My first class of the day was unfortunately my mathematics class. I walked into the small classroom and froze when I saw Frank in the third row. We made eye contact before I sat down in the front row. I heard some rustling before Frank came up to sit in the seat beside me.

"I'm sorry for yesterday," he said. "I should have thought my actions through before running in, I was just upset. I'm sorry if my actions got you in trouble or put you at risk. I was dumb and impulsive, I realized you might be in trouble so I let you go before I made him more upset, I didn't want him getting any angrier and taking it out on you."

I didn't say anything. Frank pulled out a notebook and pen, setting them onto the table. The pen began rolling and almost fell off when Frank quickly grabbed it, making me flinch.

"I-I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to move so fast."

He tucked his pen into the spiral spine of his notebook.

"I just want to be able to talk to you and maybe hang out if that's okay, you seem like a really cool and interesting person," he said.

I continued looking straight ahead.

"Me and my friend Jamia were going to go to get some coffee after this class if you wanted to come," he said. "It's on me."

I tapped my thumb against my middle finger repeatedly.

"Or if you don't like coffee I can buy you a smoothie or something," he said. "I--"

"Go," I interrupted. "Just leave me alone."

"Gerard--"

"Leave!" I shouted.

A couple kids looked over and Frank stared before he grabbed his stuff and moved back to his original seat. The professor came in and started class. I didn't look back but I knew that Frank had his eyes on me for the entire class. Two excruciating hours later of keeping my head focused, I walked out of class quickly. My next class wasn't for a few hours but I had to work. I went to the school store and put on my red apron before sitting behind the counter.

I spent some time helping students find what they needed. Halfway through my shift, I saw an instagram notification telling me that Frank followed my account.

My shift was coming to an end when Andy came in, looking very pissed as I checked out a student.

"Why did I just check your account to find Frank following you?" He asked.

"Andy, I-I'm with a customer," I said.

"I don't give a fuck," he said.

I quickly finished ringing the girl up before she left.

"My shift ends in ten minutes, I'll meet you outside," I said.

"No, I'm talking to you now," he said.

"I-I can't," I said.

"Why did he follow you?" He asked. "Are you talking to him?"

"No, no, I swear I'm not," I said.

"Give me your phone," he ordered.

I handed it to him and he unlocked it. His thumbprint has been registered on my phone for a long time now. Andy looked through my phone, thankfully not making any more of a scene. My coworker came in to relieve me and I took off my apron, going outside to the seating area with Andy.

"Alright, I thought I could trust you to handle your own accounts but clearly I can't," he said, pulling out his own phone. "Give me your instagram password."

I gave him my password and he signed into my account on his phone.

"I am blocking Frank and setting your account to private," he said. "And don't even think about talking to him in person. I will know. I will find out. My friends will tell me, my frat brothers will watch you. If I so much as hear that you even looked at him, I will make you regret it, got it?"

My lip quivered as I nodded. Andy handed me back my phone and stood up.

"I will let you keep the password for your twitter and snapchat for now," he said. "Don't make me change my mind."

He walked away as I looked down. Someone sat next to me and I saw a familiar face. It was Frank's friend from the party, Jamia. I looked around in fear. How long had she been standing there? Did she hear anything?

"Hi," she said.

"I-I can't talk to you," I said.

"I'm not Frank," she said. "And I know Frank isn't always the easiest to talk to. He has a short fuse and the tendency to react before thinking. He can be straight-forward and not at all gentle. I'm here for a kind shoulder to cry on or an ear to listen. Whatever you need, I can be here for you. I won't tell Frank anything, it can be just between the two of us."

My heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest as I tapped my thumb to my middle finger. It would be so, so nice to have a friend. Andy didn't really allow me to have friends. Not that he didn't let me, he just preferred I spend my free time with him. My only friend is Ray because he's my roommate and the only reason we're friends is because Andy can't stop me from having a roommate, it's required. Jamia seems so nice and I would love to be friends with her. But I don't want to upset Andy.

"By the way, your skirt is so cute," she said. "Where'd you get it from?"

