"I am in dire need of Thanksgiving break already," Jenna exclaims in art class.

Gerard doesn't glance up from his painting. "We're almost there," he mumbles, adding more yellow to his palette. "But I know what you mean. I need to catch up on life."

"And I need to catch up on The Great Gatsby," Lynn says with a confused look. "I still need to do the chapter 1-4 packet."

I smile up at her. "I'm working on the packet now, almost finished, too. You want it when I'm down?"

Lynn glances up at me with a pleading smile. "If you're offering, yeah?"

"You know that was due yesterday, guys?" Jenna teases.

"Shh, it's okay," Lynn waves in front of her face. "She didn't collect it yet. And you haven't been reading Gatsby either. You're using Sparksnotes."

Hey, first of all," Jenna starts, "it's Shmoop I'm using. And secondly, I've been skimming the chapters and reading the summary and analysis. Besides, it's not like I don't know what's happening. Everyone is rich and stuck up."

"I mean, you're not wrong," Cody comments. "I really hate strawberries."

"I told you not to do something with so many small details for a painting," Jenna says. "You have to paint all those tiny seeds."

"Yeah, but they're like really good so I figured it'd be fine." He leans back and groans. "Evidently, I was wrong."

Lynn sets down her paintbrush and looks at his canvas. "It's not bad so far," she says. "I mean, it doesn't look like anything-" Cody turns at her looking shocked. "No, that's not what I meant."

"Wow, roasted," Jenna says.

"No! I mean like, you just started so of course, it's not good."

"You just called it not good?" I mention. Lynn opens her mouth to try to defend her intentions but stops.

"It's okay, I don't know what I'm doing either. I accidentally used purple instead of red." Cody holds up his canvas and glares at it frustratedly.

"How do you...accidentally use purple?" I ask.

Cody glances up at me, chuckling to himself. "Eh, I dipped my brush in the wrong color and wasn't paying attention."

"Remember when he started screaming?" Gerard laughs. "That's when he realized."

"Oh, that's why. I didn't know what you were doing."

Cody glances up at me, arching his eyebrows. "What? You just thought I'd randomly start screaming without a reason?" he asks.

I shrug. "I mean, it was you so..."

"Meh, you got me there."

Ms. Gina comes around to our table and starts looking at my friends' canvases. They started the project last Friday so they didn't get very far but the basic outlines down. "Looking good so far," she smiles, pacing around the others. She pauses to admire Gerard's before continuing. She stops again behind Cody. "Cody, the purple..."

"I know," he starts, sighing deeply.

"I really like how you're using other colors to show depth in the painting, it really does add realism to it," Gina says warmly. Cody falters, his eyes narrowing. "You're taking risks in your art, you're experimenting, keep it up."

"I-yeah, I totally will," he says, nodding along, not understanding. Lynn and Gerard start giggling under their breaths. Gina checks on the others, she all approves of what they have so far and moves on. As she walks to the other table, Cody is still glaring at her completely confused. "When I try really hard, I mess it all up. But I make a mess and all of a sudden I'm the next Picasso!" he grumbles.

"To be honest, I don't like Picasso," Gerard mutters. "He's not really good, he has not realism or depth. Personal opinion."

"Who do you like?" I ask.

Gerard glances up at me. "Uh, I love Van Gogh. I kind of relate to him, I don't know."

"Just don't cut off your ear," Cody says. Gerard chuckles to himself. "But really, I don't even see what's good here but if it gets me my A, I'll mess up more if I must."

"I think it looks really nice," I tell him. It doesn't look bad. I'm no art person but if I were to try comparing it to the photograph, it's a little blurry on the edges, not as defined. And there aren't any details set it, but the purple kind of looks like shadows. And I'm sure when it's down and whole, it will come together.

Cody is doing a basket of strawberries and Jenna has a bunch of grapes. Lynn is painting a pineapple and Gerard as sliced kiwis. And I have an English packet with a bit of yellow paint smudged on the edges. But it's a completed English packet. Let me just say, I do not like Daisy.

