Today was miserable. Everyone just kept pointing and whispering and laughing. I wanted nothing more than to just crawl into a hole and die. During lunch I went to the library instead of the cafeteria like I always did. I pulled out Gerard's note and smiled. Scrawled across the note on the bottom was his phone number and I dialed it nervously.

"Hello?" Gerard asked.

"Hi, it's Frank," I said quietly.

"Oh, hey, Frankie," he said. "What's up?"

"A-are you doing anything today?" I asked.

"No, I just had one morning class today so I'm basically spending the rest of the day on my couch eating chips," he said. "You wanna join?"

"Please?" I asked and he chuckled. "Can you pick me up from school?"

"Yeah, where is it?" He asked.

I gave him the address. "You have to be here by two, that's when classes end."

"Alright, I'll be there waiting," Gerard said. "I'll see you later."

I hung up and sniffled quietly. I read my book quietly as someone sat beside me. I looked over at Patrick as I frowned in confusion.

"Hi, I'm Patrick," he said.

Frank," I replied.

"I-I thought you looked pretty in your dress," he said.

I turned away from him, pursing my lips. He left and I watched him walk away. He looked sad and I frowned. I don't know why I did that, I-I shouldn't have done that. He's the only one in this school that actually seemed to be okay with me wearing a dress.

Lunch ended and I walked back into the hall. People snickered at me but I tried to keep my head down. Classes went by slow until finally it was over and I walked towards where Gerard was waiting for me.

"Hey, faggot," Pete said, shoving me.

"Leave me alone already," I said. "Mia, come on."

"Frank, we are so done," Jamia said as she laughed.

I whimpered, shaking my head.

"No one wants to date a fag," Pete said.

"Well at least my girlfriends never complained about how bad I was in bed," I said.

People laughed at Pete and his face practically went red. He chased me out of the school with his friends and he shoved me. I fell to the ground and scraped my knee when my pants ripped. I scrambled up to my feet and ran away. I jumped into Gerard's car as they chased me.

"Drive! Drive!" I shouted.

Gerard drove off and I sighed as I leaned back.

"What happened?" He asked.

"They fucking hate me," I said. "Th-they hate me."

"It's gonna be okay," he said.

I sniffled, shaking my head.

"They hate me," I cried. "M-my dad won't even look at me."

We got to his apartment and he lead me up to sit on the couch. He wrapped his arms around me as I cried into his shoulder.

"It's okay, honey," he said softly. "It's gonna be okay."

I cried quietly and he ran his fingers through my short hair.

"Frankie, don't worry," he whispered. "How much longer until you graduate?"

"I-I only have three weeks and then there's like two more weeks until the ceremony," I said, managing to calm down.

"So it's gonna be okay, you only have a little bit longer," he said.

"I-I don't think i can make it," I whispered. "I don't think I can do this anymore. I-It's just too much."

"No, Frankie, it's gonna be okay," he said. "Don't think like that, please. You can stay here with me if you want."

I sniffled, wiping my eyes.

"My girlfriend broke up with me, my dad hates me, everyone at school wants to kill me," I said.

"I know this is hard but I promise that it's gonna be okay," he said.

I shook my head. "I never should've worn that dumb fucking dress. I destroyed it, I ripped it up."

"You did?" He asked sadly. "Sweetheart, you shouldn't have done that. You love that dress."

"No," I denied. "It's fucking stupid and it ruined my life. I was dumb for wearing it, I should've just worn my suit. I'm not a fucking girl. I'm a guy, I have a fucking dick."

"You can't think like that," he said. "You can be a beautiful girl if you want."

I shook my head. "I can't, it's not like you where I can just be trans for a weekend."

"I'm not trans," he denied. "Frank, come on, I know you're upset but you have to just calm down. It's not the end of the world, I promise."

I sniffled, laying down with my head on his lap. He ran his fingers through my hair gently and I closed my eyes.

"It's okay," Gerard whispered. "Everything's gonna be okay."

I cried quietly until I calmed down. He hummed softly and I sat up, wiping my eyes.

"I'm sorry," I whispered. "Sorry for crying to you and just freaking out and probably being offensive to you for calling you trans."

