Alex's POV
"Uh.. did your girlfriend just say she hates you?" Holly walked to our table by the door, swinging her bag off her shoulder and leaving it under the desk. She smiled while taking the seat next to me, watching as Emma walked away from where she had just said bye to her.
"What? Oh, right, yeah, yup. How're you?" Holly replied, brushing her fringe out of her eyes.
I chuckled, nodding. "I'm good. You coming to art at lunch?"
Holly shook her head. "I'm gonna go to music with Emma and Kenzie. You can totally come along, though."
I shrugged. "Yeah, okay. I've never been to the music department for lunch. Who hangs out there?"
"Emma's friends. Zeynep, Zey, Rani, you know?"
I nodded, thinking. I didn't really like going to music. It was quite loud and crowded. "I don't think I've met anyone other than Zey. But, yeah, I'll come along."
The teacher silenced the pupils with a morning, class and Holly turned to face the front of the room, handing me one of her headphones to listen to while the teacher spoke.
***
Rani left the class she had before lunch, French, with Emma, making their way past the classrooms to the PE department.
"I just don't see how you think he tops," Emma said, pushing open the door to one of the practise rooms. "It's totally unreasonable. Have you ever, like, watched Gerard Way do anything? That guys not a fucking top."
Rani threw her bag on the floor, sitting on top of the table in the corner of the room, crossing her legs.
"Are you kidding me? Frank Iero is like two feet tall. And he's like an angel. Why the hell would he top?" Rani questioned, as Emma sat on the piano stool, facing her.
"I honestly have no idea where you're coming from." Emma said, smiling a little.
"What're you guys arguing over now?" Zey asked, walking in and sitting on the stool in front of the drums.
"Frerard again." Rani said, laughing as Zey rolled her eyes.
"Like, everyone but you and that weird corner of the internet has already realised that frank tops."
Rani sighed, "This is unfair."
Alex's POV
The door was opened again, as Holly, Kenzie, and I walked inside.
"What's unfair?" Holly asked, looking at the girl sitting on the table with the curly hair, her arms crossed in annoyance.
"Emma started another Frerard argument and I'm being ganged up on again." The girl said, smiling a little through her anger. Holly walked over, leaning against the piano, laughing softly. "This again?"
Kenzie sat by the door, and I found myself sitting next to her, awkwardly and nervously glancing around the room.
"Gerard tops! I'm sure of it," The girl in the corner exclaimed, waving her hands a little. That girl is kind of pretty. Say something to her.
I laughed - no, I didn't laugh, I made a single high pitched squeal, I could feel my cheeks turning kind of red, and she turned to look at me.
Say something. Words. Say words to her.
"F-Frank." I muttered, earning a confused look from Holly. Words. More than one word. "Definitely tops," I finished, chuckling. The girl smiled, laughing quietly. "He totally doesn't." She said in answer. I smiled a little, making eye contact with her for just a moment, before the door I was leaning against was pushed open, causing me to fall forward.
Kenzie laughed at me under her breath, looking up at Zeynep who had just opened the door, stepping inside. "I don't mean to alarm you, but they are holding auditions for bass players tomorrow in the main music room. Auditions." She said, closing the door behind her and looking around excitedly. "For bassists."
Holly nodded, "Oh, yeah, I was thinking about going, maybe." Zeynep sighed longingly; "Think of all the bassists, guys." Emma pulled at Holly's hand, warning Zeynep: "You can't have this bassist." She was kidding. Obviously. (like, seriously, Emma doesn't get jealous)
I sat up again, still blushing a little from being knocked forward. Kenzie began to tell us about her latest plan to boycott the school dress code, something to do with wearing slippers and bringing blankets to school? I don't know. I was totally not too busy looking at that girl on the table though, that's for sure.
I glanced around the room. Kenzie, Emma, Holly, Zeynep, Zey. She must be Rani, the girl on the table. Rani.
The bell rang in the middle of Kenzie's master plan, so she promised to tell me and Holly about it on the walk home from school. Kenzie and I made our way out of the practise room, followed by Zey and Zeynep, and eventually Rani who was oohing at Emma and Holly saying goodbye.
I waited for Holly to start walking to chemistry, smiling at Rani as she followed Holly.
"You like MCR, then?" She asked.
"Huh- What?" I replied. Smooth. This is why I get all the ladies. It's my smooth moves.
"You said Frank tops. I'm assuming you like the band and don't just read up on gay fanfiction as a hobby."
I giggled. Yup, giggled. High pitched and embarrassing. Go me.
"Yeah, yeah, they're great. Yeah."
She grinned. "Awesome. Oh, damn, I left my psychology folder. See you, then.. Alex, is it?"
I nodded.
"See you, Alex."
She seemed.. nice. Yeah, nice.
***
I tried not to speak of her, but it slipped out during a quiet moment while we walked home.
"That Rani girl seemed nice," I said, after Kenzie had explained to us the importance of feeling comfortable and not sexualised at school. Holly nodded.
"Yeah. Rani's great. She's the one that helped set me up with Emma, remember?"
I nodded. "Oh, yeah, I remember that."
Holly glanced over at me, giving me a look.
"What?" I asked.
Holly smiled a little, knowingly, shrugging. "Nothing."
