"Gerard! I don't think we should be doing this…." Mikey whispered, pushing his glasses up from the tip of his nose. He knew he was right it didn't matter what Gerard said. They were breaking the law.
"Aww C'mon…It'll be fun," Gerard replied quietly as he climbed in through the window behind his younger brother. Breaking and entering, strike one.
Mikey sighed and crossed his arms "I don't know…It seems risky."
"Look, I know but-"
"Guys," A muffled voice came from below the window ledge "Can you two shut the hell up and help us! Some people aren't freakishly tall for our age"
"Or maybe some of us are just freakishly small…" Mikey murmured.
Gerard peered out of the window and immediately burst into a fit of giggles. Hanging from the window ledge by one hand, his legs inches from the ground, was Frank.
"Dude! Seriously! If I let go there is no way I'm going to be able to reach up here again"
"Okay, just give me a second-"
"I haven't got a second my hand is slipping!" he whined
"Oh alright" Gerard leaned out over the ledge and gripped Franks hand steadily in his own.
"Gosh Frank for someone so small you weigh about as much as a Camel" He muttered leaning further out of the window to get a grip of his arm
"For your information Gerard Way camels don't weigh that much, it's just wat-AHH"
The two came tumbling through the window with a loud thump as they landed in a heap of arms and legs on the floor.
"Gee? Are you two okay?" Mikey asked after a minute of dead silence.
"Yeah, we're fine..." Frank answered, giggling hysterically as he helped Gerard to his feet.
Morons, Mikey thought and rolled his eyes.
"You guys better be quiet or we're gonna' get caught!" a harsh whisper came from the doorway.
Mikey turned to see a small figure leaning against the door frame, her arms crossed and a determined expression upon her face. It was almost pitch black but you could easily spot her from a few hundred meters away, which should be hard, considering her size; but she had dyed her hair neon orange when she was eleven and always wore the brightest and most colorful clothes she could possibly find.
"Hayley? How the heck did you get in here?" Frank asked, squinting suspiciously into the darkness.
"Through the door" She said simply, arching an eyebrow and smirking.
"It's ten o'clock; how the hell did you get in through the door?"
"Oh, I didn't say the front door"
"Then how-?" Gerard asked looking slightly confused
Hayley grinned in reply, placing both her hands on her hips she jerked her head toward the corridor "Never mind that, are we going to do this or what?"
"Yeah" Gerard and Frank said at the same time
"Bu- but- I don't want to, I'm scared." Mikey complained, pouting slightly. And he was scared, very scared. He didn't want to get arrested. He was eleven for crying out loud. The note in his pocket suddenly weighed 100 pounds.
Hayley smiled and put an arm around Mikey's shoulders "it's okay, Mikes. We'll keep you safe"
Mikey's eyes lit up and he nodded, Hayley could get him to do almost anything, all she had to do was ask.
The first time Mikey had met Hayley was the first time he'd been allowed to go to Frank's with Gerard they'd been discussing their favorite x-men character, in Franks "Lair" (he insisted on calling it a lair, even though it was just a cornered off part of his basement with a TV and a few bean bags) when Hayley had come bursting in through the door and demanded to be included in the boys game because Sierra was playing "Sissy" games and she was bored of them. Frank rolled his eyes and told Mikey that her name was Haley and he'd known her, like, for his whole ten years of life because their Moms were best friends. Then went back to excitedly discussing the importance of Jean Grey losing her telekinetic abilities.
When Hayley had started adding to the conversation Mikey had been in awe and from that moment onward Mikey had decided that one day he was going to marry Hayley Williams, and he would love her forever and ever.
That had been two years ago and Mikey was 10 now, he was more mature, and he was going to go out of his way to prove it to her. So when Hayley dropped her arm and bounced forward out of the room, radiating excitement he followed her without any hesitation.
"So, what are we planning on doing exactly?" Gerard asked as they quickly climbed a set of stairs.
"Basically, we're going to ruin the bastards' life." Frank said as if it were the simplest thing in the world.
"Yeah I got that, but I don't think defacing his locker is going to do much damage to him, you two have got to have something else in mind?" He inquired turning to Hayley as they reached the small set of dull, gray steel lockers.
"Silence, Gerard." Hayley said rummaging through her backpack "let's get phase one complete before we get ahead of ourselves, ah. Here it is" she smiled pulling a can of fluorescent pink spray paint from her bag. Mikey's eyes widened. Oh come one they couldn't be serious, could they? They'd already broken into the school. Now this? Vandalism? Strike freaking two. He was going to get arrested. He was going to Juvie. He was going to die. Maybe even worse if Manson found out about what he was going to do.
"I can't believe you guys are doing this, if he finds out it was us he's gon-" Mikey complained. He couldn't do this. Not even Gerard knew about the note.
