Categories > Celebrities > My Chemical Romance > I Loved You Then, I Love You Now
Chapter Three
8 reviewsGerard and Frank's first tutoring session. Then some out-of-school studying, then some other stuff...
1Insightful
Chapter Three
Frank's POV
I turned as Gerard disappeared into the crowd. I was shocked that he had come after me; he'd been sitting at the same table as the douche who had tripped me. I refused to let myself feel how I wanted to feel about him. I had sworn off love. Still, my insides were tingling.
I hoped through the rest of the day that I'd run into Gerard, but I didn't see him. A student brought a note in Health, saying for me to go to the office. I stood and left, wondering what I had supposedly done now.
I got to the office, and the receptionist motioned for me to sit down. A few minutes later, Gerard entered the office. The receptionist motioned for him to sit down as well. The final bell of the day rang, and we heard movement in the halls. The receptionist finally motioned for us to stand up.
"Well, Frank, we finally found a math tutor for you.
"Gerard is my math tutor?" I asked disbelievingly.
"Yes. You know each other?" She asked.
"We met earlier." Gerard said.
"Great. You need to have tutoring sessions at least twice a week. It's up to you two to decide when."
The receptionist answered the phone, and waved us away. We walked out of the office.
"When do you wanna meet? I don't have any activities to plan around or anything, so...." Gerard trailed off.
"I don't have anything either." I said. "How about Tuesday's and Thursday's?" I suggested.
"Great. In the library after last period?" He asked.
"Yeah." I said.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Frank." He said, smiling at me.
"See you...." I said, my heart melting at his smile.
He turned and walked away. I walked slowly in the opposite direction.
I was sure that I liked Gerard, a lot. There was no point in pretending that I didn't. But I was scared. Terrified, actually. Last time I'd let myself love someone, they'd broken me. Badly. Ray and Bob's efforts in putting me back together were the only reason I was still alive.
I had to learn to trust again at some point. Was I ready to? I didn't know. But I did know that I would never be ready to feel that kind of pain again.
***
I didn't see Gerard all through the next day. I went to the library after school, hoping I was still going to meet Gerard there. I sat at a table with clear sight of the door. I opened my black messenger bag, and pulled my algebra book and notebook out. I arranged them and a pencil in front of me.
I heard someone sit down in the chair next to me, and looked up. Gerard was sitting next to me, smiling.
"Hey. How's your head?" He asked.
"It's fine." I lied. The bruise had grown even more overnight, and I'd been stoned on pain meds all day.
"Really?" Gerard asked, raising his eyebrows. I could tell that he saw through the lie.
He scooted closer to me, and moved my hair to see the bruise. He gasped when he saw it.
"Jesus, Frank." He said. "Does it hurt?"
"Yeah," I said, not bothering to lie again.
"You should see a doctor." He said worriedly.
"No, it'll be fine." I insisted
"Frank, you hit your head hard. Promise me that you'll have one of your parents take you to a doctor tonight." He said.
"Fine. I'll talk to my mom tonight," I said.
"Good." He said. He moved his hand from my hair; my skin tingled when he touched it.
"So, math." He said, reaching for my book. "Algebra 1. Isn't Algebra 1 a requirement for freshmen?" He asked,
"Yeah." I said.
"Aren't you a Sophomore?" He asked.
"Yeah, I, uh, flunked. Didn't get a grade higher than a D all last year. And those were on good days. There were, like, two of them." I said, looking down.
Gerard opened the book to the first page.
"Do you pay attention in class?" He asked.
"Not really." I said.
"There's your problem. This is easy stuff." He said. "Look at the first problem. X + K = 32. K = 9. What is the value of X?"
"Uh...." I said, completely dumbfounded.
"Come on, Frank. Subtract K from 32." Gerard said.
"K?"
"9. K = 9."
"Oh. Um.... 23?" I asked.
"Yep." He said, then read the next problem for me.
