We Aren't Nerds! {{PETEKEY}}

{{4}}

Mikey found himself struggling to agree. He wasn't much of a gossiper, but then his friends weren't either, so he never really thought about it. He wondered why Andy was sticking with the group if he was so against it, but then he remembered that Andy was probably the sensible one keeping them all out of trouble.

The first person to walk past looked like they were in the year below Mikey, but at the same time looked a lot older. Mikey wasn't too sure who it was, but the look on Pete's face made it obvious that he did. The look on everyone else's face made it even more obvious that they all knew whoever this person was.

"Oh my god!" Pete laughed, as soon as the person was out of earshot, "Can you believe that? Dahvie still wears more makeup than I used to!"
Everyone laughed as Pete continued, "Oh, and can we talk about his hair for a minute? Does he ever keep it the same for more than a month? It's never going to look good for him, you can just tell."
"Uh, Pete...?" Mikey said, "Are you okay? You didn't black out for a second there, did you?"
Pete shook his head, "That's just how I feel about Dahvie, don't worry about it. I'm usually way less aggressive."

The look on Patrick's face didn't seem to agree with Pete, but he didn't say anything so Mikey left it. They didn't have to wait long until someone else walked past, completely unaware of what would be said about them once they were far away enough. This time it was a girl, and Mikey was almost certain he recognised her, but he couldn't quite put a name to her face.

"There goes Lindsey Ballato, probably still thinking she's better than everyone else," Pete sighed, suddenly reminding Mikey of who she was.
Patrick agreed, "She is very vain, but she's not all wrong... She's very, very pretty."
"Aww, does little Patty have a crush?"
"Shut up, shut up, shut up!!"

Mikey laughed, but not in a mean way. He thought it was cute that Patrick obviously had a crush on Lindsey, despite being about three inches shorter than her and far less cool. He didn't mean it in a mean way, of course he didn't, but Lindsey Ballato was probably far out of Patrick Stump's league. Mikey did take a second to think about Gerard, though. He wondered if Gerard would be considered 'out of her league', but the two of them seemed to be really good friends, so he wondered if he actually liked her like that at all.

Then, a group of three boys walked past, surprising Mikey quite a lot. It was Ryan, Jon and Spencer, three people he never really expected to see anywhere other than the library. He was worried that they'd see him and try to start a conversation. It wasn't like he didn't like them or want to talk to them, he just didn't want to embarrass himself in front of four older, cooler guys.

"Hi Michael," smiled Ryan, "what are you doing here? Who are your friends?"
"Hi Ryan," Mikey said, "uh, these are my friends Pete, Patrick, Andy and Joe."
"Nice to meet you," said Patrick, "do you guys want to hang out with us?"
"Oh, yeah, okay then!"

Mikey died a little on the inside, he had wanted this to be a time where he could try to be cool, but it seemed like it was just going to be him being as lame as usual. He noticed how Joe hadn't really said anything at all, and wondered what that was about, but he felt like it would be better not to question anyone he didn't really know that well. Surprisingly, Pete hadn't said anything since Ryan, Spencer and Jon had sat down with them either. Although Mikey didn't know Pete that well either, he felt like that wasn't normal at all and needed to be questioned.

"You okay?" he asked, "You seem kind of quiet, and I can tell that isn't normal."
Pete laughed quietly, "Let's just say, I don't like new people that much, and it's a little awkward now that they're here. Are they really your friends?"
"Yeah, they are. They're okay, though, I promise, you'll get used to them."
"That's a very wise way of dealing with your problems, Michael. I was going to suggest we ditch them."

Mikey laughed, even though they were technically his friends, he didn't mind ditching them, especially not for Pete. He felt kind of bad for liking Pete, someone he'd only known for a day, more than Ryan, Spencer and Jon, people he'd called his friends for the last three years. Despite that, he followed Pete into the bathroom, where the two of them began their conversation like nothing had happened.

"I didn't know you were a nerd," Pete said, "that was quite a shock, actually."
"I'm really not," Mikey laughed, "they're okay, even if they are really nerdy."
"That 'Ryan' sounded like your mom, seriously, who asks 'what are you doing here?' and 'who are your friends?' apart from your mom?"

Mikey sighed, he never thought about it like that, but Ryan was a very motherly person so he understood where Pete was coming from. Then again, Mikey never really thought about anything other than himself, not in a selfish way, but he always had a lot on his mind. He never wanted to talk about it though, and that lead to him ending up pretty sad a lot of the time, and a lot of people worried about him. Mikey just hoped he'd be able to get past it one day.

"Okay, okay," he laughed, "so Ryan does act like my mom, but he's really not--"
"Wow, that is such a surprise," Pete said, sarcastically, "for a second there I really thought he was!"
"I wasn't done."
"I know, I know, it was funny, though."
Mikey sighed, "He's really not that bothered about me, or at least I don't think so. I'd feel bad if he actually did care..."
"What? Why? Everyone should care about you, Michael, you're a good person."
"You can call me Mikey, you know? I used to mind a lot, now I'm not that bothered."
"Well, Mikey, you're a good person and I think everyone cares about you, at least a little bit, anyway."

Mikey shrugged, he didn't think he was this 'good person' Pete seemed to think he was, but that was okay. As long as someone else believed in him, Mikey could believe in himself, too. He refused to agree that everyone cared about him, though. No one cared about Michael Way. He wasn't enough of a nerd for other nerds to care about him, he wasn't cool enough for the 'populars' to care about him, he wasn't artistic, dramatic or musical enough for the artists, actors or musicians to care about him and he certainly wasn't sporty enough for the athletes.

Mikey was just Mikey, nothing more, nothing less. He didn't quite fit in anywhere with any of the actual social groups, but at the same time he wasn't quite socially rejected enough to fit in with the other outcasts. He was being himself, like everyone always told him to, but it wasn't working for him. He wondered how he managed to have any friends at all.

"I wish everyone was as nice as you are," Mikey said, "like, you have no reason to be so nice to me, but you still are--"
"Mikey Way," Pete said, "I have no reason to be mean to you, so why wouldn't I be nice?"
"Why are you mean to everyone when you're with Andy, Joe and Patrick then? Have Dahvie and Lindsey ever done anything to you, heck, do they even know you?"

Pete thought about it for a second because Mikey wasn't actually wrong. Dahvie really didn't seem like that much of a bad guy, even if he did make terrible style choices, and Lindsey was a completely normal, self-confident girl that he only liked to gossip about because he wasn't that confident about himself. He looked it, but he really wasn't. Pete Wentz might have acted like the most arrogant person in the world, but it was just to make up for the fact that he felt sorry for himself for no real reason.

"Pete?"
"S-sorry... I... I just zoned out for a second there..."
"I get that," Mikey said, "why? What's wrong?"
"Nothing," Pete insisted, "I'm fine. Everyone zones out sometimes, you must know that, right?"

Mikey was hesitant to accept what Pete was saying. It wasn't that he didn't want to believe him, but he just couldn't. People didn't just zone out when they were talking about things like that, and Mikey knew he'd probably upset Pete more than he'd intended. He hated how bad he was at talking to people, but at the same time he didn't hate it quite enough to do anything about it. The only time he'd really hated it was then, he didn't want to upset Pete.

"I guess so," Mikey lied, "are you okay, though?"
"I'm fine, honestly," Pete insisted, lying to himself and Mikey.
"Do you want to go back and find our friends? The bell is going to go soon."
"Yeah, okay."

Pete and Mikey made their way back to where they'd been before. Andy, Joe and Patrick were still sitting with Ryan, Spencer and Jon, and they seemed like they'd actually had an okay time together.