"Mikey! He's not going to find out okay, did you see what the ass-hole did to Gerard? To me? And he's even spread a rumor about Hayley being a les-"
"Frank, seriously let's not talk about it. So the guy's a jerk what else is new" Hayley sighed, shaking the can.
"What did he say about Hayley?" Mikey narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms.
"He said she was ga-," Gerard began to say but was cut off short when Hayley sprung forward and hit the back of his head "Ouch!" Gerard protested
"More vandalism, less talking" she smiled sweetly, stepping forward.
That bastard. "I will kick his butt" Mikey growled, his hands balling into fists. Hurting his brother and Frank was bad enough. But picking on girls was a step too far. It wasn't even as if it was any girl it was Hayley. Mikey knew what he had to do. He had to put that note in Billie's locker. Manson had to pay.
Frank rolled his eyes "Sure you will Mikey"
Hayley shook her head laughing quietly as she shook the can one last time and got to work. She held the can a few inches closer to the locker and watched as it changed from a dingy, ancient silver to a bright pink.
"Oh god, I didn't think it would be that bright!" she giggled stepping back taking in her handiwork,
"That's fucking awesome!" Frank laughed, applauding her.
"Okay, we can't stick around here for too long, but I can't leave school with pink hands if someone see's this they'll know it was me" Hayley said shaking her hands as if it would make the paint disappear.
"You know," Frank smirked. "The teachers' lounge is just around the corner and I hear they have a pretty nice bathroom"
"Interesting…" Hayley replied and smiled at Frank.
"We have to do it." Gerard grinned at his two friends
Oh for god sakes, Mikey thought as the others turned to look at him for a response. He didn't speak up, he just nodded his head.
Gerard looked shocked at Mikey's resilience. Frank mildly amused. Hayley was beaming at him. Mikey's stomach felt funny. But it was a good kind of funny. He smiled back.
The group turned and began to make their way quickly towards the teachers' lounge. Mikey knew it was now or never. He was already lagging behind, so when the others turned a corner he put his plan into action. He backtracked a few steps and located the locker he was looking for. Which wasn't difficult since it had "Billie Joe" etched into the steel silver door. Mikey shook his head at the mess in front of him and pulled the note from his back pocket. He clutched it tightly in his hands.
Did he really want to do this? What if he got caught? He'd be in a lot of trouble. So would his friends. The note didn't contain anything too bad. It was the aftermath that was sure to come after Billie had read it that scared Mikey, because Gerard had said Billie had some sort of anger problem and luckily, Gerard had also said exactly how to get on Billie's nerves.
He had written it last week when Gerard had come home crying, again. Gerard himself was fine, physically. It was Frank who had taken the beating, again. Gerard had felt guilty because Manson had come after him, but Frank being Frank had stepped in once again to save him. It had left him with a bust lip and a few bruises on his chest. Mikey had gotten angry. He wanted to hurt Manson and he wanted to hurt him badly. But he knew he wasn't capable of doing any physical damage himself. That's where Billie came into all of this.
Mikey let out an exasperated sigh and shoved the note through the vents in the locker before he could back out.
That was it, it was done now.
"Mikey? What are you doing?" He turned and saw his three friends walking towards him.
Hayley's hands were clean; they'd finished up in the teacher lounge. Damn it.
"Nothing." He replied simply.
"Mikey you have to see it in there! It's awesome. They have a vending machine and everything" Hayley squeaked.
"It even has skittles in it!" Frank chimed in, jumping up and down on the spot with a bag skittles clutched to his chest.
"Frankie-" Gerard smiled.
"Hey, is there someone there?" an unfamiliar voice boomed from the end of the hallway.
"Aw crap!" Hayley squealed.
"Shit!" Gerard and Frank muttered simultaneously
Mikey's eyes widened. I knew it, he thought to himself. I'm sorry Mom, it was me that broke your favorite vase but Gerard told me just to blame him. I didn't mean to. He sent this out telepathically hoping his mom would hear him.
"Go! Now!" Frank yelled pushing his three friends in front of him.
They took off, backtracking the way they had come with Hayley leading them, giggling like a manic and Frank was hot on her heels- for someone smaller than five foot that kid could run, Mikey thought to himself as Gerard gripped his hand pulling him closer as he ran as fast as his feet would take him. When they finally reached the room 20 seconds later, Hayley, without any hesitation and threw herself out of the window, landing gracefully on her feet. Frank, on the other hand landed face first on the grass below with a loud crash, Gerard heard him groan in protest when Hayley offered to help him up.
Gerard pushed Mikey in front of him letting his brother drop quietly to the ground. Just as he had swung his legs out of the window the voice from the hall yelled for him to stop from the classroom doorway. Gerard dropped himself from the ledge and instantly took Mikey's hand again and the four friends took off out onto the streets of New Jersey, heading home.
