Hidden From Reality

11

Frank

I nudged Gerard awake and watched as he covered his face with his arm. He didn't do anything so nudged him again.

"It's...too..."

"We have school today. You have to wake up. I can't wake up Mikey either." He groaned and rolled over, burying his face in a pillow.

"Five more minutes."

"Okay. Five more minutes is now. Don't make me get a spray bottle." Gerard sat up and glared at me. He picked up a pillow and threw it at Mikey, who slowly sat up. He was still holding the unicorn Gerard had gotten him as he slid out of bed. I watched Gerard yawn and he scratched the back of his neck. I climbed out of bed and Gerard followed, hanging off my back. Mikey sat on the floor, apparently pondering life. Gerard tapped him on his head as we left my room. He plopped down at the table and slumped forward.

"Hey man, you need to wake up." I heard Mikey enter the bathroom and heard the water start. At least Mikey was up. I shook Gerard again and he groaned, looking back at me.

"What is with you today?"

"Were...wolf. Couldn't sleep last night. Kept hearing little things."

"Oh. Sounds rough." Gerard nodded before face planting back into the table. Mom came around the corner.

"What is with all the racket?" She saw Gerard passed out on the table and watched Mikey as he walked back to get something out of my room. He walked out a few minutes later dressed in black jeans, a Metallica shirt and leather boots. He gently tapped Gerard on the head.

"Boop him on the nose. Mrs.Iero, can you make some coffee?" Mom nodded and went to make the coffee. Mikey went back to the bathroom, which left me the task of "booping" Gerard's nose, whatever that meant. I propped him up and reached out, gently tapping his nose. He rubbed his nose, quietly sneezing. I giggled before doing it again. Gerard sleepily opened his eyes.

"Hey there, sunshine." I smiled as Mom gave Gerard a mug of coffee. He accepted it and took a drink.

"I will never be able to understand how you do that." I watched as Gerard spit out coffee, some of it coming out his nose. He wiped at the mess with the back of his hand as I fell back laughing. Mom came over and began to dab at his face with a towel. Gerard kept giggling and Mom kept trying to desperately wipe away all the coffee. Gerard spit out the coffee had somehow kept in his mouth this entire time. He ended up covered in coffee and for some reason he couldn't stop laughing. Mom demanded that he go change so that she could wash his clothes. I helped him back to my room so he could get a fresh change of clothes. He sat on the floor, checking all of his clothes to see which were dirty and which were clean. Turned out he didn't have a single set of clothing. I lent him some of mine and let him change in my room. Mikey came back out of the bathroom just as Gerard walked out of my room. His face still had little specks of coffee all over it. I resisted the urge to go over and lick it of his face. Gerard didn't strike me as the licking kind of guy. He went into the bathroom and closed the door behind him. He came out a few minutes later, skin perfectly clear, though his hair was a tangled, matted mess. He didn't even bother doing anything to it as we all got ready to walk to school. When we got to school, we sat in the courtyard and waited for the first bell to sound. Gerard had dragged us into a Starbucks, so we had all gotten some kind of coffee. Gerard took another drink from his coffee and shook the cup, upset to find it empty. He threw it away as we all made our way into the building. Gerard shoved all of his things into his locker, picking out what he needed for first hour. He came over and waited by my locker as I dug around. Bert walked up as I finally pulled out my notebook.

"Gerard? I just wanted to apologize for being a jerk. I shouldn't have been so mean to you. I'm turning over a new leaf and just wanted to apologize. And give you a warning. My old friends weren't too happy to hear I'm dipping out. They also kinda blame you. So just as a warning." Gerard nodded, saying that he accepted Bert's apology. Bert walked away, probably to go and apologize to another one of his victims.