The others today in art class were halfway done to finishing up their composition thumbnails, which in none art terms, they explained to me as a very rough outline of their plan before they start anything. This way, they know what kind of reference photos they'll need, if there is any other practices they'll need to work on beforehand, color scheme, and such. Gerard's nearly finished with his. He's still planning on doing me and Lynn as the subject matter. By the way he drew the thumbnail, it looks like Lynn and I will be back to back but on a three quarter turn facing forward with water pouring down out face.

"So, guys," Gerard says, setting his sketching pencil down, "since I'm pretty much done with the planning, I was thinking on taking the references photos, you free after school?"

"Totally, I got no life," I say.

"Yeah, should be good, I'll let my mom know," Lynn says. "I don't have an early release so I'll be over later."

"Yeah, that's good," Gerard says. "That'll work fine." He starts packing his sketchbook away into his bag and then sliding his pencils into his art case, putting it away as well. "It's only Wednesday."

"Yeah, but tomorrow is our last day," Cody says.

"Right!" Jenna cheers.

"I'm gonna be all alone here!" Lynn wails, flopping against the table.

Jenna puts a hand on her shoulder, gently rubbing her back. "Hayley and Patrick will still be here. And Sarah," Cody says. "I mean, not in this class but at school."

Lynn sits up. "Yeah, I know. I'll have withdrawal from you all. Send me updates on everything you guys do."

"Most definitely," Jenna says. "And sometime next month, Amelia is going to invite us to her family's resort so all of us can go skiing together." Right as she finishes talking, the bell rings.

Ms. Gina glances up from the table next to us, talking with the students. "Oh, sorry guys. Time to go. Remember to finish up your sketches by this week so we can get started. That means have your references done before Monday."

Lynn starts packing up all her scattered pencils. Gerard picks up his backpack, sliding on the straps. "Here, I'll help you. I don't want you to rush or be late." He sits down next to her and starts grabbing loose-leaf papers and tucking them into her sketchbook folder flap. The rest of us walk out, heading to guitar. I glance back and see them talking. Gerard's been recently getting close to Lynn. More than usual. I know the two always got along. I mean, they're friends, duh. And they always had vines they connected with too...But this is not that. This is serious. He's hovering around her almost, at least, that's what it seems like to me. It's not that I'm jealous, it's just that I wish whatever it was that happened, he freaking told me about instead of just keeping it hush-hush between themselves. I feel more so left out.

History comes around, we're supposed to be going to the computer lab today. I walk into the room, Gerard already sitting at his desk. "Hey," I say.

"Hi," he replies, going through his bag and putting away his physics folder. "Anything new?"

I shake my head a bit. "Nothing within the last 50 minutes of not seeing each other," I say. He nods along listening. "What about you?"

"It's been a slow day," he says.

The teacher walks into the room as the bell rings. "Alright, class. We are having a test."

"What!" half the room screams. He looks at the lot of us in question.

"You said we were going to the lab," Andy cries out.

"Yeah, well, just a recap of work, make sure you guys know what's going on in history or if you know how to find it on Wikipedia." He grabs a pack from the table up front and starts passing it out. I exchange a glance with Gerard and he looks at me disappointed. The person in front passes on back to me. I wouldn't even call this a test. It's one page, front and back. The questions aren't that difficult. "Take out any writing utensil. Pen, pencil...crayon," Mr. Carlson mutters, passing it out to the last row.

Filling out the test, the room falls quiet, chatter stopping. After 5 minutes, a couple people flip their paper and then half the class flips to the back all at once. Mr. Carlson walks around the room, seeing how we're doing and where we are. Gerard finishes, setting his pen down. I finish a few seconds after. Most of the class is done.

"WHAT IN THE DEVIL'S NAME ARE YOU DOING?" The whole class jumps, turning around. Mr. Carlson stands in front of Victor's desk. Victor burst out laughing. Mr. Carlson grabs his test and stares at it.

"Are you using glitter glue?" Rachel asks. I notice the bottle of Elmer's Glitter glue in his hand. Vic is still laughing.

"You said to use anything!" Vic says.

"Yeah! And how are you doing the back?" Mr. Carlson asks. He marches to the trash and tosses out the test, then grabbing a new one. "Administration says we should go green and not print extra paper. Save the environment. This is why we can't do that, we need to print extras for this kind of incidents." He hands Vic the new paper and a pencil he took from off his desk. "You're the reason the planet is dying." Vic is still laughing, taking both and then starting over. Mr. Carlson keeps shaking his head, trying to refrain from laughing to avoid encouragement but he can't help himself.

