Chapter Text
The new school is hell on the inside. Outside it would've passed for any other private school. Typical enormous building, clean walkways, tended gardens here and there, a fountain in the middle of the grounds. Yeah, they really did touch up the outside of the place to convince people that it's the same on the inside. But as many of the goodie two shoes kids who attend the school say, it's not. At all.
Frank can vouch for that now too. He's been hit in the head by thrown sandwiches, apples, other fruits that might've been chucked too hard since he can't be bothered to remember them now, full water bottles, door stoppers, five subject notebooks, you name it. Frank has been stuffed into a locker a couple of times, but it's not that bad considering he's shorter than most of these people. He doesn't have to crouch or slouch when he's pushed into the narrow lockers. Hell, sometimes he's had fun with it when the owner of the locker opens it and he pops out screaming in their face, scaring the shit out of them. On other occasions, he's run into couples in the boy's restroom doing god knows what in the stalls, and the same thing when he decides to escape into the girl's instead. People were too invested in their 'activities' to really give a shit that Frank came into the girl's bathroom. He still shudders every time he has to see the same sight over and over again.
The teachers here don't care about the things their students do most of the time as long as they turn in homework. Although ninety seven percent of the time the work on those sheets is absolute bullshit, but it's not like the adults actually look at the work in the first place. If there's numbers or words on the papers, they don't give a rat's ass. In his earlier months, he would have followed these morons' leads and just ignored the homework and classwork they got that they neglected every single class period.
Then he has to remember that he's got to make his mother proud- typical story for a kid like him. Nice family excluding the disappeared dad. Yup, he's gonna live through the same high school story with a pretty typical backstory too. His mom has no idea that the private school he's attending that looked so good in a pamphlet is actually a real shithole, but it's really the only private school he could afford to attend at the moment. He didn't burden her with the knowledge that she sent him somewhere that would make any kid with good sense miserable, so he took everything he got here without a care. Well, except that one time he made a couple of noses bleed after they managed to steal his phone (and thankfully he had put in a pass code on there since he knew ahead of time that this scenario was going to happen eventually). And that other time he almost successfully strangled a guy a grade ahead of him for talking shit about him in front of him and had wrongfully decided to say something about his family.
Alright, maybe this school is negatively influencing him. He's just glad that the teachers are so neglectful they ignore fights. In another real private school he'd be kicked out in a heartbeat with how much he put into his punches. If things went too far, Frank ends up forgetting how much strength he really has, and at this point he's surprised he hasn't punched someone into unconsciousness.
But hey, it's not all bad. Amongst the guys who build up the tough guy image when they can barely lift one weight and girls who spread rumors faster than social media websites, he's found a couple of cool people.
The two guys he's close enough to call brothers are Mikey Way and Ray Toro. Mikes is a really awesome guy, even if he sometimes closes himself off too often. He doesn't say much- or anything really- to anyone besides Frank and Ray. If Mikey ever gets in one of those moods where he can't even contribute to a conversation with his two closest friends, neither of them take it personally. They've learned that that's just how Mikes is sometimes, although they do have to wonder what or who causes him to act like that. It could be personal though, so they don't ask him. But Mikey is into practically the same stuff Frank is into, and that's enough for Frank to call him one of his best friends. Even though Mikey refuses to let Frank stay over his house for some reason, they still have a lot of fun at Frank's, having long movie marathons afterschool. Mikey only ever smiles around his exclusive group of friends, and it's such small pool of people that Frank feels honored that he gets to know the real Mikey Way.
Ray's definitely someone he looks up to. Ray is one of the friendliest yet dorkiest people he's ever met, with the ginormous yet fantastic afro and overall positive attitude he's kept up despite the horrible atmosphere they're surrounded by everyday. What really makes Frank like Ray so much is guitar playing. The guy can seriously play. Sometimes when Frank and Mikey hang out at Ray's house, he does a few songs or riffs from time to time, and it always amazes the two of them no matter how many times Ray's played for them. Ray could be a god at guitar if he got outta this shithole of a school and town, since he lives in the same area as the school and it definitely ain't better. Ray's the someone that can always brighten up the mood whenever both Frank and Mikey are going through things, so that is kind of what brings them back together sometimes if they ever end up having an argument, which is pretty rare. Ray has counted the number of times the other two have argued, and only got up to two. That's great for the few months that Frank has been here. The more idiotic students they see in the halls tend to verbally argue pretty often, and that normally escalates to physical violence. But Frank would never fight Ray and Mikey in his life. They're the best guys he's ever met here, maybe ever. Plus he's positive that he'd end up putting Ray in a coma if he punched him.
And then there's Jamia. God does Frank adore her, the nicest girl here as far as Frank knows. She was the first girl to ever approach him since he first came here that didn't have something rude to say to his face or attempt to seduce him with a lot of unnecessary touching in a lot of uncomfortable places. She has her own group of gals to be with, so she doesn't get to hang out with the boys as often, but she still tries to when she gets the chance. It doesn't help Frank that she's pretty. Not like the other girls here, who he'd never see as attractive in a million years. He doesn't like thinking Jams as hot or sexy. He sees her as cute, adorable, and any other cliche things a guy with a minor crush could think of. Thinking of Jamia as anything remotely sexual really grates Frank's nerves. His feelings for her aren't strong enough to want to ask her out, but he knows he likes her. Mikey and Ray have pointed out they could be a good match. They've said it in front of them, which leads to the two of them being a blushing mess.
Frank has to say that interacting with his friends makes him forget where he is. He forgets that he's attending probably one of the worst private schools in the history of private schools ever. He feels almost normal.
And then there's Gerard fucking Way.
Frank is so confused when it comes to the older brother of Mikey Way. Gerard's his friend, but at the same time he's not. The guy could hang out with the four of them sometimes but other times he'd be with these assholes that Frank can't believe Gerard would associate with. Mikey has talked to him about it, but Frank still can't believe that. Gerard's a cool guy. Ya know, once you get past his cocky as shit personality and general douchebaggery. Even Jamia and Ray get weirded out by Gerard's apparent two-faced behavior. Hell, he doesn't just show it to them. He shows it to a ton of people apparently, as Mikey's told them, and Mikey himself wonders why Gerard let's all that go when he's interacting with his brother at home but is absolutely willing to act like a dick to him at school. It annoys the crap out of Frank, Ray, and Jamia, enough to make all three of them want to confront Gerard himself. Mikey constantly tells them to refrain from that though, saying that doing that would definitely make Gerard cut himself off from them for good.
Still, it's confusing as fuck to the them. In the end, they've had to learn to deal with it. Gerard's just playing it up to keep his cool image with said assholes.
Frank can't help but be attracted to him anyway. And it honestly makes Frank want to punch himself in the balls for having a crush that makes less sense than the first one.