I'm Not Okay at Pencey Prep - Gerard Way x OC story

Welcome to New Jersey

Part One

"Not long to go now, kids." My Mom said with a stretched smile as we finally enter our new home state: New Jersey. You've got to be fucking kidding me.

The car is hot and stuffy, and all I can hear is Harry's Gameboy as he plays the same game over and over. The little bleeps and cheery music have been doing my head in for the last seven hours. The paper bags that held our fast food now smells even stronger in the heat of the car, and instead of making me hungry like the smell of a burger normally does, I feel car sick.

Welcome to New Jersey. What a great start.

I suppose I should do an introduction to what's going on here. My name is Sam Manning, I'm fifteen years old and I've been hauled from North Carolina to here. This isn't a great start. Not only am I forced to up heave myself from my friends and family in my home town of North Peak, North Carolina, I'm have to go to a new school all by myself where I know nobody – and the place has a freaking uniform. New Jersey isn't making a good first impression. To be honest, neither am I.

We drive through the towns and head towards the outskirts of a town named Belleville where we are moving to.

"Is that it?" After god knows how long, Harry is finally sick of his Gameboy and asking if every house we pass is our own.

"Give over, Kiddo." Steven laughs. He's Harry's dad and would never shout at him. He likes to raise his voice to me, since I'm not his kid. My dad left me and Mom when I was two. Seems he had another family. I guess everyone's got secrets. I have some too, a lot of people do. But this time, nobody is going to find out. Mom calls this my 'fresh start'. She always tries to make stuff positive. She worked in the Emergency Department of the hospital back home and was always tired. But for the last three months before we moved out here, she's tried really hard to spend time with me and Harry, making sure I'm okay after what happened.

Maybe I will be okay one day, but right now? I'm not okay.

"This one's ours, Harry." Steven says as we pull up a sloping drive. Welcome to your typical American home. A flag is waving on the porch besides a bench. The house is a pastel blue with a white trim and front door. The car engine finally switches off and Harry is out the car door and up the porch.

"I get the bigger bedroom!" Harry yells back at me in the car. I notice Mom is watching me worriedly. I pull on a fake smile and chase after him. My legs are dead after sitting in that car, but I run and let her think everything is all good.

"Not happening twerp." I chase him into the new house. It's bright and airy and I suppose not too bad. The furniture came yesterday and the removal men placed things here and there for us. I charge up the steps onto the landing and find Harry in the second largest bedroom. He has more stuff so the removal men put it all in there. He has his own computer too! It's a piece of junk from a yard sale but it works and he can play whatever game he wants.

I go down the landing, past the bathroom to the third bedroom at the back of the house. I open the door and find my stuff. The removal men placed my bed under the window which showed me the back yard and the neighbours. There's a closet and my bookshelf and desk have been pushed up against the opposite wall. They placed my box of CD's on the desk and I begin to sort them out onto the shelf above my desk.

"Hey, is this place okay?" My Mom says as she opens the door and casts an eye around the room. "I can get Harry to swap if you really want to.

"No, it's fine. Really." I smile at her and she nods. She leaves the door open and heads back downstairs. I close it again and pull off my plaid flannel shirt and chuck it on the bed.