"This week is taking forever."

"Gerard, it's a shortened week," I tell him, working on our power point. "You want blue and orange or the green and gold color scheme?" I ask him. He wheels around dramatically and looks at it. "Come on, we only have like 10 minutes left and I want to get this presentation thing done."

"Wh-" he glances back at the clock, "we do not have 10 minutes. Less than." I shrug at him, scrolling through our project. "Frank, we have all the information down but none of it editeded," he trails off. "Edited? Edited it. That's weird to say like it sounds so redundant."

"Gee, focus!"

"Uh, green and gold!" he says. I start laughing, setting the color scheme. "As I was saying. But we've got all the essentials but we still need to refine it. And we don't have time for that so we're going to have to hang out today anyway."

"Oh, wow, it's not like we wouldn't've hung out anyway," I say. Gerard glances at me smiling to himself. "But it's only 10 slides so we can finish it now."

"Or not," he says.

"What do you suggest we do instead?" I ask.

Gerard turns around, looking at everyone else. "See, all the others are like half done. We're fine." He glances at the rubric, reading it over real quick. "Alright, it's a 10-minute presentation so that means we talk about our slides for over a minutes since we don't discuss the title page or the works cited. So not that hard."

"Give me back my fruit juice!" Gerard and I glance around and see one of the football players in our class jumping out of his chair and pointing a finger at his buddy, who I think is on the basketball team. "I need my vitamin C!"

"Bro, it's a freaking Capri Sun," the guy laughs. "It's like sugar water."

"No, it has no artificial flavors or dye-"

"We can start presentations today if we're all done," the teacher says from his desk. He doesn't even glance up from his newspaper.

Zain turns around with a petrified face. "Um, sir, I would like to report a theft," he says. He glances at Dom, pointing an aggressive finger at him. "This young gentleman has stolen my fruit juice." Dom sits in his wheely chair cracking up.

Mr. Carlson lowers the paper and glares at Zain. "Do I look like a law enforcer? Dom, give it back." Dom tosses the Capri Sun and Zain flails, stumbling to catch it. Mr. Carlson sighs, continuing to read. "If that's how you catch, no wonder our school never wins."

Half the class starts rioting, including Zain. "Sir, that was a good roast! Even though it's for me, I-" The bell rings and then everyone frantically starts signing out of the computers and packing their bags.

"Well, that certainly made my day," I say, slinging my bag over my shoulder. Gerard looks at me with a smile.

"Live comedy," he says.

Gym goes by fast. It's a free day which means walking the track. Afterward, Cody and I walk out of the locker rooms together and the two of us head to lunch. "Okay, just hear me out," Cody starts again.

"No, you're wrong," I groan.

"So like say you're throwing a party, right?" Cody starts again. I refrain from laughing as I roll my eyes to avoid encouraging his nonsense. "Now like you tell people to come at 2. Well, like things happen and arriving on time is not as common as it used to be but people still do it. So people come at 2. But then someone comes at like 2:10. They're not really late because nothing at the party really happened yet. Now if they came at like 3, then they are late."

"You're still late!" I cry out.

"NO! You're an hour late. You're 10 minutes tardy."

"You're 10 minutes late," I correct. We sit down at the lunch table and with Amelia. "Your boyfriend is the smartest dumbass I know," I say.

She unscrews the lid to her thermos. "Yeah, or sometimes he's the dumbest smartass."

Cody cracks a grin. "What can I say? I need balance in my life," he says. "Man, I have to pee."

"Delicious," I mutter. He falters and looks at me.

"Um, eat your lunch, please," he says concerned, standing up and heading to the bathroom. I laugh to myself, Amelia giving me a weird look but also laughing.

"That's concerning," she says, starting to eat her soup.

Jenna and Gerard come running over toward the table, flinging their backpacks to the floor and hopping down on the seat. Amelia and I glance at each other for half a second. "You guys! very important!" Jenna cries out.

