You totally need to cut your hair" Gerard said in his motherly tone, running his hand through Frank's fringe which had grown way past his eyes, and the dye had grown out so his hair was a black mess with random parts of red, instead of how it should be.
"Yes, Mom" Frank huffed, jerking his head away, but he smiled, "Hey, who're those two?"
Frank was gawking at two kids sat on an empty table in the very corner of the dinner hall. One was a girl who was very small and very scrawny, probably about Mikey's age; she looked like she was wearing Mikey's clothes too.
She was dressed in a boy's t-shirt and skinny fit jeans with rips down the thighs, her black hair was pinned back and she had thick framed glasses resting on the tip of her nose. Her head was down and she was engrossed in a comic. She was a cool kid.
The guy beside her was probably the same age as Frank, Hayley and Gee. He was wearing skinny jeans and a T-shirt. His hair was too straight, unnatural. He also had glasses on but instead of reading he was listening to music and scrolling through his I-pod, staring at it intently.
They were both obviously avoiding any sort of eye-contact, and were most probably terrified. Frank felt bad for them, starting a new school sucked, and Gerard must have read his mind, because he hummed thoughtfully.
"We should go talk to them."
Frank was about to agree and get up but Mikey suddenly made an inhuman noise that made everyone jump and stare at him.
"Don't- don't do that" he squeaked "She's called Alicia Simmons, she's from California but had to move here 'cause her dad got a new job, she likes comics but not Hellboy and likes old music, like the Kinks and stuff"
The three older kids stared at Mikey, who began to blush.
"Did you…talk to her Mikey?" Gerard asked.
Mikey never spoke to anyone apart from Pete, Gabe and sometimes Patrick if Mikey was feeling sociable.
"No" Mikey said, rolling his eyes "Pete told me, she's in most of his classes."
Gerard chuckled and waggled his eyebrows at Frank who sighed, Mikey was just as much as a hermit as his brother was.
"I think you should go talk to them Mikes" Hayley suddenly piped up, grinning.
Mikey's eyes got wide and he shook his head
"I-you- you wouldn't" he glared at them and crossed his arms, but Hayley just took that as an invitation to tease him even more.
"Oh yes" she said cheerfully, jumping up and running to Mikey's side of the table.
Mikey just clutched onto his seat and stared and Frank and Gerard with a look of pure terror. Frank burst into hysterics as Hayley tried to wrench Mikey off his chair, but he was rescued by the sounding of the bell to announce that lunch was over and classes were beginning. Mikey did a dramatic fake prayer, staring at the sky and mouthing 'thank you' before darting off to class, purposefully avoiding Hayley's grasp and the two new kids who were also rushing off to class.
"School ruins all the fun" Hayley huffed and Gerard and Frank giggled.
"Hayley and I could come round yours tonight and see that new guitar you're currently worshipping?" Gerard asked Frank, who nodded excitedly.
"Bring Mikey too, I will teach him how to play the guitar, even if it kills me" Gerard shook his head and Hayley grinned and patted Frank's back.
"Good luck with that sweetie, I'll see you after class" Frank and Gerard waved Hayley goodbye as she set off to the maths corridor while Gerard walked Frank to his lesson and listened to him gush about his new 'baby' for the millionth time.
Frank yelled a goodbye to Gerard and walked into his science class to find his seat taken, by Josh, who usually sat at the back. Frank was confused until her realised the new kid had chosen the seat beside Josh, and Josh had moved away. Jeez, Frank thought, way to put a guy down.
"It's not like being the new is infectious Josh" Frank spat as he walked down the classroom to sit beside the new guy.
"Hey," Frank said cheerfully after Mr Briggs had stopped talking and ordered them to get in pairs "I'm Frank and I guess I'm your pair for today, sorry about that"
The guy smiled, but he still look terrified "I'm Taylor" he said quietly, then glanced around the room nervously until Frank gave up trying to make eye contact and went to find the equipment they needed.
Frank and Taylor didn't actually get much work done, Frank found out Taylor had awesome taste in music and they spent the duration of the lesson discussing bands and music and eventually comics.
Frank was proud of himself for knowing Taylor would be cool, he bet Gerard and Hayley would like him too.
"Hey, dude, why don't you drop by my place later, me and my friends are meeting out to hang out for a while, you can join in if you want" Taylor looked surprised, then really happy.
"Sure dude, yeah…yeah! That'd be awesome, thanks" Frank grinned and shrugged "No problem, let me write down my address and I'll see you there."
"Isn't she beautiful?" Frank asked smiling fondly.
"I can't disagree with you, she's gorgeous" Gerard replied reaching out to run his hand over the guitars neck but was stopped before his fingers had even brushed the strings.
"Not a chance, Gee. She's delicate." Frank grinned, placing Gerard's hand down by his side, keeping their hands locked together longer than was necessary.
Hayley rolled her eyes but couldn't help but smile as she watched the two of them. When it came to the two of them they was painstakingly obvious, yet, completely oblivious at the same time.
"Frank? There's someone at the door asking for you" Linda called from upstairs.
The group were downstairs in what Frank had once called his "Lair". Now, it was just his basement, full of amp chords, guitar strings, plectrums and even the odd microphone. The dingy grey walls were covered from ceiling to floor in band pictures and old sci-fi movie posters.
