Categories > Celebrities > My Chemical Romance > 10 Theorems of Calculus and Relationships
"I don't get it," Frank wondered aloud as he traced back Mae's steps toward the problem. "Maybe the answer book is wrong."
"I think I did something wrong," Mae shook her head as she helped him find her mistake.
"Wait," Frank pointed out. "What test value did you use between the intervals of -2 and 0?"
"I used -1," Mae replied and Frank immediately plugged the number into the derivative.
"-1 is increasing between -2 and 0," Frank corrected as he erased Mae's previous answer. "Which means there is a relative minimum on (-2,0)."
"Oh," Mae blushed. "I worked out the problem wrong."
"It's okay," Frank assured her. "I fixed it for you."
She couldn't help but return his smile even though she was dying of embarrassment on the inside. It was their first day using the First Derivative Test and the whole class was paired up into partners. Frank chose her, of course, but she somewhat wished he hadn't. He worked better on his own and she worked better making errors and taking her time to find out where everything had gone wrong so she could fix it herself. It seems as if math class wasn't the only place where Mae made mistakes that she would let no one but herself handle. Still, Mae was mentally kicking herself for looking like an idiot in front of Frank. She was a Calculus student who was still making Algebraic mistakes.
"So for tonight's homework," Mr. Betterby announced, allowing a pause for the loud groan passing over the class. "I'll be assigning an equation to each pair of partners to solve together and present to the class tomorrow."
"You wanna go to the library after school?" Frank asked Mae. "I can drive us there."
"We can work out the problem during lunch," Mae reasoned. "It won't take that long."
"But we're presenting to the class," Frank insisted. "We gotta figure out how our presentation is gonna go."
"Can't we just wing it?" Mae shrugged.
"Come on, Mae," Frank nudged her. "Don't you wanna give them a presentation to remember?"
Not really. But Mae hesitantly agreed since she didn't have anything planned after school anyways. She tried to imagine what Frank's car would look like.
~
Somehow, the 1992 Buick LeSabre wasn't exactly what Mae had in mind. Frank had parked his car where a maple tree's large branch provided shade for the heated vehicle. He walked quickly toward the driver's seat and refused to look her in the eyes, wearing the same expression Mae had when she made the mathematical error in front of him that morning.
"Sorry," Frank apologized as Mae entered from the passenger's seat. "There's no air conditioning."
"It's okay," Mae acted as if her jeans weren't burning from the fabric of the seat.
Frank rolled down his window and Mae did the same. When Frank started the car, a burst of fumes hit in him in the face startling Mae and leaving her wide-eyed and agape.
"It's alright," Frank forced out a nervous laugh as he backed out of the school parking lot. "Happens every time."
Mae couldn't help but to be on the edge of her seat as Frank drove the rough journey toward the library. She even had to close her eyes as they went up a steep hill. Yet, she found out the hard way that it was much more frightening going downhill. Frank had to floor the brakes just to get them to function properly. Finally, Mae let out a relieved sigh as Frank entered the library's parking lot and took the nearest parking spot he could find to end them both of their misery. That is, until the ride home, but that was the last thing either of them wanted to think about.
"You okay?" Frank asked Mae as he put on his emergency parking brakes, if they even existed.
"Yeah, I'll be fine," Mae nodded, a little shaken up.
Frank blushed as he rushed out of the car to open the door for her. He locked his car, not that he really thought anyone would steal it, and slipped his arm around her shoulders as they walked toward the library entrance. He could feel her smaller body shivering underneath his touch as he guided her through the path and he cursed himself inwardly for offering her a ride. Mae wasn't sure if she was shaking because of the life threatening drive she just experienced or if it was the fact that Frank's arm felt so warm and firm on her shoulders. A sudden cold blast of wind automatically sent her cuddling closer to his body as he tightened his grip on her to keep her warm. The heater hit them full force as soon as they were inside, leaving their faces flushed and their bodies to readjust to the abrupt temperature change.
