~FireNinjaDagger

I would say today is really terrible trying to wake up for school but it isn't the worst. Due to the extended weekend, it's already Tuesday, which makes it more bearable. We get to school and it's back to the monotonous routine.

It's still cold walking into the school. Cody and Gerard were slow getting out of the car so Jenna, Amelia, and I rushed into the building. Lynn's standing off to the side in the commons on her phone. "Hey, Lynn!" Jenna calls out.

Lynn pops her head up and she starts making an exaggerated distressed face when she sees us. "Ugh, you all left we alone!" she wails walking toward us. She hugs us all and sighs. "I've been so bored. I don't know what to do when you're not around."

"Good luck when we start going to college," Jenna says.

"Shh, let's not talk about that," Amelia says. She spins around looking behind her. "Where are the guys?" she asks.

I glance back. "They're walking in now." Gerard and Cody are stepping through the entrance doors and Cody is laughing hysterically.

Lynn glances at me with a soft smile. "Hey, so you were rooming with the guys?" she asks me.

"Yeah, Gerard, Cody, and Brendon," I tell her. Lynn has a weird look on her face. "Yeah?"

"That it?" she says. "Anything h-"

"Hey!" Gerard cuts in with a large grin. He puts a hand on her shoulder and Lynn turns around. "Haven't seen you in a few days," he says.

"Yeah, how was the trip?" she asks him.

Gerard also has a weird face. "It was good," he says warily. "You-" he stops himself, talking a short breath, "hey, I want to drop off my bag in art. It's heavy, come with." He doesn't let go of Lynn's shoulder as the two of them start walking away.

The others don't seem to notice their odd behavior. "Dude, I'm telling you, there was literally a goose in the parking lot. You missed it!" Cody says swiping through his phone. "Look at him!" He holds out his phone and the girls stare at it.

"Oh my god," Jenna mutters.

"Heh, it looks like it's hardcore judging Gee," Amelia says. Cody turns around and it's a picture of Gerard in the parking lot squatting down next to this Canadian goose.

"It does look like it's judging him," I say.

"Yeah, like 'really? That hoodie with those shoes?'" Amelia says.

Warning bell rings and the other students in the commons start heading to class. "Alright, got to go, see you later," Cody says. He and Jenna start walking toward the art hallway. Amelia and I turn around and start going toward the stairs.

"I love that picture, I want Cody to send it to me," Amelia says, still giggling.

After I check in with my study hall teacher, I start heading back to the art room. Gerard and Lynn are mostly quiet the majority of the period but Cody and Jenna are goofing around, talking in obscure accents to each other.

The morning goes by relatively quickly. In guitar, we're doing music packets but it goes by faster than usual. On my way to history, I see Gerard and Lynn talking at the locker banks. They seem a bit tense. Well, Gerard seems tense and Lynn looks annoyed at him. I'm about to walk up to him when he glances at me and quickly jumps away from Lynn. She glances back at me with a neutral face before walking away. She doesn't seem irritated or anything, just glanced over at us as an observation. "Hey, everything good?" I ask, walking toward Gerard.

"Yeah, just we should go to history now," he says, taking hold of my arm and pulling me along.

"Oh-okay," I say, walking with him and adjusting to his pace. "What were you guys talking about?" He stays silent. And we're back to not answering me again. Part of me thinks it's about me since Gerard is acting squirrelly around me. The other part of me is saying to stop being so narcissistic. But then again, this has been an ongoing thing with him and Lynn since...the restaurant? That was like almost a month ago. And Gerard is still acting weird with her. I literally can't remember what happened at dinner, I don't even remember what the conversation was in general.

We go to the lab today. Apparently yesterday the class just watched a documentary since half his students were gone for the trip. So today we're working on another essay. Just busy work. However, we are stopping by the library to get textbooks on WW I and II. Mr. Carlson stands in the front of the room telling us. "Alright, we're heading down. Make sure to grab the blue books. The red ones are for the AP students and trust me, that's a lot more information than you'll know what to do with," he calls out. "Just be quiet, follow the buddy system. It is the only system that works!" Everyone around the room just nods along and glances at their friends. "Let's go!"

Gerard and I glance at each other. "Buddy?" I ask with a grin.

"Sure thing," he says. The class walks down and we grab a book and check it out. On the way back, we go directly to the lab instead since we were told to take out bags with.

Mr. Carlson holds the door open for us as we file in. He double-takes at one of the girls that walks past him. "Lacey, what are you doing? Why did you take a red one?" he asks.

Lacey glances down at her book and then back up at him. "You said red?" Her friend glances at her with a "really" expression.

"Dude, he said red was for AP kids, we needed blue," her friend says.

"Ohhh," Lacey says giggling.

"Ugh, go back," Mr. Carlson says. He then glances at her friend. "You too, go with her. You must follow the buddy system."

The two girls turn around, her friend glaring at her and Lacey sighing to herself. Andy walks up and glances at Mr. Carlson. "Uh, sir? I seemed to have lost my buddy," he says.

"You what?"

"Ronnie left. The buddy system has failed me."

"Dude, that's the only system that works, remember?" Gerard asks him. Andy glances back and him and playfully wacks him. "The only system that works has failed you."

"Just...stop," Mr. Carlson says. "I'll deal with him, you sit."

You would think checking out textbooks with high school students wouldn't be difficult. Apparently, not so. Once we're in the room, we're working on the causes of The Great War. "So for World War I, are you arguing for imperialism or the ally system?" I ask Gerard.

"The allies," he replies. "Sure, everyone built up their forces and totally wanted to 1 v 1 everyone. But the allies are what dragged all these unnecessary countries into a fight over the archduke assassination."

"Yeah, I totally agree," I say while typing the start of my paper. "So are you doing anything later?" I ask.

"Um, I don't know," he says. "Why, do you want to hang out?"

"Possibly," I reply. "I feel like I haven't seen you in forever."

"Well, we hung out yesterday and watched a movie," he says. "I mean, yeah, I totally like hanging out with you and all..." he trails off as if there's more but he's reluctant to say it.

"But?"

"Huh?" He glances at me, looking out of it.

"You like hanging out with me but...?" I ask.

He gives his head a small shake. "I don't have a but," he replies. I stifle a laugh and Gerard rolls his eyes at me. "Oh, ha ha, Gerard doesn't have an ass. Jesus Christ."

"I'm actually 9, leave me alone," I say giggling. "Leave me alone."

He shrugs. "You got the height of one." I stop laughing at stare at him. "You started this, not me."

"Well then," I say, spinning back to face my computer. "So are we hanging out then?" I ask.

"Eh, probably," he replies. "You want to watch something?"

"How about one of those Studio Gibs thing," I say.

Gerard stops typing and I feel his judgment at me. "First of all, it's Studio Ghibli," he says.

"Right, right, that," I say.

"You disgrace me," Gerard scoffs dramatically. "But that'd be good. I have a whole bunch so we can marathon it."

"Like?"

Gerard spins around in his chair with his head leaning back. "We saw Spirited Away...there's Kiki, Totoro, Castle in the Sky."

"All of them," I say.

"What?"

"Let's watch all of them," I repeat.

"You seriously want to?" he asks.

"Yeah, sure, why not?"

"Okay, that'll be cool. We'll be hanging out for several hours," he says with a soft smile. Like that's a bad thing?