Will You Take Me With You? [Gerard Way]

Chapter 5

That afternoon, Kate and Mikey walked home alone. Gerard had met them at the front of the school before explaining that he was meeting someone and couldn’t walk home with them.

“Who are you meeting?” Mikey asked.

“None of your business!” Gerard was laughing, but Kate could see that he was hiding something.

“Why was Gerard acting so weird today?” Kate asked as soon as Gerard walked away from them.

“What do you mean?” he asked, pushing his glasses back up his nose.

“Well, when he was talking to that guy at lunch he was acting pretty suspicious? Is that who he’s meeting now?”

Mikey sighed. “That’s my guess. Jake’s a fuckwit, he’s into drugs and alcohol and all kinds of shit and he’s bringing Gerard into all of that too. He’s doing it so much… we’re all kind of worried.”

“Oh…” Kate realized that this was why Gerard didn’t want anyone to know about him buying drugs. “Why does he hang out with him?”

Mikey shrugged. “They met a few months ago at some party… don’t ask me why, I couldn’t tell you.”

Kate nodded. Did Gerard have a drug addiction? While she was thinking about this, a group of guys passed them, pushing and laughing to each other. They were dressed as typical ‘jocks’, contrasting Mikey’s dark clothing and choice of hairstyle. One of them said something to the other, smirking, and his friend pushed him. He crashed into Mikey, sending him to the ground.

Kate felt her breath catch in her throat as she heard the group of guys laugh. Back at home, people who dressed like Mikey and Gerard were bullied… hard.

Mikey scurried along the floor in search of his glasses, but the guy who crashed into him picked them up before he could.

“Hey, sorry about that,” he apologized, handing Mikey his glasses.

Mikey took them and stood up. “Don’t worry about it,” he replied kindly.

The guy smiled, his eyes falling on Kate. He looked her up and down and grinned before walking away.

“Are you okay?” she asked Mikey.

“Yeah, fine,” he replied, smoothing down his hair.

“He was nice.”

“You sound surprised?” Mikey laughed.

“Oh, well where I’m from people who look like that aren’t really nice to….” She trailed off and looked away from him, not wanting to cause offense.

“People like me?” Mikey finished the sentence for her.

She grimaced. It sounded worse coming from him.

“Mikey, I didn’t mean-“

“Don’t stress,” he interrupted, “it’s fine. But we don’t live in a movie, we don’t get bashed up just because we wear black. His name’s Josh, he’s in Gerard’s year.”

Kate felt her cheeks turning red. She must have sounded so immature and close-minded.

“Besides, did you see the way he looked at you?” Mikey smirked. “I doubt he would have wanted to get on your bad side.”

“Shut up!” Kate gently shoved Mikey, blushing even more than before.

They walked for a while, making meaningless conversation between themselves. Kate was taking in their surroundings, trying to memorize the way home. They didn’t live in a particularly nice neighbourhood; there was a lot of crime and drug-abuse. As she was looking down a street to her right, she noticed the bus-stop where she had seen Gerard the previous day.