Latter Day Sinner

Chapter 3

By the next morning, Frank had pretty much forgotten his little episode. The panic he'd had the night before (which had, indeed, been a terrible one) had faded, the last tendrils clinging to his mind like a bad dream.
Gerard? Gerard who? He was going crazy.
In fact, when his alarm went off, he felt in a particularly good mood that he couldn't quite place. Maybe it was just the knowledge that he was now in the position to tear a literal chunk out of his friends for abandoning him the day before. They were lucky that Gerard was such a reasonable man – otherwise, Frank would probably walk away from them, leaving a few black eyes in his wake. But no – since the priest was such a genuinely kind man, and Frank didn't mind at all spending time with him, he'd just act a little pissed off for a while (which he was), and wait for them to apologise (they would).
Frank smirked as he approached the four students leaning against the wall, waiting for him. They knew they'd messed up – he intentionally hadn't replied to their messages all weekend (because yes, that's how eighteen year old boys got revenge).
Unsurprisingly, it was the only girl in the group – Mia – who made a move towards him first. With her black combat boots, choppy black hair and septum ring, she looked pretty intimidating. Not necessarily in a 'I'll beat you up' kind of way, more in a 'I'll make you cry with one word'. When Frank had first met her, even he was afraid to speak to her – and that was saying something. Once you got past the icy glare of her eyes and the sharpness of her tongue, though, she was – and was often referred to as – a cupcake.
By the time Mia reached him, Frank was unable to keep the smile from his face.
"Hey, Princess," (the nickname was sarcastic, even if she secretly loved it), "how's things?"
Mia slowed for a moment, furrowing her brow.
Frank knew he was in trouble when she flared her nostrils, moving faster towards him. She was only about two inches shorter than him, but he was certain she could gnaw his ankles off.
"Frank Iero you asshole," she said, smacking his arm. He jumped back, frowning.
"Hey! Woah, the fuck you hitting me for, tiny?" he said. She glowered, and he was almost nervous.
"Because. We were all fucking...worried. You wouldn't reply to any of us," she said, her bottom lip quivering in the threat of a pout. By then, the other boys had come to flank her, looking at Frank with expressions of frustration, laced with apology. Frank shrugged, the mischievous smile still tugging at his lips.
"What can I say? I like leaving you losers out to dry," he said coolly, moving towards the doors. One of the boys – Damien – grabbed his arm to keep his attention. Had it been anyone else, Frank would probably have shrugged him off, but Damien was much taller than him, with rippling muscles that pressed under his ebony skin. He wasn't quite as sweet as Mia, but Frank knew he wouldn't hurt him. Not unless he had to.
"Alright, alright," Frank said, holding his hands up in an apologetic gesture. He turned to his friends and smiled reassuringly, as if he were the jury instead of them. This certainly didn't go the way he'd planned. His friends were as unpredictable as he liked to pretend to be.
"It's fine, guys. I'm not mad that you abandoned me," he said, arching an eyebrow. Mia popped her hip, looking up at him.
"Did you get in trouble?" she asked, clearly voicing the thoughts of the whole group. He smiled and shook his head.
"Nah. The new Priest – Father Way. He's a pretty nice guy. He just said I need to help him out around the Church until I've paid off the money for the window I broke. He didn't even tell my parents," he said. His stomach tightened a little at the memory of the man's cool demeanour, but he dismissed it. He was probably just feeling sort of embarrassed about being the Priest's bitch.
His friends, however, didn't seem phased.
"Well," said Damien, "I guess it's just good he didn't call the police. My Mom said he's pretty cool," he said with a gentle shrug. Frank nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, I mean. He's kind of intense, y'know? But he's a nice enough guy. Could have had me locked up or something, but he didn't,"
"Well, I mean, he's a Priest. That's what they do, right?" said Cooter, biting off a hangnail. Nobody quite knew where the nickname had come from, and in the absence of an actual name, it stuck. He was taller than Frank, but shorter than Damien, and frequently pretended that he took himself seriously. It was possibly his favourite game, other than terrifying the ninth graders. Out of the group, he was by far the most likely to actually get into a fight. Frank looked at him, arching an eyebrow.
"They don't call the cops when you break their windows?" Frank asked incredulously. Cooter rolled his eyes and ran a hand through his brown hair – grown intentionally too long, almost like a statement.
"No, dumbass. I mean...the whole forgiveness thing. Forgive thy neighbour or some shit like that. It was probably his good deed of the day," he deduced. Mia snorted.
"Cooter, I don't think Priests need good deeds of the day. They're like, married to God,"
"That's Nuns," Cooter retaliated. Thankfully for the sanity of all present, the bell tolled to announce the beginning of the school day, and the group began to move forward. As they did, Frank caught the last of the group, Daniel, on the shoulder.
"Hey. You alright, dude? You seem sort of quiet today," he said gently. Daniel looked up, pushing his light blonde hair away from his face and offering a weak smile.
"I'm good. Didn't sleep," he said softly. He was naturally soft-spoken, with a constant blush gracing his cheeks. He was by far the most gentle of the group, and the others tended to protect him. Maybe a bit too much.
Frank smiled and patted him on the back.
"Alright man, if you say so," he said. Daniel nodded, and the two boys entered the building together.