Chapter Text
The setting sun cast a soft, golden glow over the playground near Illi's house. The screams of children had long subsided as each family retreated to their homes. Illi was happy being alone; She came up with her best games when she had no one to play with. She smiled and picked at the tarmac, trying to conjure her next universe in her small head.
A hand on her shoulder snapped her out of it. A very gentle, very little, and awfully shy hand. Illi turned her head to see who owned it and saw a boy her age with wild black hair and a Ninja Turtles t-shirt. His face was red and he was out of breath from running.
It took Illi a moment to notice the flower in his hand.
Once he caught his breath, the boy spoke, his eyes open wide. "Will you marry me?" he asked and extended the flower quickly to her. Illi giggled and stood up, wiping her hands on her legs.
"Okay. I like your t-shirt," she said. The boy looked down at his shirt, like he had forgotten what he was wearing, and then looked up at her, beaming.
"Thank you! I'm Frank!"
Illi beamed back at him.
"I'm Gerard!"
--
Illi was shaken out of her trance by the voice of her brother screaming her name. She panicked and scrambled to open her drawer, gently replacing the photo of her and Frank as kids in its photo album.
Just as she closed the drawer again, her door swung open, and she turned to see an exasperated Mikey. His brow was furrowed and he already had his jacket and his backpack on.
"Illi, what the fuck are you doing? We need to go, we're gonna be late," he said impatiently, gesturing vaguely in the direction of the door.
"Right, yes, coming. Chill, dude," Illi replied and sat down on her bed to pull on her school shoes. She noticed a hole in her sock and hesitated for a moment, but then ignored it with a shrug. She hopped up and pulled on her blazer. Mikey had already left her room.
She ran downstairs, almost losing her footing but not stopping. She grabbed her backpack and her lunch and made her way to the door where a frustrated Mikey watched her. She stopped abruptly in front of the mirror and tried to fluff her hair.
Well, fluff is an overstatement. Her hair was in no state to leave the house. She groaned and ran her hands through it one last time in a defeated gesture, turning and following her brother out the door, locking it behind her.
--
The minute the pair stepped in the gates of the wretched school, they were stopped dead in their tracks by an overexcited Frank jumping out to scare them. Illi yelped and Mikey hit him instinctively.
"Ow! Shit! Hey, Illi." He rubbed his arm and gave her a wink. "Dashing as usual. Is that a new eye look? You know, the eyebags suit you."
Illi stared blankly at him. "I'm not wearing any makeup."
Frank's eyes went wide and he cursed himself internally. "No, no, I just meant that-" He was cut off by Mikey's cries of laughter and the pair stared.
"It wasn't that funny!" they both yelled in unison and then side eyed each other. When Illi realised her brother wasn't calming down anytime soon, she readjusted the strap of her back on her shoulder.
"Whatever, man," she sighed and walked away.
After a few moments, Frank turned and hit Mikey. Mikey stood up defensively, still coming down from his laughter.
"Fuck, man! You said it, not me!" he cried and hit him back playfully. Frank sighed and ran his hands through his hair.
At her locker, Illi looked around to see if Ray had made it into school yet. Her gaze lingered over a group of girls in the corner and she looked down at their skirts. She then looked down at her own school trousers, her stomach filling with dread.
Illi had come out about a year ago. Her friends had taken it well. Frank got it no problem, and she could tell Mikey was trying his best with the whole she's-a-she thing. She was happy with how her hair had grown since then but she hadn't quite worked up the courage to switch to the girls uniform yet.
She glanced over to the girls' skirts once more and decided that she would just wait until she graduated. That way, her parents wouldn't find out, and she would be safe at school, too. That would be easy enough. She just needed to ignore the pit in her stomach, and all would be good. All will be good.
Feeling a hand on her shoulder, she whipped around beaming to greet Ray. Only, it wasn't Ray. It was Frank, with a smile on his face that could only be described as utterly devious.
"Caught rotten. I saw you staring at those girls' skirts, perv." Illi shoved his shoulder and blushed furiously as she shushed him, hoping no one heard him.
"You know I'm not even into girls, asshole!" she hissed and brushed past him. He followed along beside her swiftly. Illi didn't need to know his class was actually in the opposite direction.
Frank sighed and smirked contentedly at the reaction he had elicited. He shoved his hands deep in his pockets like he always did when he walked. Illi would never, ever, tell him, but she actually thought it quite endearing.
They stayed in silence for a few moments, the sounds of the busy hall speaking for them, before Frank cleared his throat.
"I'm sorry 'bout this morning. Thought you had done something," he mumbled. Illi laughed at his timid apology and smiled down to him.
"Dude, I don't actually care. It was just stupid," she mused. He looked up at her hopefully. Again, she'd never admit it, but he was rather cute when he was flustered. She decided to draw that out. "You basically just called me cute."
Franks eyes went wide and he elbowed her defensively. She yelped and he apologised quickly, cursing his impulsivity. Illi's eyes lit up as she noticed something down the hall, and Frank looked up to see what got her excited. He rolled his eyes.
Ray was dragging his feet down the hall, his brown curls covering his face as he hunched over and tried to make himself as small as possible. Which, given his height, was not easy. His head whipped up when Illi called his name and he smiled wide. Frank felt himself puke in his mouth a little.
Illi waved excitedly and he came over to join them. "Hey, Illi, Frank!" He adjusted the strap of his backpack on his shoulder and shook his head to tuck his long hair out from underneath. Illi watched his hair with stars in her eyes.
Frank had tried to give his best I'm-Better-Than-You smirk, but Ray's genuine coolness had disarmed him. It always did. He hated that.
"Illi, did you do the chem homework? I'm actually about to fail the entire unit," Ray joked and scratched the back of his neck. Illi smiled dumbly at him.
"I'm sure you're exaggerating," she teased and dug in her bag for the notes. This was more of a challenge than expected as Illi wasnt one to use a folder for her papers, and just let them hang loosely in her bag. She claimed to know where each one was. She, in fact, did not.
Frank looked between the pair of them once she finally located the homework and passed it to him. He saw how they caught each others' gaze and the way they both blushed and looked away.
He thanked the lord above when the bell rang to shock the two of them out of it.
"Oh, shit, well, we've gotta get to chemistry. See you later, Frank," said Illi and she flashed him a cute smile, dragging Ray off by the arm. Frank watched them dumbly as they walked away. He cursed and walked in the opposite direction to get to his own class and was, as expected, extremely late