Chapter Text
“Okay class, our next unit is going to be on unreliable narrators. We will be reading a few short stories for this unit, but today I’m going to introduce a project that we will be doing. All of you will be making a list of lies. That’s right, for the duration of this unit, you will be writing down every lie you tell. Isn’t that interesting!”
Gerard looked over at Frank, rolling his eyes. If the teacher didn’t actually read the list, Gerard would have just copied & pasted what he did last year into a new Google Doc. But he knew Mrs. Carlyle would read his list, even if she didn’t read anyone else’s. Last year, she didn’t like Gerard at all, and even though this year he was getting much better grades, he still had been held back, which probably dismantled any chance he had of her taking it easy on him.
“And these lies don’t just have to be the everyday white lies we all tell, they can be anything! I will be the only one seeing your lists, so be as open as you want to be! And remember, we are learning about unreliable narrators, so the lies you write down can even be lies that you tell yourself. You need to write down 50 lies by the end of this unit. Have fun!”
The bell rang and everyone walked out into the hall towards their next class, which for Frank and Gerard, was lunch.
“I know it’s usually a good thing when a teacher loves her work, but Carlyle’s eternal enthusiasm is making me wanna stab myself.” Frank shook his head.
“She’s worse the second time around.” Gerard walked into the cafeteria and dropped his bag on a chair next to his usual table in the corner.
Frank sat down, getting out his lunch box. He always brought his own food, which was smart, because the cafeteria food usually sucked ass.
When Gerard got back to their table after getting lunch, the others had already gotten there. He never understood how either of them could get to the cafeteria after he did and still manage to make it through the chaos of the lunch line- you could hardly call it a line- and back to the table before him.
“Hey Mikey. Working on something, Tyler?” Gerard put his tray down on the table.
Tyler mumbled something about a poem and kept writing in his leather-bound notebook.
Gerard would classify their table as the weird, introverted, poetry emos. It was himself, who wrote songs about death for a band he was in with Frank, Mikey, and his other friend Ray (but Gerard would consider himself more goth than emo), Frank, a very short and angry emo who was into all things satan- or cryptid- related, his brother Mikey, who constantly looked like he wanted to kill someone (the all-black outfits and gigantic boots certainly helped), and Tyler, a junior who barely talked to anyone and was constantly writing and listening to music.
“Hey!” A kid with fake tattoos all over his arms and the top part of his chest that his shirt didn’t cover suddenly rolled over to their table. He had fluffy scene-style hair, rubber wristbands on both of his arms, and heterochromia.
“Are you wearing heelies?” Frank wondered allowed.
“Yes I am!” The kid said proudly.
Frank nodded his head thoughtfully.
“Hey, tiny freshman, what do you want?” Gerard smirked. “We specifically picked this table to sit at every day specifically so no one would bother us, you know.”
“Don’t call freshmen tiny.” Mikey piped up from his seat in between Frank and Tyler. “It offends Frank.”
“It does not offend me.” Frank crossed his arms. “I just think it’s a little unfair that you’re implying that all freshmen are short, and everyone who is short is basically the same as a freshman.”
Gerard rolled his eyes at Frank and then looked back at the kid, who laughed a little before speaking.
“Y’all are seniors, right?”
“I’m a junior.” Tyler said quietly, stopping his writing to see what this freshman wanted.
“That’s cool too.” The kid shrugged. “Can I go to prom with one of you?”
“Why?” Mikey warily asked.
“Well, do y’all like pranks? My name’s Awsten, and-” Awsten started before Gerard interrupted him.
“We know who you are, you get called to the guidance office all the time. Also, this is starting to sound like a sales pitch.” Gerard pointed out.
Awsten rolled his eyes. “Because it is a sales pitch! One of the reasons I get called to the guidance office so much is for pulling pranks, and I need to get into prom to pull a prank on my friend Jawn. He’s going with a junior.”
“Who?” Tyler asked.
“Hayley Williams.” Awsten replied. The guys all nodded their heads.
“She could do better.” Frank shrugged.
“Okay, why one of us? And what do we get in return?” Gerard finally sat down.
“No offence, but I didn’t think any of you would already have a date. And you’re one of the only tables in this lunch period that’s almost all seniors. As for what you get in return, you can be my friend!”
“No thanks.” Mikey tried to wave the kid away.
“Okay, um, how about I teach you guitar? I’ve been playing for years, I think I’m actually pretty good. I’ve been teaching some middle schoolers for money.”
“I already play guitar, nice try.” Frank scoffed, as if doubting Awsten’s ability to teach him anything.
Tyler shrugged. “I’m ok with that deal.”
“Yeah.” Gerard agreed. “We’ll all consider it and let you know tomorrow.”
“Really? Nice! You won’t regret this!” Awsten shouted as he heelied back to his table.
Gerard had never attempted to play a guitar, be he thought it might be useful for a solo career if his band ever broke up. And Awsten was right, Gerard didn’t have a date yet, and he would be surprised if anyone actually asked him.
Frank rolled his eyes at Awsten as the freshman went back to his table. “Are you guys seriously considering this?”
Gerard and Tyler shared a look.
“Yeah, why not?” Tyler asked.
“Tyler, don’t you have a crush on Brendon though?” Mikey pushed his glasses up and looked at his friend.
“Yeah, but he’s never gonna ask me to prom, and I don’t think I could ask him. He’s a theater geek and I’m an introvert, I don’t think a relationship with us would work well anyway.” answered Tyler.
“What about you, Gee? Isn’t there anyone you want to ask you to prom?” Frank ran a hand through his messy black hair and looked expectantly at Gerard.
“Not really. I haven’t talked to any girls lately that I would consider taking to prom.”