The Aftermath is Secondary (Frerard/MCR/Frikey)

Chapter 17

I wouldn't say that the teasing was any better the next day. In fact, they seemed to have only gotten worse.

"I heard he had a threesome with his boyfriend and his boyfriend's brother," someone whispered as I walked down the hall.

"No, he had a threesome with two other guys and cheated on his boyfriend with them," the other person corrected.

"That's not what I heard, I heard that he was fucking some professor at a college nearby to try and get a scholarship," someone else added.

I kept my head down, upset that my hair didn't cover as much of my face as it used to. The rumors just kept getting larger and the harassments just kept getting out of hand. I sat through my history class. Mikey, who usually sat beside me, was absent today.

"Mr. Iero," Mr. Cole called as the bell rang.

I sighed, walking up to his desk as the class emptied out. Apparently the rumors against Mr. Cole were all fake, which I was relieved about because he's a really good teacher, my favorite one that I've had in years.

"Are you okay?" He asked. "You seem upset."

"I'm fine," I replied, trying to urge a smile onto my face.

"Are you sure? Are you just lying so you could go to lunch?" Mr. Cole asked.

"I'm telling you the truth, I mean this, I'm okay," I assured him. "Now, I've gotta go meet up with my friends, they'll be wondering where I am."

He nodded and I hurried out of the room to my locker. When I opened it, about two dozen papers fell out. They were all identical to each other, containing a photo of Mikey in the field, empty beer bottles around him as he was passed out. Below it was the words 'Frank Iero made his boyfriend like this' in black ink. I tossed them all away besides one, grabbing my stuff and heading to lunch, trying to ignore the pain in my heart from seeing Mikey so wrecked.

"Do you guys know about this?" I asked, showing the paper as I sat down at the table.

"Oh, yeah," Brendon said. "I said that drinking is the solution to every problem."

"Are you stupid?" I asked, reaching across the table to hit him upside the head.

"Well, I had told him to get high but he said that was bad," Brendon said.

"Getting drunk off his ass isn't any better," I argued.

"He's probably hung over and that's why he's not here today," Pete said. "I'll cut class and go check on him because apparently I'm the new therapist of this group."

We watched as he got up and walked away, taking his lunch with him.

"Damn, I thought Andy or Joe would be the therapist of the group," Brendon muttered.

Andy and Joe looked and at each other, shaking their heads and laughing.

(Mikey's POV)

My sobs were muffled by my pillow. Nobody else was home, leaving me to cry alone. My parents were both at work and Gerard was staying over at Ray's, like he's been doing to avoid me. My head hurt from all my drinking but all I wanted to do was drink more. I could forget about that cheating scumbag.

I should've known this would happen. Everyone always leaves me for Gerard, it's just a matter of time. My parents, Adam, Frank, they all leave me. Maybe I'm just ugly, maybe I'm just stupid and I don't smile enough. Maybe I'm just a horrible person in general.

"Mikey?" A voice asked softly, knocking lightly on the door.

"Go away," I croaked.

"I have medicine," Pete informed me.