Disclaimer: I do not own Frank or Gerard (I wish). This is pure fiction.
Happy reading ;)
Frank was different. His style had changed completely. The large clothes with green patterns he used to wear now replaced by ones that were tight and black.
"What's wrong with you? You're not the same anymore…" Britney, the girl he was dating for a year and a half, had asked. But he ignored her and continued walking by the long, noisy, corridors. In fact, neither his cheerleader girlfriend, nor football - the sport that had made him so popular - seemed to interest him anymore.
Then the rumours started. There were some who said that he was brain washed. Others believed that Frank was kidnapped by aliens, and that this new person wasn't really him; but an alien who had possessed his body - in an attempt of world domination. Stupid ideas, in my opinion. The truth was just that something was wrong with the most popular guy in high school. But what?
And the real proof was when he seated next to me and said "Hey Gerard." Let me explain; sitting next to me is basically social suicide.
So there I was, disbelieving, as someone so popular there sat themselves there; next to me, without even mocking me. "How do you know my name?" Was the first question that came into my mind.
He blushed slightly and looked down. "Why shouldn't I? You are the most unpopular person here and the "popular" ones find thousands of nicknames just to make fun of you."
"You said the popular ones, like you weren't one of them." I said, not even trying to keep the contempt out of my voice.
"I don't want to be anymore. I'm tired of the life I had."
"That's why you're here?" I asked, "Using me to become unpopular? Well, you can walk away if that's the case."
"No. I'm here because you seem like a nice and interesting person, and lonely, like me. And I don't want to be lonely anymore. Like I said, I need a new life, which means I need new friends." When he finished the last sentence, he added a smile.
"You think I'm nice? No one has ever said that to me before." I answered him in a low tone, a little bit ashamed for admitting that I had never really any good friends.
He looked at me, his eyes both sweet and kind. "There's always a first time for everything, right? C'mon, let's get out of here. This place is depressing." He got up, but I stayed where I was on the floor, like I was petrified. "What's wrong?" He asked. "Don't you wanna come?"
"Well, we have classes in 5 minutes." I said, my nerdy side rearing its head.
He looked at me and gave me a small smile. And for the first time, I realized how green his eyes truly were.
"C'mon, don't be like that. I promise you'll have fun." He said, reaching out his hand to me.
Still hesitating, I grabbed his hand and he quickly pulled me. For about 15 seconds his grip didn't loosen, and neither did mine. But then he blushed, looked to the side and backed up slowly, letting go of my hand softly and letting out a deep breath.
"Is it everything alright Frank?"
But, by that time, he was looking at the sky, lost in his mind. So I asked again.
"Huh? Oh, sure. Yeah, why shouldn't I be?" he said, grinning. "Well, let's go."
"To where?"
"Oh, don't you worry. I know the perfect place."
For about ten minutes, we didn't talk. Sometimes he looked at me, to make sure I was still following him.
"Have you lived here for long?" He finally asked.
"Since I was born. You?"
I used to live in NYC. I moved here when I was about 12. It's totally different, you know? NYC is all people, all noise, too much confusion… I prefer living here. Here I can be myself, you know? I don't need to care about what will the others say. I'm free here…" And then, he started to drift off into daydreams again.
"Sorry, but can I ask where are we going to?" I asked, trying to break the silence.
"No. It's a surprise. All I can say is that we're almost there."
"Okay… Hey, Frank? Why aren't you talking?"
"Sorry. It's just… I'm feeling a little different, you know? I'm not very good company, am I? You don't mind do you…"
"No, it's fine." I said quickly, "I understand that this change of yours is a little too radical to be sorted in just one day. I was just worried that you were so quiet."
But before he could reply he looked forward and, with a small jump, yelled; "YAY! We're here."
I looked to the place he was pointing to and I saw a small island, connected to the shore only by an old, rusty bridge.
"This was the first and last place I visited with my dad." He said suddenly, I blinked.