Amelia looks at her. "What-"

"How do you cut your nails?!" Gerard cries out, waving his hands around.

"I...clip them?" Amelia says.

Gerard makes a face at her and then waves her off dismissively. "What about you, Frankie?"

"I don't really like do anything. I sort of bite them."

"What the hell!" Jenna screams, flinging her head back. "So you just suck your fingers and like eat them?"

I scrunch my face. "Ew, no, like I spit it out if I'm outside or in school or I throw it away in like a house. What do you guys do?"

"I file them down," Jenna says.

Amelia whips her head at Jenna. "You're kidding? That's ridiculous. Like it'll take you forever."

"No, it doesn't," Gerard says.

I wince at him. "You file too?"

He rolls his eyes. "What? You think I'm going to like bite them like some animal or use a little clipper and have then uneven?"

"You're such a girl, Gee," Amelia says.

He glares at her. "Um, you're a girl. And excuse me for wanting my nails to be smooth and even so when I'm in ceramics, my nails aren't jagged and clawing my clay pieces up."

Amelia's eyes flutter back as she sighs. "Fine, you're all artsy fartsy, whatever." His mouth drops open at her.

"At least I don't chew them off all jagged. Like Frankie, you know how many germs there are?"

"You sound like my father! Oh my god. It's fine, I wash my hands enough to not worry and it probably builds my immune system anyway."

"Yeah, but it's so uncontrolled and messy," he says.

"Oh, yeah, let me just sit and shorten my nails by reducing it to sand and bit by bit, it will become the perfect shape. Like, I don't got time. I had places to go, people to see, things to do."

"You just narking on me specifically then?" Gerard asks, glancing at me and Amelia. "Jenna also files but I'm the problem here?"

Amelia exchange eye contact and have that same look. "Well," I say. "Jenna's...I assumed it's fine since she's-"

"Oh, a girl?" he asks, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow.

I refrain from smiling. Amelia continues. "I think Frank was going to say because she has a girlfriend." Gerard loses all tension in his face and he sits staring off and completely blank.

Amelia winces and glances at me. "I think you broke him," I say.

Jenna's on her phone, bolting her head up. "Okay, so Gerard, Hayley and I file our nails like the civilized people we are. Amelia...you and Brendon and my own girlfriend clip your nails like you have no nerves."

"It's like like I jam the damn thing all the way to the edge, jeez," she mutters.

"Frank, you bite?" Gerard asks.

"If you ask nicely," I whisper.

Gerard's eyes widen a bit at me. I lean back and grab my lunch out of my backpack. "Please?" he mutters under his breath. I look back up at him but his smug face knows what he said.

"Well, Sarah and Patrick also bite their nails...We're a freaking 3-way tie," she says.

"How'd this come up?" Amelia ask.

"I was walking out of gym and I saw Gerard and Patrick arguing so I walked over and then he told us that Hayley and Brendon were arguing about this in the morning and started asking the others so we came to ask you to figure out which is superior," Jenna spits out in one breath. She inhales deeply before finishing up. "But not it's like a 3-way tie with everyone-WHERE IS MY STUPID BROTHER?"

"He's in the bathroom," Amelia says.

"Having a delicious pee," I snicker. Amelia rolls her eyes but Gerard glances at me petrified. "No, no, so like-"

He holds a hand up. "Man, I don't want to know, don't explain. And...don't ever say that again," he sighs.

Cody starts walking over and we all start wave for him to hurry up. He eyes us suspiciously and quickens the pace. "Hey," he says.

"Cody! How do you cut your nails?" Gerard asks as Cody walks around and sits next to Amelia.

"Like you bite, file, or clip?" I ask.

He narrows his eyes. "I mean, I use scissors."

"Huh?" I lean forward, not sure if I'm getting that.

Amelia whips her head at him. "What!"

He jumps back. "Ah, like not safety scissors but ones from like Target or something," he says.

