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“Then, why did you become friends in the first place? “Asked Shelley.
“Because everyone else hated us. You tend to cling to the nearest person who doesn’t despise you and will hang out with you.”
Said Gerard. His brow was furrowed; his hair was in his face. He looked at the ground and clenched his teeth. Shelley put a hand on his shoulder and sighed.
“Losing a friend can be very painful. I’ve lost many of my friends. Some of them died, some of them turned their backs on me. I ‘m not sure why some people lose interest in a friendship. IT can be many things, many reasons. People sometimes grow apart due to personal growth, and new interests. Sometimes people are friends for the wrong reasons.” She said gently.
It was Gerard’s turn to sigh
“Yeah. I now know that.”
“Maybe someday the two of you can path up your friendship. Sometimes people just need a break from each other. It can help strengthen friendship.” Gerard sat up and grinned slightly.
“Really?”
“Sometimes.” Answered Shelley gravely.
On Saturday morning, after his mom went to work, Gerard went to the arcade with his brother Luke. It was a particularly cloudy day so they brought an umbrella and wore coats because the temperature had dropped drastically. The arcade was pretty big , smelled clean and was even carpeted unlike some arcades that looked and smelled like someone’s basement.
Gerard went over to a Pac-man game, a favorite from his childhood. Luke was already into a Star Wars game, oblivious to everything going on around him. Nobody noticed the teenage girl hiding behind the pop-corn machine watching Gerard. She was wringing her hands, standing there, wearing a cheerleading outfit. She could see him clearly if she leaned over a little and pretended that she was scooping popcorn into a bag.
She watched him intently as if in a daze. If her boyfriend Terry caught her here, she’d be dead. Almost literally. But Gerard was so pretty and so different from everyone else, mild mannered and quiet, unlike potty-mouthed Terry. She had spied on him in the library as he leafed through Rolling Stone magazine. She secretly followed him as he walked home, and eaves dropped on his conversations with Edison. She found his voice sexy. She wanted to press re-wind and here it over and over again.
She watched him eat behind the gym and felt bad for him. Why didn’t anyone want to talk to him? What was so uncool about him? Bad thing was, Terry had found out that she liked him, and he had given her hell. Hit her around more than once. Threatened her ‘if you ever leave me, I’ll kill you.’ She spoke to her friends about how much she liked him. All of them, in their short cheerleader skirts and blond pigtails looked at one another. They seemed to know something that she didn’t.
Out of the corner of his eye Gerard thought he saw a girl behind the popcorn stand watching him. He looked closely, and saw no one. I’ve got o remember to get my eyes checked. He thought. He turned his mind quickly back to Pac-Man. He didn’t usually like video games, he thought that they were a waste of time, but sometimes he used them to avoid thinking about things that he didn’t want to. His other techniques were blasting music in his ears. Usually Iron maiden or the Ramones, sometimes Marilyn Manson or nirvana. Anything really worked as long as it was loud or mindless . . .
“Hello.” A girl’s voice had broken into his thoughts. He turned around. He saw a skinny girl with auburn hair and a cheerleading uniform.
“Uh . . . do you want to use the game?” he asked.
“No.”
“Um okay . . .” said Gerard turning back to his game. She looked vaguely familiar. She tapped his arm.