This continued for the next hour. Gerard managed to catch me up through all the work I should've done yesterday, and today in class, then started explaining how to do what I would be doing tomorrow, before the librarian told us we had to leave.
"You should teach my algebra class instead of Mrs. Bernstein." I said as we packed up our stuff.
Gerard laughed. "I'm going to take that as a complement." He said.
We left the school together. We lived in the same direction, so we walked side by side.
"Do you take the bus?" I asked.
"No, my dad drives my brother and I." He said.
"Oh. This is my house." I said, pointing as it came into view.
"That's my house." He said, pointing to the house directly across from mine.
"Wow." I said. "Now that I know where you live, I might come knocking at your door in the middle of the night, demanding that you help me with my math homework." I joked.
"Pffft. The door is only for people who want to be killed by my dad. Climb in the window." He joked back, pointing at his window, which was on the front of the house.
"I'm gonna take you up on that." I warned.
"I wouldn't have told you which window was mine if I wasn't prepared to deal with that." He said seriously, then walked across the street, and into his house.
I went into my house, and up to my room. I looked out the window, and saw that Gerard's window was directly across from mine. I saw that I could easily climb into his window because of the wooden ladder that was meant for ivy to grow around. The ladder was bare, because there was no ivy. Now that I looked, I had one, too.
**
After dinner, I sat at the desk in my room, which was right in front of the window, doing homework and texting Bob and Ray, when a sudden light made me look up. Gerard's bedroom light had come on, and he was sitting on his bed, right next to the window. From the way he was bobbing his head, I could tell he was listening to music. I couldn't look away until I heard my phone beep, pulling me out of my reverie.
I glanced down at it, and saw that Bob had texted back. I quickly read his message, and responded. When I looked at Gerard's window, he had opened it, and his mouth was moving like he was singing. I opened my window in hopes of his voice carrying across the street. It did, and I could hear the radio playing softly in the background. I didn't recognize the song.
I tried to go back to my homework, but Gerard's voice is amazing, and very distracting, and I glanced up at his window every couple minutes.When I started on my algebra homework, I found that I had no idea what I was doing. I glanced out the window again. I could ask Gerard for help. But was I that pathetic?
It was about 10:30. My mom had been asleep for a couple hours now. I contemplated how to get his attention. Throw something? Wave my arms around until he noticed? Just suddenly be at his window, begging for homework help?
I decided to throw something. I looked around for something that would make enough noise for Gerard to notice, but that I wouldn't mind destroying. I dug through my closet, and finally found an old, broken alarm clock. I went back to the window and lobbed it into the street. It shattered completely, and Gerard looked up.
I waved to get his attention. He waved back. I held up my algebra book, then mimed shooting myself in the head to show how confused I was. He laughed, and motioned for me to come over.
I grinned, threw on my shoes, stuffed my phone into my pocket, shoved my algebra book and notebook back into my bag, and quickly climbed out the window. I ran across the street, over to Gerard's window, and climbed up and hopped in.
"So, you just have endless alarm clocks to throw at people?" Gerard asked, smirking.
"No, actually. It's broken." I said.
"It is now." He said, eying the alarm clock rubble.
"It was broken before," I laughed. "It was old; it had Barney on the side."
"You destroyed a Barney alarm clock?" Gerard gasped. "Shame on you!"
We both laughed.
"Next time you need help, just text me. Give me your phone, I'll put my number in." He said. I handed him my phone, and he handed me his.
We each programmed our numbers in, then took pictures to show when one of us called or texted.
"So, algebra issues?" He asked.
"Yeah," I said. "I still have no idea what I'm doing."
I handed him the book. He sat down on his desk, and looked at the page. I sat on his bed. A sketch book was laying on the bed next to me. I cocked my head slightly so I could see what was on the page.
The picture wasn't finished yet, but it was a sketch of a mans face.
"Okay, Frank, so what you're going to do here, is--" Gerard started.
"Did you draw this?" I asked, interrupting him.
He joined me on the bed, and looked at the page.
