"Frank, stop it!" Patrick hissed at his friend. They all sat in the corner of the classroom. Frank got bored of the documentary as soon as the teacher pressed play so he took on the job of messing with his half asleep friend who wasn't even aware of what class they were even in.

Frank pouted, "but look how easy it is!" He whispered loudly. Patrick crossed his arms over his chest, giving Frank a harsh glare. "Fine..." he sighed, "but how often does he sleep in class? This is like a once in a lifetime opportunity."

"He gives you his food in the morning and this is how you repay him." Patrick looked over at the sleeping Mikey Way next to him. "Maybe he just didn't drink coffee this morning? We both know that he's addicted to it."

Frank tilted his head, observing his friend while also poking his arm with the eraser side of his pencil. "Yeah..." he said, almost as if something had suddenly clicked into place. He looked up and saw the teacher getting up. "Patrick." Frank mumbled.

Patrick nodded, already nudging Mikey awake. "Guys— Ow!" Mikey jumped up. He smacked Patrick's shoulder, upset.

The teacher walked by looking at the students but not saying anything. Patrick rubbed his arm. "I didn't want you to get in trouble." He whispered.

Mikey mumbled out a "sorry" and yawned quietly.

Frank thought for a moment, "Mikey, I think that you should maybe go to the nurse."

"What?"

"Yeah, you should go home and sleep," Patrick added. "I'll send you whatever homework you miss."

Mikey shook his head. "No, my parents would never pick me up from school just because I'm tired. Plus, I'm behind on a bunch of assignments already, I can't miss more work."

Frank put his hand on Mikey's shoulder. "I'm sure your parents will understand. We can give you the answers to whatever work you need to finish," he said. "Just please, take care of yourself?"

Mikey frowned, "Fine."

A while later, after getting excused to go to the nurse, Mikey sat in the office waiting.

" ... so you're new to public school? Don't worry, it's not as scary as people make it out to be." He heard one of the office ladies speak to someone. "Your guide should be here soon—" The lady turned the corner with a short kid following her. She and Mikey made eye contact for a split second and suddenly everything happened fast. "Oh, Mikey! Are you the one showing Pete around school?" She asked, smiling brightly.

Mikey tilted his head to the side, observing the kid behind her. He had dark black hair, his eyes mostly looking down at his shoes. He wore a long sleeve under his t shirt with black jeans, despite it being early September. "No." Mikey shook his head. "I'm waiting to be signed out. The nurse thinks I have the plague."

"You do not have the plague Mr. Way, you are sleep deprived!" The three heard the school nurse yell from down the hall. The new kid stifled a laugh, looking over at him. Mikey noticed and waved quietly as the office lady pulled the new kid by.

***

Pete tried to not let the expectations of public America high school cloud his judgment but from his first step in, he already knew that he hated it.

"This way, Mr. Wentz." Some office lady said. She'd been dragging him around the whole school all day. He just wished he could've been dropped off and looked for his classes on his own. But of course, that would be silly. Since he's been shadowing the lady he hasn't really met any other students. No one has really even noticed him in fact. He recognized a few of his classmates from middle school but it was obvious enough that they were a lot different now.

" ... and I noticed in your schedule that you had calculus, but I saw that you already had that class credit so I put you in algebra two."

Pete nodded, knowing that he has taken algebra two before but he kept quiet, liking the idea of an easy class. "Thanks," he said. He turned on his heel, eager to increase the distance from him and the office lady.

She kindly waved goodbye and as he was looking back he involuntarily bumped into someone, leading to him on top of some stranger on the ground. He looked down and saw familiar blueish green eyes looking back up at him through a pair of glasses. "Ow!" The person squeaked.

Pete quickly got off him, a pair of footsteps were heard running up to them. Pete held out his hand to help him up. "I'm so sorry. I should've looked where I was going—"

"Pete, you're good." He laughed. Pete frowned. The footsteps finally slowed down until they were right next to them. He looked over and saw someone who was close to his height, looking over at the stranger. Pete thought hard on the name of who it was that he just ran into. The guy seemed to notice and he held out his hand, "my name is Patrick. I remember you from middle school."

Pete's eyes widened, "Patrick! Of course!" He laughed, "how are you? What's new?"

Patrick smiled sweetly. "You don't remember me, do you?" He cocked his head to the side, looking at him.

"It's a little blurry," Pete confessed. He looked over to the other stranger that was watching the interaction quietly. "Hi, I'm Pete." He held out his hand.

The stranger waved back shyly. "M Frank."

The two pulled their attention back to one another. "So you're back from boarding school?" Patrick questioned.

Pete shrugged, "only for a while. I'm only staying here for a semester."

***

Gerard had picked Mikey up from school. He looked over to his brother that sat curled up in the passenger seat, already dozing off. He frowned to himself, wondering how Mikey was going to react to the truth that has been kept from him for so long. He knew that he himself didn't take the news easily.

He then thought about the night before. Mikey said that his sandwich sucked and Gerard does not make food that sucks.

He sighed, only two more days till Mikey is sixteen.

Only two more days till the moment that everything clicks in place for the teenager.

Only two more days till he feels like his life is over.

Only two more days.

_\|/_

I need a cute cover for this book but I'm too busy to actually make a quality one 😪