"It's okay," he said. "You wanna go out for some food with my friends? One of them is trans so she can help you probably better than I can."

I nodded my head nervously.

"You wanna change first?" He asked.

"C-can I wear a skirt?" I asked quietly.

"Of course you can," he said.

Gerard took me to his closet and let me dig around. I put on a black skirt and a pink shirt with white knee high socks with my black converse.

"Does this look okay?" I asked. "I-I don't really know how to style girls clothes."

"You look beautiful in anything," he said.

I smiled happily as I looked in the mirror.

"Alright, let's get a bandage on your knee," he said.

Gerard sat me at his vanity in his bathroom. He cleaned up my knee and put a band-aid on it.

"Can you do my makeup a bit too?" I asked hopefully.

He smiled and nodded, doing my makeup. It was a lot softer this time. I just had some black mascara with eyeliner, pink lipgloss and the foundation.

"You're so pretty," he said. "When we go there do you want me to refer to you as a girl? It can help you to see how you feel about it."

I smiled and nodded as we left. We went to a nearby cafe where he ordered us food before we sat at a table with three other people.

"This is Brendon, he does drag with me," Gerard said. "And this is his boyfriend, Ryan. And this is Lindsey, she's trans."

"Hi," I said nervously.

They all smiled at me happily. Brendon had brown hair similar to that of Ryan's, only his was pushed up into a quiff. Ryan wore a floral waistcoat and had eyeshadow. Lindsey had dark hair and red lipstick, she didn't even look trans.

But I guess that's the whole point.

And I think that might be rude.

"This is Frankie, she lives nearby," Gerard said.

I felt my heart swell as I smiled.

She.

"You're really trans?" I asked.

"I am," she said. "Male to female. Pretty good surgery, huh?"

I nodded, looking at her soft, pale skin.

"I can give you my surgeon's number number, she's pretty cheap but she does some amazing work," she said.

I nodded before I even really thought about it. All I thought about was me in a different body that made me feel so much better about myself. Maybe in a body where I actually felt like I belonged. Maybe then I can actually be happy.

"I swear Lindsey is practically obsessed with her doctor," Gerard said with a small chuckle. "She even asked me if I wanted to see her vagina. She wanted to show everyone."

"Because she did such a good job," Lindsey said. "It's a nice fucking vagina."

I giggled quietly, looking between the two.

"Frankie, your food okay?" Gerard asked.

I nodded my head and he smiled.

"What time do you need to be home by?" He asked.

"It doesn't matter, my dad doesn't really care anymore either way," I said.

He gave my hand a soft squeeze and I blushed.

"Why Don't you skip class and stay the night with me and tomorrow we can go shopping?" He suggested.

"Really?" I asked.

"Yeah, of course," he said.

"I think that sounds like a lot fun," I said.

"You should come to one of our drag shows," Brendon said. "They're a lot of fun."

"Yeah, maybe one day," I said. "What even really happens there?"

"You'll see when you get there," Brendon said. "It should be a little surprise."

"I'll let you know when our next show is," Gerard said.

We finished eating and I texted my dad to let him know I wouldn't be home tonight. He of course didn't answer. We went back to Gerard's apartment and we sat on the couch.

"You okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, everything's just going to shit and I'm worried that, like, I-I'm not going to be able to make it out of this," I said.

"What are you talking about?" He asked.

"My mom died in a car accident a year ago," I said. "She was the only person who loved me for just who I was. She loved me no matter how I dressed and how I acted. She was the only person I really had in life and I didn't want her to leave but she did. I was so broken because I had no one anymore, I was all alone. I didn't want that. I was in a really bad place because the teasing started up again and my dad was awful and...and I tried to kill myself."

"Frankie, no," he said sadly, wrapping his arms around me.

"A-and I can feel myself slipping again," I said. "I don't want to slip, I really don't. But now I just have no friends and my girlfriend broke up with me and my dad hates me. It's all just fucking shit and I-I just don't think I can do it anymore."

"Frankie, come here," he said.

He opened his arms and I sobbed as I fell asleep in his arms.