By the time lunch rolled around, I was completely exhausted. I was in a better mood luckily, but any slight fuck-up could push me into a depressed state. I really didn't want that.

I just went over to the normal table that I usually sat at with Mikey, and took a seat. I got out my lunch that I had fancily packed into a brown paper bag, and took out a turkey sandwich. That was all I packed today, since we were in a hurry.

Mikey sat down next to me shortly afterward. "How's it going big bro?" I smiled as he got out his own lunch.

"It's okay I guess. How about you?" I asked Mikey, but he soon grew a concerned look on his face.

"Hold that thought. Is your eyeliner smudged?" He ran his fingers down my face, probably tracing the tear stains mixed with makeup. "Gee, were you crying?"

I sighed before nodding. "Yeah. It's nothing though. I'm fine now, don't worry about it. Are the stains really that bad?" He nodded slowly.

"That's okay though. Here, hold on." He grabbed a napkin from his lunch bag along with a small water bottle. He placed a few drops of water on the napkin to where it was damp, and started dabbing it on my face. "It's not much, but it will make it less noticeable."

"Thanks Mikey, I don't know what I would do without you." He smiled at me and patted me on the shoulder before continuing to eat his food. He raised an eyebrow, which made me question him.

"Gee, are you aware that Mr. Iero is looking at you right now? He's like, staring at you for some reason... he almost looks concerned." Mikey ended that last part with a chuckle. Honestly I didn't blame him. Mr. Iero? Concerned? Never.

"Well I guess he kind of saw me broke down so he's probably just wondering if I'm okay or something. Either that or he thinks I'm a freak." I didn't include the whole story, because I didn't really feel the need to inform Mikey of that part. He already knew about my depression, and he already helped me with it, so there was no point.

"Oh okay, I guess that makes sense." We continued eating in silence for awhile. Many thoughts were rushing through my mind.

Why is Mr. Iero staring at me in a somewhat concerned manner? It's not like he actually cares about me, and he never has.

Why the fuck is the counselor walking this direction? If that fucker told her about my notes and I have to spill my whole life story to someone I barely know, and quite honestly hate, I'm going to be pissed.

Mrs. Ramona sat down across from me and Mikey, and I looked up expectantly at her. We didn't exactly have the best of history. First of all, she tried to fix problems of mine that weren't even problems. I'm sure you'll catch onto that later, that is if she brings up those 'problems' into the conversation.

"Well Gerard, it's been awhile since we've had a good old chat. Tell me, why the sudden... change in appearance?" She was of course referring to my makeup.

"I like it. It makes me feel pretty," I said just to piss her off. This earned a snicker from my younger brother, to whom I knowingly smirked at. He knew just how crazy this woman was, and he also knew that I was testing her limits.

"Gerard, please don't tell me this is another phase of yours. Have you grown out of your last one yet?" Judging by the tone in her voice, she was truly disgusted with me. That's okay. It's a mutual hatred.

"If you are referring to my homosexuality as a 'phase,' then no. I've been going through this 'phase' for the eighteen sorry years I've lived on this planet, so I don't think it will stop any time soon. Why do you care so much though? Just curious."

"Gerard, it's not natural. You know that by now. Men love woman, and woman love men. No two genders can love each other." She sighed, tapping her nails on the table. "I had hope that you would have made progression into getting better, but judging by this, it's going to take awhile."

I rolled my eyes at that remark. "Yeah, awhile as in my whole lifetime. You know why? Because it's not something I can change about myself. Deal with it."

She had enough with my 'backtalk' and decided to take matters further. I could tell. She was about to try and do something to get me the 'help' I needed. "Gerard what do you have for first period?"

"Who wants to know?" I retorted.

"Don't be smart with me Gerard, just tell me what your class is."

"Fine," I muttered. "It's psychological studies with Mr. Iero. Is that all you wanted to know?" I crossed my arms over my chest, signaling that I wasn't in the mood to put up with shit like this.

She fucking grinned at my misery before taking a small radio out of her pocket and speaking into it. "Mr. Iero?" She spoke into the radio. It wasn't long before we heard a small 'yeah' coming out through the other end of the radio.

"Please report to the lunch table that I'm at." I groaned in frustration. I really had to deal with this dick again?

He stood over us at the lunch table when he arrived. "Is there something wrong, Mrs. Ramona?" Ooh I could see by the look on his face that he didn't like her either. Perhaps that was one thing we had in common.

