27 Shades of Pink

Carnation

"Class take you seats," Mr. Heron barked at the class as he walked in, setting a stack of papers on his desk. That's when I saw her. The hottest girl I had ever seen. She had on a loose fitting black skirts that stopped just above her knees. It was paired with what looked like a marching band jacket except for that it didn't have long sleeves. Not many people should be able to pull that off without looking like a huge nerd but she wore it perfectly. Her neon pink hair framed her face in loose curls, stopping just below her shoulders. She was chewing gum. I could tell because I may have gotten distracted studying her jaw and saw the pink wad poke out of her mouth a bit at one point. I moved my gaze lower and noticed the knee high stockings, Black and thin, accenting her combat boots.
"No chewing gum in class," the teacher told her. She looked over at him crossing her gloved arms. She raised an eyebrow. Damn I could already tell this girl was going to be trouble.
"Hey, frank," Pete whispered to me.
"Yeah?" I tore my eyes away from the new kid to look at my best friend.
"That is your first dare," he said pointing to the girl I was practically drooling over. "Get her to call you."
I shook my head. "Pete. No. thats dumb."Pete laughed, leaning back in the plastic chair.
"You don't have a choice. 27 dares, and I get to pick them," Pete reminded me. I groaned. This punk girl was going to tear me apart. I glanced back up at the girl only to notice that she was walking in my direction. I glanced away and pretended to be interested in whatever Pete was doing. She sat down in the seat next to mine, since it was the only one left, looking annoyed. Pete nudged my arm and raised his eyebrows. 'Talk to her,' he mouthed. I rolled my eyes and leaned back. I let out a soft sigh before turning to the new girl.
"Hey. You must be new," I said softly. She glanced my way, quickly looking me up and down.
"No shit, Sherlock." she said with a slight flip of her hair. "Doesn't take an expert to figure that out." I glanced back a bit, who was trying not to laugh.
"Uh...well, I'm Frank. Frank Iero." I responded, hoping I wasn't about to be torn apart.
"Gracie Way. Pleasure."she said inspecting her nails.
"What other classes do you have?" I was genuinely curious if i would have this angel in any other classes. She handed me a slip of paper that had her schedule on it. I quickly read it over. "Oh wow. We have a lot of similar classes." I handed the paper back.
"Oh yeah? Let me guess.Hmm.. you're gonna ask if you could walk me to the next class." she crossed her arms, leaning back. Before I could respond she continued talking. "Sweetheart. Let's get something straight here." She turned to me, leaning closer. Her face was only inches from mine. She has some of the most beautiful Hazel eyes. They were captivating. She spoke in a deadly sweet whisper that had me squirming in my seat. "I don't need a lovesick puppy following me around." "Do you understand?" She asked with a false innocence to her tone. I nodded my head rapidly. Gracie backed up and pulled a notebook out of her backpack and started taking notes as if nothing ever happened.

________________________________

Despite the fact that this teenager scared the living shit out of me, I continued to try and talk to her every day. It isn't easy getting her to respond, though. We were sitting in math class when she let out a sigh. I looked over. "You good, Gracie?" I asked softly. She shrugged.
"I just don't understand the problems. Math isn't really my thing."She crossed her arms. Today she was wearing a pink leather jacket that matched her hair with a black skirt and matching black fishnets.
"I could help you if you want," I offered. "I could give you my number, and you can call me when you're free." She just laughed softly.
"You're not giving up are you Frankie?" She smirked slightly raising one eyebrow. Its true, I had been trying for the past two weeks to get her to call me.
"I'm trying to be nice here," I rolled my eyes with a slight smile.
"Thanks but I'm not that easy," She said with a slight wink as she collected her stuff, getting up since the bell rang. I sighed the slightest bit. This dare was harder than I thought it would. My next period was a free period, so I decided to just wander the halls. Pete wasn't at school today, complaining of being in pain, so i decided to text him for advice.

Frank: my plans aren't working
Pete: don't give up
Frank: how am I supposed to get her to call me
Pete: Have you tried flowers yet??
Frank: Doubt that would work but i'll try it

Since I had nothing better to do, I made my way to the store across the street from the school. I wandered around for a little bit until I spotted some pink Carnations. I decided those would work and grabbed one and a card to go with it. I paid for the stuff and made my way back to school. I sat down in the hall and penned a message to the card.

"Come on. Just give in already.
I'll win either way. Call me?

-xofrnk"

I added my number and then went to find Gracie's locker. Once I found it, I taped the note and the flower to the front of it. Could i be more obvious?
The bell rang, signalling the end of this period. I had one more class before I could go home. It was Music class. The teacher was pretty cool. His name was Mr. Stump. This was one of the classes that I didn't have with Gracie, but that's fine. I made my way to class. The teacher looked around.
"Frank. Is Pete not here today?" He asked me, knowing that he and I were close friends.
"No Mr. Stump. He said he was in pain so he stayed home today." I told him what pete had told me.
"Oh well please tell him i hope he is back tomorrow," Mr. Stump said before turning around. I don't know about anyone else, but something seemed off about Mr. Stump when Pete wasn't here. It was probably nothing. I am probably just imagining it.

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Later that night, I was just laying on my bed. I had forgotten all about what I had done earlier. I was sitting there just plucking the strings of my guitar out of complete boredom. Normally I would go over to Pete's but he was 'busy' apparently except he wouldn't tell me why so i just let it go. I was startled by my phone ringing, pulling me out of my thoughts. I picked it up.
"Hello?" I said once i answered. There was a moment of silence on the other end. I started to wonder if this was a prank call.
"Fuck you, Iero," Came a soft amused reply."You win"
My eyes widened a bit. "Wow you actually called?"
"Duh. I kinda need help on my math homework, and you really wanted me to call you for some reason i'll never understand." She paused."Besides, Jamia and Lynz told me I pretty much have to call you now since you left that flower on my locker."
"Oh I didn't know you were friends with Jamia," I commented. "I used to date her but then she dumped me because she was gay"
"Oh trust me. I know she's gay." Gracie laughed. Damn. Her laugh was melodic and almost hypnotizing to me. It's something I definitely want to hear more often.
"Well what do you need help on, with the math homework?" I asked, stretching out on my bed.
"It's hard to explain over the phone. Can i come over?" She asked.
"Yeah sure. I'll text you my address. See you in a bit" I said.
"See you" she responded and the line clicked off. I quickly added her number to my contacts then i texted her my address before going to inform my mom i had a friend coming over.
Soon Gracie showed up and I let her in and went up to my room with her.
"Thanks for letting me come over. My brother had his boyfriend over, and his room is right next to mine." She laughed a bit. "And I did not want to keep hearing what they were doing."
"I didn't know you had a brother," I commented, moving my guitar to put it back on the stand.
"Yeah His name is Mikey," She said. "I swear if Pete hurts him, i will shove my combat boot so far up his ass-"
"Wait? Pete is dating your brother?!" I interrupted. I didn't even know he was gay.
"Oh? He didn't tell you? That's shocking. I thought you two were close. But yeah they are dating." She shrugged and pulled her math book out of her bag. "Anyways, Let's get to this math homework." I made a mental note to bring this up to Pete next time I saw him.