The rest of the day is rather mundane. I mean, nothing really beats one of your classmates using glitter glue to take a test. Cody drops Gerard and me I off at Gerard's house and we hang out in his room for an hour before Lynn heads over.

"What is new with you?" Gerard asks, rolling over in his bed.

I give a shrug. "Nothing really new, you asked me that already."

He sways his head. "That was a few hours ago, though," he says.

"What, do you expect something new to happen to me?" He doesn't really reply. "Is there something you want to talk about?"

"No," he says. "Why?"

"I don't know, you seem..." I pause, trying to think of a way to explain it. He looks at me, raising an eyebrow. "Off, you seem off," I finally say.

"How so?"

"Phht, I don't know, just like anxious or something." He doesn't say anything again, just laughing on his bed fidgeting. Maybe I'm just micro-analyzing whatever it is, maybe I'm just restless because I really like him and nothing is happening and I feel like something should happen.

The doorbell rings and Gerard snaps up, rolling off the bed and then jogging out of his room. I lay back, flopping on his pillow. I hear his feet patting against the steps and then the faint sound of his socks sliding on the floor as he unlocks and opens the door.

There's shuffling and muffled chatter as Lynn steps in the house. The door shuts and the loud click sounds as he locks it. After a moment, the shuffling stops and it's quiet. Are they coming up? I lay on Gerard's bed but it got really quiet downstairs. After a minute passes, I get up and head into the hallway. "Are we going downstairs?" I call out. Looking over the banister, I see the two of them just standing in the foyer in front of the door talking.

Gerard looks up at me but before he can say anything, Lynn smiles. "Hey, Frank!" she calls out, waving.

"Hey," I say. She starts giggling, glancing at Gerard but he's not as amused at her. He waits for her to start heading up the stairs. "You guys...good?" I ask.

"Oh, yeah, everything is great!" Lynn says. Gerard's flushed coming up the stairs.

"You good?" I ask him, gesturing to his face.

"Huh? Yeah, just, I'm tired from the stairs." Liar, whatever. The three of us head back into Gerard's room. "Okay, so for my project thing, I need the two of you on my bed, backs to each other."

"You wanted us at a three-quarter turn, right?" Lynn asks, hopping up and turning around. I sit behind her.

"Yeah," he says, coming over to adjust how I'm sitting. He places his hands on my shoulders and then sits me upright. Then he places his hands to cup my face. My heart starts beating a little faster as he angles my head. He could kiss me, but Lynn is here. Would she notice-probably... "Okay, you're good like that," he says then turning to Lynn. He adjusts her hair, bringing it forward to drape over her shoulders.

Gerard takes out his phone and holds it up to take a picture. "Maybe take multiple," Lynn suggests.

"Yeah, I'm doing that," he says. A few seconds later, he puts it back in his pocket. "That's the outline. Now the face part."

"Are you pouring the water on us?" I ask.

"Uh, not right now," he says, a mischievous smile appearing on his face. "I first need a picture of your facial expression." He turns to face Lynn. "I'm going to do yours first because you are easier."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I tease.

Gerard looks back at me. "Well, I need to make you cry," he says. "Like sad."

"I'm just messing with you," I say.

It doesn't take much to make Lynn laugh. Gerard's initial reaction was to start quoting vines and it was pretty great. I think they're funny and all, but I will never understand their obsession with them. Then Gerard remembers what happened in History. Lynn falls against me laughing and Gerard takes several pictures of her, aiming to get it at a three-quarter angle.

"Okay, I think I have enough," Gerard says, flipping through his gallery. He turns and looks at me, giving an awkward smile.

"My turn?"

"Yeah," he says. "So like, I need you to be sad looking. Like you're crying." I pause for a moment, trying to think of something. I don't really know what.

"How sad?" I ask, chuckling awkwardly.

Gerard hesitates before answering. "Um, like sad enough where if you just exhale, you would cry." He's thinking for a moment. "Not like you're angry sad or completely uncontrollable either. More like you can't do anything, you're just crying and it's not something you can help nor is something you're fighting against." I lean back a bit, trying to think of something. Maybe when my parents would argue and ignore me, that would get to me. They would make me angry though, that's not the same thing he's talking about. I try looking upset but it's not working out.