Gerard holds his head on the table tugging on his bangs. "Chaotic Evil," he groans, glaring at Cody.

Cody rolls his eyes at Gerard. "D&D nerd," he mutters at him. "See, the scissors are sharp and they can angle to get everything. Like the clips do it in pieces and like who freaking files them?" Gerard and Jenna raise their hands. Cody glances at him. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Uh, wrong with me?" Gerard scoffs. "You're the psychopath that cuts his nails with scissors!"

Amelia's eyes are glazed over. "I'm dating...a guy...who cuts his nails...With. Scissors."

"Well, what do you do?" he asks.

She glances up at him. "Um, the same thing you do but with clippers because I'm sane."

"So you can't use scissors to cut your construction paper but your nails? Oh, that's fine," Gerard says, putting his hands on his hips.

Cody rubs his face with his hands. "Literally, that was one time! I just wanted to fold the paper back and forth a bunch of times so I could rip it straight because sometimes you can't cut as straight with the scissors. Which is why you rip it!"

Jenna continues pestering me about nail biting on the way to English and then Lynn starts arguing with us too. For some reason, English goes by so slow and boring. I catch myself falling asleep but I don't care. The teacher mentions how our Lord of the Flies packet is due tomorrow and you can feel the tension and panic spread in the room. "You guys had plenty of time to get it done," she says.

One guy behind me mutters to his friend. "Dude, you didn't even finish writing your name."

After school, Cody drops me off at Gerard's house and we head upstairs to work on our presentation. "So what is it we have to do exactly?"

"Revise it and maybe do a run through," he says, grabbing his laptop off his desk.

I set my bag on the floor and glance at him. "And we couldn't have done that at school?

Gerard starts laughing lightly as he types his login information. "Well, I just didn't feel like it then."

The whole process of checking all the errors takes 10 minutes and then we do a run through of reading out loud alternate slides. But we're easily done with that. We could've finished in school but he wanted to do it now. Was that an excuse? He could've just asked to hang out if that's what he wanted. Or I'm over thinking this.

Gerard closes his laptop and lays back on his bed, setting it to the side. "What's up?"

"The ceiling," I say.

Gerard groans under his breath. "And you've just hit a new low."

"Well, nothing else has been going on," I say. "What do you want to talk about?" I brush his hair out of his eyes and run his hair back. He smiles, closing his eyes gently. "Got something on your mind?"

"Always," he mutters as I continue to play with his hair. It's really silky.

"Want to talk about it?" I ask.

He gives his head a weak shake. "Not particularly." I smile, even though he can't see me. He looks so calm and relaxed, really cute and soft. Soft? Is that even a way to describe a look? Well, it came to mind. He's just precious. "You wanna watch a movie?"

I pause for a moment before answering. "I totally would but I can't stay too long," I say.

Gerard opens his eyes and looks up at me. "Wait, why not?" he asks curiously.

"I got to finished my English packet. I haven't touched it in like...two weeks or something. It's due tomorrow."

"Wow, choose school over me," he says sarcastically.

"Oh, come on," I say.

Gerard crosses his arms and pouts. "You're a thot for school," he says and I double take at him. "You put the ho in homework."

"Excuse me, you invited me over to do homework."

"Well, yeah but I would've anyway. Wait, you have your bag, why don't you do it here?"

"I forgot my book at home, it's on my desk."

"Frankie, why?" he whines. "How long can you stay?"

I check the time on my phone. "Maybe half an hour-"

"Half an hour!" he cries out, sitting up. "What is this bullshiterry?" He kneels on his bed looking at me. "Why must you go?"

I know he's only joking around because he's exaggerating his voice and making a scene. I roll my eyes at him while smiling. "I told you, I have work."

"You said you were almost done though, you can stay longer, yeah?" He cups my face with his hands and forces me to nod. "Yes? You can stay."

