To Hate is to Love

•2• Take me home

[Pete]

Today just took a dramatic turn. I wasn't expecting to see Pretty Boy ever again, especially not in school. Though, I couldn't get over the fact that he remembered my name. He's a stranger that I met once and he remembered my fucking name.

That in itself makes me happy.

Normally, People wouldn't give me a second glance and I was mostly known as the 'emo hothead'. Others would gossip about me but that was normally it, none of them had the balls to step up to me on account of my...well, my slight anger issue.

I think I scare people.

In a way it's a good thing, I never get bothered. But it's also kind of a curse because it's ruined many of my relationships in the past. Andy is the only person that can put up with my shit. Gabe and Brendon are my friends too but they can only tolerate so much of me. If they say the wrong thing I could flip on them in a matter of seconds. I don't mean to, it's just out of my control sometimes. A lot of the time, actually.

As Mr. Hoppus was teaching, pointing at something he wrote on the board that I didn't understand, I felt someone tap on my shoulder. When I turned around in my seat, I had realized that it was Pretty Boy.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" He whispered harshly.

"Um, I go to school here...?" I chuckled.

"Okay, stupid question." He mutters. "But why-"

"Patrick! Peter! Want to tell me why you two are disrupting my class?" Mr. Hoppus said, causing others in the class to look our way.

So Pretty Boy's name is Patrick. Gotta get used to calling him that.

"No one disrupted class, I just asked for a pencil." I lied. If anyone is disrupting class, it's him.

"It doesn't matter. Am I going to have to kick you out of my classroom?"

"For what? I didn't do anything!" I shot up from my desk.

"Lower your voice-"

"Fuck that! I'll be as loud as I want!"

When neither Hoppus or my classmates make a sound or comment, I look back at Patrick. I'm not sure why but I expected him to maybe have an expression of fear or shock on his face but he didn't. He was calmly staring up at me with a 'what are you going to do now' look.

"I don't need this." I mutter mostly to myself though I'm sure Patrick may have heard it. I snatch my bookbag from the floor then storm out of the room.

[Patrick]

Once Pete was gone, everything became awkward for a good five minutes. Mr. Hoppus tried to regain his cool and some of the other students were whispering about what had just happened.

I thought Pete was just some creep at first but now I could see that he was a ticking time bomb, with a very short fuse. But I found myself relating to him more than anything. I also had a bit of a temper and I sometimes lost control of it, but I never thought it to be that bad. Joe and Frank knew of it, Joe knew how to handle it when I got that way but Frank would get mad when someone else gets mad....if that makes sense.

Say I get pissed off at a waiter or something and I yell at them. Frank will get pissed off because I'm pissed off, then he wouldn't exactly be helping now would he? No, he'd just be adding more heat to the fire. But despite that, he's still a good friend.

After class, I packed up my things then hurried out the door. I was one of the first ones out. As I headed to my car, I noticed a very familiar mess of straightened black hair. Pete was pacing angrily behind the school, swinging his bookbag around before spinning in circles and flinging it about ten feet. Man, his temper was worse than I expected.

I tried to ignore him and just get in my car and go home, but he was shouting swears at no one and people were staring which he only responded with, "What the fuck are you looking at?!" I kind of admired the way he could just scare people like that, but it felt like he was unknowingly humiliating himself.

I headed over in his direction, "Pete! Dude, calm down."

He suddenly stopped yelling to glare at me, "What do you want?!"

"Chill out, I'm trying to help you."

"I don't need your help, I can take care of myself."

I rolled my eyes at him, "Like hell you can. Class ended ten minutes ago and your still pissed at nothing."

"At nothing?!"

"Yes, Pete, nothing!"

Then Pete's features soften and is grinning again and, okay, it really weirded me out when he did that. "Wanna drive me home pretty face?"

I am....so confused.

"Patrick, just call me Patrick." I sighed, annoyed. "And no, I don't want to drive you home."

"Right, right. Sorry, gotta get used to calling you that." He smiled "Sooo...how about that ride?"

"I told you 'no'."

Pete nodded at me as if he understood and was okay with my refusal then he said quietly, "Please?"

Oh my god, he was really going to make me do this wasn't he?

I groan loudly. "Fine." Then turned away before I could bear to see Pete smile at me, I really don't need that right now.

He goes to retrieve his bookbag that he had previously thrown and tossed it over his shoulder, quickly catching up to me once I approached my car. As I'm unlocking the door, I glance up at him for a second and find that his big smile had disappeared and was replaced with a frown. He wasn't looking at me but down at the ground beneath his feet instead.

"You okay?" I asked.

Pete met my eyes then smiled again. "I am now."

This guy, he was seriously going to make me lose my fucking mind.