"Yeah." He said, sounding embarrassed.
"Who is it?" I asked, picking up the book.
"Uh, actually, it's you." He said. I looked at him, and he was blushing.
"It.... wow, Gee...." I said.
"You like it?" He asked.
"I do." I said.
He grinned, then explained the algebra.
"It's late, I should get going." I said, standing up.
"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow." He said.
I smiled, and climbed back out the window and ran across the street.
**
I found myself sitting on the floor of the hallway during lunch the next day, rather than braving the cafeteria.
"Hey," I recognized Gerard's voice, and looked up to see him sitting down next to me.
"Hey," I said, offering my open bag of potato chips. He took one, and chewed it slowly. "What's up?" I asked.
"Well, I was wondering if you'd like to go to dinner sometime?" He asked. I choked on the soda I was swallowing. He patted my back nervously as I coughed.
"What?!" I said, looking around at him.
"Do you want to go to dinner? Or a movie, or something. I mean, whatever you wanna do is--" He stumbled over his words. A bunch of jocks laughed as they passed.
"Nice, Gee-man." One of them said.
It suddenly clicked in my head. Gerard didn't actually like me. Those stupid fuckers must have told him about.... what happened. And now he was having a laugh seeing if I would fall for it again. I suddenly found myself on my feet, face red with anger. The potato chips fell from my lap, and were all over the floor around us, and I knocked over my Dr. Pepper can.
"I can't believe you, Gerard! I can't believe I thought you were different!" I yelled. Tears welled in my eyes. Not in front of Gerard, I thought. I didn't want to cry in front of him.
"What? Frank--" Gerard said, starting to stand.
"You're worse than Sam!" I yelled, then turned on my heel, and ran.
"Wait! Frank! Please!" Gerard yelled after me.
Don't follow me, I silently pleaded him.
A/N: Ooh, cliffhanger! I'm so evil, I know. You can't hate me too bad, cause I updated a day early even though I only got four reviews. So, five reviews will get you another update! Feel free to rate it as well. nudge nudge, wink wink, pretty please? Until I update again (which you decide),
xxAnna
Frank's POV
I turned as Gerard disappeared into the crowd. I was shocked that he had come after me; he'd been sitting at the same table as the douche who had tripped me. I refused to let myself feel how I wanted to feel about him. I had sworn off love. Still, my insides were tingling.
I hoped through the rest of the day that I'd run into Gerard, but I didn't see him. A student brought a note in Health, saying for me to go to the office. I stood and left, wondering what I had supposedly done now.
I got to the office, and the receptionist motioned for me to sit down. A few minutes later, Gerard entered the office. The receptionist motioned for him to sit down as well. The final bell of the day rang, and we heard movement in the halls. The receptionist finally motioned for us to stand up.
"Well, Frank, we finally found a math tutor for you.
"Gerard is my math tutor?" I asked disbelievingly.
"Yes. You know each other?" She asked.
"We met earlier." Gerard said.
"Great. You need to have tutoring sessions at least twice a week. It's up to you two to decide when."
The receptionist answered the phone, and waved us away. We walked out of the office.
"When do you wanna meet? I don't have any activities to plan around or anything, so...." Gerard trailed off.
"I don't have anything either." I said. "How about Tuesday's and Thursday's?" I suggested.
"Great. In the library after last period?" He asked.
"Yeah." I said.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Frank." He said, smiling at me.
"See you...." I said, my heart melting at his smile.
He turned and walked away. I walked slowly in the opposite direction.
I was sure that I liked Gerard, a lot. There was no point in pretending that I didn't. But I was scared. Terrified, actually. Last time I'd let myself love someone, they'd broken me. Badly. Ray and Bob's efforts in putting me back together were the only reason I was still alive.
I had to learn to trust again at some point. Was I ready to? I didn't know. But I did know that I would never be ready to feel that kind of pain again.