I take hold of his wrists and try to get him to let go of me. "No, I can't," I say again, fighting against a smile. He starts nodding my head. I pull his arms down and he falls closer to me.

Gerard rests his forehead against mine. "You can bring your book back over here. Or I can come over if you don't want to leave again. Or I'll find an online version of your book. Or...we just Google the answers."

My hearts beating a little faster and I just wish it would stop. Well, stop beating faster, not stop in general. Granted, that'd be fine too. "Why are you saying we? It's my homework, you don't need to do it."

"I don't mind helping you if you could stay." He leans back but we're still really close. He...is he going to kiss me again? He's not moving away and he's still letting me hold onto his wrists. His hands are resting on my thighs and he's sitting in front of me. He...could kiss me. He knows I'd let him. "Come on, you can stay, right?"

"Even if I do stay, I'll still have to go home eventually."

"No..." he pouts.

"Yes, Gee." He shakes his head side to side. I place a hand against his cheek to get him to hold him still. "Yes." He stops shaking his head and leans into my palm. "You're like a cat," I whisper. He starts making purring noises and I smile. "So before I have to leave, could you tell me about your idea thing?"

Gerard tilts his head to the side. "Which one? I have a lot of ideas."

"Um, the deserts story."

"Oh, yeah, sure." He sits back and hops off the bed. "It's going well. I started doing designs for buildings of faculties and like the control center and stuff. I mean, I think it's like kind of dorky but I like the concept." He starts rummaging through his desk, cluttered with art supplies and papers.

"I don't think it's dorky. Everything you've talked about sounds really cool," I tell him.

"Thanks," he says. He picks up one of his sketchbooks when there's a bang coming from downstairs. The two of us stop talking and glance at his doorway as if we could see anything. "You heard that. Right?" he asks.

"Um, yes. Your parents home?" I ask.

He pauses, shifting his stance. "No, Mikey has..." he stops, his face getting dark. "They were coming home with dinner and it's not even 3 yet."

"Then?" I don't really know what to ask.

He starts walking toward the hallway. "Gerard?" his mother calls from downstairs. His mom's home.

"What," he mutters under his breath. "Yeah?" he hollers.

"Come down, we need to talk."

He stops in his tracks. "But they were supposed-" He stops.

"Everything okay?" I ask.

He glances at me and lightens up for only a moment. "Um, here, you can look through there if you'd like," he says, handing me his sketchbook. "I'll be back." He leaves the room and heads downstairs.

He wasn't angry they came home, he was confused. Mikey had something going on but they're home now. So does that mean whatever it was isn't happening now? I have noticed they're coming home early now but is everything okay?

I open his sketchbook toward the back where I know his landscapes are. The buildings are really cool with the three-dimensional aspect and the clean lines and geometric shapes. The shading is also done well. Gerard's art skills are good but he's also done the perspective of this well too. I flip through a few pages. The eerie hallways with the lights blaring and reflecting off tiles. He drew posters on the wall with "Keep Smiling" and "Have you smiled today?" quotes. It's very dystopian style.

Another page has an operating table or something with padding and leather straps to restrain the person. Equipment lines the wall and so do wires. The pages are all really well down and neat. It's all ebony sketches so there's no color. He has used an eerie blue to shade a few areas in but it's so pale and colorless that it's even more creepy.

I flip a few pages back to compare with the colorful deserts he drew when the color purple catches my eye. I flip back. It's that drawing of me in a purple color pencil. I'm sitting on the curb with my legs stretched out in the street. He didn't want me seeing this because sitting next to me on the curb is Gerard in a grey color pencil and he's holding my hand. Gerard drew the two of us. Well. Fuck.

Now Amelia would be screaming "I told you so" right about now. See, that stupid part of me suggests that it was just an idea and didn't mean anything to him. But if that were the case, Gerard wouldn't have cared that I saw this. He didn't want me to see because he didn't want me to know about this idea he had because this is what he means.