"Your sweater's so thin," Frank noticed as he watched Mae rub her hands against her freezing arms.
"I didn't know it would be so cold today," Mae explained.
"Take mine," Frank said, removing his slightly larger black hoodie and placing it over her shoulders.
"Oh no," Mae declined. "The heater will keep us warm."
"Wear it later for when we leave," Frank insisted. "It's just gonna get colder outside."
"But what about you?"
"I'll be fine," Frank smirked. "My car serves as my own personal heater, remember?"
Mae laughed as she snuggled herself deeper into his hoodie, getting the faint trace of his scent. It made her insides warm up as if the piece of clothing served as a jacket for the inside as well as the out. Or maybe it was just the way he was gazing at her for a long moment before he quickly turned away.
*
Mikey Way looked intently at his own reflection, trying to determine what other guys had that he didn't. Why couldn't he get Lilly to see him more than just a friend? He had been rejected so many times and the only girl who ever gave him a chance hated him. He let out an exasperated sigh and turned to his brother for some kind of explanation.
"What is wrong with me?" he whined, slouching his back in defeat.
"You don't know how to raise your voice," Gerard replied, not taking his eyes off the comic book he was reading.
"I really don't think she likes me," Mikey sighed. "I already know she'll say no."
"Like I said," Gerard said as he turned the page. "You'll never know until you ask."
"What's the point?" Mikey complained. "She only sees me as a friend just like Ashley did."
And what about Mae? Gerard cringed at the mention of Ashley's name. Mikey was his brother so he would always forgive him, but Ashley was nothing to him and she hurt his best friend. He tried to block out Mikey's voice, but it got to the point where every other sentence contained "Ashley." Gerard clenched his fists around his book and tapped his foot impatiently signaling Mikey to shut the hell up. But he didn't seem to get it.
"I swore I thought Ashley liked me, Gee," Mikey went on. "She was giving me all these signs and I just thought I knew and-"
"Will you shut the fuck up about Ashley?!" Gerard shouted as he slammed his comic on the desk, making Mikey jump in surprise.
"She's really nice, Gee," Mikey defended her. "You can't say anything bad about someone you don't even know."
"Nice?" Gerard sneered. "If going behind your friend's back and ruining her relationship is your definition of nice, Mikey, then you better fucking reconsider your taste in women."
"I don't know why you're on her side," Mikey snapped. "I'm your own brother."
"I don't know why you're trying to turn this into some kind of war!" Gerard countered. "Why are you trying to make it seem like it was her fault?!"
"I'm not. It's just not-," Mikey paused.
"Your fault, right?" Gerard said with a harsh laugh. "Because nothing is ever your fault, Mikey."
"That's not what I said," Mikey said quietly.
"Look," Gerard got in front of Mikey's face. "I love you. You're my only brother and you know I'd always defend you, but I'm also going to tell you when you're wrong. Like what you did to Mae."
Mikey averted his eyes toward the ground. It was usually a rare moment whenever Gerard ever had to yell at him and scold him like he was his father or something. But he wasn't his father and he couldn't tell him what was wrong or right or who he should date. Mikey decided to show himself out of the Gerard's room and he swore to himself to never ask Gerard for help again. Right when he passed the livingroom, the phone rang and he reached over to pick it up.
"Hello?" Mikey answered. "Who's this? Oh. . . I'll go get him."
Mikey pounded extra hard on Gerard's door even if he knew that it was unlocked. As soon as his brother peeked out of his room, Mikey tossed him the phone while keeping a passive face.
"It's for you," he said, turning around and retreating to his own room.
"Hello? Mae?" Gerard recognized her voice right away. "Okay, I can pick you up."
*
"Thanks."
Frank watched in utter humiliation as Mae hung up the payphone and reentered his car. It was getting darker outside and his wrist was sore from his many attempts to start the engine. He should've known that his Buick was due for its weekly breakdown and, with his luck, it just had to be the day he needed it most.
