Teach Me, Mr Way

Chapter 2

The rest of the day was the normal Monday hell, but I pretty much bull shitted my way through the rest of my classes. One of my only real friends, Ray, sat with me at lunch.
“Frank, whatcha think about the new art teacher?”
“I think he's a teacher. That equals unavailable, so why even bother?” I wasn't about to tell Ray I'd been having daydreams about the guy all morning.
“Awe, now, you're no fun.” Ray teased, smiling. “Honestly, he's cute, but I think he'd be out of my league.”
“Dude, shut up.” I whacked his arm. “I'm not going to think about it because I have enough trouble at home. I don't need to add to it.”
“Frankie, you know I'm just kidding.” He took a bite of his sandwich. “How's it going there?”
“Well, about the same…” I sighed. “Had to clean up after her again... And I was late... And I have detention.”
“Why don't you say something to a teacher? Get her some help?”
“I can't. Mom's all I got left. They'll take her away and I won't have any place to live.”
“You know my mom would let you stay with us.” He gave me a smile. “At least think about it. Get her the help and she'll be around longer.” We talked about other things for the rest of lunch before heading off to another class.
The rest of the day drug as usual, at least until last period. Music. I loved choir and I was good with a guitar. I wished that those two things would someday get my ass out of this town, but for now, I had to endure three more quarters before I was free. 
Last period flew by way too quickly, and I made my way to my locker to get my pencils and sketch pad out before going to detention.
“Hey, Iero!” I groaned, not bothering to look to see who was talking to me. “Hey, fag boy, don't ignore me when I talk to you.” Brendon Urie, the most popular guy in my class, wasn't going to leave me alone.
“What? I've got detention.” I tried to keep going, but he grabbed my shirt from behind. “Let. Me. Go.” 
“What are you gonna do, cry?” I gritted my teeth, not looking at him or talking. He shoved me into the closest locker, pissed off that I wouldn't react. He did it twice more, and I never made a sound as he did it one more time. A flash of pain went through my head, and everything went black as I fell to the floor. 
I heard yelling, but couldn't follow the words or who was talking. All I knew was that my nose hurt beyond anything I'd ever felt before, and it was bleeding. It was a few minutes before I was able to make sense of what was happening.
“Frank? Hey, Frank. If you can hear me, raise a finger” I didn't know who it was but I raised a finger, alright. He laughed. “Under the circumstances, I won't tell anyone you flipped off a teacher.”
“My. Way? Oh, god, I'm sorry.” I opened my eyes and saw him crouched down beside me. He chuckled softly.
“Hey, we're cool. Urie is going to get suspended for this. How are you feeling?” 
“Like my nose is broken.” He took my chin between his fingers, looking at my nose.
“I think you're right.That's a lot of blood…” Gerard sighed. “Come on. Let's get you checked out.” He helped me get back to my feet.
“Thanks. Wait, what about detention?”
“I think a broken nose trumps detention.” He smiled at me, and my stomach did a funny little flip. I knew then and there I had a massive crush on my new teacher.