***
I didn't see Gerard all through the next day. I went to the library after school, hoping I was still going to meet Gerard there. I sat at a table with clear sight of the door. I opened my black messenger bag, and pulled my algebra book and notebook out. I arranged them and a pencil in front of me.
I heard someone sit down in the chair next to me, and looked up. Gerard was sitting next to me, smiling.
"Hey. How's your head?" He asked.
"It's fine." I lied. The bruise had grown even more overnight, and I'd been stoned on pain meds all day.
"Really?" Gerard asked, raising his eyebrows. I could tell that he saw through the lie.
He scooted closer to me, and moved my hair to see the bruise. He gasped when he saw it.
"Jesus, Frank." He said. "Does it hurt?"
"Yeah," I said, not bothering to lie again.
"You should see a doctor." He said worriedly.
"No, it'll be fine." I insisted
"Frank, you hit your head hard. Promise me that you'll have one of your parents take you to a doctor tonight." He said.
"Fine. I'll talk to my mom tonight," I said.
"Good." He said. He moved his hand from my hair; my skin tingled when he touched it.
"So, math." He said, reaching for my book. "Algebra 1. Isn't Algebra 1 a requirement for freshmen?" He asked,
"Yeah." I said.
"Aren't you a Sophomore?" He asked.
"Yeah, I, uh, flunked. Didn't get a grade higher than a D all last year. And those were on good days. There were, like, two of them." I said, looking down.
Gerard opened the book to the first page.
"Do you pay attention in class?" He asked.
"Not really." I said.
"There's your problem. This is easy stuff." He said. "Look at the first problem. X + K = 32. K = 9. What is the value of X?"
"Uh...." I said, completely dumbfounded.
"Come on, Frank. Subtract K from 32." Gerard said.
"K?"
"9. K = 9."
"Oh. Um.... 23?" I asked.
"Yep." He said, then read the next problem for me.
This continued for the next hour. Gerard managed to catch me up through all the work I should've done yesterday, and today in class, then started explaining how to do what I would be doing tomorrow, before the librarian told us we had to leave.
"You should teach my algebra class instead of Mrs. Bernstein." I said as we packed up our stuff.
Gerard laughed. "I'm going to take that as a complement." He said.
We left the school together. We lived in the same direction, so we walked side by side.
"Do you take the bus?" I asked.
"No, my dad drives my brother and I." He said.
"Oh. This is my house." I said, pointing as it came into view.
"That's my house." He said, pointing to the house directly across from mine.
"Wow." I said. "Now that I know where you live, I might come knocking at your door in the middle of the night, demanding that you help me with my math homework." I joked.
"Pffft. The door is only for people who want to be killed by my dad. Climb in the window." He joked back, pointing at his window, which was on the front of the house.
"I'm gonna take you up on that." I warned.
"I wouldn't have told you which window was mine if I wasn't prepared to deal with that." He said seriously, then walked across the street, and into his house.
I went into my house, and up to my room. I looked out the window, and saw that Gerard's window was directly across from mine. I saw that I could easily climb into his window because of the wooden ladder that was meant for ivy to grow around. The ladder was bare, because there was no ivy. Now that I looked, I had one, too.
**
After dinner, I sat at the desk in my room, which was right in front of the window, doing homework and texting Bob and Ray, when a sudden light made me look up. Gerard's bedroom light had come on, and he was sitting on his bed, right next to the window. From the way he was bobbing his head, I could tell he was listening to music. I couldn't look away until I heard my phone beep, pulling me out of my reverie.
I glanced down at it, and saw that Bob had texted back. I quickly read his message, and responded. When I looked at Gerard's window, he had opened it, and his mouth was moving like he was singing. I opened my window in hopes of his voice carrying across the street. It did, and I could hear the radio playing softly in the background. I didn't recognize the song.
I tried to go back to my homework, but Gerard's voice is amazing, and very distracting, and I glanced up at his window every couple minutes.When I started on my algebra homework, I found that I had no idea what I was doing. I glanced out the window again. I could ask Gerard for help. But was I that pathetic?