"I'm really sorry," Frank told Mae for the thousandth time.
"It's okay," Mae assured him. "My friend's coming."
"God," Frank sighed, wiping his face with his both of his hands. "Fucking car. . ."
"Here," Mae took his hoodie off of herself and set it on his lap.
"It looks better on you," Frank put it back in her hands.
"You need it. You're the one who's cold," Mae insisted, pointing out the bumps on Frank's arms.
"Who says I'm cold?" Frank mused.
"I do. You're shivering," Mae replied.
"Maybe it's just the effect you have on me."
"And what effect is that?"
"I don't know. You tell me," Frank looked into her eyes.
Mae was frozen for a moment. She lost every thought in her mind as she stared at the golden ring around his eyes. She wasn't sure but she thought she saw small flecks of red around it. The sky was darkening, but the streetlights outshone the stars. And his eyes outshone them both. Mae came crashing back down to her body in time to realize that Frank was much closer than he had been before. She directed her eyes to her lap where she found his hand creeping toward her own. The second his fingers made contact with her palm, she let out a pained gasp and scooted her body away.
"I'm sorry," Frank repeated, although for a different reason this time.
"No," Mae replied, her back turned to him. "I'm sorry."
She blinked away what little tears she had and wiped them off without Frank noticing. They waited in silence until Gerard's car parked beside them. Mae was the first to get out of the car as Frank followed a distance behind her.
"Hey, are you alright?" Gerard asked upon seeing Mae's frightened face.
"Yeah. I'm fine," Mae nodded. "Frank's just waiting for the tow truck to come and then we can go."
"Okay," Gerard eyed Frank up and down as if he was daring him to hurt Mae. "And you must be Frank."
"Yeah," Frank took his hand out of his jean pocket to shake Gerard's.
"You actually drove her in this?!" Gerard said accusingly as he peeked inside the Buick.
"It was working just fine earlier," Frank sounded a bit annoyed.
"You're lucky nothing happened to her," Gerard added. "Next time take the bus or something."
Mae could tell that Frank was obviously offended by Gerard's tone, but she knew Gerard was only testing Frank in order to protect her. She tried to stand in between them to keep them apart, but they ended up ignoring each other until the tow truck arrived. Frank reluctantly had to take Gerard's offer for a ride home when his car was taken to the shop.
"How do you know Mae?" Gerard asked Frank on the drive home although he was well aware of the answer.
"We have some classes together," Frank murmured from the backseat.
"Oh so you guys are just friends?" Gerard turned the corner toward the street where Frank lived.
"Yeah," Frank replied and Mae slumped herself against the passenger's seat in shame.
"Mae's an amazing girl, don't you think?" Gerard added.
"Yeah," Frank agreed.
"She's really smart, but I'm sure you already knew that," Gerard winked at Mae as she tried to imagine she was somewhere else.
"Yeah. I mean where else can you find a girl who can divide by zero?" Frank said with a grin.
"I'm not even gonna try to act like I know what that means," Gerard laughed as he pulled into Frank's driveway.
It brought the faintest smile to Mae's face. Maybe it wasn't completely hopeless for her. She wondered if he would forgive her for turning away. Or would he make fun of her when she was out of earshot and point her out to Bob in the cafeteria?
"Thanks for the ride," Frank told Gerard, setting his rocky first impression aside.
"No problem," Gerard replied. "Oh and Frank?"
"Yeah?"
"If you ever hurt Mae in anyway, I'm gonna have to slit your throat," Gerard said so coldly it sent chills down Frank's spine.
"Goodnight Mae," Frank waved her goodbye as he ran up the stairs to his house.
Gerard glared at him until he was safely inside. Frank returned Gerard's deadly stare with a nervous, unsure smile as he closed the door. It was a few seconds afterwards until Gerard finally let out the laughter he had been holding in since he met Frank. Mae shook her head and hugged him.
"I hate you," she said, feigning anger.