"I'm sorry, I don't really know," I say. "Hold on." I take a deep breath, sighing. It's still not coming to me and Gerard isn't jumping to open his camera so I know I'm not doing it right. "I can't get it."

"Maybe think of something?" Lynn asks.

I shake my head. "I can't really remember anything where I was sad, like really sad like that," I explain. Gerard gives me a twitch of a look but I don't say anything.

Lynn leans her head to the side. "Maybe try thinking of something that would make you completely break?" Her face drops. "That sounded bad but you know what I mean."

"Yeah," I say. In order for me to be upset about something, I'd have to care about it a lot. Honestly, there are only three things I genuinely care about enough that would get to me. My friends, my guitar, and then the whole Gerard thing. The Gerard thing is the most likely to actually blow up in my face compared to my guitars breaks or my friends abandoning.

But in all honesty, if Gerard were to find out that I liked him, would something bad happen? For the sake of needing to be sad, let's just think in this case it would be bad, if those kisses were just stupid dares, if I was really nothing more to him and no different than the others, it would completely destroy me. Everything I built up in my head, all those little memories I hold onto of me and him, memories that I replay over in my head. More than just us kissing but of us talking alone, watching movies together, times we've unofficially cuddled together. If it was all just false hope, nothing real but me getting my hopes up for it all to come crashing done as nothing. I wasn't special, he didn't like me at all. If he laughed at me for ever thinking he liked me back, that would hurt. That would hurt a lot. And knowing me, I couldn't be mad at him since I would be too mad at myself for thinking I ever stood a chance. Gerard doesn't care about me like that. If he started dating someone, some girl. That would hurt, seeing him happy with her, doing everything with her. I mean, good for him. I'm glad he's happy. But I would hate myself for thinking I ever could be the reason he would be that happy.

Gerard turns his phone on and takes several pictures. Gritting my teeth, staring off with my eyes glazed over, I'm probably good enough. Except I realize there are real tears forming in my eyes. "Awe," Gerard says, looking at me. He puts a hand on my shoulder and I take a breath. "You look so upset, it's breaking my heart."

"I just did what you needed," I say, laughing it off.

Lynn leans close to me. "You're actually crying?"

"No," I mutter, "Eyes are watering but I'm not crying." She gives a soft smile at me. "So now the water, right?"

"Yeah," Gerard says. His eyes widen. "Uh, hold on." He turns around and leaves the room. Lynn and I exchange glances and then shrug. Gerard comes back in the room with a towel. "This will be necessary." He tosses it to Lynn and he puts it around her front like a backward cape.

"Yeah, I can imagine," Lynn says, nodding. "Just don't get my hair drenched because it takes way too long to dry."

Gerard shakes his head. "No, it's only enough water to recreate tears." He grabs an unopened water bottle from his desk and walks over to us. "You sure you guys don't mind this?"

"Not at all," Lynn says. "I think it's fun."

"Yeah, I'm enjoying it," I say. "Getting ready for summer."

Gerard laughs a bit, unscrewing the cap. "Okay, Lynn, keep a straight face as much as you can and keep your eyes open too. Or try to."

"Okay," she says smiling. She takes a breath and resumes a neutral face. Gerard readies his phone before he pours the water over her face below her forehead. She flinches as the water hits her. Gerard pours it under over her eyes and it drips down her face. While it's still dripping, she keeps a neutral face and Gerard takes several pics of her.

"Got it," Gerard says. Lynn burst out giggling, wiping her face with the towel. "You good?"

"Yeah, just funny," she says. She passes me the towel. I drape it in front of me and ready myself.

Gerard swipes on his phone then looks up. "Okay, same thing. Try keeping a neutral face and your eyes open. I nod and he tips the bottle over me. I know it coming but I still jump with it splashes my face. Closing my eyes, the cool water runs down my face. I involuntarily laugh, sputtering a bit that goes in my mouth. When he stops, I hold my breath in order to get myself to stop laughing. I open my eyes and it's slightly difficult. Gerard takes several pics of me and then when he finishes I dry my face. "That was good," he says, capping the bottle.

"That was cold," I say.

"I know, right?" Lynn says. "Like you know it's coming but you still flinch."

"Exactly," I say. Gerard smiles while listening to us. He flops back on the bed next to me, scrolling through his gallery. He deletes the blurry pictures he took of us but most of them came out good. Lynn glances at him smiling. He looks at her then quickly looks away, staring at his phone. In the corner of my eyes, I see her smirking contently to herself for whatever reason.