Gerard felt like he was about to pass out. He was terrified and wanted to fly far far away. He wanted to melt on the ground or become invisible.

It was definitely his Barbara.

Now that made sense that Barbara was only here for a month. Gerard recalled that since her parents died in a car accident, she lived with her rich uncle who travelled a lot. Barbara had to grow up on her own and was often left alone, but all of that didn't justify everything she had put Gerard through.

Gerard threw discreet worried glances in Barbara's direction. He immediatly noticed that she had cut her hair. It was no longer long but mid-length. Eventually, their gazes met, and Barbara smiled.

What is that? Gerard began overthinking. Did she recognize me? Why would she smile then? Oh God...

The hour went even slower than usual. As soon as the bell rung, Gerard quickly stood up. He wanted to run the hell away from his problems - Barbara, basically.

Unfortunately, his way was blocked by Barbara and Gerard felt panic rise inside of him, along with a little something that you could call lust. Barbara was more gorgeous than ever and Gerard had never stopped thinking she was beautiful.

From where he was, he could see Barbara's turquoise eyes he could drown into, her perfect proportions, her pink lips crooked into a charming smile showing her white perfect teeth, and her chiseled jaw. She had this natural beauty that enabled her to not paint her face with make up and look like a cheap slut. All she had was a little bit of eyeliner and gloss.

"Hi, I'm Barbara. You remind me of someone. What's your name?" she asked. Gerard noticed that Barbara was as tall as him - at the time, she was even taller. That also meant that Frank and Anthony were a little shorter than the both of them.

"I-I'm... No one. N-No one a-at all..." Here was that damn stutter coming back.

"No one?" Barbara chuckled. "Nobody is 'no one'. Hey, I'm not gonna eat you!" She laughed charmingly.

You better not, Gerard thought.

Frank arrived and put his arm around Gerard's hips.

"What's wrong, baby? Sorry, he's quite shy sometimes. I'm Frank, and this is Gerard."

And at that precise moment, Gerard knew he was dead. The rest of the year would be hell.

"Frank, this is Barbara, the girl I... Told you about." Gerard quietly spoke, trying to sound as calm and neutral as possible. Frank's grip on Gerard slightly tightened as he understood the hint.

"Gerard, yes, I remember! So, Frank is your boyfriend?" Barbara asked innocently, her smile still on. Gerard couldn't reply, this situation was all too much for him and he already felt panic rise. He needed to walk the hell out of there or he would soon be a crying mess in front of everyone.

"Damn right I am." Frank spoke, almost threateningly. He had quickly slipped into a very protective mode.

"I didn't know you were bi," Barbara told Gerard, ignoring Frank.

"Yeah, he's hella gay and he's mine." Frank growled, keeping himself from adding a little 'so back off, bitch'.

"Oh, don't worry Frank," Barbara smiled mischievously and came closer to Frank. She leaned forward and whispered in his ear : "I don't mind sharing."

That left Frank puzzled and a shiver ran across his spine as Barbara left. Regardless to who she was, Frank would have been really turned on by that sentence, but there was no way Frank could ignore her and Gerard's history. He just had to protect Gerard from this girl, and from himself.

"You okay, Gee?" Frank asked his boyfriend, who nodded.

______

Frank had just left Gerard to hang out with Pete, something that they were not doing so often now that they both had boyfriends. Leaving Frank deal with Pete's comment about how 'Barbara could turn even him straight', Gerard strolled in the hallways.

Gerard wasn't to worried about Pete though. He knew that, as surprising as it might sound, Pete was very faithful to Mikey and Gerard was wondering if there wasn't something more than sex for Pete in all of that. Maybe Pete was falling in love, after all.

Gerard was still lost in his thoughts when he felt someone call him. He turned back to see Barbara.

"Gerard, hi again! You've changed a lot. In a good way, if I may add." Barbara bit her lips, checking out Gerard from head to toe.

"What do you want?" Gerard asked mistrustfully.

"Can I talk to you for a moment? Please, I don't want things to be awkward," she sighed. 'Awkward'? Didn't she know how it had all ended up for Gerard?