"I love you, too, best friend," Gerard replied with a huge smile as he drove back to their neighborhood.
"I think I did something wrong," Mae shook her head as she helped him find her mistake.
"Wait," Frank pointed out. "What test value did you use between the intervals of -2 and 0?"
"I used -1," Mae replied and Frank immediately plugged the number into the derivative.
"-1 is increasing between -2 and 0," Frank corrected as he erased Mae's previous answer. "Which means there is a relative minimum on (-2,0)."
"Oh," Mae blushed. "I worked out the problem wrong."
"It's okay," Frank assured her. "I fixed it for you."
She couldn't help but return his smile even though she was dying of embarrassment on the inside. It was their first day using the First Derivative Test and the whole class was paired up into partners. Frank chose her, of course, but she somewhat wished he hadn't. He worked better on his own and she worked better making errors and taking her time to find out where everything had gone wrong so she could fix it herself. It seems as if math class wasn't the only place where Mae made mistakes that she would let no one but herself handle. Still, Mae was mentally kicking herself for looking like an idiot in front of Frank. She was a Calculus student who was still making Algebraic mistakes.
"So for tonight's homework," Mr. Betterby announced, allowing a pause for the loud groan passing over the class. "I'll be assigning an equation to each pair of partners to solve together and present to the class tomorrow."
"You wanna go to the library after school?" Frank asked Mae. "I can drive us there."
"We can work out the problem during lunch," Mae reasoned. "It won't take that long."
"But we're presenting to the class," Frank insisted. "We gotta figure out how our presentation is gonna go."
"Can't we just wing it?" Mae shrugged.
"Come on, Mae," Frank nudged her. "Don't you wanna give them a presentation to remember?"
Not really. But Mae hesitantly agreed since she didn't have anything planned after school anyways. She tried to imagine what Frank's car would look like.
~
Somehow, the 1992 Buick LeSabre wasn't exactly what Mae had in mind. Frank had parked his car where a maple tree's large branch provided shade for the heated vehicle. He walked quickly toward the driver's seat and refused to look her in the eyes, wearing the same expression Mae had when she made the mathematical error in front of him that morning.
"Sorry," Frank apologized as Mae entered from the passenger's seat. "There's no air conditioning."
"It's okay," Mae acted as if her jeans weren't burning from the fabric of the seat.
Frank rolled down his window and Mae did the same. When Frank started the car, a burst of fumes hit in him in the face startling Mae and leaving her wide-eyed and agape.
"It's alright," Frank forced out a nervous laugh as he backed out of the school parking lot. "Happens every time."
Mae couldn't help but to be on the edge of her seat as Frank drove the rough journey toward the library. She even had to close her eyes as they went up a steep hill. Yet, she found out the hard way that it was much more frightening going downhill. Frank had to floor the brakes just to get them to function properly. Finally, Mae let out a relieved sigh as Frank entered the library's parking lot and took the nearest parking spot he could find to end them both of their misery. That is, until the ride home, but that was the last thing either of them wanted to think about.
"You okay?" Frank asked Mae as he put on his emergency parking brakes, if they even existed.
"Yeah, I'll be fine," Mae nodded, a little shaken up.
Frank blushed as he rushed out of the car to open the door for her. He locked his car, not that he really thought anyone would steal it, and slipped his arm around her shoulders as they walked toward the library entrance. He could feel her smaller body shivering underneath his touch as he guided her through the path and he cursed himself inwardly for offering her a ride. Mae wasn't sure if she was shaking because of the life threatening drive she just experienced or if it was the fact that Frank's arm felt so warm and firm on her shoulders. A sudden cold blast of wind automatically sent her cuddling closer to his body as he tightened his grip on her to keep her warm. The heater hit them full force as soon as they were inside, leaving their faces flushed and their bodies to readjust to the abrupt temperature change.
"Your sweater's so thin," Frank noticed as he watched Mae rub her hands against her freezing arms.
