Gerard left school with Mikey.

"Hey, I saw you eat with Frank and his friends today, that's nice. But, you know, the guy next to him-"

"-Pete." Gerard said.

"Yeah, Pete. He didn't stop looking at me during the whole lunchtime. Did I offend him or something? I don't wanna end up with a black eye, so should I go appologize or, I don't know... pay my respects or some shit?"

"I don't think so..." Gerard smiled to himself.

"What is it? What does he want, Gee?"

"Uh, nothing, you... you'll see. Don't worry, he's not gonna harm you. Hey, I taught you how to use a condom, right?"

Mikey frowned.
"Yeah, with a cucumber. I remember. That was extremely embarrassing. Why?"

"Just checking..."

•••
Gerard and Mikey got home, and Gerard looked at himself in the mirror. His hairdye was beginning to fade away and his black roots were showing.

Luckily he had some more red hairdye in store. He went in the bathroom with his hair dye, and undressed. After washing his hair, he applied the dye to his scalp, massaged it, and waited before eventually rinsing it and washing his hair again.

Gerard dried himself off and toweled his hair before contemplating the result. It really looked great. He took some scissors to shorten his hair by a couple of inches since it had grown a little too much for his liking.

He cleaned the mess of red hair on the floor and got up to his bedroom. What could he do now...?
His eyes landed on his diary.
Oh yeah, right.

Gerard really tried to write in it everyday. He took his favorite fountain pen and started thinking about the things he could write. A lot of things had happened and there were countless ways to tell them.

He eventually started writing, with his characteristic skewed handwriting, trying not to let himself get overwhelmed by his subjectivity, but stick to the facts.

Dear diary,

Today, I went back to school, because as you know I was very sick.
     During biology class, I drew Anthony a rose, and I made it purple because that's his favorite color. Of course I gave him the drawing.

I was still feeling tired but I had to go to PE just after that, and you know how much I hate it.

Anyway, during PE, Frank and I were teamed together and everything was quite okay (even though I actually felt like passing out) until we had to confront Bert. I told you about him. He's a total jackass. In the middle of the match he smashed on my face, I don't know if he did it on purpose but he most likely did. That hurts so much, I don't wish it to anyone. I think I got a bump on my forehead, but it'll go away.

In the locker room, Bert pushed me on my locker. I didn't do anything because I know guys like him. It's better not to piss them off even more, that would only make things worse.
     But Frank didn't see it that way, and I understood when he began playing Bert's game that things would go sideways. Bert called me a bitch. That hurts way more than a balloon in the face, believe me, dear diary. It was the last straw for Frank and they beat each other black and blue, and we barely managed to separate them. I was so scared for Frank! I'd feel terrible if something bad happened to him because of me.

Frank called me his princess, and I think I must've turned beet red. Not that I actually liked the pet name that much, I just liked how much Frank cares about me. It's nice to know I matter to someone.

Bert had said such awful things back in the locker room and I feel guilty, dear diary, because that made me doubt Frank for a moment. I'm so dumb ! Anyway, I'm so excited for Frank and Anthony's birthday party, I'm sure it's gonna be great !

Goodnight, dear diary.

Gerard sighed and closed his diary, hiding it as usual before going to sleep.

______

Gerard arrived at school and Anthony greeted him.

"Hey, you dyed your hair again, didn't you? Looks good !"

Gerard headed for the cafeteria with him after the most boring morning ever.

"Hi Gee," Frank arrived in front of them. "Wanna eat with me? Like, just you and I?"

"Uh, sorry but no, he ate with you yesterday, now he's eating with me." Anthony replied, folding his arms.

"I'm pretty sure Gerard can answer on his own."

"And I'm pretty sure he doesn't want to eat with a bitch like you."

"Oh, so you're a mind reader now? Let's ask him then." Frank shrugged, defiance in his look. "Gee will make the right choice, I'm sure of it. He knows he is going to die of boredom if he stays one more minute with you. I'm surprised he hasn't already. So, what do you say Gee?" Frank turned to Gerard.

Wait, was Frank asking him to choose between Anthony and himself?

Gerard stayed by Anthony's side, and began babbling some excuse saying that he had no idea.

He didn't want to choose. How could he? And why did he have to lose one of his friends, that wasn't fair ! In fact, Gerard wasn't even sure of what he wanted, but one thing's for sure, he didn't want to lose neither Frank nor Anthony.

"That's cruel, Frank, cruel and unfair ! If you had an ounce of empathy for Gerard, you wouldn't force him to choose and inflict that on him. But of course, you don't ; you only think about yourself. So let him eat with me, get the fuck over it and stop acting like a child !" Anthony raised his voice.