Gerard thought for a moment. He didn't want to have anything to do with Barbara ever again. Then again, old feelings were rising and he remembered how it had felt like to love Barbara.

"Please Gee," she gave Gerard doe eyes. Gerard sighed. Maybe he could give her a shot at apologizing or something. Besides, it was hard for him to say 'no' to such pretty eyes.

Gerard clenched his jaw and nodded. He followed Barbara who led him in the mens' bathrooms.

"T-that's for guys..."

"Thank you Gerard, I hadn't noticed," Barbara chuckled. "Don't worry, there's no one there."

Gerard nodded and as soon as he and Barbara went in, Barbara clutched his shoulders and smashed their lips together. Gerard recoiled because of the force of the kiss and Barbara led him into an empty cabin and locked the door. Gerard came back to his senses pretty quickly and pushed Barbara off.

"What the hell? What the fuck do you think you're doing?!"

"Taking what's mine..." Barbara tried to kiss Gerard again but he pushed her away.

"I'm n-not yours. L-Let m-me out," he stuttered.

"Here is your stutter," she chuckled. "You always stutter whenever you're nervous. You see, I know you, Gee. Maybe better than you know yourself. Now come on, don't deny the obvious; I know you want this."

"I don't! I have a boyfriend who loves me and makes me happy."

Gerard wanted to end this conversation and walk away but Barbara was standing right in front of the door, blocking the only way out. Gerard would never lay a hand on anyone; hence he was stuck.

"Yes, but are you sure that you love him?"

"Y-Yes."

"Baby, you can do so much better... You belong with me. I can't see why you're fighting it..."

Gerard let out a humorless, sarcastic laughter. "You can't see? Barbara, I loved you ! I loved you and you fucking betrayed me ! You have no idea of everything I did to even get to talk to you. You don't know what Alex and his guys put me through, every fucking day. And I did it all for you !"

"But baby, I know exactly what they did to you," Barbara smiled. "I told them to."

Gerard widened his eyes and his face turned red in anger and surprise.

"You did? You asked them to tame me like a fucking dog? Is that what you're telling me?!"

"Gee, please calm down." Barbara soothed.

"No, don't you tell me to calm down. I can't fucking calm down !"

"Gerard, I saw something in you, so I told them to train you. To make you into the perfect-"

"-The perfect what, huh?" Gerard interrupted. "The perfect gullible fucktoy?"

"The perfect boyfriend, Gerard. And you are! You've done so much for me and I love you for it."

"Well, too late for that. You've missed your chance, Barbara. I don't love you like I did yesterday. I've hurt myself because of you. Everytime it was too hard, I used to think 'do it for Barbara', but you know what? I don't fucking care anymore because this is all over ; I'm not letting you ruin my life once again."

"And I'm not letting you go." Barbara folded her arms.

"Well, too bad for you. I moved on. You should do the same."

"Honey, this is not gonna work. You see, I'm sure I can make you stay." She smiled and Gerard wondered why she meant by that.

"You remember the sex tape you sent me a couple of years ago?"

If Gerard had been drinking something, he would have spat all of his drink. "Y-Yeah...W-why?"

He was having a very nasty feeling about that ; why would she bring that up?

"I kept it."

Gerard's eyes widened. "W-What?! W-Why would y-you do that?"

Barbara grinned. "Because it turns me on," she whispered in Gerard's ear before continuing more seriously. "It's on my laptop. Now, you do realize what that implies for you if I was to show it to anyone, right?"

Gerard paled and his heart started beating faster. He perfectly understood that it could get him expelled of the school and ruin his life. "D-Don't, please."

"And why wouldn't I?" Barbara teased and Gerard felt like bursting into tears.

"I-I... B-Because... You said you loved me..."

Well, that wasn't very accurate but Gerard could still play this card.

"Baby, I'm gonna need a little more than that," she chuckled.

"L-like w-what?"

"Oh, you know what I want." Barbara put her hands on Gerard's chest and the latter flinched a little but didn't withdraw.