The others start cleaning up earlier than usual to wash up the paint. I finish the packet and set it over on top of Lynn's backpack. She can give it back to me before English starts. The bell rings as the others start walking over, Cody still washing his hands at the sink. "I'll see you guys later," he calls out. "And I'll take care of the brushes."

"Thanks, man," Gerard says, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. "I'll see you 3rd," he says to me before walking out. I head down to music with Jenna and Lynn.

"Thanks, Frank. You are seriously a lifesaver," Lynn says, glancing over the packet.

I smile gently. "No problem, you're my friend."

"I'll return the favor sometime," she says, turning her bag and sliding the packet into her folder.

When we get to guitar, Brendon and Patrick are already there, strumming on their instruments. Well, Patrick is strumming a nice rhythm. Brendon is shredding and headbanging enough to give himself whiplash. Lynn casually ignores him as she retrieves her and Jenna's guitars from the racks. "Rocking out, are we?" Jenna asks, pulling chairs over to the others.

"He's hosting a concert," Patrick comments.

"I think I know that song," I say, trying to figure out what he's playing.

"It's Van Halen," Patrick says, glancing at him. "Jump, the solo part, except he's on an acoustic and it's a different-"

"Fuck!" Brendon shout, as he messes up, his strings ringing out discordantly.

"Excuse me, Brendon?" Ms. Hayes says from the front of the room, raising her head over to us.

Brendon winces as he realizes he was rather loud. "Eh, my bad. I meant like frick and stuff!" Ms. Hayes just shakes her head with a small smile, rolling her eyes. Brendon tends to swear a lot, mostly in this class any time he messed up the notes. But he's also one of the best players here so she doesn't care too much, just making sure he's not screaming the f-bomb loud enough for an administrator to hear.

"Okay, guys," Ms. Hayes says as class starts. "Take out your music theory sheets." There's a symphony of groans in response and the teacher places her hands on her hips. "Yeah, I know you don't want to do work but it's Monday. First 15 minutes, work on music theory. As always, I don't mind group work as long as it's a reasonable volume and you are productive."

"We literally do this exact thing next hour," Hayley sighs, opening her manila folder.

"In choir?" I ask. Everyone except Patrick glance at me. "What?"

"It's not choir," Hayley corrects.

"Oh, yeah, right. It's vocals class," I say, remembering them explaining this last week. Granted they never specified a difference. "Well, what's vocals compared to choir?"

"Choir is where all the snotty kids are," Brendon says. Lynn slaps his shoulder and he double takes at her. "Wh-aren't they?"

"They're not all bad," she says, "but there is a lot of drama always happening in choir. But that's not the main difference."

"Yeah, but it's still a big difference," Brendon grumbles, folding her arms and leaning back in his seat.

Lynn rolls her eyes at him but continues. "Choir is a group singing together with different sections to create harmonies together. Vocals is independent singing. We do a lot of music theory, but it's way harder than this basics. And also, we learn how to sing with our own voice, not with a group."

"It's more fun," Jenna says. "We all used to be in choir as underclassmen but this year, they started a new class and we like it better."

"And they teach us how to write our own music and lyrics," Lynn says.

"That's cool," I say. "I mean, I'm not really much of a singer myself. I just strum along, but it sounds fun."

The 15 minute period ends and we can start playing our guitars again. We're doing canons in the class, where we all play the same song but everyone starts at a different time. Brendon goes first, then a different girl named Taylor starts playing at measure 1 when Brendon starts measure 2. Then another guy named Elliot starts at measure 1 when Taylor stars 2 and Brendon starts 3 and so on. With only 11 students in the class, it doesn't get too overbearing. Enough to make it a challenge and keep it interesting, without it becoming messy sounding. And the music we have for it fits.