"Don't boss me around !"
Frank tried to reach out for Gerard but Anthony placed himself in between them as if to protect Gerard.

Gerard recoiled and got on the side of both of them, leaving the brothers face to face glaring at each other.
"You know what? I think I'm just gonna... Eat with Mikey and the others..."

People in the cafeteria were starting to gather in a circle around them.

"No it's okay, Anthony was leaving,"
If Frank's eyes were daggers - which they metaphorically were - Anthony would be long dead by now.

Frank took Gerard's hand and Anthony roughly shoved his twin's chest to make him recoil. "Leave him alone."

"Keep your hands off me." Frank warned.

"Yeah?" Anthony shoved him more aggressively. "What are you gonna do about it?"

Frank chuckled and punched Anthony in the jaw, something he had dreamt of doing for years.

"STOP IT ! Both of you !" Gerard yelled but the twins wouldn't listen.

Anthony gave Frank a harsh blow to the mouth, cutting his scarred lip open, to which Frank answered by a punch in his stomach, making Anthony huff, out of air.

"STOP !!" Gerard pleaded again and put himself between the twins to stop the fight, and Anthony's fist landed on his face -his nose, to be more precise.

Gerard backed away groaning in pain, holding his nose that he could already feel severely bleeding. Anthony punched hard, for sure. At least he had succeeded in calming the Iero twins, who had immediately interrupted the fight at the sight of a wounded Gerard.

"Still sure about your whole 'I'm never gonna hurt him' thing, Anthy?" Frank mocked.

"Oh my god Gerard, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..." Anthony immediatly checked up on him, ignoring his brother.
"I'm so, so sorry Gerard, I wasn't aiming for you..." Anthony threw a glare at Frank, who flipped him off. "Jeez, your noise is pouring. I'm taking you to the infirmary."

"Back off," Frank spat, shoving Anthony. "You'll just hurt him more ; I'll take him."

"Get lost. I told you to let go, haven't you had enough yet? You want some more?" Anthony balled his fists and faced Frank.

Here we go again... Gerard whimpered ; he hated watching them fight.

Frank scoffed. "Are you kidding me? I was kicking your ass until YOU punched him. I am taking him to the infirmary."

"That's never-"

"OKAY STOP, ENOUGH !"

It wasn't Frank, or even Gerard who spoke - Gerard was still holding his now bloody face - but Ray.
He came out of the crowd, passing through the twins.

"You two are fucking children. You're more preoccupied by who's gonna take him to the infirmary than actually taking him there. I'll bring him."

"But-"

"I think you two've done enough for today." Ray dryly interrupted, glaring at them.
"Okay, show's over, people ! Get back to your seats ! Come on Gee, let's get outta here." he led Gerard through the agape crowd.

Ray knocked on the infirmary door and a sweet voice answered them to go in.
They were welcomed by the school nurse, Miss Clarke, that everybody loved. She was just so genuine !

She somehow knew every student personally and really took her job to heart. She was beautiful too, with her curly raven hair tied in a loose ponytail and her almond skin tone. Her big glasses really suited her.

There was another student sitting silently on a chair, a black-haired girl with her arm pargeted. Gerard didn't remember ever seeing her before.

"Hello Ray ! And isn't that Gerard? I see what brings you here, my poor poor boy. Come and sit down."

She helped Gerard down, grabbing a towel to wipe most of the blood off his face.
"Press it on your nose, look up and breathe by the mouth. You can stay if you like Ray. What happened?" she asked while preparing an ice pack.

"I-"

"-It's my fault," Ray cut before Gerard could say anything.
"I... Opened the door without seeing that Gerard was behind it. I'm just so clumsy sometimes !"

Miss Clarke frowned. "Okay..."
She made Gerard take the towel off his nose to take a look at it.
"I'm gonna press it to see how damaged it is, okay? Tell me when it hurts."

She lightly pinched Gerard's nose who didn't budge, then pressed a bit more. Gerard hissed.

"Okay, it doesn't seem broken or cracked, but the injury's gonna cause it to swell. It's normal after such a blow. You're gonna have a bruise for a few days but you should be okay, just avoid any other blow on it, okay?"

She held the ice pack to Gerard for him to press on his injury.
"I'll write you a note so you can skip the rest of the day, how does that sound?"

Gerard nodded, not really able to speak, and Ms. Clarke got up to get some paper and a pencil.

Gerard looked at the girl that had remained silent during the whole thing.
She smiled at him and Ray, and they smiled back. Gerard could've sworn that he saw Ray blush.

"Here," Ms. Clarke got back and held Gerard a note. "Get some rest."

Gerard thanked her and left, followed by Ray, hearing her talk to the girl just before leaving the room : "It's all good Christa, you're healing well. You'll be able to take that off in a few days."

______