"No way. I'm with Frank and I love him."

"Honey, you don't have much of a choice." Barbara spoke calmly. She sighed at the sight of Gerard's teary eyes. "Listen. I've changed, okay? For real. I love you, and I'm gonna make you feel so good. Hey, I'll offer you a deal, okay? You can keep seeing Frank during school and do whatever you please with him. But you have to come and see me from time to time so we can have a little extra fun together. Of course, you can drop by whenever you like ; I'll always be there for you. So, what do you say? No downside for you."

Gerard didn't have a choice.
He looked down and nodded.

"I knew you would make the right choice, you've always been a smart one." Barbara wrapped her arms around Gerard's neck and he let her do. "Needless to say that no one should ever hear about this deal. Don't worry sweetie, everything will be fine. I promise." Barbara pecked his lips and walked away.

Gerard stayed in the cabin and sank on the floor. He began crying, and eventually stood up and wiped his tears away when his stomach demanded him to go to the cafeteria and have lunch.

He didn't though. He really wasn't feeling like eating even though he hadn't eaten anything in almost 24 hours. Also, he didn't want to face his friends or Frank at the cafeteria, so he just skipped lunch.

______

Gerard entered the locker room as it was PE class, and Frank caught him up and asked him why he hadn't gone to the cafeteria at noon.

Gerard shrugged. "I ate outside of school. I just needed to be alone, I guess" he lied.

"Does that have anything to do with Barbara? You don't need to run away from her, you know? I'll protect you whatever happens."

Gerard nodded. "Yeah, thanks but I was just feeling like getting coffee at Starbucks."

Frank hummed. He knew something was off with Gerard, he could feel it. But maybe he just had to adjust with Barbara's arrival...

"Gerard, you would tell me if something was wrong...? You can talk to me, you know?" Frank arched an eyebrow.

Gerard chewed at his lips. No, I can't. You will think I'm a slut if I do.

A part of Gerard wanted to believe that Frank could help, but he couldn't. And even if he could, Gerard didn't want to tell him.

"Yeah, sure," Gerard forced a smile and ignored his achy empty stomach.

Gerard and Frank went on the race track. Gerard hated running more than anything. Why run when you can just walk calmly?

The teacher explained everything they would do until the end of the year, a long speech like Frank hated them. A long speech that could have just be summed up by 'you're gonna run, bitches'.

Gerard was feeling a little dizzy but he blamed it on the heat. It wasn't that hot though. He and Frank were next to each other on the track.

"Don't worry," Frank said. "I'll wait for you."

Gerard nodded, grateful. At the signal, the group of students started running, some faster than others. Gerard wasn't even halfway that he was already out of breath and begging for the sky to blast him or something - which seemed a far better alternative than having to run another single damn minute.

Gerard helplessly saw the distance from Frank and all the people before him increase pretty quickly as himself was slowing down. His throat fucking hurt and was as dry as the fucking Sahara.

"Come on Gee, breathe, you're almost there," Gerard heard Frank shout but really, he barely could register his boyfriend's voice.

Gerard's breath grew more and more heavy and despite him fully filling his lungs, he felt like his breaths were never enough to bring the required quantity of oxygen his body needed to properly function. His legs just weren't following anymore, but somehow he couldn't stop either.

The corners of Gerard's sight began to blur without him knowing why. The emptiness in his stomach hurt way more now. He could feel his heart pounding but also his throat and temples, like someone was squeezing his neck and hammering his skull from within.

Now Gerard was feeling really dizzy and everything around him was blurry. He vaguely saw Frank stop and look behind him but that's all Gerard could comprehend of the situation. He felt that he was watching things happen through a screen.

He didn't feel himself fall ; it was more like the ground was being brought to his side. He could hear Frank run towards him and whisper his name.

...No. Frank was yelling.
Or was he? Gerard really couldn't tell. Everything was a blur.

He felt someone cradle him and reckoned it was Frank. Gerard could hear him repeat his name worriedly, almost desperately, as Gerard lost consciousness.

______