It was about 10:30. My mom had been asleep for a couple hours now. I contemplated how to get his attention. Throw something? Wave my arms around until he noticed? Just suddenly be at his window, begging for homework help?
I decided to throw something. I looked around for something that would make enough noise for Gerard to notice, but that I wouldn't mind destroying. I dug through my closet, and finally found an old, broken alarm clock. I went back to the window and lobbed it into the street. It shattered completely, and Gerard looked up.
I waved to get his attention. He waved back. I held up my algebra book, then mimed shooting myself in the head to show how confused I was. He laughed, and motioned for me to come over.
I grinned, threw on my shoes, stuffed my phone into my pocket, shoved my algebra book and notebook back into my bag, and quickly climbed out the window. I ran across the street, over to Gerard's window, and climbed up and hopped in.
"So, you just have endless alarm clocks to throw at people?" Gerard asked, smirking.
"No, actually. It's broken." I said.
"It is now." He said, eying the alarm clock rubble.
"It was broken before," I laughed. "It was old; it had Barney on the side."
"You destroyed a Barney alarm clock?" Gerard gasped. "Shame on you!"
We both laughed.
"Next time you need help, just text me. Give me your phone, I'll put my number in." He said. I handed him my phone, and he handed me his.
We each programmed our numbers in, then took pictures to show when one of us called or texted.
"So, algebra issues?" He asked.
"Yeah," I said. "I still have no idea what I'm doing."
I handed him the book. He sat down on his desk, and looked at the page. I sat on his bed. A sketch book was laying on the bed next to me. I cocked my head slightly so I could see what was on the page.
The picture wasn't finished yet, but it was a sketch of a mans face.
"Okay, Frank, so what you're going to do here, is--" Gerard started.
"Did you draw this?" I asked, interrupting him.
He joined me on the bed, and looked at the page.
"Yeah." He said, sounding embarrassed.
"Who is it?" I asked, picking up the book.
"Uh, actually, it's you." He said. I looked at him, and he was blushing.
"It.... wow, Gee...." I said.
"You like it?" He asked.
"I do." I said.
He grinned, then explained the algebra.
"It's late, I should get going." I said, standing up.
"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow." He said.
I smiled, and climbed back out the window and ran across the street.
**
I found myself sitting on the floor of the hallway during lunch the next day, rather than braving the cafeteria.
"Hey," I recognized Gerard's voice, and looked up to see him sitting down next to me.
"Hey," I said, offering my open bag of potato chips. He took one, and chewed it slowly. "What's up?" I asked.
"Well, I was wondering if you'd like to go to dinner sometime?" He asked. I choked on the soda I was swallowing. He patted my back nervously as I coughed.
"What?!" I said, looking around at him.
"Do you want to go to dinner? Or a movie, or something. I mean, whatever you wanna do is--" He stumbled over his words. A bunch of jocks laughed as they passed.
"Nice, Gee-man." One of them said.
It suddenly clicked in my head. Gerard didn't actually like me. Those stupid fuckers must have told him about.... what happened. And now he was having a laugh seeing if I would fall for it again. I suddenly found myself on my feet, face red with anger. The potato chips fell from my lap, and were all over the floor around us, and I knocked over my Dr. Pepper can.
"I can't believe you, Gerard! I can't believe I thought you were different!" I yelled. Tears welled in my eyes. Not in front of Gerard, I thought. I didn't want to cry in front of him.
"What? Frank--" Gerard said, starting to stand.
"You're worse than Sam!" I yelled, then turned on my heel, and ran.
"Wait! Frank! Please!" Gerard yelled after me.
Don't follow me, I silently pleaded him.
A/N: Ooh, cliffhanger! I'm so evil, I know. You can't hate me too bad, cause I updated a day early even though I only got four reviews. So, five reviews will get you another update! Feel free to rate it as well. nudge nudge, wink wink, pretty please? Until I update again (which you decide),
xxAnna
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