Frank awoke to the shrill sound of his alarm clock. After hitting it with much more force than necessary, he got out of bed and made his way over to the bathroom he shared with his mother.
He quickly showered, put on some clothes, re-applied his eyeliner (but not without stabbing himself in the eye at least two times) and made his way downstairs, where his mom had left him a cheese sandwich with a note next to it. Rolling his eyes, Frank picked it up and read the words he read almost every weekday: 'Sorry hun, had to leave early. Won't be back before 10. There's some money left in my wallet, order some pizza. Love, mom.'
Sighing, Frank sat down and ate his sandwich. He felt bad for being this frustrated. It wasn't his mom's fault for having to work this much, after his parents divorced it was necessary if they didn't wanted to move out. It was great that they could stay where they were, but he missed coming home and being greeted by his mother. Sometimes, it felt like she was just here to fill the refrigerator and keep the house clean.
Rapid knocks on the front door startled him out of his inner 'monologue'. Stuffing the last remains of his sandwich in his mouth, he quickly got up and opened the door.
"Frank, dude! I've been waiting outside for more than 10 minutes, I'm freezing my ass off!"
Frank laughed at the sight of his best friend, Adam, pretending to be angry.
"How could you possibly be 'freezing your ass off'? It's March!", Frank laughed.
"March can be very cold, Frank!"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever.. Just come in, I'm almost ready."
Frank stepped aside to let his friend in, who dropped himself down on the couch. Frank joined him a few seconds later and grabbed his Converse sneakers from under the coffee table.
When he was almost done putting on the last sneaker Adam's cell phone started buzzing, signaling he had just received a text message.
"God.." He groaned and snapped his cell phone shut.
"Mark again?" Adam nodded.
Mark was one of their friends, although 'leader' would be a more appropriate word. He wasn't exactly a bully, but he did enjoy insulting people and getting into fights a little too much. He also loved bossing his friends around. Frank often considered punching him in the face and walking away, but it just wasn't that easy. He would end up on Mark's infamous 'blacklist'. It was weak, he knew that, but he really liked his organs the way they were right now.
"According to Pete, he's at the principal's office for punching some freshman kid in the face. Says he did it 'cause 'he felt like it'. Looks like he's spending his afternoons in detention.."
Secretly, Frank was very glad for that. Mark knew his mom wasn't around most of the times when he got home, which was why he would 'invite himself in' at least a few times a week and take advantage of the pizza-money Frank's mom left him. Frank had refused to let him in once, but that had resulted in a black eye and a broken rib. Mark didn't like refusal, and Frank learned it the hard way.
"He's a dumb asshole. Why would he punch a freshman for no good reason?"
Adam shrugged. "No idea.. I don't even know why he's at school this early. If you ask me, he just enjoys getting in trouble or something. Idiot.."
Frank stood up, stretched his legs and picked up his bag. "Come on man, we're gonna be late for school if we don't leave now.. And I don't feel like joining Mr. Asshole in detention this week."
Chuckling, Adam followed him out the door.
On their short walk to school, Adam and Frank usually talked about music. Since Mark thought rock and punk was for 'fags', they couldn't talk about it at school. It really annoyed Frank that he couldn't be himself, but over time he had just accepted that people wouldn't appreciate it if he did. He knew Adam felt the same way, but they never really talked about it.
Both having one earplug in their ear blasting Misfits and sharing a smoke, they discussed their plans to go see a local band next weekend.
"Oh man, I'm so looking forward to that show! The band is pretty good, and the moshpit is going to be so awesome." Adam exclaimed happily, blowing some smoke in Frank's direction.
"Yeah, can't agree more. Foul Garbage is awesome." This wasn't the first show they were attending together, since Adam's cousin worked at the venue he always managed to sneak them in. Frank was eternally grateful for that.
Frank lived pretty close to their school, so after just 10 minutes they were at the gate. Just seconds after passing it, the bell rang. Throwing away the remains of their cigarette, Mark grabbed Frank's arm and started to run.
"Oh fuck! If we're late again, we're really joining Mark this afternoon!"
"Goddammit!"
"Come on Frank, carry your little midget legs as fast as you can!"
"Asshole.."