Chapter 25

Gerard lay on his bed trying to work out what he should do. He didn't really want to meet Frank's friends but he knew he was supposed to; it was part of being in a relationship. He was going to have to get used meeting whowever Frank happened to be friends with. He walked upstairs to get a cup of coffee and a lollipop from the stash he had in his coat pocket. He walked into the kitchen to see his mother washing dishes.

"Hey mom" she turned to face him and gave him a quick greeting before going back to her dishes.

"Mom? Out of curiosity what do you think of Frank?" Gerard had been dying to find this out since he got home.

"I think he's a nice boy who's probably a little over excitable and possibly a bit psychopathic" she continued to wash each plate and cup until they were spotless.

"Is that a good thing?" Gerard really wasn't sure what that meant.

"For you yes; for anyone else probably not" Gerard really wasn't sure what he was supposed to say to that.
"So I'm a weirdo?" he didn't want his mom saying that; he didn't really want anyone saying that.

"No; your just a little different and don't exactly act normally towards some things."

"What sort of things?" Gerard thought he was very normal.

"Remember when we saw that movie with all those dolls and ghosts and Mikey hid behind the sofa the whole time?" Gerard nodded "and when that woman hung herself from the ceiling and all you could say was 'it's never nice when that happens'."

"I see your point" he then turned back to the coffee machine. He noticed a letter written in a scrawl on the side. He took a look at who had written it. It was from his dad.

"Mom why did dad write a letter to you?" his heart was sped up feeling that there was chance she was going to say that he was coming back.

"He's trying to convince me that he's changed and that he feels bad for hurting you." Gerard's eyes went wide.

"You aren't going to believe that are you?"

"No Gerard; empathises on he's 'trying'" Gerard breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Don't worry Gerard; he won't come back into our lives after the divorce is finalised we will never see him again." She turned around to face her son.

"I know what happened wasn't fair and I know it must be very hard to get over but you have to look towards the future" Gerard just nodded.

The next few days went by as they did. Frank didn't want to push Gerard into meeting his friends; he wasn't even sure how they would act towards him. They wouldn't hurt him and Ray knew it was a good idea to stay on his good side seeing as he didn't want an angry Mikey after him. Bob would be okay as Bob didn't give a shit about what other people do in their spare time. Okay so maybe letting them meet Gerard was a good idea but he would have to ease them into the idea of being near each other on a regular basis.

"Gerard?" Gerard turned from his locker to face Frank.

"Yer?" Frank watched as he blinked at him expectantly.

"Have you thought anymore about meeting my friends?" several different emotions flashed in Gerard's eyes.

"Yes I have but I don't know if it's a good idea." Gerard was very concerned about his well being as he didn't like going home feeling like shit because some people found joy in that kind of thing.

"It will be fine; it's just Ray and Bob."

"I still don't know" Gerard really didn't know about it; he'd never had a conversation with Bob other than stop being a fag and Ray didn't even use his name last time.

"Bob probably won't notice you're there and Ray will be extra nice or I will hurt him" Frank smiled at him.

"As long as I don't have to stay long; I would probably feel a bit out of place and I wouldn't know what to say-" Frank held his hand out in a stop motion.

"Rambling, Gerard, rambling."

"Sorry." They both went off to the next class. They met after school outside the front doors; Mikey soon arrived with Ray in tow. Frank noticed that Gerard had tensed up considerably. He took Gerard's hand and squeezed it lightly showing him that he was there and there was no need to worry. They ignored the weird and sometimes dirty looks they got from other pupils and parents coming to pick their kids up.

Nancy began to walk to her dad's car when she spotted the pair holding hands while talking to Ray and Mikey. She glared at them until her dad noticed she had a funny look on her duck like face. He looked over to where she was looking and saw two boys holding hands. Now Nancy's dad didn't particularly hate gays; he didn't like the idea but he wouldn't go out of his way to hurt them.

"Nancy, dear, what are you doing?" He was a little concerned about her behaviour.

"He stole my boyfriend" was all she could say.

"Who did?" he didn't want to see his little girl upset.

"Gerard Gay; that's who."

"Err… that doesn't tell me much" he wanted to be able to have a talk with the boys before they left.

"The one with the black long hair and the dorky brother."

"Come on honey let's have a little chat with them" he placed his hand on her back as he guided her towards them. Gerard spotted them and they tried to leave before they were close enough but couldn't as they had called after them.

"Okay boys which one of you was dating my daughter" Frank slowly raised his hand awkwardly.

"Now I think it would be best if you held her hand not that other boys hand" Frank glared at him.

"I don't think it would be the best idea" Nancy's dad scowled.

"You don't want people to think your fags do you?"

"We are fags" Frank watched as his eyes widened before he glared at them pulling his daughter away.