His face wasn't giving off any obvious signs of hatred of course, because I'm sure Mrs. Ramona would not appreciate that in the slightest. I could just read it in his eyes. He despised her for some reason, and even if that reason was unknown to me, it didn't stop me from being curious.

"Mr. Iero, I would like you to hold Gerard in class for a few minutes every day as punishment for his disrespect." What a clown.

"Disrespect?" I spat. "Fucking bullshit," I muttered under my breath, but of course she heard me anyway. She glared at me for my use of profanity.

"Reason?" Mr. Iero questioned. Please tell me this man is smart enough to not trust what she says.

"I was trying to offer him help, but he refused to take it. He said it wasn't necessary and that things would never change. All I want to do is help him Mr. Iero, but oh no, he won't let me."

Before Mr. Iero had a chance to reply, I chimed in. "Help?" I said loudly, in mock disbelief. A few kids turned around from their seats to see what was happening, but went on with their casual chat when they realized it was nothing big. "You're treating me as if I have a life-threatening condition! You're telling me that being gay is something that can be 'cured.' I hate to break it to you Mrs. Ramona, but that's not how it works. You can't find a cure for homosexuality, so just learn to accept the fact that I'm gay already."

Mr. Iero's eyes widened as he realized the seriousness of the conversation topic. Of course he's surprised that I'm gay.

"Oh come on Gerard, don't be like that. Surely you can back me up on this one, Mr. Iero?" Here goes nothing. I knew for a fact that he was going to assign me detention.

What I didn't expect was for him to actually agree with me. "Well Mrs. Ramona, I'd have to say that I'm actually with Gerard on this one. That's very homophobic behavior, and I won't be helping you in your efforts at all. Please leave these children alone or I'll file a report." That caused me to smile just a little bit. Maybe this guy is more tolerable than I thought.

The expression on Mrs. Ramona's face was fucking hilarious to me, and I had to suppress my laughing. She definitely expected Mr. Iero to agree with her, and him not agreeing with her was a total punch in the face. Instead of continuing on and trying to 'convert' me, she just huffed and walked off away from the table.

Mikey turned to look at me before talking. "Well, at least she's gone."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, for now at least. If it's anything like freshman year, she's not going to give up. It's like it's her life's mission to ruin my life," I sighed, running a hand through my hair.

Mr. Iero was still standing by the table, waiting until she was completely gone before talking. "Hey guys," we looked up at him. "I'm sorry you have to deal with... all that. Gerard, can I actually speak to you after lunch? You're not in trouble, I just want to have a word."

I was hesitant to reply, but ended up nodding my head. He didn't seem stern or serious this time, so I figured he didn't have any bad intentions. He smiled at me before walking back to his classroom. Odd.

"Do you know what that's about?" Mikey asked once we were alone again.

"Not a clue," I replied simply. "If what just happened is anything to go off of, he'll probably ask me if I'm 'okay' or some shit like that."

Mikey nodded, and we continued eating until the end of lunch. Now I had to go to Mr. Iero's classroom and see what he could possibly need from me.

As I approached the classroom, I looked through the window to make sure he was in there, and he was. I opened the door to walk inside and shut it behind me once again. If he was going to be talking to me about serious topics, I didn't want the eavesdroppers in the hallway to be able to hear.

His head snapped up as soon as he heard the door close, and he smiled reassuringly. "Ah, Mr. Way. Please take a seat." He pointed to a chair that was pulled up beside his desk, and I sat down at it.

"So what is it that you wanted to talk with me about?" I noticed that my leg was tapping nervously, so I tried to stop it.

"Oh yeah, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry about this morning." I could hear the regretful tone in his voice once he said that. Did he actually regret his actions? Is he actually being genuine with me right now? Well I'll be damned.

I just replied with a simple, "oh."

"Like seriously, I know you probably don't trust me enough yet, but I really do care. The truth is that I had a really rough morning, and it was wrong for me to take it out on students. I understand that now." It was most definitely a genuine apology, and I was kind of flattered that he spilled all that onto a student. Not only was I flattered, but I was also slightly impressed. Mr. Iero is actually a decent human being? Wow.

"Oh um, it's fine. I just have trust issues is all and I don't like it when people pretend to care when they really don't." I wanted to make that sentence clear, just in case he was lying.

"Well I want you to know that I care, and I can prove it to you as well. You can come talk to me about anything, okay? Never for a second will I judge you, just remember that Gerard."

For once I actually felt myself cracking a smile at his words. It seemed like they were genuine for once, and I actually believed him. "Thank's Mr. Iero." He smiled back and I hopped out of the seat, ready to carry on for the day.

Chapter planning: