Chapter 26 – Tell ‘em (Matt’s POV)

8.30am…
“Tell ‘em I’m not going to school okay Matt” Gerard says.
“Okay, but why?” I ask.
“I just… don’t feel like going to school today Matt” he replies.
“Okay fine, Dude need anything txt me alright” I say.
“Okay bye” he says and hangs up.

I shake my head and put on my shirt.
I go to my bag and fill it with books I need for today, I pick up my phone and txt Paula to see if she was ready for school, She replies saying yes, I walk out my house taking my bag and I walk to hers.

Paula is sitting on the doorstep of her place reading a book with her bag next to her.
“What ya reading?” I ask.
She looks up and smiles and closes her book.
She walks up to me and hugs me.
“I’m guessing I’m more important” I say.
“Hell yeah” she says.
“Ready to go” I say pulling out of the hug.
“Yeah… but where’s Gerard?” she asks.
“Oh he’s not coming to school today” I say.
“Why?” she asks.
“I actually don’t know” I say.
She gives me the ‘Yeah right, This is some practical joke’ smirk.
“Serious” I say.
“Fine” she says.
We walk to Ray’s.
Ray is kissing Lucy and Lucy is doing the same.
“Hey public display” Paula says.
I laugh.
They both stop.
Ray goes a little red but Lucy laughs.
She seems to take everything well, un-serious.
I mean if someone calls her a bitch she says something like ooo my favourite animal.
Oh well she funny about it anyway.
“Where’s Gerard?” Ray asks now not red in the face.
“He isn’t coming to school today” I say.
“Why?” Lucy asks quite worried.
“I don’t know” I say.
“Oh” she says now kinda nervous.
“What’s up?” I ask.
“Nothing” she says nervous still.
“Sure” I say.
She glares at me.

We walk to school slowly since we have some time to kill.
I was holding Paula’s hand but Ray wasn’t cause Lucy was too busy doing something with her phone, Ray looked quite upset about that, I didn’t want to make him feel any worse so I let go of Paula’s hand.
“Why’d you do that” Paula asks.
“Ray and Lucy aren’t holding hands” I say keeping my voice quite so Ray and Lucy couldn’t hear me.
“So that’s them this is us” she says.
“No I mean Ray isn’t really happy about her not holding his hand so I didn’t wanna make him feel worse you know seeing us doing that” I whisper.
“Oh, your so sweet” she says with a smile.
I smile at her.
Paula stops and walks next to Lucy.
‘Oh great she gonna meddle’ I think In my head.
“So who ya txting?” Paula asks Lucy.
Lucy moves the phone out of view of Paula.
“No one” she says.
“Sure” Paula say.
Lucy continues, with the phone out of sight of Paula.
“Tell me” Paula begs.
“No” Lucy says.
I nudge Paula to stop.
She pushes me away.
“Come on” she begs Lucy.
“Don’t worry” Lucy says and pushes a button and puts the phone into her back pocket.
“Fine” Paula says coming back to my side.
Ray attempts to hold hands with Lucy but she doesn’t realise it and grabs out a bottle of water and takes a drink.
She passes the bottle to Ray but Ray declines the offer.
She puts the bottle back in her bag.
We walk the rest of the way to school in silence.
We sit in our usual spot and wait for the bell to go.
I lie back and rest my head on my bag.
Paula Lies down too and rests her head on my chest.
Ray and Lucy were talking quietly among themselves.
I nudged Paula to get up, She got up and I did too.
“I need to call Gerard okay” I announce to everyone and walk off with my phone in my hand.
I walk over near a quite spot and call Gerard.
“Hi Matt” Gerard says answering the phone.
“Hey” I say “Why aren’t you coming?”
“I just don’t wanna go today” he says.
“Tell the truth” I say.
“I don’t have to explain myself Matt” he says angrily.
“I want to know okay?” I ask
“Okay the answer is NO” he says.
“Gerard” I say.
“NO, and by the way tell Lucy to stop txting me okay” he says and hangs up.
I think about what he said about Lucy.
And go to walk back to where my bag is.
“Hey Luc..” I say

The bell goes…

“Lucy” I say
“Yeah” she replies “Gerard okay?”
“I don’t know he wont talk, but anyway he said to me to tell to stop…”
“Hurry up get to class” A teacher says walking around hurrying us to class.
“Tell me at recess Matt” she says walking off with Ray.
Paula comes up to me.
“Onward to Maths Mr Matt” she says and giggles.
I pick up my bag, as does she.
We walk to Maths and sit next to each other in the back row.
“So what do you have to tell Lucy” she whispers to me making sure the teacher couldn’t hear.
“Gerard told me to tell her to stop txting him” I say just as quiet as she said it.
“You mean when we were walking to school she was txting Gerard?” she asks.
“Probably” I say.
“Why is she txting him?” she asks.
“I dunno” I reply.
“Unless …” she says.
“Paula quiet” The teacher yells at us.
Paula rolls her eyes and starts working.


Recess…
Paula, Lucy and I meet up at our spot. With Ray nowhere to be seen.
“Anyways Gerard told me to tell you to…” I say
“To stop txting him” Paula finishes for me.
“Oh” Lucy says.
“Why would he says something like that Lucy?” Paula asks her angrily.
“Why the hell are you angry Paula?” I ask.
“Matt you are blind” Paula says.
“Well…” I was gonna reply with a smart remark but stop myself.
“I was only talking to him” Lucy says nervously.
“About?” Paula asks.
“Nothing really” Lucy replies.
“Why he wasn’t coming to school obviously Paula” I say.
“Matt stop one minute” Paula says.
“Well I did ask him that” Lucy says.
“You know what I’m talking about Lucy don’t play fucken dumb with me” Paula says a little louder.
Lucy backs up a bit.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about” Lucy says.
“What would happen if Ray was to find out?” Paula asks.
“What the hell is going on?” I ask.
“It is obvious Matt, Lucy likes Gerard” Paula blurts out.
“Friend or…” I say but Paula cut me off.
“LOVE” she yells.
“Oh” I say.
“It’s not as if you don’t like him either bitch” Lucy says angrily.
“I like him as a friend, I love Matt if you haven’t noticed, and you are suppose to be in love with Ray” Paula yells.
“Why are you on my case?” Lucy asks.
I turn to walk off so I don’t cause any more trouble but stop to see people are gathering behind us and as I look at the people I see Ray pushing to the front.
“Honey umm crowd and Ray” I say kinda embarrassed.
“HELLO YOU’RE BEING UNFAITHFUL” Paula yells.
“No, I’m not” she says slightly louder than before.
“OH YEAH LIKE FLIRTING WITH GERARD IS NOT CHEATING” Paula yells.
“I’m…” Lucys says but stops and looks at her shoes.
“Umm Paula, Ray’s…” I say but am cut off by her.
“LET ME GUESS YOUR USING RAY” Paula yells.
“Paula” I say louder.
“Zip it” She says to me but keeping her eyes on Lucy.
“OKAY FINE YOU STUPID BITCH YOU CAUGHT ME, I WAS USING RAY TO GET TO GERARD OKAY GET THE FUCK OVER IT” Lucy yells even louder than Paula.
I tap Paula on the shoulder.
She turns around.
“Wha…” she says but then stops finally realising why I was trying to get her attention.
“I was trying to tell you” I say.
Lucy catches on to what I was meaning as well.
I look over at Ray.
He had an angry/upset/ surprised look on his face.
Then it changed to a look I had only seen once on his face before and that was when his Grandmother died yep the look was sadness.
He looked as if he was gonna burst out crying but he didn’t.
“Ray is over there” I say quietly to Paula.
Paula spots him.
“Oh shit” she says.
Ray shakes his head obviously fighting back tears.
“Ray, I’m so sorry” Paula says.
I turn and face Lucy.
She looks like she cross between a surprised and relieved.
I look back over to Ray.
He pushed back though the crowd running off.
I ran off after him.
“Fuck off you assholes” Lucy yelled to the crowd.
“Oh shut up slut” They yelled back at her.
I finally caught up to Ray.
He was sitting on the steps close to the front of the school.
I sit next to him.
He was madly wipes his eyes.
“Dude it’s okay” I say.
He shakes his head and continues wiping his eyes.


(Gerard’s POV)
I’m lying on my bed thinking about what I’m gonna say.
I love Jacquie but our relationship is hard.
I mean she is over in Australia and I’m here.
We had so much fun together. We are practically the same but this whole distance thing is just way too hard, She would probably be better off with someone in Australia, I don’t want to let her go. But it’s for the best.
I get up and pick up my phone and dial her number.
“Hey” she says happily.
“Hi” I reply sadly.
“What’s up?” she asks worried.
“I just… I need to…I gotta say…” I say trying to find the words but can’t think of them.
“Gerard” she says.
“I think it’s better we see other people” I blurt out.
“WHAT?” she asks.
“You know it’s hard and yeah” I say.
“You're breaking up with me?” she says sadly.
“Yes I’m sorry” I say about to cry.
“Why?” she says sobbing.
“I think its best okay bye” I say and hang up.
I begin to cry.
That was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.
My heart feels as if its broken but still it’s for the best.
My phone rings (Calling: Jacquie).
I ignore the phone and turn it off.
I fall back on my bed.
‘It’s for the best’ I say over and over in my head.


(Matt’s POV)
“I don’t know what I’m gonna do without her” Ray says.
“Umm live, I mean she wouldn’t let you do anything” I say.
“But I loved her” Ray says.
“Yeah but she was a user plus if you don’t mind me saying she was a bitch a sluty, ugly bitch” I say.
He laughs.
“Well yeah I guess so” he says a little happier.
We hear people egging on people to fight.
“Oh please don’t be Paula” I say.
Ray and I run to were we hear the voices.
“You fucken slut” Paula yells.
“Whore” Lucy yells.
But hey weren’t fighting, well they were but verbally.
“Come on Paula she’s not worth the energy” I say.
“But she said…” Paula says but decides I’m right and walks over to me.
“You better go” Lucy yells.
I look at her and she has a cut lip.
“Did you punch her?” I ask Paula.
“Um maybe” Paula says with a smirk.
And walks off with Ray.
I turn back to Lucy.
“Don’t come anywhere near Ray or Gerard or any of us for that matter” I say and walk off.
“You okay now?” Paula asks Ray.
“Yeah” he says with a little smile.
Ray stops.
“What are we gonna tell Gerard?” he asks.
We stop and look at him.
“Umm I dunno” I say.
“The truth” Paula says.
“Man you sound old fashioned” Ray says with a laugh.
She laughs.
“So we gonna tell him now?” I ask.

The bell rings.

“Guess not” Paula says with a laugh.
We all walk to class. Thank god Ray has the same classes as Paula and I cause I’m pretty sure Lucy is in most of our classes too.
We walk into our classroom and people start clapping.
I look at Ray and Paula and shrug.
We walk to the back and sit together.
The clapping ceases when Lucy walks in.
The booing starts.
Paula and I start laughing. But Ray sits with a straight face but occasionally a little bit of an angry face appears but dies and goes back to the straight face.
There’s one place left in the room and it’s next to Ray.
The teacher walks in.
“Lucy sit down” he yells.
“Umm sir there’s a kinda problem,” she says.
“Hey Ray switch seats” I say quietly to him.
He gets up and we switch sides.
“There’s no problem Lucy, There’s a nice big seat for your elephant sized arse” I say.
The whole class cracks up laughing except the teacher and of course Lucy.
“Mr Pelissier stop it or detention, Please sit next to Matt Lucy” he says.
Every stops laughing but a couple snicker as she walks to sit next to me.
“So how are you?” I ask jokingly.
“Shut up” she says.
“Aww she’s hurting my feelings” I say jokingly to Paula.
“Shut up” she says.
I start copying down notes.

Lunch…
“Okay we calling him now?” I ask.
Ray and Paula nod.
I call Gerard’s mobile.
I wait but no answer and then a message saying his phone is off.
“His phone is off” I say.
“Call his home” Paula suggests.
“Okay” I say.
I call his home phone.
“Hi” someone says but I can’t make out who it is cause the voice is so quiet.
“Umm Hi It’s Matt, Umm Gerard there?” I ask
“You're talking to him” The voice says and the a loud sob.
“Gerard you okay?” I ask.
Paula and Ray look at me.
“I’M FINE, I JUST BROKE UP WITH JACQUIE AND NOW I’M CRYING YEP FINE AS ANYTHING” Gerard yells.
“Oh my god. really?” I ask.
“Yeah” he says.
“Gerard do you want me to come over?” I ask.
“Nah I’m fine” he says.
“Gerard” I say.
“Nah I’m fine I know how to tie a fucken noose” he says.
“FUCK GERARD DON’T YOU DARE” I yell into the phone.
“It’s not like I will I mean I have SOOO much to live for” he says sarcastically.
“Yes you do, you have us and at the moment Ray needs you” I say.
“Matt… What do you mean Ray needs me?” he asks
“I’ll tell you when I get home okay” I say “Please Gerard don’t okay”
“Fine, but you need to call Jacquie and say I’m sorry okay” he says.
“Okay see ya” I say.
“Bye” he says and hangs up.

“Okay what’s up with Gerard?” Paula and Ray ask.
“He has broken up with Jacquie” I say.
“REALLY?” They yell.
“Yeah, and he’s kinda on the suicidal side of the break up” I say.
“Shit we can’t leave him alone” Ray says.
“Don’t worry he won’t” I say.
“How do you know that?” Paula asks.
“Cause I said Ray needs him, he won’t do anything when he knows any of us are in trouble” I say.
“I guess that a good idea” Paula says.
“I gotta call Jacquie, Gerard told me to” I say.
“Okay” they say.

I call Jacquie.
“Hi” a very squeaky voice says.
“Hey Jacquie you okay?” I ask.
“Yeah despite the blood everywhere I’m fine” she says.
“Oh fuck don’t tell me” I say
“I won’t cause you know” she says.
I hear a thud from over the phone.
“Jacquie you alright?” I call out on the phone loudly.
“Yeah” she says in her squeaky voice.
“What did you just do?” I ask nervously.
“I fell to the floor” she says.
“Why?” I ask.
“I felt like it” she says angrily.
“Well Gerard told me to tell you he is very sorry” I say.
“WHY THE HELL DID HE BREAK UP WITH ME?” she yells.
“I don’t know I didn’t talk to him for that long” I say.
“Is he okay?” she asks.
“Yeah but he was cr…” I say but stop.
“WELL IF HE WAS CRYING WHY THE HELL DID HE BREAK UP WITH ME” she yells.
I hear another thud over the phone.
“Jacquie” I yell out.
“Yes I’m fine Matt” she says sarcastically.
“Listen okay, It’s gonna be fine” I say.
“I wish I could believe you” she says.
“It will get better” I say.
Paula hits me.
“Give me the phone” she says quietly.
“Hey I’ll give ya to Paula she wants to talk to you” I say
“Okay” she says.
I pass the phone to Paula. She grabs it from my hand and starts talking.
“Well I think we should leave this to the girls” I say to Ray and we sit and have some lunch.

15 mins…
“Okay bye” Paula says and hangs up and passes me my phone.
“She’s gonna be fine” she says.
“Okay” I say.

The Bell goes…
“Aww I didn’t eat anything” Paula says.
I shake my head, we walk to Art class.
We go inside and sit in the back row.
“Hello class today lets let our creative minds wonder” Our teacher says “It’s time for creative painting”.
She was new and I swear she was a hippy who does marijuana but hey she was nice.
“It can be anything” Our teacher goes on “Well as long as it’s not violent or … mean”
I start drawing random stuff on a piece of paper.
I look at Paula’s as usual she always knows what she’s gonna do (if you get my drift lol).
She’s painting a heart bleeding black blood.
“How creative” I say being sarcastic.
She sticks her tongue out at me and continues.
“I mean how many of those sorta paintings have you got?” I ask
“Umm 5” she says.
“That’s not enough?” I ask.
“Nope” She says with a smile.
I look at Ray’s its a nice picture of a…tree.
“Umm Ray just asking, what’s with the tree?” I ask.
“Eh bored” he says and continues.
I look at my pictures. Man I suck at drawing. If Gerard were here he would help me.
I try drawing a wolf I guess it looks… fine?
I transfer it to a canvas and begin painting.
“Hey that’s pretty good” Ray says.
Paula looks at it.
“Yeah it is” She says.

End of School…
Ray and Paula meet me at the front gate of the school.
“So my place?” Ray asks.
“Umm Gerard” I say.
“Oh yeah” Ray says.
We all walk to Gerard’s.
I knock on the door.
No answer.
“Gerard” I yell.
“FUCKEN COME IN” He yells.
I open the door and we walk in.
Gerard is lying on the couch.
“Sorry I’m too lazy to open the door” he says.
“You okay Gerard?” I ask and sit next to him on a chair.
“Do we have to go over this again Matt” he says covering his face with his hands.
“Um no” I say.
“Why did you break up with her?” Paula asks.
“It’s for the best” Gerard says practically choking on his words and takes his hands away from his face.
“How is it?” Paula questions him slightly angry.
“She’s all the way over there with other guys and it's not like its not gonna cross her mind to go out with them” Gerard says nearly in tears.
“Gerard you know Jacquie better than me or Matt or Ray and I know she would never even think of cheating on you so why is it that you think she will?” she says.
“I dunno” he says getting frustrated.
I signal Paula to stop.
She glares at me and sits down on another chair.
“I agree with Paula though, you know Jacquie would never cheat on you” Ray says.
I glare at him but he doesn’t take any notice.
Gerard turns away from Ray and Paula and looks straight at me as if he was expecting me to have a say in this too.
I hate it when you are put on the spot and when whatever you say next could have dire consequences.
I look down at my feet avoiding Gerard’s gaze.
“So you agree with them Matt?” Gerard asks.
“Why are you asking me?” I ask.
“Well you’re my best friend I would like to know what you think” he says.
“Gerard it’s your decision not ours” I say.
He turns away.
“Gerard if you truly believe it’s best to leave her then I think… maybe you should just stay friends at least and I think you should tell her that” I say.
Gerard looks at me.
“I wish I could stay with her but maybe its best we are with people that live well near us” he says.
I nod.
He gives a small smile but it drops after a second.
He turns to Ray.
“Umm Matt said something was up with you and I was wondering can I know?” Gerard asks.
“Yeah I guess” Ray says “Well you know Lucy well…”
“She likes you by likes I mean LOVES and we found out she was using Ray to get to you” Paula says angrily.
“Really?” Gerard says surprised.
“Yeah” Ray says.
“Stupid slut… NO OFFENCE RAY” Gerard says.
“Don’t worry she was” Ray says.
“I’m sorry Ray” Gerard says.
“It’s not your fault you have an irresistible charm” Ray jokes.
Gerard laughs.
Ray smiles.
“Well I better call Jacquie and tell her” Gerard says.
“Do you want us here?” Paula asks.
“I think I will be okay by myself” Gerard says.
Ray, Paula and I walk out of his place.

(Gerard’s POV)
I sigh and pick up my phone.
I dial Jacquie’s number.
It rings only once and is answered but all I could hear was sobs.
“Jacquie” I say.
“Yes” she says very quietly.
“I’m really sorry” I say “And its just I think we should just be friends cause this distance relationship is hard”
“No, I love you” she says.
“I know, I love you too but it will be better if we go out with people we can see everyday and be able to call whenever something goes wrong but at the moment I can’t do that, I’m really sorry” I say.
“I’m gonna miss you” she says.
My eyes start to well up with tears.
“We can still be friends” I say.
“Yeah” she says.
“Bye” I say.
“Bye” she says and hangs up.


(Jacquie’s POV)
His words still echoing in my head.
I look down my wrist, Slashed and covered in now dry blood.
I quickly put on my school jumper and walk out of my room into the living room. I can’t believe mum didn’t wake up when I was crying. I sit down and Mark comes out of his bedroom and sits next to me.
“I heard you crying early this morning” he says quietly.
“Did mum hear?” I ask.
“Nope she was fully asleep” he says “Can I ask why?”
“Well… Gerard broke up with me” I say with a sigh.
“Why?” he asks surprised.
“Because he lives too far away from me and thinks its best we see people we can, like, call to if we are in trouble” I say.
“Aww he’s a nice boy” he says.
“What do you mean?” I say.
“He loves you so much he would give you up to someone else just to see you happy” he says.
“I don’t wanna be with someone else” I say.
“Well maybe you know you should try it” he says.
I shake my head.
“I don’t wanna” I say.
“Maybe in the future you may get back together 'till then live life” he says “Anyways I need to drive you to school”
“Okay” I say picking up my bag and walking to the car.


At school…
I wave at Mark and he drives off, I walk through the school gate and sit on the steps where we hang out.
Jared arrives and sits next to me.
“Hey Jacquie” he says.
“Hey” I say kinda quiet.
“You okay?” he asks.
“yeah” I say even quieter.
“What’s up?” he asks worried.
“My boyfriend broke up with me today” I say crying.
“Aww” he says “You can do better than him”
“No he is like perfect to me” I say “I love him and he loves me its just we live it two different parts of the world and he thinks I would be happier with someone who lives near me” I say wiping tears away.
Kristen walks up to us.
“Hey…” she says and sees me “What’s up?”
“She just got broken up with” Jared says.
“Aww” Kristen says hugging me.
Andrew walks up.
“Is she okay?” he asks Jared.
“Break up” Jared says kinda pissed he keeps getting asked.
“She had a boyfriend?” Andrew asks.
“Yes I did” I say kinda angry.
“I’m sorry” he says and sits next to Jared.
Kristen stops hugging me.
“So you gonna be okay?” she say.
“I dunno” I say “Probably”
“You're not gonna go all emo on us are you?” she says jokingly.
This gets me. I cross my arms.
“You… didn’t?” she says backing off a bit.
I look down.
“I gotta go” I say getting up and picking up my bag.
I walk off and go to the library.
I sit down and pull out a book from in my bag.
I flip though a couple of pages and then begin reading.
Andrew comes running in.
He walks up to me.
“Jacquie are you okay?” he asks.
“Gah can people please stop asking me that I’m not okay” I say really pissed off.
“Don’t worry about Kristen she just doesn’t know how to deal with emos'” he says.
“No one does” I say.
Andrew sighs and pulls up his sleeve and shows some faded scars.
“I’ve been emo” he says, “Depression got the better of me”
“Oh” I say.
He pulls his sleeve down again.
“Yeah” he says.
Jared and Kristen walk in.
“I’m so sorry” Kristen says.
“It’s okay,” I say.
I continue reading my book.
“We can, you know, like, go outside” Kristen says.
“Okay” I say.
I get up and we go outside.
We sit down on a bench, Andrew sits next to me.
I read my book again and he starts reading over my shoulder.
“You know it’s rude to read over someone’s shoulder” I say.
“Well I am rude” Andrew jokes.
I laugh.
“Anyways what’s with the book?” Andrew asks.
“Mikey said it was a good book” I say.
“Micheal recommend this book to you?” he says confused.
“No Mikey, my ex boyfriends brother” I say.
“Oh how old is he?” he asks.
“13” I say.
“Oh okay cool” he says.
I put the book away.
“Why’d you do that?” he asks.
“Cause I can’t be bothered reading anymore at the moment” I say.
“Okay” he says.
“Man I miss being in New Jersey” I say
“Why?” Jared asks.
“I just … well finally I got homey in my place and for once I had a couple of friends” I say.
“What about us?” Jared asks.
“Yeah your friends too its just I miss them you know” I say.
“Yeah” he says.
“I’m really, really sorry Jacquie” Kristen says.
“It’s okay get over it” I say.
She nods and starts talking to Jared.
“So what are you doing this weekend?” Andrew asks me.
“I dunno” I say.
“Wanna umm come over mine?” he asks.
“I don’t think I can, Mum hasn’t told me if I’m grounded or not” I reply.
“Okay well txt me if you can” he says.
“Sure” I say.

The bell rings
Me and Andrew walk to class together.
“I don’t want to have Maths first” He complains.
“Oh well” I say.
We walk into class and sit next to each other.
I write down notes from the board that our teacher had put up.
“Do you think you're gonna get grounded?” Andrew asks me.
“I dunno probably not” I say.
“Ok cool” he says and smiles and continues writing.
I continue writing too.

Chapter 25 –Another Day (Jacquie’s POV)

“Honey time to get up,” my mum yelled to me cheerfully.
“Okay” I say.
I get up and rub my eyes and stretch.
I get my school clothes, walk to the bathroom and have a shower. When I finish I dry myself and get dressed Then I walk into the living room.

“I cooked you breakfast” mum says showing me a plate with a fried egg and two pieces of toast.
“Umm no thanks” I say.
“Honey you should eat” she says in a very whiney voice.
“And mummy I don’t wanna” I say in the same tone as hers.
She glares at me and puts the plate on the table and walks off.
“She was only trying to help” Mark says walking in.
“She knows I hate eating eggs” I say and slump onto the chair.
“Well maybe she forgot” he says backing her.
“Whatever” I say, “Can we go now?”
“Yeah I guess but you might be early” he says.
“Meh” I say.
“Okay” he says
“You coming baby?” he asks mum.
“Umm no I’m gonna be doing stuff around the house” she says.
We walk out to the car and we get in and drive off.

School…
“Okay see you at the mall” Mark says.
“Okay see ya,” I say getting out and walking into the school.
I’m early but not by a lot, Andrew runs up to me.
“Heya” he says.
“Hey” I say, “Is this considered as early?”
“Not really” he says “But if you come here when Micheal does it is”
“Okay what time does he come then?” I ask.
“When his mum is ready for work,” he says.
“Okay” I say.
We make our way to Andrews bag on the stairs.
“So” he says.
“Yeah so” I say
“By any chance are you…Goth?” he asks.
“Well yeah I am are you?” I ask
“Yeah” he says.
“Okay cool” I say with a smile.
He smiles back.
I pull out my phone from my bag and check the time.
“Anxious much?” he says.
“No” I say putting my phone back in my bag.
“Right” he says with a smirk.
“Shut up” I say jokingly.
“Never” he says and we both laugh.
Jared walks through the gates and comes over to us.
“Hey” he says.
“Hi” Andrew and I say at the time.
My phone rings.
I quickly pull it out. (Calling: Mum)

“Umm Hi” I say answering.
“Hey” she says
“What’s with the phone call?” I ask.
“Nothing just wanted to say sorry for giving you eggs Mark told me you didn’t like them” she says.
“Okay umm bye” I say and hang up on her before she can say anything.

“Oh my god she is so annoying” I say putting my phone away.
“Who?” Andrew asks.
“My mum” I say.
“Really?” he says.
“Yeah” I say.
“How?” he asks.
“She just annoying” I say.
“Okay, By the way do you want my number?” he asks.
“Umm sure” I say getting my phone out again.
I pass it to him and He puts in his number.
“Hey Jared can I put yours in here too?” he asks.
“Sure” Jared says.
He adds Jareds number too.
“Thanks” I say taking my phone back and putting it back in my bag.
“So have you seen Micheal yet?” Jared asks.
“Nope” I say.
“I have” Andrew says, “He isn’t in a good mood”.
“Why?” Jared and I ask.
“I dunno,” he says lying back “Probably another book problem”
“Yes actually” Micheal says from behind us.
Andrew jumps up.
“My brand new book I have bought is missing” Micheal says angrily.
“Sorry I um… didn’t know you were there” Andrew says.
“Whatever” Micheal says sitting down and taking out another book.
“Don’t tell me all you're gonna do is read all your life” Jared says.
“Well I do wanna be a writer” Micheal replies.
“What horror, sci-fi, action, comedy…” I say but am interrupted.
“A mixture” he says and goes back to his book.
“Oh okay” I say.
“Moody” Jared says under his breath obviously not quiet enough.
Micheal gets up.
“I don’t know why I bother trying to be friends with you guys, you are utter morons” he says and walks off.
Jared mimics him “You are utter morons”.
He makes me laugh.
“Cute laugh” he says.
I stop.
“What?” he asks.
“Nothing” I say and sit down.
“You sure?” he asks.
“Yeah… Anyways do you guys have any brothers or sisters?” I say changing the topic.
“Yeah I got a sister” Jared says sitting down.
“Same with me” Andrew says joining us “Do you?”
“Nah” I say, “What’s there names?”
“Tahlia” Jared says “She is awesome seriously she can write really good stories”
“My sis is called Melissa, Mel for short, She is awesome too she is like an artist” Andrew says.
“Drawer or painter?” I ask.
“Umm painter but she is pretty good at drawing,” he says.
“Awesome, I’m … never mind” I say.
“No tell” Andrew says.
“Well I draw a fair bit but they're not that good,” I say.
“Aww come on show us,” Jared says.
“Okay fine” I say getting out one of my old New Jersey books, I only show a couple of pages.
“Whoa that’s awesome” Jared says.
“Hell yeah” Andrew adds.
“Don’t,” I say.
“Don’t what?” Jared asks.
“I hate being complimented,” I say.
“Oh fine its shit” Jared says jokingly.
I hit him jokingly back.
We all laugh.
“Umm anyways just wondering do you wanna meet my sister?” Jared asks.
“Sure I would like to meet both of your sisters” I say.
“Cool” Andrew and Jared say.
“When?” Jared asks.
“I dunno up to you” I say.
“Now?” he asks.
“Sure” I say.

We all get up and they take me into the school, All the way too the art block. There are two girls both dressed in black one is drawing and the other is reading.
“Hey sis” Andrew says walking up to the one drawing and giving her a hug.
“Hey, gah get off me” she says pushing him away and continues drawing “I’m busy”
“Geez” Andrew says, “That one there with the fangs is Melissa”
“Okay cool” I say.
The girl that was reading finally looks up from her book and walks over to Jared hugs him and sits back down while keeping an emotionless face.
“Well umm that’s Tahlia” Jared says, “What’s up Tahlia are you upset or something?”
“No, this is just shocking the stupid author of this book wrote an entire chapter about how a guy got shot in the back and he didn’t say anything about hoe severe or anything I mean you should write something about how severe it was GOSH” she says.
“Umm okay” Jared says pretending he knew what she said “she normally not like that” he whispers to me.
“Okay umm Hi Melissa and Tahlia” I say.
“Hey” they both say looking up and then looking back down.
They both look up again.
“We have got to stop doing that,” Tahlia says.
“True” Melissa says.
“Man you girls are bitches,” Jared says.
“So offensive” Tahlia joked.
I laughed.
The girls looked at me.
“Sorry but I found that funny” I say.
They both smile.
“Well as you know I am Tahlia and that is Mel, sorry about the whole ignoring you thing we thought Jared had gotten another girl friend” she says.
“Umm Hi” I say.
“I haven’t had that many girlfriends” Jared says “plus how do you know she isn’t”
I look at him and so does Andrew.
“It’s obvious, she laughed at our joke and not yours,” she says.
Jared sneers.
“So anyways how old are you?” I ask.
“I’m 12” Mel says.
“And I’m 13” Tahlia says.
“Cool, but aren’t you a bit young to be at high school Mel?” I ask.
“Umm nah I was skipped a year, too smart” she says and laughs.
“Smart my ass” Tahlia says
Mel sticks her tongue out at Tahlia.
We all laugh.
“Oh crap I’m suppose to be with Kristen” Jared says and then runs out the door.
Tahlia laughs, “He’s so fucken forgetful”.
“I wonder we you get it from NAMELESS,” Mel says.
“SHUT UP, YOU COULDN’T EVEN REMEMBER YOUR NAME EITHER” Tahlia says.
“Well at least I didn’t say…” Mel says but is pushed over by Tahlia.
“Well at least I didn’t stay quiet and look like a complete idiot,” Tahlia says.
“Well when you are trying to get someone to notice you and they ask what your name is, you don’t say there’s,” Mel says getting up.
Tahlia turns away.
“Aww Tahlia I’m sorry” Mel says.
“Nope” Tahlia says.
“Aww Serious I’m sorry” she says
“Disowned” Tahlia says.
Mel tackles her.
“Fine, Fine okay get over it we are friends” Tahlia says.
“Best friends?” Mel says.
“Sure whatever get off?” Tahlia says.
Mel finally jumps off.
“Hugs” Mel says hugging Tahlia.
Tahlia has a weird look on her face.
“Is that how they normally act?” I ask.
“Yep” Andrew says.
I sigh.
“What’s up?” Andrew asks.
“I’m just missing New Jersey,” I say.
“There’s no New Jersey in Australia” Mel says.
“Umm she’s from America” Andrew says.
“Oh, well that explains a lot” she says.
“So what’s America like?” Tahlia asks.
“It’s… Good” I say “But I really only liked New Jersey”
“Okay” Tahlia says, “Well me and Mel must be going”
She and Mel walk out the door, Mel nudges Andrew and says something quietly and walks out, Andrew goes a little red.
“Well we better get back to our bags” I say breaking the silence that had consumed the room.
“Yeah” Andrew says and goes less red.

We walk back to our bags.
And just sit there in silence.
His phone rings.
“Umm hey” he says answering it.
There is silence. And he looks up at the building at the windows.
“Aww man Mel, leave me alone” he says hanging up.
“Be right back” he says running off into the building, I look up at the window and see Mel and Tahlia. I keep looking and Andrew comes into view, I watch him as he is talking to them, then he looks out the window and sees me and waves and walks out of view. I wait a little while and finally he comes out the building and sits down.
“And that was about?” I ask.
“Umm never mind,” he says.
“Okay” I say sitting next to him.
He gets up almost immediately.
“What?” I ask.
“I umm gotta go check on Jared,” he says running off.
I laugh and get out my phone.
I watch the time.
Man I was bored.
I mean staring at a clock watching the time.
Obviously I was totally bored.
“Hey” Jared says making me jump.
“Whoa, umm hi” I say looking up.
“I thought you might like to meet my girlfriend Kristen,” he says.
“Hi” I say.
“Hey” she says.
“Oh by the way Andrew is looking for you,” I say.
“Okay” he says, “I better go find him you two can talk”
He walks off.
“So” I say.
“So” she replies.
“What do you like to do?” I ask.
“Jared” she says laughing.
What a blonde joke I thought to myself but laughed so I didn’t seem mean.
“Well I like to just hang out and shop” she says.
“Okay cool” I reply.
“So what do you like to do?” she asks.
“Umm draw and skateboard,” I say.
“Ooo rebel” she says jokingly.
“Yeah” I say.
Jared and Andrew walk back.
And the bell rings.
“What great timing” Jared moans.
We get our bags and walk to class.

Recess…
I go and sit with Andrew on the stairs.
“So where are Jared and Kristen?” I ask.
“I dunno probably being lovey dovey together” he jokes.
I laugh.
“What about your sister?” I ask.
“Probably with Tahlia somewhere” he says.
“Okay” I reply.
“So” he says.
“So” I reply pulling out a packet of chips and eating them.
He goes though his bag and pulls out a sandwich.
He looks at it and then moans.
“What?” I ask.
“I got my sisters lunch” he says getting up “wanna come find her?”
“Sure” I say joining him.
We walk around looking for them.
“Hey emo kid why don’t you cut yourself” Some guy yells from over behind the building.
I look at Andrew he looks at me and we look over to where we heard it. It’s Mel, Tahlia and some other people.
“Fuck off Dick” Mel yells.
“Aww run out of razor blades” the guy yells again.
“Come on Tahlia lets go to Art block” Mel says.
The boy blocks her way and pushes her back and she falls over.
Tahlia helps Mel up.
“Oh great its that fucker again” Andrew says.
He walks off and I quickly follow him.
“Leave my sis and her friend alone Glen” Andrew says finally reaching him.
“Oh I’m so sorry” Glen says sarcastically.
“Shut it” Andrew says “Leave them alone or else”
“I don’t think I will leave them alone,” Glen says.
“Fine” Andrew says and punches him in the gut.
“Oh f…” Glen says falling to the ground.
Mel and Tahlia come over to me.
Andrew joins us and we walk off.
“Andrew you idiot violence isn’t right you know your gonna get in trouble again” Mel says.
“So I don’t like people picking on my sis,” He says.

We walk off, Mel is talking to Andrew about his actions and how they were wrong. By the look on Andrew’s face he wasn’t listening and wasn’t planning to do so anytime soon.
When we got back to our bags we sat down.
“By the way Mel I have your lunch” Andrew says pulling out a sandwich.
“Oh oops I ate yours then” she said with a giggle.
“Man I don’t want just plain salad,” he says.
“Wait that means I had a salad and … ham sandwich, ewww” Mel says.
Andrew laughs.
“Why don’t you like ham?” he asks.
“I just don’t” she says “But it must have been like only a little cause I couldn’t taste it”
The bell goes
“That couldn’t have been all of recess,” Andrew says.
“Well it is” Tahlia says.
Tahlia and Mel walk off.
“So I’ll see you after school?” I ask.
“Sure, wanna come over my place?” he asks.
“Umm maybe I might have to ask my mum,” I say.
“Okay well I’m gonna be late for class see ya” he says walking off.
I quickly run off to class.

After school…
I walk out of the school but wait at the gates for Andrew, Andrew finally comes up.
“Hey” he says out of breath.
“Umm hey” I say “You sound like you have been running for like hours”.
“Well I can tell you one thing I have been running,” he says.
“Why?” I ask.
“Glen, that guy I punched, his brother and his friends are after me,” he says still trying to get his breath back.
“Oh Andrew” A voiced yelled out.
We both jumped and looked to see who it was.
It was Mel and Tahlia.
“Hey” Andrew says relieved.
“So hows it going?” Mel nudged him.
Andrew glared at her for a minute but stopped and looked up.
He went as white as a sheet.
“Andrew?” I called to him.
“Oh god” he said and ran off.
I looked and saw Glen and some other boys walking our way.
“You two get home as fast as you can okay,” I said.
They nodded and ran off.

I ran off in the same direction as Andrew.
I keep running until I finally find Andrew sitting on a bench.
“You…Okay” I say out of breath.
“Yeah, did they follow you?” Andrew asks
“Yeah but I ran they walked but I think they may be here soon we must go” I say.
“Yeah, what about my sis” he said.
“I told her to get home as fast as she could” I say “But she went in the opposite direction”
“Yeah she is taking a long cut home, it involves a couple of fence jumps but that’s best” he says getting up “we should go, anyways you coming over mine?”
“I still must ask mum, wait I have an idea, follow me” I say.
We both run off to the mall.
I find Marks car and open the door. Mums in there with him.
“Hey mum can I go over my friend’s?” I beg.
“No” she says.
“Please” I beg.
“Why?” she asks.
“Cause he is my friend” I say.
“No boys” she says.
“Mum” I say.
Mark nudges her.
Mum sighs.
“Fine but you have to be home before dark,” she says.
“Okay thanks mum” I say and close to door.
“Yay I can come over yours” I say to Andrew.
“Oka…” he says but trails off when he turns his head to see Glen.
Glen stops and smiles at us and quickly pulls out his phone.
“Oh man,” he says looking at me.
“Walk normal till we can turn a corner okay” I say.
“Why?” he says as we walk.
“Cause if mum thinks I’m in any trouble she won’t ever let me see you” I reply.
“Okay” he says.

We keep walking, I check over my shoulder and see Marks car drive off, I keep looking and see Glen still on the phone but he looked quite angry, We finally turned the corner and we bolted.
“Okay now you gotta follow me,” he says with a small laugh.
“Does this involve fences?” I ask.
We turn another corner.
“Well not if you don’t wanna, it wont” he says.
“Nah I’m fine,” I say.
We run down a street and he stops.
“Damn” he says.
And turns and runs the other way.
“That was a stupid idea,” he says.
“Why?” I ask.
“Glen’s friend lives down there and he has a German Shepard” Andrew says.
“Eh all German Shepard’s have a soft spot” I say.
“Yeah but this one hasn’t got one” he says.
We continue running but slow down a little.
“Okay two fences coming up okay?” he asks.
“Okay” I say.
We come up to a fence, He jumps it easy, I jump it and I do pretty well. Normally I would stuff it up a bit but eventually get over.
The next one comes up.
He jumps over and then I do.
“Wooo I didn’t stack it,” I say
He laughs and starts walking.
I join him.
“So how much longer to yours?” I ask.
“Not much” he says.
We turn the corner and walk up a driveway of a house.
He opens the door and lets me in.
“So this is your place,” I say looking around
“Yeah” he says.
“MUM THEY ARE HOME” I hear a girl yell.
I woman walks into the room.
“Um hey mum” Andrew says.
“Hey Andy, who’s your friend?” she asks.
“Um this is Jacquie and could you please stop calling me Andy,” he says.
“Hi” she says to me “And no I can’t stop calling you Andy cause you're my little boy”
“I’m sixteen,” he says.
“And I’m 46 but still my sister calls me Teeney” she says walking off.
I look at Andrew.
“Heya Andy” I say jokingly.
“Shut up” he says joking too.
He walks over to a door and knocks.
The door opens and Mel pops her head out.
“You okay?” Andrew asks.
“Yeah” Mel says opening the door wide open.
“Hey Tahlia you okay?” Andrew says.
“I will eventually, ONCE MELISSA STOPS TRYING TO DO MY MAKE UP,” she says.
Andrew laughs and Melissa closes the door.
Andrew shakes his head and walks over to the couch and sits.
I join him.
“So” he says.
“So what are we doing?” I ask.
“I dunno, wanna watch TV?” he asks.
“Meh okay” I say.
He turns the TV on and we watch it.


A couple hours later…
My phone goes off.
I answer it.
“Hi” I say.
“Where are you?” my mum yells on the other end of the phone.
“Umm Andrews” I say.
“HELLO I SAID BE HOME BEFORE DARK, WHAT DO YOU CALL THIS” She yells so loud I have to pull the phone away from my ear but I can still hear her clearly.
I look out the window. All the streetlights are on and you can see the city but yep it was dark.
“Oh sorry I wasn’t looking out the window the whole time” I say.
“Come home now!” she yells.
“Okay see ya in a bit” I say and hang up.
“Sorry Andrew I gotta go, I was supposed to be home a while ago and mums really angry” I say.
“Okay I’ll walk ya there” he says.
“Sure” I reply.
“Mum, I’m taking Jacquie home” he yells to his mum.
“Fine” she says.
We walk out the door and begin walking to my place.


My place…
“Okay see ya,” I say
“See ya, by the way your house looks awesome” he says and walks off.
Mum opens the door. Uh-oh!
“Hey” I say.
She glares at me and walks off leaving the door open for me.
I walk into the house and close the door.
“Sorry I’m really late” I apologize to mum and Mark.
“It’s oka…” Mark says but is cut off by mum.
“You said you would be here before dark” Mum says, “Why weren’t you?”
“I was watching TV with Andrew” I say.
“That’s it not a better excuse” Mum says.
I shrug.
“That’s it to your room now” Mum says.
“What? I’m not 8 mum you can’t treat me like that,” I say.
“GO” she yells.
I walk to my room and slam the door.
I throw my bag across the room and flop on the bed.
“MAN I WISH I WAS BACK IN NEW JERESY” I yell.
“WELL YOUR NOT GET OVER IT” Mum yells back.
“FUCK YOU” I yell to her. I regret my words after saying them.
I quickly sit up as mum slams open the door.
“What did you say?” she questions me.
“Nothing mum” I say.
“I know what you said,” she says walking closer to me.
I jump off the bed.
“Mum I’m sorry I didn’t mean to say that” I say backing up against the wall.
“You better be” she says angrily and walks off to the door “Swear at me again and …” she walks off before saying anything.

I walk over to my bed and sit on it, I tucked my knees into my chest and lay my head onto of them and cry.
I hear someone come into my room.
“You okay?” Mark asks.
I don’t reply.
“Did she hurt you?” he asks.
I shake my head but my head is still buried in my knees.
“Okay, don’t worry this will eventually blow over” he says.
I look up and wipe my eyes and nod.
He smiles and walks out and closes the door.
I fall back on my bed.
My phones rings, I almost jump off my bed.

I run to my phone and answer it.
“Hi” I say.
“Hey” Gerard says.
“OMG HI” I say.
“How are you?” he asks.
“I’ve been better, seriously better” I say.
“Why?” he asks.
I walk over to my bed and sit.
“Well a guy at our school wants to bash Andrew and my mum just yelled at me,” I say.
“Why?” he asks.
“Cause the guy was gonna bash Andrew sis and so he punched…” I say.
“NO … I meant why did your mum yell at you,” he says cutting me off.
“Oh I was late getting home from Andrews and then I accidentally swore at her,” I say.
“What was you doing at Andrews for so long?” he asks.
“Umm I was watching TV” I say.
“Sure” he says.
“Do you not believe me or something?” I ask.
“Sorry got to go” he says and hangs up.

What the hell is going on?
Why is Gerard always doing that?
And why is he up so early is must be like 3am or something over there?
Aww I missed him terribly.
But what is up with him?
I mean arhhhhhh what else could go wrong?
I sit on my bed.
Mark walks in with a plate.
"Hungry?" he asks.
"Not really" I say.
"Well umm I cooked you something anyway,” he says passing me the plate.
I look at it.
"Thanks for the Nachos" I say.
"Welcome" he says and walks out.
I eat a couple of chips and place the plate on my side table.
I get my phone and decide to write a txt to Gerard:
Hey Gee, Are you okay? You’re acting kinda well weird.
I send it to him and continue eating the nachos.
When I finish I take my plate out and decide to finish some homework I had got today.
If a train was going at continuous speed of 60km/h and it was 30 minutes away from the station and another train was going at a continuous speed of 100km/h and was 2 hours away from the station, How long would it take for the two trains to meet?
Man why the hell would I wanna know about that?
I put away my homework, I didn't feel like doing homework.
I check my phone for a txt but nothing.
He was probably asleep.
I decided I might as well go to sleep too.

Chapter 24 – School again **FAST FORWARD TO TUESDAY** (Jacquie’s POV)

“Honey school” mum says waking me up.
“Okay” I say getting up and rubbing my eyes.
I walk into the kitchen and my mum hands me some clothes.
“Eww these are ugly,” I say.
“That’s your uniform we bought you yesterday” she says.
“What?” I ask.
“This school has a uniform,” she says.
“No you’re kidding me,” I say.
“Nope” she says walking off.
‘Great, this uniform is like seriously ugly’ I say to myself.
It is a tartan skirt with a white shirt.
‘Well its not that ugly I’m just not into skirts’ I think again.
Mum comes back into the kitchen with a pair of black leather shoes.
“Oh yeah and these are some shoes we bought, quickly” she says “By the way Mark will pick you up at the shopping center so you're gonna have to walk there but it’s only a short walk”.
“Fine” I say.
I walk to the bathroom and have a shower, When I finish I go into my room, dry myself and look for things I can add to my uniform. Black stockings? May as well I laugh ‘Why the hell do I have Matt’s tie in here?’ I ask myself. I must have packed it by accident, oh well a tie wouldn’t hurt. I get dressed, I find a black jacket and I put that on as well, I pack my bag and walk into the living room.
“That jacket isn’t apart of the uniform,” my mum says looking at me.
“So” I say.
“Take it off it’s not even cold” she says.
I take it off and lay it on the seat.
“A tie?” she asks.
“Yes” I say.
“No that’s not apart of uniform either,” she says.
“Fine geez” I say taking it off “How about stockings MOTHER?”
“Don’t speak to me like that” she say and then calms down “The stockings are fine I’ll go get you a jacket if you’re cold”
She walks out the room and reappears with a blue jacket.
“Man the uniform is so…stupid” I say taking it from her and putting it on.
Mum glares at me and walks off.
“Okay ready?” Mark asks.
“Yeah” I say.
We walk out of the house and get in the car.
“I guess mum isn’t coming,” I say.
“Yeah” he says, “She is going to Kay’s again”
“I’m sorry she is like treating me like trash,” I say.
“She isn’t, she’s just making friends” he says starting the car and begins driving me to school.
“I’ll speak to her okay?” I ask
“Nah, it’s alright,” he says.
We stay silent until I get to school.
“See ya at the shopping center” he says.
“Okay see ya then” I reply.
I walk to the office.
“Hi there and welcome to your new school” the office receptionist says.
“Thanks” I say.
She passes me a piece of paper, I look at it and it’s a timetable. She passes me another.
“The first paper I handed you was your timetable and the second is a map of the school, would you like someone to help you around?” she asks.
“Umm sure” I say.
“Okay” she says, “Follow me”
I follow her as we walk the halls, People were looking at me but it didn’t bother me as much as it used too.
We walk up to a kid that is reading a book, He is quite tall and has brown hair.
“Michael” she says to him.
“Yeah” he says lowering his book but still reading.
“This is Jacquie she is new and I was wondering can you show her around please,” she says.
“Okay mum” he says and finally stops reading.
The receptionist walks off. I look at his face he has black-rimmed glasses and his eyes wear a weird yellow/green colour.
“Hi Jacquie as you now know I’m Michael” he say.
“Hey” I say.
“Well what can I exactly help you with?” he asks.
“Umm where do I go for class for a start” I say.
“Okay have you got a time table yet?” he asks.
“Yeah” I say passing it to him.
“Okay” he say looking at it “Well your first class is English in E16 which is the same room as mine so I’ll show you that when we go, your next class is Music in PA2 okay umm did my mum… I mean receptionist give you a map?” he say.
“Umm yeah” I say taking it out and passing it to him.
“Well it’s here,” he says showing me.
“Well I think I know how to read a map,” I say.
“Yeah, sorry I wasn’t sure exactly what to tell you” he says.
“Well okay” I say.
He smiles sorta awkwardly.
The bell rings.
“Okay to English” he says.
I follow him. We walk to a room and he opens the door, We both enter, I go to the teacher and introduce myself to him.
“Okay go sit down,” he says rather angrily.
I sit next to Michael.
“Don’t worry about him he is always angry” he says.
I take out a book for English.
“By the way does this school have lockers?” I ask
“Nope” he says.
“Damn” I say.
“Yeah we had them for a year or two and then they took them away, I don’t know why I rather liked them” he says.

2nd Period…
I walk to Music, I go inside and talk to the teacher.
“Oh hello I’ll add you to my roll now, take a seat” she says.
I sit right in the back, A couple of other students come in. Two boys stop and look around for seats, They see seats next to me and sit at them, I pull out a book for music.
“Hey” I hear someone whisper.
I turn and see it’s one of the boys that had just entered the room, He has brown hair and green eyes and looked quite tall.
“Hi” I say.
“Who are you?” he asks.
“I’m Jacquie and you are?” I ask.
“I’m Jared and this Andrew,” he says.
Andrew waves and I wave back. Andrew has black hair and blue eyes he looked quite gothic.
“So” I say.
“Got any friends yet?” Jared asks.
“Well I know umm Michael” I say.
“Michael who?” he asks.
“I dunno his last name,” I say.
“Does he have glasses?” he asks.
“Yeah” I reply.
“Michael Phillips I’m guessing then” he says.
“I dunno” I say.
“Well I think it is cause he is the only Michael that wears glasses at this school” he says.
“Okay” I say.
“Well he is our friend but he doesn’t like us that much anymore” he says.
“Why?” I ask.
“He likes to spend most of his time reading and we like doing more than just that and we tried to stop him from being such a bookworm and we accidentally teared his book” he says.
“Oh” I say.
“Yeah we said we were sorry we even bought him a brand new copy of it and he still doesn’t like us,” he says.
“Yeah he’s a bit too…Serious” Andrew adds.
“Okay” I say.
“Jared, Andrew and …Jacquie please stop chatting and write down these notes” the teacher says to us.
We all start writing.


Lunch…
“So wanna hang with us?” Andrew asks.
“Yeah” I reply.
I follow them over near some steps and we sit.
“If we see Michael we will call him over okay?” Jared says.
“Okay” I reply.
I pull out my phone and check the time.
“Are you anxious or something?” Jared asks taking a bite of his sandwich.
“Nah, I was just seeing if I could call a friend my friend from America” I say.
“You have friends from America?” he asks.
“Yeah, I’m from America” I say.
“Really?” Andrew asks.
“Yeah” I say.
“Awesome, Where in America?” Jared asks.
“New Jersey” I reply.
“Like it?” he asks.
“Hell yeah” I say.
“Oh, I heard its bad” Andrew says.
“Well that’s a whole lot of crap,” I say.
“Umm okay sorry” he replies.
“It’s fine,” I say.
“Michael over here” Jared yells out.
Michael turns and sees us and walks over.
“I see you have met… them,” he says.
“Yeah” I say.
“I believe we have names,” Jared says.
“So” he says.
“You could use them” Jared replies.
“Why should I?” Michael asks.
“Cause we call you by your name” Jared says getting up.
“So” Michael replies.
“What the hell is wrong with you? We are sorry about tearing your book, we even bought you a new one what else do you want?” Jared asks.
“I dunno” he replies.
Jared sits back down.
There’s an awkward silence. Andrew breaks it.
“So are we mates again?” he says.
Michael shrugs “I guess”.
“Okay” Andrew says.
Michael sits down next to me and pulls out a book and begins reading, Jared rolls his eyes,
Andrew tries to make conversation.
“So did you do much in New Jersey?” he asks.
“Umm I skateboarded and umm hanged with my friends,” I say.
This catches Michael’s attention.
“You're from America?” he asks.
“Yeah” I say.
“Okay that’s umm cool” he says and goes back to his book.
“You skateboard?” Andrew asks.
“Yeah” I reply.
“Cool know any tricks?” he asks.
“Not really” I say.
“I skate too,” he says.
“Yeah, he is pretty good at it” Jared says.
“Thanks” Andrew replies.
I look over at Michael, he is still reading.
“So what are you reading?” I ask Michael.
“Nothing that would interest you” he says.
“I was just asking,” I say.
“Sorry I just don’t like being bothered when I’m reading” he says.
“Okay” I say.
We continue eating out lunch.
A girl comes up to Jared.
“Hiya Jared” she says.
“Hi Kirstin” he says.
“Forgot about me?” she asks and then looks over at me, “Or have you replaced me?”
“Forgot sorry, Lets go now okay,” he says getting up and taking his bag.
He walks off with her without saying bye.
“Umm can you fill me in Andrew?” I ask.
“Well that was Kristen, and Jared and her are like going out and yeah, she’s keeps thinking that Jared is cheating on her, I don’t know why though” he says.
“Okay” I say.
“I know why” Michael says.
“Why then?” Andrew asks.
“Because she was cheated on before and she was heart broken and she doesn’t want it to happen again” he says.
“Right, Lee Hunter and Johanna Kase I remember that now” Andrew says.
“Yeah exactly” Michael says.
The bell rings.
“Damn I’m up to a good chapter” Michael says.
“Oh well” Andrew says.
I look at my timetable. Maths in M27.
“Cool you’re in my class” says Andrew from over my shoulder, which makes me jump.
“Oh sorry” he says.
We walk to M27 and go inside and me once again telling the teacher who I am, I go and sit with Andrew.
“Man I hate Maths, I can’t wait for art,” I say under my breath.“You like art?” Andrew asks.
“Oh yeah” I say.
“Cool” he says.


Home time…
I walk out of Art (5th period) and make my way out the school.
“Hey Jacquie wait up” I hear Andrew yell.
I stop and wait for him.
“Hey” I say.
“Hey” he says.
“So” I say beginning to walk, as does he.
“Are you walking home?” he asks.
“Nah, I’m going to the mall and my mum’s boyfriend is picking me up,” I say.
“Okay cool, I’m going to the mall to buy some stuff so I’ll walk with ya” he says.
We continue walking till we arrive at the mall.
“Okay see ya,” I say to him.
“See ya,” he says walking through the mall doors.
I look for Mark’s car and I find it. I open the door and get in.
“Heya Mark” I say.
“Hi” he says, “How was school?”
“Oh good” I say.
“Cool” he says starting the engine and driving off.
We drive in complete silence.
When we arrive at home I go inside and lie on my bed. I look over at the clock its 3.30pm. I so wanna call Gerard but I can’t cause it would be like 1.30am and I don’t wanna wake him up. I go into the living room and sit next to Mark, He is watching some sort of sport program.
“So have you seen mum?” I ask.
“Nope, she's been with Kay all day” he says.
“Okay, I don’t care what you say I’m gonna talk to her when she gets in” I say quite angrily.
“Don’t,” he says.
“I’m sorry my mum is being a bitch” I say and walk into my room.
I hear the front door open.
“Hey honey” I hear my mum say to Mark.
“Hey babe” he says.
I walk out to see them two hugging and kissing.
“Umm mum I need to talk to you,” I say.
They both stop and mum walks over to me and we go into my room.
“Mum your acting like well… a bitch” I say to her.
“No I’m not,” she says.
“Hello you always ditch Mark to go to your friends and forget about us and then he always buys you stuff and all you do is wear it and leave, if you don’t stop it he is gonna think you’re a gold digger” I say.
“You're right” she sighs.
“Really?” I ask in disbelief, she was agreeing with me for once.
“Yeah, I’m never here to stay with him and talk to him” she says “I’m gonna spend more time with him”
“Okay mum” I say happily.
We walk out of my bedroom.
“I’m sorry Mark,” she says going up to him and hugging him.
Mark smiles at and I smile back and go back in my room.

Dinner…
We are having dinner in the dining room.
“Yum this is really nice” Mum says
“Yeah I make the best spaghetti,” he says proudly.
I continue eating.
When I finish I put the plate in the sink and go back in my room. I look at the time YES it’s 8.20am in New Jersey I can call Gerard. I pick up my phone and call him.
“Heya baby girl” he says.
“Hey Gee Gee” I say.
“Why did you call me today?” he asks.
“Cause I miss you” I say “And to tell you how school was”
“Awesome” he says.
“Well school was pretty good except I gotta wear a school uniform and it looks weirdish” I say.
“I bet you still look awesome with it on” he says.
“Aww thanks” I say.
“You make anything look good,” he says.
“Aww your so sweet” I say.
“Make any friends?” he asks.
“Yeah” I say.
“Tell Me,” he says.
“Okay there’s Michael he is kinda weird and there’s Jared and he’s pretty cool I guess and Andrew he’s goth I think well he looks goth I’m not sure he’s awesome” I say.
“Anyone else?” he asks kinda nervous.
“No, Gerard are you okay?” I ask.
“Oh I’m fine its good to see you are making friends…w...o a… g...ys” he says but says the end quietly almost like it was under his breath.
“What gee I didn’t hear what you just said?” I ask.
“Never mind I gotta go see ya,” he says.
But before I could say bye he had hung up.
‘What was wrong with him?’ I asked myself.
“Hey honey that show we were watching last night is on gonna watch it with us?” mum asks.
“Yeah mum I’m coming” I reply and join them.


Gerard’s POV (At school {before school})
“So Gerard hows Jacquie?” Matt asks.
“She’s fine” I reply.
“Doesn’t sound like it” Matt says.
I look through my bag for my drawing book, I find it and pull it out and begin drawing some random comics.
“Gerard what is up man?” Matt asks.
“Don’t matter,” I say.
“Please tell me dude,” Matt says.
“No Matt” I reply.
“Please?” Matt asks.
“Stop it” I say.
“Tell me” Matt says.
“Get lost” I say.
“Tell us?” Ray adds.
“Stop asking” I say.
“WHAT THE HELL IS WITH THE TWO WORDED REPLIES GERARD, WHAT THE FUCK IS UP?” Matt yells.
“Shut the fuck up nothing is wrong, get over it” I say
Lucy and Paula sit next to me.
“What’s up?” Lucy asks.
“Nothing” I say.
“Please tell us what’s up with you and Jacquie” Paula says.
“How do you know its about me and Jacquie?” I ask and stop drawing.
“It’s obvious to us girls,” Lucy says.
“I don’t wanna talk about it,” I say.
“Okay can you at least put it into one of these categories?” Paula asks.
“Yeah whatever” I reply.
“Okay” she says “Argument, Fight, Break up or Jealous”
“Umm well jealous I guess” I say.
“Oooh I see, Friends or guys?” She asks.
“I’m not saying anything,” I say
“It’s guys,” she says. Lucy nods.
“How the hell do you do that?” I ask.
“Easy” Paula says.
I look back down at my drawings and continue.
“You can talk to us about it you know” Lucy says.
“I don’t wanna” I say.
“How about us?” Ray asks
“Maybe later” I reply slightly peed off.
“We are here for you” Matt says.
Lucy rubs my shoulder, I look at her and she stops goes red and turns away, I go back to my drawings.
“So umm Gerard can I call Jacquie by any chance?” Matt asks.
“Umm okay why?” I ask.
“I need to ask her a couple of things,” he says.
“Okay” I say.
Matt walks off behind the corner.


Matt’s POV
I dial Jacquie’s number.
“Hey Matt” she says answering.
“Hey” I say.
“What’s up?” she asks.
“Not much, Umm Jacquie I need help” I say.
“Umm okay sure what is it?” she asks.
“I think something’s up with Paula” I say.
“Really why?” she asks.
“Well she doesn’t seem to act how she used to like she doesn’t talk to me as much she seems to get angry and then go talk to Lucy and then they go off and, like, shop” I say.
“Umm it might be that time of month,” she says.
“I don’t think so,” I say.
“Maybe she might just need some time alone or maybe you kiss her a bit too much” she says with a little laugh at the end.
“Yeah you might be right,” I say.
“Umm Matt?” she says.
“Yeah” I say.
“Is Gerard okay? He was acting sorta weird,” she says.
“Yeah” I say lying since I did sorta know why.
“Okay thanks” she says.
“Okay I better be going see ya” I say.
“See ya Matt say hi to everyone for me okay” she says.
“Okay” I say and hang up.

I walk back to everyone.
“Well Jacquie says hi,” I say “And also Gerard she was kinda worried about you”
“Why?” he asks.
“She said you acted weird, I’m guessing on the phone when you were talking to her” I say.
“Okay” he says going back to his drawings.
Ray tries to look at it but Gerard moves it so he can’t.
“Gerard what you drawing?” Ray says trying to look at it again.
“Nothing” Gerard replies moving his drawing so Ray can’t see again.
Ray looks at Lucy and she shrugs.
“Tell us what is bothering you,” I say to Gerard.
“Fine, geez you guys won’t quit” he says frustrated.
“Thanks” I say.
“Well… She got some new friends and well…” he says but stops.
“They are guys aren’t they” Paula says.
“You so gotta stop doing that,” Gerard says.
“Can’t help it its obvious to me” she says.
“Well yeah they are guys and yeah” he says looking at his shoes.
“Okay what’s to worry about dude?” Ray says.
Lucy shakes her head.
“Ray it means Gerard is scared Jacquie will go off with them, BUT ITS OBVIOUS SHE WON’T” Paula says.
“You never know Paula, what happens if she does?” Gerard says.
“She won’t you should know that you are really close to her and know practically everything about her” Paul says.
“Still” he says looking up at the sky.
Paula rolls her eyes and leans on me.
The bell rings.
“Whoopee class” Ray says sarcastically picking up his bag.
We walk to class.

Jacquie’s POV
After Matt called me I went back to watching TV. Ever since I told mum she was acting like a bitch she has been cuddling up to him, This was great… for them but made me feel lonely and miss Gerard. I go into my room and sit on my bed staring at the picture Gerard had drawn, I know, I’ll send him an email and Mikey and the rest of them emails, I get back up and go to my laptop and turn it on, I go onto my email account and start writing a letter for Gerard:
Hey Gee Gee
How are you?
I’m kinda bored and I thought I would write you an email.
I’m missing you heaps; I wish I was there with you.
So far all I have done since I’ve got here is shopped really. I’ve bought heaps of clothes plus my phone and laptop.
Yeah it must have cost like over $4000 for all the stuff I got but Marks really nice and he bought me it all. Yay me I guess.
Well anyways talk to you later
Love Jacquie
xoxoxo

I send it and start writing emails to everyone else. But when I come to Mikey’s I remember that Gerard said he a little crush on me. What was I supposed to say? Well I can’t lead him on or anything. I write:
Hiya Mikey
How you going?
I told you I was gonna send you emails. Bet you didn’t I was.
Well anyways are you still learning how to play guitar?
Cause you are pretty good, better than me.
Well I gotta go byes
Love Jacquie
xoxoxo

I send it and get off the Internet and turn my laptop off, I go and lie back onto my bed staring at the ceiling. I was bored no doubt about it, I toss over and look at the wall, It was bland and boring just a plain black wall. THAT’S IT!
“Mark can I paint something on my wall?” I yell out.
“Umm what?” he says and then he walks into my room.
I jump up from off the bed.
“Can I make like a mural thing on the wall?” I ask.
“Umm okay but I don’t have any paint” he says.
“Don’t worry, I’ll draw it now and then tomorrow we can go shopping and I can get paint, well after school” I say.
“Well okay” he says and walks out.
I pick up a pencil.
This wall was big. And now it was my big black canvas, Yes a big black canvas I could draw whatever I wanted. DAMN I can’t think of anything, I don’t get it when I want to draw something I can’t think of anything. A skull? No, A Cemetery? Umm hmm no too… done before. Oh ta … hell with it I’ll wait till I can think of something.
“Mark I can’t think of anything to draw so don’t worry about shopping okay,” I yell out.
“Okay” he says.
I sit back on my bed, I lay back.
Stupid drawers block.
Man what am I to do?
Sleep? Too early.Call Gerard? He is in class; well at least I think so.
Listen to music? Nah
Watch TV? No I don’t wanna watch my mum and Mark kissing
Fine I’m going to watch TV.
I walk into the living room and Mum and Mark are watching TV no kissing OMG yes, I sit next to them and watch TV with them.

Chapter 23 – Gonna get you a …(Jacquie’s POV)

“Morning” Mark says waking me up.
“Morning” I reply getting up from my bed.
I walk into the kitchen with him and we both make a bowl of cereal.
“So what are we doing today?” I ask and then have a mouthful of cereal.
“Getting you a laptop remember?” he says.
“What you meant that?, OH MY GOD your so nice” I say.
“Well if you want one that is?” he asks.
“OH MY GOD I SO WANT ONE” I say.
I can’t belive how nice he is, he is, like getting me whatever I want.
“Where’s my mum?” I ask.
“Oh she’s having a shower she should be out in, like, a minu...” he says but is interrupted by my mum walking into the room in a new dress.
“I love this dress thanks so much Honey,” she says.
“No problem babe” he replies.
My mum smiles and does a spin to show off her dress, Her dress was really nice, It was purple with swirls of red on it. She comes over and sits next to Mark and gives him a kiss and steals a spoon of his cereal.
“So what are we doing?” she asks.
“We are getting Jacquie a laptop remember?” he says.
“Yeah one minute” she says and pulls out a phone that looked seriously blinged up.
“Heya” she says.
“Okay see ya then” she says.
“Honey can you drive me to Kay’s?” she asks.
“Umm sure, but weren’t we gonna go shopping with Jacquie together?” he says, he sounded quite upset.
“Come on please I wanna see Kay again she is bored and she wants to go shopping” she says.
“Why don’t we all go shopping together?” Mark says.
“Nah I wanna stay just with Kay” she says getting up and going to Mark’s bedroom.
Mum was acting how she used to when we were living with Dad.
“Oh well we can still go shopping together can’t we?” he asks.
“Sure” I say.
I pick up my empty bowl and his and take them out into the kitchen, I walk to my room and get dressed and then put stuff in my bag and meet Mark and mum in the car, Mark drives to a house really close to the sea, Mum gets out and kisses Mark on the cheek and runs up to the door of the house and knocks then goes in.

Mark drives off and we go to another shopping center, This one looked way bigger. Mark parks the car and we both get out, We go inside and look around, We got to a computer shop and we look at all of the laptops.
“How about this one?” the shop clerk asks.
“Nah that ones to…fat” I say.
Mark laughs at my reply.
“How about this then?” the clerk asks showing me another one.
“Actually I like that one” I say looking at it.
“It’s go a lot of memory, 2GB of r…” he says but I interrupt him.
“I’m not a very technical person so tell me will it work with Internet?” I ask.
“Well yeah all you need is a modem…” he says I cut him off again.
“I repeat not a technical person,” I say.
“Okay well yes we just need to get a… thing for it” he says.
“Okay” I say.
“Okay how much?” Mark asks.
“$2567” The clerk says.
“Holly...Cat” I say.
“Hey I can pay for that,” he says.

We walk to the desk and the clerk goes back into a room and gets a box and another box.
“This is the ‘thing’ you plug into the laptop for Internet” he says.
Mark swipes his card on a machine and pays for it. He talks to the clerk about Internet plans. We leave with Mark carrying the computer.
“Oh thanks so much Mark,” I say “You are so awesome”
“Oh thanks, I'll set this up for you at home okay?” he says.
“Thanks” I say.

We walk out of the shopping center and go to the car and get into the car. Mark drives us back to his place, I get out and he carries my laptop into my room and sets it up for me.
“Well I’m gonna be a bit setting up the Internet, wanna call someone?” he asks.
“Yeah sure what do you think the time is in New Jersey right now?” I ask.
Mark laughs “ Well it’s 11am so its… 8 pm”
“Okay thanks” I say and walk into the living room and call Gerard.
“Hey baby girl,” he says.
“Ooo new nickname yay” I say.
He laughs.
“So what up?” I ask.
“Well Ryan’s spreading rumors about us” he says, “I nearly bashed him but Matt told me to stop so I did and went off for a while”
“Fuck I hate him,” I say.
“Yeah” he says.
“I found out when I start school again,” I say
“Okay when?” he asks
“Well next week on Tuesday” I say.
“Okay well hope you have umm fun” he replies.
“I don’t wanna” I say.
“Yeah I know but seriously you will have heaps of friends,” he says
“And what happens if I don’t?” I ask.
“I’ll come over and stay with you,” he says.
“I’m gonna purposely not have any friends then Miss PMS is in” I say with a laugh.
“Well that doesn’t count Miss ‘PMS’” he say and then laughs.
“Fine” I say.
“How’s everyone?” I ask.
“Everyone’s good, I found out something about Mikey” he says.
“And that is?” I ask.
“He has a little crush,” he says.
“On who?” I ask
“You” he says.
“Really?” I ask.
“Yeah but he won’t admit to it” he says.
“Aww sweet” I say.
“Yeah” he says.
“Ooo someone sounds jealous,” I say jokingly.
“You bet I am” he replies jokingly.
We both laugh.
“It’s Friday over there isn’t it?” I ask.
“Yeah” he replies.
“It’s Saturday here” I say.
“Obviously” he says.
“Shut up blonde moment,” I say.
“You're not blonde though” he says
“Well yeah so” I say.
“Anyways I gotta go really sorry babe” he says.
“Aww I wanna talk to you for like ever” I say
“Same here sorry bye” he says.
“Bye” I say.
“Bye” he says.
“See ya” I say.
“Oh my god I don’t wanna hang up” he says.
“Okay on the count of three hang up okay” I say.
“Okay” he says.
“1…2…3 bye” I say.
He hangs up.
‘Aww I really wanted to keep talking’ I say to myself.

I walk back into my room and sit on my bed and watch Mark fix up my computer. He stops and looks at me.
“What’s up?” he asks.
“I wanted to talk to him for like ever but since we live so far away its, like, impossible” I say.
“Aww don’t worry maybe in the holidays he could come here or maybe you go over there” he suggests.
“Yeah” I reply really happily.

He goes back to fixing it and I continue watching him. He stops again.
“Why are you watching me?” he asks.
“I’m bored” I say.
“Well umm can you make me a coffee? Please” he asks.
“Sure” I say getting up and going into the kitchen.
I start making the coffee.
‘Oh my god if Gerard came over here that would be awesome’ I thought to myself ‘we could like umm party and umm shop, wait he isn’t that keen on shopping’.
I finish making the coffee and take it in to Mark.
“Thanks Jac” he says taking the coffee from me “ By the way I just finish setting up your laptop”.
“Thanks” I reply.
He takes his coffee and leaves the room.
“What the hell am I supposed to do now?” I ask myself aloud.
“Internet?” Mark says.
“Meh, I wanna just draw I guess” I reply and sit and begin drawing random things.

(Gerard’s POV) (10pm in NJ)
“So what do you wanna do?” Paula asks Matt.
“I dunno whatever you wanna do” he replies.
“But I wanna do whatever you wanna do” she says to him.
“You choose” he says.
“GEEZ do something before I puke” I say to them.
“Dude your such a downer” Matt says jokingly.
“I know, I’m bored and I’m waiting for Ray to come back” I say.
“It has been a while, hasn’t it” Paula says.
“Yeah it has, like an hour it only takes a couple of minutes to get to Lucy’s and here” Matt says.
“Maybe we should go and check on them” I say.

We get up and walk out the door. We walk to Lucy’s first.
I knock on the door and her mum answers it.
“Hey is Lucy and Ray here” I ask.
“Oh they left about” she says checking her watch “55 minutes or so ago”.
“Really?” Matt asks.
“Yeah” she says.
“Okay thanks, bye” I say.
She closes the door and we walk down the pathway a bit.
“Okay lets check Ray’s now” I say.
“Yeah they are bound to be there” Matt says reassuringly.

We walk to Ray’s. I knock on the door.
“One minute” I hear Ray yell.
We hear a scrambling in the house. Matt raises an eyebrow and Paula laughs.
Ray finally answers the door with his shirt badly buttoned up.
“Well it doesn’t take much to wonder what you have been doing” I say with a laugh.
“Yeah, my parents were out and well I had the place to my self, so yeah” Ray says.
“You mean… 2nd base?” Matt asks.
“No… More like Make out session” Ray says.
“Yeah yeah” Paula says what we were all thinking.
“Anyways we can’t make it” Ray says with a smile.
“Okay Ray we understand” I say.
We all laugh and walk off.

We arrive back at Matt’s.
“So what the hell are we supposed to do now?” Matt asks opening the door.
“Well I think I might go sleep I’m really tired, and now that just leaves you two,” I say suggestively but only in a joking way.
“OH YEAH LETS DO THAT” Matt says also joking.
“Well see ya” I say and leave and go to my place.
I open the door and hear guitar sounds.
‘Frankie’ I say to myself.
I walk to Mikey’s room I need to tell Frankie to stop because it’s most likely mum is trying to sleep. I open the door to find Mikey sitting there playing guitar pretty damn well.
“Umm Mikey I really seriously don’t wanna say this but you're gonna have to stop mum is probably trying to sleep” I say
“Yeah” he says “But I don’t wanna”.
“Mikey” I say crossing my arms.
“Fine” he says putting the guitar down.
“Thanks Mikey” I say closing the door and then sitting next to him.
“So” I say.
“What?” he asks.
“I know who you like” I say teasingly.
He glares at me.
“I can’t believe you gave me such a hard time and you liked her” I say.
“Well yeah so” he says.
I smile at him.
“I had no chance with her anyway” Mikey say lying back onto his bed.
“You never know Mikey” I say.
“Three years difference” he says.
“Well that don’t matter really” I say.
“Yeah it does its like going out with a fucken preschooler” Mikey sorta yells.
“Mikey don’t worry okay, you will find the perfect girl for you one day and you will be as happy as ever” I say.
“Whatever” he says.
I decide it might be best to leave him and I walk out of his room and go into mine and sleep.

Chapter 22 – Can’t Stop Thinking About Her (Gerard’s POV)

I lay on my bed and wait till my alarm on my clock rings 7.30am. Clock finally goes off. I turn it off and sit up. I’m so tired I didn’t get any sleep cause I can’t stop thinking about her. What the hell am I to do? She hasn’t called me and I’m kinda worried.



I walk into the living room and find Mikey lying on the couch asleep.

“Mikey” I say trying to wake him.

“Gerard fuck off,” he says to me still sorta unconscious.

I push him off the couch.

“Man Gerard, You can’t ever let me have a good dream can you?” he yells at me.

“What about then?” I say with a smirk.

“Jac…” he say but trails off.

I look at him and start smiling.

“JACK” he says.

“You have been giving me a hard time all this time over Jacquie and you like her” I say.

“NO I SAID JACK” he says quickly and quite loudly.

“Are you gay then?” I ask with a laugh.

“NO” he yells.

“Shh, you're gonna wake mum gaybo” I say.

“Shut up, I’m not gay” Mikey says “And I only like Jacquie as a friend”.

“Sure sure” I reply and walk into the kitchen and I start making myself a coffee.

“Mikey wanna coffee” I ask.

“Yeah” he replies.

I hear footsteps coming into the living room.

“Morning mum, how are you?” I hear Mikey say.

“Morning, I’m alright” My mum says.

“Coffee Mum?” I ask

“Thanks darling” she replies.



I finish making the coffees and bring them out.

“Thanks” Mikey and my mum say.

I take my coffee and go in my room.

I sit on my bed and stare at my phone. I start taking sips of my coffee. I stop and look at my book of drawings, I go over to it and start flipping though till I find the one I did of Jacquie. It was pretty but not as pretty as Jacquie. I close the book and finish my coffee. I get my clothes out for school. Which was Black skinny jeans and shirt with a vampire on it. This shirt was one of Jacquie’s Favorites. I pick my clothes up and walk to the bathroom and place them on the vanity. I then have a shower.



After shower…

I get out and dry myself. I fix my hair up and put on my clothes. I take out the laundry and walk back in my room and get my stuff ready for school.

“Aww fuck” I hear Mikey yell.

I walk out and to Mikey’s room.

“What wrong Mikester?” I ask him.

“Fucken shirt is pink,” he says.

I look at the pink shirt he is holding.

“Isn’t that the shirt Jacquie likes of yours” I say to him.

“Yeah, well you're wearing the one she likes as well” he replies.

“Touché” I say to him.

He smiles.

I smile back at him.

“How about her other favorite?” I ask.

“Yeah I guess” he say throwing the pink shirt on his bed and walking over to his closet and looking through it, He pulls out another shirt, It has a skateboard on it.

I walk out and grab the now pink shirt.

I walk to mum.

“Can you make this white again?” I ask her.

“Yeah” she says taking it out of my hands “Isn’t this Mikey’s?”

“Yeah, Fix it for him” I say.

I walk into my room and get my bag.

“Bye” I yell to everyone.

“Bye” they reply.



I walk out the house and then I walk next door to Matt’s.I knock on the door.Matt opens it and closes it behind him.

“Hey” he says “Any word from Jac?”

“Nah, not yet” I say.

“Okay” he says.



We walk over to Ray’s. We find him talking to Lucy on his driveway.

“About time” he says jokingly.

“Hey” Lucy says.

“Hi” Matt replies.

“Yeah” I say.

“What’s up Gerard?” Ray asks me.

“Noth…” I say but am cut off by Matt

“He’s upset Jacquie hasn’t called him yet”.

“Oh” Ray says.

“I’m sure she will call soon” Lucy says.

“Okay” I say.We walk over to Paula’s.

Matt goes to knock on the door but Paula opens the door before he can.

“Hey honey” she says and kisses him.

“Hey” Matt replies and kisses her back.

“Hey everyone” she says.

“Hey” we all reply.



We walk off to school. I feel kinda left out since Paula and Matt were holding hands and so was Ray and Lucy.

‘Loner AGAIN’ I think to myself. When we arrive at school up comes Ryan as usual.

“Hey guys” he says.

“Fuck off” I say to him.

“What did I do … LONER?” he says obviously wanting me to bite back.

It worked “WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY?” I yell at him.

“I said what did I do…” he smirked “Loner?”

I glare at him and clench my fists.

“Gerard don’t dude this guy is a waste of time” Matt says.

“Loner Loner Loner” Ryan taunts.

“Fuck up Ryan” I say as calm as I could.

“L…O…N…E…R SPELLS loner” he says.

I drop my bag and walk up closer to him. He backs away a bit.

He smiles again

“What Jacquie not here because she couldn’t stand the sight of you?” he says.

“Gerard don’t bite okay” Ray says.

I take his advice in a way. I turn around and pick up my bag and walk out of the school.

“Gerard you gotta stop doing this” Matt yells to me as I walk off.

I stop and turn and look at him.

“Then let me bash this little fuck wit and I won’t go” I say.

“You know violence isn’t the answer Gerard” Ray says.

“Then what is?” I yell “Talking?”

“Yes it is” Ray replies.“You know Jacquie didn’t like violence, you know why she only used it when she was younger” Matt says.

“Whatever, Tell them I’m gonna be in later” I say and walk off. I ignore whatever they say and keep walking.



(Matts POV)

“Gerard come back” I yell to him.

He just keeps walking.

I turn to Ryan who was now looking at me.

“Why the fuck do you wind him up all the time?” I ask.

“Cause you guys won’t let me hang with you” he says.

“I wonder why?” Paula says sarcastically.

“Could you just leave us alone please?” I ask.

“Fine, I’ll get better friends and you’ll see I will be back on top of the school again” he says walking off.

I get out my phone and call Gerard.

I wait and then finally he answers.

“Dude come back” I say.

“I’ll be back around 2nd period okay” he says and hangs up.

“Okay apparently Gerard will be back around 2nd period” I say to everyone.

“Did he say what he was doing?” Lucy asks.

“Nope” I reply.

Bell rings.

“Okay see ya later” I say and we all walk to class.



2nd period… (Gerard POV)

I walk into Art class late.

“Sorry sir” I say to my art teacher.

“Okay Gerard go sit down” he says.

I sit right at the back where Jacquie and I use to sit. Jacquie’s little drawing of a skateboard was still there. I smile as I see it.

Kayley sits next to me.

“Heya Gerald” she says.

“Its Gerard” I say.

“Whatever, sorry about you and Jacquie” she says.

“What?” I ask surpised.

“I’m sorry about you scaring Jacquie off” she says with a laugh.

“I didn’t scare her off, Her mum wanted to live in Australia so she had no choice but to go” I say quite angrily.

“Yeah, Yeah sounds like that other girl all over again” she says rolling her eyes.

“Who did you get all this crap off?” I ask

“Ryan” she says.

“He is a liar” I say.

She gets up “whatever” she says and walks over to her friends again.

Ryan is really pissing me off now.



Lunch…

I walk over to our spot. Everyone is already there.

“You okay now Gerard?” Matt asks.

“Not really, Ryan has began spreading rumors” I say.

“Oh fuck no he is back to his tricks again” Matt says.

“Now can I bash him?” I ask.

Matt glares at me. Obviously a no.

“You can’t go around bashing people” Ray says “But you can have revenge” he says evilly.

“Yeah” I say.



(Jacquie’s POV) at 9am (6pm New Jersey)

I wake up and get some clothes out of my closet. And walk to the bathroom and have a shower. When I finish I dry myself and put my clothes on and take the laundry out. I walk into the living room.

“Morning Jacquie” Mark says.

“Morning where is mum?” I ask.

“She is asleep” he says “She told me to take you shopping is that okay?”

“Umm okay” I say.

I put on my chucks and Mark and I get into his car, He starts the engine and we drive off into the city. We go past heaps of shops. I smile as we go by a couple of what look to be Goth shops. OH MY GOD Australia likes Goths woo!



We arrive at a big shopping center and he parks the car and We both get out and go inside the shopping center.

“So what do you want to get first?” he asks.

“Phone!” I practically yell at him.

“Okay” he says taking me to a phone shop.

“Choose any phone” he says.

I look though the phones. I find a black one I really like.

“That one?” I ask “Oh wait that’s a bit expensive”

“Too late your getting it” he says “I’m paying no biggie”

“Okay” I say not really believing he was gonna such an expensive phone.

I walk out the shop with my brand new phone.

“Oh my god I can’t believe you got me this” I say to him.

“okay well we need to get you some credit for it” he says.

We go to a shop and he buys me $50 credit.

“$50 that’s heaps” I say to him.

“Really?” he asks “Think about all the credit you're gonna spend calling Gerard”

“I thought you didn’t like him?” I ask.

“Hey your mum doesn’t like him, but to me when I saw him he seemed very into you so I really don’t have a problem” he says.

“Aww thanks” I say really happy that he had accepted the fact I liked Gerard.

We continued shopping.



(Gerard’s POV again)

“Dude it’s alright I found out something that’s gonna put your mind to rest” Ray says.

“What?” I ask tensely.

“If you have a phone from America and you take it to Australia you can’t call on it or txt but you can still receive messages” He says.

“Really?” I ask happily.

“Yeah” he says.

“Okay” I say,

“Thank makes me feel better”.

I sit back and relax.



7pm New Jersey (10am Sydney) (still Gerard)

My phone rings.

We all look at it. (Calling: Unknown). I pick up the phone.

“Hello” I ask.

“Hey Gee Gee” Jacquie says.

“Oh my god Hi” I say really happy.

Everyone looks at me and smiles. I look at them as if to say what and then I walk outside.

“How are you?” she asks.

“I’m great now, What about you?” I ask.

“I’m super, Mark is really awesome he bought me my new phone and its like super expensive and he bought me clothes and OH MY GOD he likes you, But my mum doesn’t” she says.

“Cool well everything but your mum” I say “Why does Mark like me?”

“He reckons you're … nice or something he said that you looked like you were really into me or something,” she says with a laugh.

“Awesome” I reply.

“Yeah, It’s school holidays over here it’s kinda weird and OH MY GOD they like Goths well I think they do they seem to have a lot of goth shops” she say.

“Cool, What type of school?” I ask.

“It’s a performing arts school” she says with a sigh.

“What’s bad about that?” I ask.

“Umm hello snob’s much” she says.

“Don’t worry about it” I say.
“Meh I think I go to school next week or something” she says “Oh yeah and Mark is gonna get me a laptop”
“Awesome” I say.
“Clearly” she says and then giggles. Man how I missed her laugh.
“I miss you heaps” I say.
“Oh my god miss you heaps more” she says
I turn around and see everyone looking at me from the door.
I laugh.
“What you laughing at?” she asks.
“Matt and everyone are watching me talking to you” I say.
She laughs.
“Tell ‘em I said HI” she says.
I wave to everyone to come over. They walk over.
“Say hello” I whisper to everyone.
Everyone nods.
“Ready, set, GO” I yell
“HELLO” they yell into the phone.
“HI” I hear Jacquie yell and the laugh.
Everyone laughs.
I put the phone back to my ear and shoo everyone off. Everyone but Mikey leaves.
“So doing much?” she asks.
“Not really” I say. I shoo Mikey off again, He looks at me and then walks off.
“So” she says “OH yeah I got your surprise”
“Like it?” I ask.
“Nope” she says.
“Why?” I asked really surprised.
“I LOVED IT SILLY, I got it framed and it’s in my room on my desk” she says and then lets out a giggle.
I laugh too.
“Aww man I gotta go see ya Gee Gee OH MY GOD I love that nickname” she says.
I laugh.
“Well okay see ya” I say.
She hangs up.
I walk back in with probably one of the biggest smiles on my face. Everyone looks at me. I try to stop smiling but its worthless I can’t stop.
“So what happened lil’ Gee?” Matt asks.
“Nothing” I try to say making it sound normal but instead making it sound like a real big something.
“Your face doesn’t say that” Ray says.
“Okay” I say finally managing to stop smiling.
I sit down on the couch with everyone still looking at me.
“So what did you talk about?” Paula asks.
“Not much” I say and smile again, then stop myself.
Ray raises his eyebrow.
“I’m serious” I say.
“Yep sure lover boy” Lucy says.
Everyone laughs.
“Okay well I’m going back to my place Mikey wanna come over or stay?” I ask.
“I’m gonna come” Mikey replies.
“You don’t know how wrong that sounded” Matt says.
We all laugh and Mikey goes a little red.
“Bye” I say.

Mikey and I walk out and walk to our place. We go inside and he follows me into my room.
“What’s up Mikey?” I ask.
“How’s Jacquie?” he asks.
“She’s good” I say.
“Yeah, so umm what did you talk about?” Mikey asks.
“Umm not much, just random stuff” I say
“Okay” he says and walks out the room.
I shake my head, and go and continue with a drawing I was doing before and go to bed when I’m done.

Chapter 21 – In Australia **19 hours later … {OH MY GOD LONG TIME lol}** (Jacquie’s POV)

We get off the plane and walk to get our bags, We look around for Mark, We find him.
“OH MY GOD Jacquie there he is,” she says.
She leaves me with the bags and runs up to him and hugs him.
I roll my eyes and pull her bags and my bags over to him.
“Hey Jacquie” he says and tries to hug me.
I pull away from him and glare at him.
“What’s up with her?” he asks mum.
“Oh she likes some guy who’s a freak and I said he was and now she pissy” she replies.
OH MY GOD why is my mum talking about me like that.
“Stupid bitch” I say under my breath.
He obviously hears me and looks at me and then takes Mums bags and leaves me with mine to carry to his car. Well I hope it’s a car I don’t wanna be stuck in like a truck or something. We walk to a really nice car that turns out to be his. He opens the boot and puts our bags in. Then closes it and opens the door for me.
“What a gentleman” mum says to me.
I roll my eyes as he does the same for her, I get in the car and close the door, Mum and him get in the car too. I put my seatbelt on and so do they and we drive away, I look at the building as we go by them.
“So where exactly do you live?” my mum asks.
“You’ll see,” he says.
“Picked out a school for Jac?” she asks.
“Well there’s a nice Performing Arts school really close to where I live,” he says.
I roll my eyes. ‘Great a posh school just what I need’ I think to myself.
“By the way in Australia we have primary school and high school you're in high school cause high school is years 7-12” he says to me.
“I don’t care I perfer New Jersey” I say.
“Jacquie stop it” mum yells at me.
I go back to looking out the window. We begin to drive up a driveway.
“Whoa is that your house?” mum asks.
“Yeah” he replies.
I look out the house. It was big and one of the most beautiful houses I had ever seen. OH MY GOD is this guy rich?
“Umm Mark are you … Rich?” I ask.
“Not rich, but I do have a lot of money” he says.
“So you're rich?” I ask again.
“Fine rich, but not really” he says.
He pushes a button and the garage door opens. And he parks the car inside. We all get out and he opens the boot and carries a couple of bags as do mum and I. We go through a door into a hallway, which leads to the living room. I look around this place was so modern.
“Okay Jacquie your room is the last room on the left” Mark says.
“Okay” I reply and walk to the door of my new room.
I slowly open the door and look inside. The room was way bigger than the one in New Jersey and this time it was black! The colour I always wanted my room to be.
“OH MY GOD” I yell putting my bags on the ground.
“I’m guessing you like your room” Mark says standing in the doorway.
“Yes, Is this like the only black room in the house?” I ask him.
“Yeah, I got this room painted when I got back since I know you always wanted a black room” he says to me.
“Oh my god thanks” I say and then hug him.
I quickly stop and back a fair bit off.‘Did I just hug him?’ I ask myself.
He turns and walks away.‘Why the hell did I hug him?’ I ask myself over and over.
“Oh well” I say aloud.
I start unpacking. And then a thought of Gerard pops into my head. I run out to mum.
“Can I call Gerard?” I ask.
“It’s too late” she tells me.
“Damn” I say.

I go back into my room and look for my phone in my bag. I find it and turn it on. (3 new messages) I begin to read them.

Matt: Hey Jac, We found Gee and he told us everything, Now he won’t shut up about ya look what you have started jokes.

Ray: So you in Aus yet?

Gerard: I miss you, did you get my surprise yet, call me when you can, Luv Gee gee.

‘Gee gee’ I say to myself with a laugh ‘Aww that’s so cute, but what does he mean surprise?’I try to txt back but it won’t let me.
“Umm why isn’t my phone working?” I ask.
“You need to get a new phone when you’re here, We can go shopping tomorrow and I will get you and your mum and new one” Mark replies.
“But I want to txt Gerard” I say to him.
“You're gonna have to wait” he says.
‘Damn another set back’ I say to myself.

I walk back into my room and continue unpacking. I go back into my bag and find a piece of paper. I open it up. OH MY GOD IT’S A DRAWING OF GERARD’S IT SO AWESOME. I turn it over to see some writing: Dear Jacquie, I’m gonna miss you heaps, and I know I will see you again sometime and I will still love you as much as I do now I promise, Love Gerard.
‘Awww I wanna see Gerard right now’ I think to myself.
“Do you have a photo frame that would fit a A4 piece of paper?” I yell out to Mark.
“Yeah” he says.
I walk out and go up to him.
“Can I please have it?” I ask really nicely.
“Sure” he says and walks into a room and comes back with a frame.
“Here ya go,” he says. I take it from him.
“Thanks” I say and quickly go back in my room and put the picture in the frame and set it on the table in my room.
Yet again I start unpacking. I swear if I have to stop again I’m just gonna stop and not start for like an hour. I laugh to myself. I find my skateboard yay, BUT no not gonna stop. I put it next to my door. I start pulling my clothes out and put them into the closet and drawers. When I finish its just other stuff I’ve brought such as my drawing pads and art stuff. I place it on the table and in the other drawers. That’s it I can’t be bothered doing anymore.

I walk out and find Mark cooking.
“Watchya cooking?” I ask.
“Steak and chips” he replies.
“Right” I say, “So do you have a TV?”
“Yeah it’s over there,” he says pointing to another room.
“You mean this isn’t the living room?” I ask.
“Nope more like a family/dining room” he says.
“Umm okay” I say and walk into the other room supposedly the living room.
“Do you need help working it?” he asks.
I look at the TV it was massive.
“Umm yeah I think,” I say.
He comes in and pushes a couple of random buttons and the TV turns on.
“Okay this button changes the channels this one changes the volume and that’s about all you need,” he says passing me the remote.

A while later…
Mum had finished unpacking and was watching TV with me.
“Dinner's ready” Mark tells us.
We walk out and sit in the dining room. Mark comes around with our food.
“Thanks” I say as he gives me mine.
I begin eating and so does mum, Mark gets his and joins us. It’s quiet until mum breaks the silence.
“So when do you wanna start school?” he asks me.
“Never” I reply
“Jacquie” mum says a little annoyed by my answer.
I shrug at her.
“Well we have to enroll you sooner or later” Mark says.
“Sooner definately, really soon” my mum says.
“Well at the moment I believe that everyone’s on holidays” Mark says.
“Okay good” I say.
“Well okay anyway you girls probably need some stuff so we are definately going shopping tomorrow right?” Mark says.
“Right” I say.
‘Let’s see if Australia likes Goths’ I think to myself.
“Okay then” Mark says.
Then it goes silent yet again.
We all finish dinner and I go and watch TV again but get bored and go in my room.

I start drawing some random stuff. First the buildings of the city, then I tried drawing a plane but that stuffed up, then I tried drawing this house but stuffed up and got angry and then I tried drawing Gerard. I tried so hard but no matter how hard I tried the drawing just didn’t look like him. It looked imperfect and I wanted a picture of him that actually looked like him. I gave up and decided to go to bed I was tired cause I couldn’t fall asleep on the plane. So it was easy to fall asleep.