MICHELLE
NOVEMBER 15TH, 2004

"WAIT SO YOU'RE GOING TO BE GONE ALL NEXT WEEK?" Gerard asked, pushing me in front of him as we exit the classroom.

I shrugged "yeah."

I'm not sure why I've had to explain it to him so many times. I had thought it was simple enough the first time.

"What!" He was by my side now, walking through the hall and completely ignoring the people he had pushed to the side "why!"

"It's Thanksgiving! My dad wants me there to hang out with that side of the family!"

It was one of the agreements. I move here, I visit him on every important holiday including at least a month in the summer.

"Is Thanksgiving really that important of a holiday?" He asked, his eyes flickering between me and the path in front of us.

"It's less about the holiday and more about the fact that I now live thousands of miles away from him and he'll take any excuse he can get to see me" I hummed.

We stopped at my locker and while I shoved all of my belongings into it, Gerard leaned against the one beside me and began to whine.

"But Michelle!" He slumped against the locker pathetically "You're like my only friend, what am I supposed to do without you?"

I glared at the boy beside me "You have plenty of friends. I'm sure you'll find something to do"

The blond boy groaned—like—really loudly. Loud enough to bake a few heads turn in our direction out of curiosity.

"Yeah, maybe. But there is nothing I want to do that doesn't involve you."

I looked down to hide the blush that seemed to be creeping onto my face for some reason "well, you're going to have to. I'll be back the twenty-seventh."

"Yeah, but that's so far away."

"It's only a week." I slammed my locker shut "and besides, I'm not leaving till Sunday."

The boy stood up straight, a glint of hope in his eyes "wait, so I still get you all weekend?"

I scoffed as he pushed me towards the lunch room "I guess."

The blond practically started skipping through the lunch hall towards his friends before he dropped into his usual chair across from Johnny.

"Johnny" Gerard groaned, throwing the top half of his body onto the table "Michelle is leaving us."

My eyes flickered over to the blonde sitting in the chair I usually sat it. I didn't have a problem with her in that chair, it's not like I owned it, but It made me a little annoyed that I couldn't sit next to him.

"What do you mean?" Johnny asked, watching me as I sat beside Claire.

"I'm just—" before I could finish my sentence, Gerard groaned again "she's going back to America!"

"What?" All four of my friends asked.

"Not forever." I glared over at Gerard, who was currently giving Claire an annoyed look—not that she noticed, she was too busy watching me with narrowed eyes. "It's just for a week, he's being dramatic."

"Why?" Katie seemed to be the only one to ask.

"Thanksgiving. My dad's whole family gathers together and so he wants me to be there." I cleared my throat, adjusting the way I was sitting "since we're on the subject, I'm also gonna be gone Christmas week."

"What!" Gerard was the loudest out of the group. "No! Why!" He pulled himself out of his chair and moved towards me.

"Because I promised my dad that he could have me every major holiday. Don't worry I'll be back the day after Christmas, I still have to celebrate with my mom." I watched as Gerard walked around both Claire and me and sat in the empty chair on the other side of me where Maeve usually sat.

Where is Maeve?

"Hey, we're like best friends now." He leaned against the table.

"What about me?" Johnny asked. I couldn't tell if he was actually offended or just joking.

"Johnny, you're my bestest friend, don't worry." Then the blond turned back to me "So you have to celebrate holidays with me too."

"Is this you telling me you want a Christmas present?" I asked, leaned my head against my hand on the table.

His eyes widened "it actually wasn't, but that is a good idea."

I laughed, "good because I already know what I'm gonna get you." I glanced over at the line for lunch. Most people have gotten their food, so the line was getting pretty short, which meant now was a good time to get in line.

"Wait, really." I didn't give him an actual answer, just nodded, patting his shoulder as I stood up.

"I'm going to get food, see you in a minute."

AUTHOR TALKS!!
I'm trying not to make Claire unlikable because I do like her (except for that stunt she pulled at the end of Taming seven iykwim), but I imagine she'd be jealous of Michelle if she were actually in the books. Girl had Gerard wrapped around her finger since she was like seven and then some random American comes into the picture and he winds up head over heels for her. I'd be jealous too.