I sit in my usual spot in the local cafe. I order coffee, black with two sugars. I grit my teeth as I try to hide behind my newly arrived mug. Too soon I'm noticed.
"Sup Dank Frank?" The stupid jock's companions all snicker while I ignore them. "Aww is Danky Frankie not in the moody woodie?" I want to shiver in disgust. Instead I sip my coffee and act like no ones there. This seems to be encouragement for the jocks, for they laugh harder, causing everyone's attention to be on us. On me. I feel my hands tremble a little. Calm it Frank. Don't let it get to you.
"What the fuck is this." The jocks ease from their laughter as they see a girl walk confidently over. She has light dirty blond hair, reaching almost to her butt with side bangs almost falling into one of her eyes. Her eyes are a stormy grey and she has a lot of makeup on. On her eyelids, there's shimmery gold eyeshadow, and beneath her eyes there's dark grey, almost black makeup. The makeup beneath her eyes looks like lots of smeared eyeliner. She has vibrant red lipstick on. Her eyebrows are drawn on, dark brown and perfectly arched. Her cheekbones are very defined. The girl glances at me and I realize I'm staring. Blood rushes to my cheeks and I look down a little. I see her smile out of the corner of my eyes.
"What?" One of the jocks stupidly asks.
"You were rhyming made up words. That's annoying." The jocks looks at each other questioningly. "And not the least bit offensive." The girl slides into the seat across from me. "So leave us alone." The jocks looks at each other again then just shrug after checking her out. Then they walk away. I let out a sigh of relief as the attention is diverted. "So what's your name?" The girl asks after a minute of silence. I laugh because I knew she must've heard the jock saying my name.
"Frank. Frank Iero. You?"
"Kelsey. Kelsey Everson." Kelsey mimics the way I introduced myself to her and I laugh while she smirks. I think we are gonna get along well. I smirk too. The waitress asks for Kelsey's order. She asks for black coffee with four sugars. I nod in approval, still smiling. I don't know why I'm still smiling. All I know is that she's really pretty. And awesome.
"Thanks for helping out earlier."
"Whatever do you mean? I said so earlier, they were annoying me. I could care less about people's feelings." Kelsey pretends to shiver, inspecting her black nails. I grin not seeing an ounce of truth in her statement.
"Sure." She downs her coffee in like two gulps after she gets it. She puts a $10 bill on the table and stands up. She's wearing a big band tee, grey ripped skinny jeans and black combat boots.
"Do you go to the local highschool?"
"Yeah."
"Are you a junior?" I nod. "Good show me around tomorrow?"
"Where?" I ask really confused.
"School silly."
"Oh ok. Want me to just pick you up from your house?" Kelsey laughs.
"That would be great." Kelsey crabs a pen from one of her boots and a napkin. She writes her address- and number down. I smile. Again. This smiling thing is getting tiring.
"Bye bye." Kelsey walks away waving.
"Text you later." I see her nod before she walks out the door. I sit at the table for a while longer. Then I leave a tip and walk home. During the night I dream of a girl with too much makeup on whose a smartass. I'm still smiling when I wake up. Did I mention how much that physically hurts?
~*~
I walk down to Kelsey's house which is only a few blocks away. When I knock on the door Kelsey answers almost immediately. She's wearing similar attire as yesterday, but black skinny jeans instead and a different band tee. Kelsey has a big marvel backpack that doesn't seem very full. Her makeup is exactly the same.
"Nice ride."
"Don't you know it." We walk to school together.
"Frankie!" Brendon runs up and hugs me.
"Get off whore."
"Frank!" Pete comes and joins the hug.
"Move away slut."
"Hugfest!" Gerard yells dragging Mikey with him who is forced to also join the group hug. Ryan, Patrick, and Ray are all left trailing behind. Until they are grabbed by three arms who force them into the hug too.
"Get off and I'll introduce you all to a girl. Her name is Kelsey."
"I don't need that." Gerard says jutting out one hip as the hug dissipates.
"Yeah you have your brother who is practically your wife." Ryan remarks.
"You bet."Gerard hugs Mikey while he yells 'get off me'.
"Okay so this is Gerard and his wife/brother Mikey. This is Brendon who is secretly dating that boy, Ryan. That's Pete, that's Ray, and that's Patrick." They all smile and wave. "Sorry, I can't tell you who is gay and who is straight because I can't tell."
"Well one of us could be something else. Like bisexual, pansexual, or asexual." Pete remarks. I raise my eyebrows.
"Are you any of those?"
"No." Pete admits.
"Exactly." Kelsey laughs. "Well time to get your schedule and everything." I say abruptly grabbing Kelsey's hand and dragging her away. I let go of her hand once we get away from my friends
We fall into step with each other.
"Ready for your daily toilet dunking?" A jock asks. I ignore him.
"Piss off asshole." This time Kelsey grabs my hand.
~*~
For once I safely get to my classes. I now I have all of my classes with either one of my friends or Kelsey. It's sad really. I'm just depending on my friends to defend me. At the end of the day I walk Kelsey home. "Will you walk me to school again tomorrow?"
"Of course."
"Oh and are you going to actually text me?" I chuckle.
"Yep." The door slams shut in my face as I walk home smiling. It's starting to not hurt as much.