dating one of the other boys in our group, Evan. Evan isn't around much because he works right after school and he only has one class with us."

Patrick nods, wiping the sweat off his palms. "I'm Pete. I'm dating Gee. Also we're looking for a boyfriend to join us and you're really hot. So, are you interested?"

"N-not really," Patrick shakes his head quickly. Pete pouts, leaning his head on Gerard's shoulder when the boy sits down.

"Well, we have rules," Ashlee says. "Rule one, on Wednesday we wear pink. And you can't have your hair in a ponytail twice a week. Only one day. Okay?"

Everyone laughs and mumbles about how stupid Ashlee is. Patrick just looks completely confused. "O-Okay?"

Ashlee stares at him. "Do... Do you not get that?"

"N-no? Get what?"

"Nevermind. We don't have any rules. Go on and sit down, Patricm," Ashlee smiles lightly, Patrick the spot beside her.

"Thanks for letting me sit with you," Patrick says quietly.

Gerard is about to reply but the intercom comes on, the microphone crackling before the principal's voice is heard. "Patrick Stumph to the principal's office please. Mr. Stumph to the office."

Patrick begins shaking as he begins to get up from the table, eyes wide. "Patrick? Is everything okay?" Gerard asks softly, hand on Patrick's arm.

"Ye-yeah, I just don't know if my brother is," he whispers and begins to stumble away to the office, not even knowing where he's going. He looks back at Gerard. "Can you show me to the principal's office?"