"I didn't know it would be so cold today," Mae explained.
"Take mine," Frank said, removing his slightly larger black hoodie and placing it over her shoulders.
"Oh no," Mae declined. "The heater will keep us warm."
"Wear it later for when we leave," Frank insisted. "It's just gonna get colder outside."
"But what about you?"
"I'll be fine," Frank smirked. "My car serves as my own personal heater, remember?"
Mae laughed as she snuggled herself deeper into his hoodie, getting the faint trace of his scent. It made her insides warm up as if the piece of clothing served as a jacket for the inside as well as the out. Or maybe it was just the way he was gazing at her for a long moment before he quickly turned away.
*
Mikey Way looked intently at his own reflection, trying to determine what other guys had that he didn't. Why couldn't he get Lilly to see him more than just a friend? He had been rejected so many times and the only girl who ever gave him a chance hated him. He let out an exasperated sigh and turned to his brother for some kind of explanation.
"What is wrong with me?" he whined, slouching his back in defeat.
"You don't know how to raise your voice," Gerard replied, not taking his eyes off the comic book he was reading.
"I really don't think she likes me," Mikey sighed. "I already know she'll say no."
"Like I said," Gerard said as he turned the page. "You'll never know until you ask."
"What's the point?" Mikey complained. "She only sees me as a friend just like Ashley did."
And what about Mae? Gerard cringed at the mention of Ashley's name. Mikey was his brother so he would always forgive him, but Ashley was nothing to him and she hurt his best friend. He tried to block out Mikey's voice, but it got to the point where every other sentence contained "Ashley." Gerard clenched his fists around his book and tapped his foot impatiently signaling Mikey to shut the hell up. But he didn't seem to get it.
"I swore I thought Ashley liked me, Gee," Mikey went on. "She was giving me all these signs and I just thought I knew and-"
"Will you shut the fuck up about Ashley?!" Gerard shouted as he slammed his comic on the desk, making Mikey jump in surprise.
"She's really nice, Gee," Mikey defended her. "You can't say anything bad about someone you don't even know."
"Nice?" Gerard sneered. "If going behind your friend's back and ruining her relationship is your definition of nice, Mikey, then you better fucking reconsider your taste in women."
"I don't know why you're on her side," Mikey snapped. "I'm your own brother."
"I don't know why you're trying to turn this into some kind of war!" Gerard countered. "Why are you trying to make it seem like it was her fault?!"
"I'm not. It's just not-," Mikey paused.
"Your fault, right?" Gerard said with a harsh laugh. "Because nothing is ever your fault, Mikey."
"That's not what I said," Mikey said quietly.
"Look," Gerard got in front of Mikey's face. "I love you. You're my only brother and you know I'd always defend you, but I'm also going to tell you when you're wrong. Like what you did to Mae."
Mikey averted his eyes toward the ground. It was usually a rare moment whenever Gerard ever had to yell at him and scold him like he was his father or something. But he wasn't his father and he couldn't tell him what was wrong or right or who he should date. Mikey decided to show himself out of the Gerard's room and he swore to himself to never ask Gerard for help again. Right when he passed the livingroom, the phone rang and he reached over to pick it up.
"Hello?" Mikey answered. "Who's this? Oh. . . I'll go get him."
Mikey pounded extra hard on Gerard's door even if he knew that it was unlocked. As soon as his brother peeked out of his room, Mikey tossed him the phone while keeping a passive face.
"It's for you," he said, turning around and retreating to his own room.
"Hello? Mae?" Gerard recognized her voice right away. "Okay, I can pick you up."
*
"Thanks."
Frank watched in utter humiliation as Mae hung up the payphone and reentered his car. It was getting darker outside and his wrist was sore from his many attempts to start the engine. He should've known that his Buick was due for its weekly breakdown and, with his luck, it just had to be the day he needed it most.
"I'm really sorry," Frank told Mae for the thousandth time.
