Chapter Text
Frank's POV
If you're here, it means you're interested in my story. Well, I'll tell you my story. My name is Frank Iero and I'm just your average high school boy with my average life. At least that's what I thought 'til my 18th birthday.
It was Monday morning. I woke up and looked at the clock next to me. It was 6:16. That means I still had 14 minutes until my alarm. Wow! I can't believe it. For the first time in my whole life, I woke up before it rang. I thought to myself.
I stared at the ceiling thinking about my new day. Today was special. It was the day of my birthday. It was also Halloween, but after a group of 13-year-olds got murdered cold-bloodedly that day, the town decided to cancel the holiday. Forever. They said, "it's for your own safety". The thing is... this was over 100 years ago and the murderer is probably already dead. I remember my grandpa used to say "Belleville is already hunted enough. We don't need a special day to make it worse and celebrate it." At the end of the day, I didn't care since you can't really care for something you never experienced. Am I right?
I was cut from my thoughts by the alarm clock. I turned on my side and pressed on the big red button to turn off the annoying sound I hear every morning.
I got out of my bed and started getting ready. I picked up a Misfits shirt and a pair of black skinny jeans. That's my everyday style; skinny jeans with a band shirt. Considering the fact that 97,6% of all my clothes is band merch, I don't really have other choices. I'm not complaining, just flexing.
I closed all the books on my desk and quickly tucked it in my bag. I left my room and went downstairs for breakfast. As I got to the kitchen, I saw my mom making pancakes, while my dad was setting up the coffee machine.
"The birthday boy is awake! Happy birthday Frankie." My dad said before he smiled at me and turned his attention to whatever he was doing before I came in. My mom flipped the last pancake and came to me for a hug.
"Happy birthday sweetie! I'm surprised, you're up on time."
"Thanks," I said with a smile.
I took one of the pancakes and a bottle of maple syrup. I put it on my plate and spilled the syrup on it. The amount of syrup I had put on it made it look like I was eating syrup with pancake, instead of a pancake with syrup. My love for maple syrup is unexplainable. Apparently, my dad's great great grandma is Canadian, so I wonder where that came from.
"When you get back home, we're gonna need to talk about something after I give you your present." My dad said, not taking his eyes off of his phone.
"Talk about what?" I asked with a confused face.
"You'll see." He said, after taking a sip of his coffee.
"Ok...?"
Why did we need to talk? Did I do something wrong? I'm sorry, let me rephrase that: did he find out about something wrong I did? Was I in trouble? Did he find my weed? My beers? Vodka? Is it about the time I told my teacher to fuck off in 3rd grade?
My thoughts were cut off when I saw the time. It was 7:26. I was going to be late if I didn't leave my house in the next 5 minutes.
As I finished my pancake, or should I say my syrup, I quickly grabbed my backpack and headed toward the front door. I put on my shoes while yelling a "bye mom, bye dad". I heard them answer me, but I was too busy looking at myself in the mirror and shining. I left the house, slamming the door after me.
꧁ꕥ꧂
After 20 minutes of walk, I could see hell and by that I mean school. If I'm being honest, hell is better than school. Change my mind.
I pushed open the heavy metal door and stepped in. I went directly to my locker to pick up my history book since I had History in the first period. As I got on my knees to put the book in my bag, I heard my locker getting slammed shut. I looked up to see Tyler standing there with one hand on my locker.
"Dude! Happy birthday." He said with a smirk appearing on his face. I zipped my bag and got up to match his height.
"Thanks," I said with a big smile while putting my bag on my back. "Where's the rest of the gang? I thought I was late."
"Patrick's gonna be late, like always, and Ryan will be here in 5 minutes. I just talked to him. His mom's giving him a ride, like always, since he always leaves the house late. I'm starting to think I'm the only organized person in this group."
"Stop talking and start moving or else we're going to be late. You can't be an "organized person" if you're late from history class. Can you?" I said and started walking as Tyler followed me to History class.
We stepped into the classroom and took seats next to each other. After what seemed 5 minutes, Ryan came in. He greeted us, wished me a happy birthday and took a seat in front of me, as the bell rang. After 10 minutes the class started, Patrick came in with a paper in his hands that he gave to Mr. Urine. He walked toward us mouthing me a "happy birthday" and took a seat in front of Tyler.
꧁ꕥ꧂
After a long day, it was finally time for lunch, aka, my favourite time of the day. I went to the cafeteria, took my lunch and joined my only friends. It has always been only the four of us. We all became friends since we were babies. Our parents were close to each other. They always hung out together, and us being their kids, we did the same. By the time we started school, we got closer and closer.
I placed my tray on the table and took a seat next to Patrick. They seemed to be in a deep conversation, but when they saw me coming, they panicked and stopped talking.
"What were you guys talking about?" I asked with curiosity.
"Nothing important," Tyler said after clearing his throat. I'm sure they're keeping something from me. They never did this. We always told secrets to each other, but why exclude me? I bet they're gonna open a group chat without me. But it's impossible. Does it have something to do with my birthday? Maybe it's a surprise. My thoughts were cut when Patrick spoke.
"So what are you gonna do for your birthday?" He said by breaking the silence.
"I wanted to invite you all for tonight, but my parents wanted me to spend the night with them and that actually surprised me, because they're always "too busy" to care for me. So I guess I'm gonna take this opportunity and spend the time with them, and you guys can come over Friday." I said while mixing my salad.
"Did they tell you yet?" Ryan asked. The question was followed by Tyler's coughs.
"Tell me what?" I said with a confused face. Suddenly, the three of them started panicking.
"I think Ryan meant "did they wish you a happy birthday yet?". Am I right Ryan?" Patrick said looking straight into his eyes. Ryan nodded turning his gaze from Patrick to me to make sure I saw him nod. Well, that was a shitty cover-up. They're definitely keeping something from me. The whole day I was thinking about what my dad is going to talk about after school, and now this? Can't my day get any mysterious?
The dead science was cut by a female's voice. "I heard it's your birthday, Frankie. Did they tell you yet?" She said, followed by more coughs from Tyler.
It was Hayley, one of the school's cheerleaders. My parents knew her parents too but weren't close, and she and I weren't close at all. We only talked to each other once or twice a year. How does she know about my birthday? We barely know each other. And what does she mean by "did they tell you yet"? Does this have something to the with Ryan's "did they tell you yet"?
"Tell. Me. What.?" I asked even more confused than the first time. My question was followed by another dead silence. Everyone was staring at each other until Tyler flipped his plate of spaghetti over the table and screamed "SPIDER".
Hayley awkwardly left while we were cleaning up the mess Tyler created. After that, none of us talked and the rest of the lunch passed in silence. This is the first time our group was this silent. We always had something to talk about, but today was weird. They were all acting weird.
꧁ꕥ꧂
I got home and saw my parents on the couch with a glass of wine in their hands. Now, this was the weirdest thing in this whole day because they NEVER came home before 8 pm. Maybe they took a day off for my 18th birthday.
"Go get changed and come back downstairs for your present." My dad said with a serious tone.
I did what I was told. I went upstairs, quickly changed my clothes into something more comfortable, and went back downstairs. When I got there, there was a box on the coffee table that wasn't there when I got home. It was almost the size of a shoebox, but a bit bigger.
"It's your present, come open it up." My mom said, picking up the box.
I grabbed the box from her hands and started ripping off the wrapper. Under it was a black box with "𝙵𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚔 𝙸𝚎𝚛𝚘" written on it. I quickly opened it up and saw a real silver gun with its bullets next to it. A gun? What kind of parent gives their child a gun for their birthday? I know we're Americans, but like... seriously?