"What happened to him?"
"He died. Two years ago. I'm fine now though," he said quickly, "don't you worry about that, I just miss him sometimes… There are thing that only a father can do, you know?"
"Yeah. My dad spilt up with my mom, when I was about 5 years old, and we never haven't seen him since…"
"That must have been harsh… C'mon. There's a place I want to show you."
I followed him, wondering if he would be silent again, but it didn't happen.
"Do you have any brothers or sisters?" He asked.
"A younger one. His name's Mikey. How 'bout you?"
"I have a twin called Tyson. He went to a military school and he only ever home once a month. Spoiled is what I call him. I wanted to go to a Music School, which is cheaper than that freaking college of his - but he's the prodigal son, and my mom could only satisfy one of us, so all the money went to making little Tyson happy." He looked to the sky. "I never came here with anyone, except my father. It was like a secret between us two."
"Then why did you bring me here?"
"I don't know why, but I kind of trust you. Do you promise you won't tell anyone?"
"I promise." I said, happy because he trusted me so much.
We walked into a place where we could see a mansion, the high walls covered in ivy.
"Before we enter that mansion, I'd like to tell you something. I'm not a normal person. I can teleport myself, read people's minds, sometimes even control them and move objects with my mind. I know it looks hard to believe, but I'm telling you the truth, I swear. This mansion is a school for people like us."
"What do you mean with us?" I said, feeling insulted.
"Did you never notice that sometimes when you are walking through the corridors and no one notices you? Or when you accidently hit a person and that person looks back, looking for the person who hit him/her, but never looks directly to your eyes or you? You have the gift of invisibility, Gerard. And you can learn how to control it here."
"You think, you can come near me and say a bunch of lies about me, hoping that I was stupid enough to believe in them? I can't believe in this. I'm going home. I can't stand this. I knew this was just one more trick to make fun of me." I turned and stormed away, I was almost arriving the bridge when I heard it;
Gerard, wait please.
"No! I'm not standing for this bullshit! Tell the others they can come out and laugh whatever they want. At least it would be in my face, and not at my back!" I yelled, turned around. But he wasn't there.
"Don't think that playing hide and seek is going to make me change my mind." I yelled again.
I'm not hiding. I'm in your mind. I hoped that you would believe me. This was something I didn't want to do to you. Do you believe me now?
"No."
Okay, you leave me no more choices.
And, out of nowhere, he just appeared. I stared.
"Let's say that what you say about yourself is the truth.' I stammered, " How do I really know that I have powers?"
"Look at your hand, Gerard."
I bent my arm. It looked like my hand had been cut off. I could touch it, but I couldn't see it.
"How… How is this possible?"
"I told you that you couldn't control it yet." He said gently, "But you can learn that here. Come on - I want to show you the school." He started walking, but I was frozen, staring at my hand, stood in that same place. He came back to me, looked me in the eyes and, with a smile, muttered in a low tone; "Trust me" then he held my hand and we both appeared in front of the mansion.
"Did… I… just… get teleported?" I panted. I was now holding his hand really tightly.
"Yup. It's cool isn't it? Hum… you can let go of my hand now… You're hurting me."
"Oh, right. Sorry about that. Thanks Frank. It was an unique experience."
For moments we were just stood there, smiling at each other.
"Aren't you going to show me around?" I whispered, pointing to the school/mansion.
"Of course." He said, laughing nervously.
I placed my hands in his shoulders "I don't know why you're acting all nervous. Calm down, buddy."
He nodded, grinning, and started walking, until we arrived at a gate. There was a computer set into the metal, Frank flashed an ID at it and the huge gate opened.
We walked a bit, before arriving at a massive door; which I presumed was the entrance of the school.
"I swear I had my keys here." He muttered, rooting around inside his backpack. "AHA! Here they are." He inserted the keys in the door-lock and, with a little difficulty, he opened it.