"It's okay," Mae assured him. "My friend's coming."
"God," Frank sighed, wiping his face with his both of his hands. "Fucking car. . ."
"Here," Mae took his hoodie off of herself and set it on his lap.
"It looks better on you," Frank put it back in her hands.
"You need it. You're the one who's cold," Mae insisted, pointing out the bumps on Frank's arms.
"Who says I'm cold?" Frank mused.
"I do. You're shivering," Mae replied.
"Maybe it's just the effect you have on me."
"And what effect is that?"
"I don't know. You tell me," Frank looked into her eyes.
Mae was frozen for a moment. She lost every thought in her mind as she stared at the golden ring around his eyes. She wasn't sure but she thought she saw small flecks of red around it. The sky was darkening, but the streetlights outshone the stars. And his eyes outshone them both. Mae came crashing back down to her body in time to realize that Frank was much closer than he had been before. She directed her eyes to her lap where she found his hand creeping toward her own. The second his fingers made contact with her palm, she let out a pained gasp and scooted her body away.
"I'm sorry," Frank repeated, although for a different reason this time.
"No," Mae replied, her back turned to him. "I'm sorry."
She blinked away what little tears she had and wiped them off without Frank noticing. They waited in silence until Gerard's car parked beside them. Mae was the first to get out of the car as Frank followed a distance behind her.
"Hey, are you alright?" Gerard asked upon seeing Mae's frightened face.
"Yeah. I'm fine," Mae nodded. "Frank's just waiting for the tow truck to come and then we can go."
"Okay," Gerard eyed Frank up and down as if he was daring him to hurt Mae. "And you must be Frank."
"Yeah," Frank took his hand out of his jean pocket to shake Gerard's.
"You actually drove her in this?!" Gerard said accusingly as he peeked inside the Buick.
"It was working just fine earlier," Frank sounded a bit annoyed.
"You're lucky nothing happened to her," Gerard added. "Next time take the bus or something."
Mae could tell that Frank was obviously offended by Gerard's tone, but she knew Gerard was only testing Frank in order to protect her. She tried to stand in between them to keep them apart, but they ended up ignoring each other until the tow truck arrived. Frank reluctantly had to take Gerard's offer for a ride home when his car was taken to the shop.
"How do you know Mae?" Gerard asked Frank on the drive home although he was well aware of the answer.
"We have some classes together," Frank murmured from the backseat.
"Oh so you guys are just friends?" Gerard turned the corner toward the street where Frank lived.
"Yeah," Frank replied and Mae slumped herself against the passenger's seat in shame.
"Mae's an amazing girl, don't you think?" Gerard added.
"Yeah," Frank agreed.
"She's really smart, but I'm sure you already knew that," Gerard winked at Mae as she tried to imagine she was somewhere else.
"Yeah. I mean where else can you find a girl who can divide by zero?" Frank said with a grin.
"I'm not even gonna try to act like I know what that means," Gerard laughed as he pulled into Frank's driveway.
It brought the faintest smile to Mae's face. Maybe it wasn't completely hopeless for her. She wondered if he would forgive her for turning away. Or would he make fun of her when she was out of earshot and point her out to Bob in the cafeteria?
"Thanks for the ride," Frank told Gerard, setting his rocky first impression aside.
"No problem," Gerard replied. "Oh and Frank?"
"Yeah?"
"If you ever hurt Mae in anyway, I'm gonna have to slit your throat," Gerard said so coldly it sent chills down Frank's spine.
"Goodnight Mae," Frank waved her goodbye as he ran up the stairs to his house.
Gerard glared at him until he was safely inside. Frank returned Gerard's deadly stare with a nervous, unsure smile as he closed the door. It was a few seconds afterwards until Gerard finally let out the laughter he had been holding in since he met Frank. Mae shook her head and hugged him.
"I hate you," she said, feigning anger.
"I love you, too, best friend," Gerard replied with a huge smile as he drove back to their neighborhood.
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