They'd hung out here almost every day since they had turned 15. That had been two years ago and Hayley still wasn't sick of this little room.
"Just send him down here, Mom." Frank yelled loudly
"Well that's weird, your Mom usually just sends Mikey down here." Gerard murmured.
"It's not Mikey."
"Who else could it be?" Hayley replied slightly confused.
"It's the new kid, Taylor. I invited him over." Frank said lightly strumming his fingers over the string of his guitar.
Gerard nodded, "Cool, he could use some friends. He looked a little terrified today in the cafeteria."
"He's from California, this is New Jersey. You can't really expect anything less." Hayley smiled more to herself than anybody else. Gerard was right about one thing, the guy had looked like he was ready to run for the hills. He'd tried his best to look busy and kept his head down for most of the day. Hayley wouldn't have noticed him at all if it hadn't been for Frank pointing him and his…step sister? Out.
The basement door groaned loudly in protest and light footsteps were heard as Taylor made his way towards the group. He was standing awkwardly at the edge of the room when he pulled his hood down and began picking nervously at the sleeves on his hoodie.
"Hey Taylor, get in here. Come on, take a seat" Frank told him pointing to the couch.
"So, I hear you come from California?" Gerard asked as Taylor made his way across the room taking a seat next to Hayley.
"Nah, my families from Tennessee but you're half right. We did live in California just before we moved here."
Hayley smiled, recognising the southern edge to Taylors voice, "I used to live in Tennessee"
"You did?" Taylor turned to Hayley quickly, probably trying to break the tension that had slowly been filling the room.
"Uhuh, Franklin. Until I was eight" She replied.
"Awesome, I'm from Nashville" Taylor answered "but my grandparents live in Franklin. It's nice there"
"Small world huh." Hayley replied.
"Yeah," Taylor paused for a second and smiled warmly "It is."
Hayley found her herself grinning back at him. She wasn't sure why. That was until Frank cleared his throat breaking the silence, but it hadn't been awkward. It had been comfortable.
Hayley shook her head and turned away from Taylor shooting Frank a glare.
"So," He said eyeing the two of them with a smug smile on his face "You took music class
right?"
"Yup. Best class there is." Taylor answered looking a little more relaxed.
"What do you play?" Gerard chimed in leaning forward in his seat suddenly becoming interested.
"I can play the drums, but I prefer guitar"
"Interesting, Very interesting" Frank murmured.
"It is?"
Frank stood up and held out his guitar, the old one, Hayley noticed with a smile. Frank wasn't going to let anyone touch that guitar for another few months Taylor looked at it slightly confused for second but took the guitar anyway inspecting it before glancing back at Frank.
"Play something" Frank said simply.
"Like what?" Taylor asked.
Hayley frowned and shot Frank a warning glare and he took a few steps back in a silent reply she didn't like how nervous Taylor looked with all eyes in the room now on him.
"Anything you want, just show us what you can do." Frank shrugged.
"Okay…" Taylor looked around and sighed defeated and stood up.
He positioned the guitar before letting his fingers slide lightly across the strings. He smiled when he heard the familiar sound. Taylor started to play; Hayley was pretty shocked for the first few seconds. She had expected him to be good- he was in their music class, but he was better than good. He was amazing. Gerard grinned and Frank clapped his hands together gleefully.
Hayley watched Taylor's expression change while he was playing. It was almost as if he was in his own world, lost in the music.
He stopped suddenly, allowing the last chord to ring out before looking up to the others and smiling shyly.
"Dude, you are fucking awesome!" Frank whooped and Gerard clapped a few times, a smile of approval on his face. Frank put his hand on Taylors shoulder and give it a squeeze.
"Thanks guys" Taylor said removing the guitar strap from around him.
"Only speaking the truth man" Frank replied before taking his guitar back and settling down next to Gerard.
Taylor stood in the middle of the room looking a little dazed and uncomfortable, again.
Hayley smiled and patted the seat next to her "You can sit down without an invitation, Taylor."
He chuckled nervously and crossed the room, dropping lightly into the space next to her.
"Thanks for inviting me Frank I had an awesome night." Taylor beamed as Frank and Hayley showed him out.
"Not a problem Dude, you're welcome anytime. Come again tomorrow if you like." Frank replied waving his hand opening the front door.
"Oh, I will thanks. See you later man," He stepped out of the door and turned just as he got to the gate "You too Hayley, it was great meeting you."
"Yeah, it was really nice meeting you too,"
"See you at school" Taylor said before turning and making his way down the street.
Hayley smiled watching him leave. She felt a blush creep up to her cheeks when she realised Frank was watching her with that stupid smug smile again, she refrained from punching that smile off his smug little face.
"Yeah, it was really nice meeting you too" Frank mimicked Hayley's voice and clutched his hand to his chest over his heart.
"What?" Hayley asked, a little confused. She was really sure what he was trying to get at.
"Oh c'mon, could you be any more obvious" Frank laughed crossing his arms.
"Oh you're one to talk" Hayley smiled.
"Scuse' me"?" He arched an eyebrow "Don't turn this on me missy"
"Whatever dude" She replied before making her way down into the basement.