"Frank! Oh my god, I was starting to think you were never going to turn up again! And you brought a friend. One of us, I suppose. What's your power?" A girl said, who approached us as soon as we entered.
"You have to talk slower, Cath. Gerard, this is Catherine, one of my best friends here. She can create objects with her mind. This is Gerard. He just found out he can be invisible."
"Wow! You have a wonderful power! Will you live here?" She said, making me look at Frank, confused.
"Hum… You see, students and teachers live here. I'm not registered here, so I can't live here yet, but I can go to the classes. Now, I'd like to show this place to Gerard, Cath. It was great to see you."
The girl said goodbye too and left us. And then Frank started showing me the school/mansion. It had four floors: two for classes and two other where the rooms and places to hang out were. It also had a beautiful, sprawling garden.
"What do people study here?"
"Well, there's different types of classes here, according to the powers you have. I have classes to control my mind, with people whose powers are similar to mine, like Cath. Then there's the Defence classes, that you have with student with very different type of powers. In my defence classes, there's a guy that can turn into water, in all its states, a boy that is super strong, a girl who's super-fast and another who can stop time. And there's still a class everyone sits together called "Reflection" - so we can use our power for the greater good, to try to make this world a better place to live, and never use our powers for the wrong reasons. And finally, we have classes like other teenager: Maths, Science, English, a foreign language of our choice and Sports." He turned to face me, "So now that the Grand Tour is finished, I'd like to ask you something; do you want to study here and be my roommate?"
"I'd like to... But I don't know if I can…"
"What do you mean? That you don't know if you have the permission to study here? Well, for those cases, the principal goes to the student's houses and talks with their parents, trying to convince them."
"Oh. Okay then. Would you come with me?"
He smiled and nodded affirmatively.
After we talked to the principal, Frank teleported us to my house.
"Mom? Are you here? There's someone who wants to talk with you…" I yelled.
I could hear her high heels growing closer, and then she was coming downstairs. My heart started to speed up and I started to breathe faster too.
Relax. You'll see it'll turn out just fine. I could hear Frank reassuring me, inside my head. Then he softly touched my hand. I looked back and whispered "Thank you" with a small smile.
"Could you call your other son as well?" The principal said, leaving me and my mom looking at her, a little shocked. How could she know that I have a brother and why did she wanted to talk to Mikey too?
When Mikey arrived, we went to the living-room, where the principal sat on a chair, Frank on a chair for one and me, my mom and Mikey sat on the big couch.
At the beginning, there was an awkward silence, but then my mom said "Who are you and what brings you here, with this boy too?" She cast Frank a dreadful look, making him look down.
Don't worry. She's always like that to everyone she doesn't know. I thought, in the hope he was listening, which he was. He looked at me and smiled shyly.
"My name's Stella and I'm the head-mistress of a school made for gifted children. This is Frank, a student of ours. He found Gerard in the high school where he used to study."
"Are you saying that my son is gifted?" My Mom asked, and I noticed a hint of pride in her voice.
"Yes, indeed. But that's not all. Your other son has the same luck. So, we are offering two scholarships for both of them. They will study and live in my school. My question is this: Will you allow your children to study in my school, and have a proper education, fitted in with their capacities?"
I turned to Mikey and whispered in his ear "I'll explain everything later. The place is awesome and you are going to love it."
He nodded and we both look at our mother.
"What do you think boys? Would you like to study in this school?"
We both showed the same huge smile nodded head quickly.
"Very well. You can sign them in. When will they go?" My mom asked, smiling.
"Whenever they want. But I advise you to wait a few days before coming. A warning: it is forbidden for the parents to enter the school grounds, but your children can visit you twice a month." She turned to me and Mikey now. "Would you leave me alone, so I can talk with your mother in private?"
Me, Frank and Mikey got up and quickly disappeared upstairs.
"Get in my room" I said, and they obeyed.
As soon as I closed the door, I hugged Frank. "Thank you," I said, making him smile. "Now, what's Mikey's power?"
