A Way Back Home | Adopted by Gerard Way (Book Two)

Too Fucking Nice (60)

The sound of my feet pounding on the asphalt, the wind in my hair— I stop at a crosswalk, wait for the light to turn, and when it's safe I keep running. In record time, I'm checking my surroundings then slipping through the crack in the door in the back of the big red building.

"Guys?" I call down the hallway, my voice echoing in the dark.

"In here!" Raven calls back from inside one of the rooms to my right.

I run in and spot Raven sitting on a desk, Ryder getting stoned in the opposite corner of the room. I say between gasps, my eyes flitting between the two, "Two things."

"Well, spill it!" Ryder says without moving from the line of desks he's lying on, facing the ceiling and the smoke rings he's puffing.

I'm out of breath from running all the way here though, and sweating in my long sleeves. They're forced to wait as I sit on the floor, undoubtedly covering myself in the grime from this old place, while I give my lungs a break. Ryder is smirking at the ceiling like a hypocrite. I won't let him forget about the time we had to run five laps in gym class and he tapped out after two.

Finally, I say, "First thing's first: Raven, did Ryder tell you that I told him at school that Gerard told me that the baby has been born?"

Ryder laughs, "What the fuck was that sentence?"

"Shut up, Ryde," Raven says, waving a hand in his direction, "What'd they name the kid?"

"Her name's Bandit," I deadpan.

"That's such a Gerard and Lindsey thing to do!"  Raven covers their face with their hands, then says through a crack in their fingers, "But I love it so much."

"I know, me too! And I can't fucking wait to meet her."

"And I can't fucking wait to go to Jersey!" Ryder adds, and Raven nods in agreement. "Rave and Krash have been talking a lot, you know, and he seems excited to get over here."

Raven smiles knowingly. "I think you're more excited for him to get here than he is."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Ryder asks.

Raven ignores him and turns back to me instead, asking, "What's the second thing?"

"Right." I get up off the floor and brush the dust off my black jeans, then I take a seat on one of the desks next to Raven. Dangling my legs, I say, "Laura is way too fucking nice."

"She was a bitch but now she's too fucking nice?" Ryder asks.

"She's always too fucking nice and it makes me feel so fucking guilty. Like, we had an actual conversation a couple days ago. She told me about when I was a little kid and stuff and, I don't know, it was kind of nice."

"No, don't let her brainwash you like that!" Ryder exclaims, hopping off the row of desks. He gets up close to me, puts his hands on my shoulders, and says seriously, "First, she'll make you think she's nice, and then you'll start liking her, and before you know it she'll have you in a van, driving to go and leave you somewhere dangerous," then he bursts out laughing.

"He's high as a kite," Raven tells me, then tells him, "Look, Ryde, spray paint bottles in the corner. Go write 'fuck the police' on the wall, or something."

Ryder obeys without a second thought.

"I'm not just gonna start liking her," I say, "I'm just gonna feel more and more bad about how I've kind of been a bitch since I got here."

"You're gonna feel bad about how you've acted?" Raven asks incredulously. When I nod, they shake their head. "No, no, no, Way. There's no way you forgot what she did to you. You can't be the one to start feeling bad."