With five minutes of class left, we have our time to ourselves. Jenna asks about Lynn's final for their vocals class. She finished writing the music, needing to start the lyrics next. She plays the guitar for us and it's beautiful. It's slow and echoing, the notes ringing out softly. Lynn sways side to side in her chair as she strums the strings. Her eyes are nearly closed and I can almost hear her humming along. Jenna sits with her legs crisscrossed, her head resting on her hands as she listens to Lynn play. It's adorable how focused she is on Lynn, the slightest smile, the genuine happiness, it's precious. I wish someone would look at me like that, to be that loved, even though Lynn doesn't notice. She's not looking at how Jenna looks at her. It's those moments that prove she really does care. She's not doing it to humor Lynn, it's how she truly feels.

Lynn sits small when she finishes, giggling nervously. "Yeah, that's it really." Jenna claps enthusiastically, smiling wide.

"You're going to make the rest of us look bad," Hayley says. "You're awesome and it didn't even take you long."

"Yeah, I like writing music, I just can't really make the words go, let alone the rhyming."

"Make the words go," Jenna repeats while laughing.

"Case and point," Lynn says.

"What are you guys all doing for your final?" I ask.

"Well, I'm just doing the guitar and singing whatever lyrics I come up with," Lynn explains.

"I'm probably going to do the same," Jenna says. "Cody mentioned you playing the guitar part for the recording?" I nod. "I'm excited to hear you play."

"I want to add some percussion to mine," Hayley says. "Like I'll sing and play guitar and add a little extra."

"Wait, how?" I ask. You need both hands for guitar and at least another for percussion. Unless she's asking someone else to record with her.

"Well, I can't sing and play guitar at the same time. I get distracted so I have to record singing, guitar, and the percussion three separate times and then put them together as one." Or, yeah, she does that instead.

"What percussion? Like drums?" Patrick asks.

"Eh, no. I was...I think tambourine is cool, okay?"

"What about the triangle?" Brendon suggests. Hayley glances at him hesitantly. "I'm kidding, tambourine is cool."

"How about you, Beebo?" Jenna asks.

"I-what?" he glances at her. She and Lynn start snickering while he shakes his head disgustedly. "I don't know where that came from but it's not becoming a thing," he says. "And I'm-" the two of them start laughing more and he just rolls his eyes, continuing anyway. "I'm doing a bunch of stuff. I want to add backing vocals at a few parts so I'm going to have to record it a few times. And everyone is doing guitar so I decided to do piano."

"You play piano?" I ask.

"More like, what doesn't he play?" Patrick says.

"The bagpipes!" he responds. "I don't know how to play bagpipes."

"Uh huh, and what do you know how to play?" Patrick asks, crossing his arms.

"Piano, guitar, bass guitar, organ, keyboard, trumpet, cello, drums, and accordion," he says proudly. I stare at him a bit shocked while he laughs.

Piano, organ, and keyboard aren't all that much different so it's not like they were much harder to learn,

Hayley says.

Brendon scoffs at her, exaggeratedly offended. "Well, they're still instruments I can play," he mutters. "Organ, I'll use the organ for my final!" he says sarcastically.

"When did accordion get added to the list?" Lynn asks.

"Uh, like three weeks ago. I'm now trying to figure out oboe. It's harder than you think but sounds so pretty."

"You should join a band," I joke. "If you can play all those instruments, I don't think anyone will decline you."

'If he can play that many instruments, he doesn't need anyone else to be in a band," Patrick points out.

"Bands are groups of musicians though, not just one person," Lynn says while laughing.

"Brendon is the only exception," Hayley says. "And his first song is called 'Do I Look Lonely? No, I'm All I Need!' and it will be a hit."

The bell rings, abruptly ending our conversation about Brendon's solo band career. The others stay in the music hall while I walk up to history. My earbuds at plugged in and I can avoid listening to the obnoxious students in the hallways and listen to Green Day instead. American Idiot? Yeah, I'm surrounded by a bunch.

Someone taps my shoulder and I glance back to see Gerard walking next to me. "Hey," I say, taking out my earbuds.

