MICHELLE
SEPTEMBER 2ND, 2004

      IM SO STUPID. I'm not even saying this because I nearly ran over some strange, angel worthy, guy this morning. I'm saying it because somehow, I had been stupid enough to nearly run over the guy that sits in front of me in nearly all my classes, so I was forced to look at him all day (not that I minded).

What made it worse was when he started talking to me.

"So what's your name?" I didn't even notice he was there until he spoke.

My blood ran cold when my eyes landed on him. He was sitting in his chair, his body was faced towards the front of the class, but his head was tilted all the way back so that he was looking at me with his head upside down.

Even though his eyes were locked on mine, I still checked around me to make sure he was talking to me.

"Michelle." I mumbled once my eyes landed back on his.

His eyes twinkled again.

I wanted to know what was going on in his head.

His hair was long, blond, and curly—actually, probably more on the wavy side. I'm not completely sure though because it was all hanging below his head and hidden behind the edge of my table.

He leaned his chair back slightly, but he must have had it under control because he didn't flip. "I'm Gerard, but everyone calls me Gibsie."

I liked the way he talked.

"You can call me Mikey." I mumbled.

He tells me his nickname, I tell him mine.

He frowned "but I like Michelle."

I couldn't help the small laugh that left my lips "well, you don't have to call me Mikey. I was giving you options."

He smiled again "so I can call you Michelle?"

"Only if I can call you Gerard."

He stared at me for a second, his eyes narrowed as if he was going over the possible outcomes of this situation. Then, after a moment of silence, he nodded "okay, deal."

I smile again "okay."

He lightly drummed his hand on the table in front of him, hissing out a "yes."

The boy who sat beside him seemed to finally notice he wasn't paying attention and sent the blond a glare. "Gibs. Pay attention." His eyes then fell on me and realization washed over them.

I recognized him too. He was the other boy in the hall, the one who called us out for staring at each other for too long.

"Jaysus." He groaned, grabbing the back of the blond's chair and pushing him back forwards "leave the poor girl alone, lad."

His accent was different. It was like a southern (like Florida) accent compared to Gerard's northern (like Maine).

If that makes sense.

I heard Gerard sigh "I can't help it cap, she's just so pretty. We're like two magnets, we—"

His friend cut him off "not this again." He groaned, dropping his head into his hands.

I kind of wanted to hear the rest of that.

He didn't leave me alone at all for the rest of the day.

When I said he was in nearly all my classes, I was wrong. He was in every. single. one.

In history he had even convinced the teacher to let him sit with me. He had said something about how we were both at our tables alone and I was new and needed help. I'm pretty sure the teacher made a comment like "you wouldn't be any help" under his breath, but I ignored it because he still let Gerard sit with me.

I liked listening to him talk. He would just go on and on about the strangest things and somehow he found a way to make it seem like the only thing in the world that mattered.

"And then Brian." He rolled his eyes at the name. "Comes out of nowhere and claws the shit out of my foot." He groaned "for no reason!"

"What an asshole." I muttered as I wrote my name at the top of my page.

"Hmm." Gerard nodded while scribbling something on his paper. Once he was finished with whatever he was writing he looked back at me "you know." He let out a deep breath as I turned to look at him, abandoning my pencil "I think you're the only person who's listened to that story and not called me dramatic."

"That's because I get it." I dropped my head on my hand that was resting up on the table. "I have a devil cat too. Her names Lucy, but between us—" I leaned towards his so that we were practically nose to nose. Ignoring the butterflies in my stomach, I continued "—I like to call her Lucy-fer." I pulled back, grabbing my pencil before it rolled off the table.

I glanced back towards the boy, who was grinning from ear to ear. "Seriously though, that stays between us. My sister would kill me if she caught me calling her cat that. It's like her baby."

Gerard laughed "yeah, Brian's like my mam's baby."

I sent him one of my biggest smiles before looking back down at my paper. It was such a small thing, but that little bit of understanding made me like him more.

I'm not exactly sure what the actual answers were to half of these questions on my paper, but I tried my best. I get the feeling that copying Gerard's paper probably wasn't my best choice, but I did it anyways. I'm pretty sure he noticed even though he didn't say anything about it.

"Hey, Michelle." He called out in a whisper.

I let out a hum as I turned to look at him.

"I think we are gonna be very good friends."

AUTHOR TALKS!!
once this book is done I have a plan for a spin off for the little blonde twerp (Tadgh) and Maeve. It has very 'wish you were sober' vibes.