I looked down at my simple black skirt. "Oh, I got it at the mall on sale. I think it might've been Forever 21. Or maybe Abercrombie. Something big like that."

"You know, this is kind of embarrassing," she said. "I am so bad at fashion. Like, it is atrocious. My mom still buys my clothes for me if I won't lie."

I smiled softly, looking down at my lap.

"Hey, you know, maybe we could go shopping one day," she said. "You have such a good sense of style. You could really help give me pointers and I can finally shop for myself for once."

"Oh, I don't know," I mumbled. "I really don't have a lot of free time."

"Yeah, that's totally understandable, you're a working college student," she said. "Just take my number, maybe you can hit me up one day and we can do something. I would love to be able to go shopping with you. It might be for my benefit more than yours, so maybe I'll take you out for lunch, on me."

"Um, I-I'll have to think about it," I said.

"Is that your natural hair color?" Jamia asked.

"No, it's dyed black," I said.

"Well, I think it looks great," she said. "I've always wanted to dye my hair but I'm just as terrible with hair as I am with clothes. I don't trust hairdressers with my hair but also I promise you if I tried a home bleach kit then it would not end up pretty. It would most likely just end with me going completely bald."

"It's not too hard," I said. "You just have to be careful. I've bleached my hair a couple times before."

"Could I pay you to help me with my hair?" She asked. "I need someone I can trust with my hair."

"How can you trust me?" I asked. "You don't even know me."

"That's true, I suppose," she said. "Hey, maybe we can bond over that shopping trip. Or we can go to the Einstein's Bagel downstairs and get something to drink. Have you eaten yet? I can buy you a sandwich from there as well."

"I-I don't think I can," I said. "It's just...I, um, I should probably start heading to my next class, I don't like being late. And by late, I mean less than thirty minutes early."

"Yeah, of course," she said. "Just a second."

She grabbed a notebook and ripped out a piece of a page before getting a pen. She wrote down her phone number and gave it to me. I gave a polite smile and walked out of the building to go to my next class. I stopped by the trash can and was about to dump her number in when I stopped. I put her number into my phone before trashing it.

Maybe I might need it for some reason. Of course I'll only use her number in an emergency. What if...what if I need some fashion advice? She'll give me her ideas and I'll just do the opposite of what she says.

"Hey," someone said.

I jumped and turned to see Mikey.

"Oh, hi," I said.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"Nothing, I-I'm not doing anything," I said. "I didn't do anything."

"Dude, it's cool," he said. "There's nothing illegal about staring at a trash can. It's weird, yes, but not illegal."

"I was just trying to think if I accidentally tossed my water bottle in this trash can or not and if I did whether or not I should fish for it," I said. "I can always get a new water bottle, I know that and I wasn't too emotionally attached to it. But at the same time, it was a Yeti. But also at the same time I didn't buy pay for it, it was a gift. But also it was personalized with the school logo and my name so okay I guess I was kind of attached to it and I really want it back."

"Okay, so, get it," Mikey said.

I looked at him before looking back at the trash can and then back at him again.

"Oh, okay," I said. "Oh, wait! I remembered I let Ray borrow. Yep, he wanted to keep his water nice and insulated so he borrowed my water bottle."

"Your personalized Yeti water bottle? The one identical to mine but with your name engraved that grandma and grandpa gave us?" He asked.

"Yes, that one," I said.

"The same water bottle that's in the side pocket of your backpack?" He asked.

I looked back at it and panicked.

"Dude, it's okay, you don't have to lie to me," he said. "Just tell me you dropped your phone in again, shit happens. Of course you've done it like eleven times now but still, it happens."

I laughed nervously as Mikey walked away, quickly heading to my next class.

~~

Thanks to @whatiislife for suggesting they have a class in common

Should Jamia

Be honest to Gerard and not tell Frank they're talking at all and not tell him anything

or

Secretly tell Frank about how Gerard is doing and stuff and maybe give little inside info on Andy when Gerard eventually starts to tell her a little

AND

Any suggestions for what should happen next chapter