"We're going directly to the computer lab today, remember?" he says.

"Oh, right, I forgot." The two of us turn around, bumping into passing students behind us. "I think..." Gerard glances at me, waiting for me to continue. "I don't know."

He smiles gently. "What were you going to say?" he asks.

"I don't know where I was going with that, to be honest." He laughs lightly to himself. "How are you doing?" I ask, trying to pick up the conversation again.

"Uh, could be better," he answers, "then again, it could be worse. It's so far not a bad day I guess."

"That's good," I say.

"You?"

"As Mondays go, this one doesn't suck that much."

"Good to hear."

As soon as we get to the lab and attendance is over, Gerard is spinning around in his wheeley chair. "You spin me right round, baby, right round," he sings softly to himself. "Hey, Frankie, you know what mini-movie marathon we should have? Now You See Me." His chair slows to a halt and he wheels himself over to me. "It's like so great. These magicians just use magic to rob banks, it's great. And there's a sequel. Like, so many great actors and actresses."

"Like who?" I ask while typing.

"Uh, Morgan Freeman, the guy who plays Hulk. Haymitch from The Hunger Games. And Harry Potter is in the second one. It's just great and we should totally watch them together."

"Yeah, I'd like that," I say, turning to face him. He hugs his legs as they're curled up on the chair, resting his head on his knees. "With the others too?"

"Oh, I mean, we can. I was thinking just you and me."

"That works too," I quickly say. If it's just the two of us, I'm down with that. Two of us watching movies? Is that technically a date? Meh, forget whatever it's labeled as, it's what I've been wanting. "We have break in like two weeks."

"Yeah, and we also have a weekend coming up," he points out, "unless your busy?"

Like I have plans. "No, I'm free."

"Super," he says. He pulls himself against the counter and leans his head against my arm, staring at my computer screen. His irises move back and forth rapidly as he reads what I've typed so far. I can tell when he's starting a new line when his eyes skip all the way to the left. He catches me gazing at him and smiles. "Like what you see?"

"Very much so," I say overly sarcastic, to hide the fact I am telling the truth. If that makes any sense at all.

"Good," Gerard replies, playing along with me. I smile warmly, stopping myself from saying anything more.

The door to the computer lab opens and Andy walks in holding a white pass. The teacher glances up from his newspaper and looks at him. "Tardy again, Andrew?"

"What? No, it's a pass! It's from the office. There was a fight and I saw what happened." Andy walks up to the teacher and hands him the pass.

He glances at him then tosses it in the trash. "A fight?"

"Yeah, two chicks just went at it, it was crazy."

"Well, I don't think the administration wants you talking about it so how about you get started on your paper." Of course, the whole class wants to hear about this right now.

Gerard glances at me in question. I shake my head. I haven't heard anything about it. Gee wheels over to Andy among the half of the class wanting to know. Granted Andy and Gerard are actually friends compared to everyone else so he talks to him more openly.

"I didn't see who started it but I just saw the two girls going at each other's throats," Andy says. "Like stupid boys get into an argument and they call that a fight. It's most them sizing up to each other and taking swings but missing. Girls will actually kill each other. They're the real champs."

"Class," the teacher calls out, "I see how most of you are no long typing, which means it's done so you can turn it in right now?"

"No, we're working!"

"I'm not done yet!"

"I'm working on it, almost done too!"

The class collectively starts bickering excuses while the teacher turns the page in the paper. "Then it should look like you're working," he says behind a crossword.

Gerard comes back over to me, finally starting his paper. It's a miracle he has an A in this class for how little he puts effort into this. Art may be his forte but he's really good at history too. I wonder how he is in art history.

"Hey, Gee," Andy whispers, sliding over to us, "My buddy Ronnie got a video of the whole thing and he just sent it to me." He holds out his phone between the two of us, lowering the volume. The video starts with Andy and one of his other friends dabbing excessively. "Oh, uh, we were-we were...just goofing around and-Here!" he says.