The Nephew of a Dead Artist

Gerard looked out the tinted window as they traveled to the school, which was a good drive from their house. Mikey and Frank had bought a solar powered energy efficient house on the outskirts of Belleville just before Gerard was born. They had been looking before Frank was pregnant and finally found one just in time for Gerard to be brought into the world.

Things in the world had changed since 2009 when Gerard was born. It was mandatory to practice the three R's (reuse, recycle and reduce), gas powered cars were eliminated and the majority either took public transport that ran on hybrid fuel (if underground) or drove solar powered cars, almost all the foods on the market became all organic, fast food chains were shut down and the amount of waste products the world produced decreased dramatically. The air was clean and species thrived like no tomorrow. But before then, pollution was at an all time high. People were dying from lung cancer and airborne diseases more and more, plants and animals were dying rapidly and fish was taken off the market because of the toxins in the water from countries dumping harmful waste in the waters.

The worst had to be the war in Iraq escalating to the point where nuclear weaponry were being used. People didn't know how half the world survived, but it happened and soon after governments began enforcing healthier lifestyles, even going to extreme lengths and fining anyone who didn't abide by the Three R's Law. Eventually, the Earth balanced itself back out again and was able to become safe to live normally (but while still under the Three R's Law, of course) once again.

"Are you staying tonight, Anay?" Mikey asked from the front seat of the car as they pulled into her collage parking lot. Not many cars were in the small lot as most students rode their bikes or walked now.

"I might. Renee might want me to since it's the first night in her dorm. I'll call you after classes are over, okay?" Anay said quickly as the car stopped in front of the doors.

"Sure. Have fun and don't forget to talk to Mr. Trimm about that project mentioned in you book!" Frank called after her as she jumped out of the car.

"Don't worry! Bye Dad, bye Frank..." she looked at Gerard and smiled. "Have a good day of school, Gee."

Gerard thanked her as she closed the door and they drove on to Belleville High School. Gerard was glad neither of his fathers went into the 'Oh, I remember when I was in high school...' stories. As much as he loved hearing stories and what others went through in their life, he didn't want to hear one now. He was perfectly content on sitting here and wondering if Ja was going to be in school this year. He was notorious for missing most of the year, but still passing. Gerard wondered how he was able to do it.

"Gerard?" Frank asked from the passenger seat. The teen turned to look at his younger father. Neither of his parents showed much signs of their age. Sure, both were starting to get the laugh lines and the crows feet near their eyes, but neither had receding hair or even graying hair... yet. "Are you okay? You're really quiet and you are staring blankly out the window."

"I'm fine," he replied automatically.

"You sure, Gee?"

"Yeah, I was just thinking if Ja is going to be in school this year or not... y'know?" Gerard looked back out of the window and Frank studied him, then turned to look out his own.

"He's never in school, is he?" Mikey asked as they came to a stop sign, the last before getting back on the freeway.

"Not really. I guess he has to take care of his daughter and sister. He lives farther out than us..."

"He has a daughter?" Frank was surprised. Ja was.... what? Gerard's age, give or take a year?

"Yeah, she's three. Really adorable and adventurous," Gerard stated. "I've never met the mother. Ja says she ran away after the birth. I guess she was too scared to take on that responsibility or something."

"I would be too, at that age. God, I remember when Anay was born..." Mikey remembered. "I didn't know shit about raising a kid and I was older."

"Ja's a good dad, though. He really cares about her."

"Don't ever have sex, Gee," Frank told him seriously, turning in his seat once again to look at his son. "I don't care who it's with or the situation. Wait until you're older."

"Okay," Gerard agree automatically. It wasn't like he liked anyone to even want to think about that. "Even if I did, it'd be a long time from now. Anyway, they have that new shot out. Almost every girl in school has it."

"Still," Mikey emphasized.

"Yeah," Frank agreed, briefly looking at his husband. "Even if it's with a guy. Don't do it."

"I know, I know," Gerard reassured. He'd been told a million times about abstinence.

Silence fell in the car as Mikey turned off the four lane highway and onto a two lane street. Houses with minimal space between them lined each side of the road. Most were nice red brick with white fencing and gardens in the front but there was the odd ball here and there where the owners didn't do the daily work of up keeping a nice house. Despite that, every house looked almost the same. The only difference being personal touches the owners did.

Four blocks down this road and it came to an end. A huge turn around with a large tree in the middle was in front of three school buildings, all connected by a window filled hall. The school sign was in front of the tree, telling anyone that came down here that the school was Belleville High. White stone steps led to the front door of the two story main building. Gerard smiled at the familiar school.

The car come to a halt and both his parents turned in their seats to wish him a good first day. Of course, like every year, they kissed his cheek and told him they loved him, just as he did the same to both.

"Have a good day!" Frank told him again as he stepped out of the car.

"I will Dad, don't worry!" Gerard smiled and waved as they pulled away, leaving him behind at the high school.

He turned around slowly, looking at all the teenagers that stood in groups, talking and laughing with on another as they caught up on their friends' lives. The new freshmen were easy to pick out amongst the rest of the student body. They were the ones standing in a much larger group, looking around nervously as if one of the older kids would jump them. Most were dressed in the oh so childish clothes from their past. Gerard scoffed as he spotted a few of the tee shirts with 'baby' shows logo's on them. They'd be the first Friday.

Moving thought his peers, Gerard made his way quickly to the stoop of the three building school. This was his and Ja's meeting spot every morning. Gerard pulled himself up onto the white ledge, cursing his height. Once he was up on the white stone, Gerard pulled his bag so it rested closer to his body as his back rested against the brick wall of the school. His knees were pulled up to his chest, his arms wrapping loosely around them.

Gerard waited and waited and waited, watching his peers socialize as he sat on the ledge, clinging to the small glimmer of hope in the world that Ja might be coming. But the Hope dwindled into nothing but a loud school bell. Students slowly started to break off the conversations and make their way to the doors. Gerard slid off of the white stoop and pushed open the door, entering the familiar lobby.

With floors of blue tiles and walls of gold accents, the lobby filled with students moving to various home rooms by their last name and grade. Before anyone could do so, they had to pass through a row of metal detectors. Gerard walked through, only beeping because of his bracelet and belt. The guard looked him up and down with a suspicious glare. They way he dressed was considered abnormal because the new fashion was metallic like clothes. It looked more like something out of an old movie about the future. The designers must have gotten bored with the organic look, of which made up most of the Iero-Way's wardrobe.

Half the school went left, toward the science building as the other went towards the arts building. Gerard joined the mass moving right, sweeping his eyes across the hall. Some broke from the crowd, entering class rooms or going down halls. Gerard turned left at the first hall before the right ramp to get to his locker.

The lockers of the school were old, probably from the 1900's. Gerard loved them. He loved the thought of using something so historic. People much older than him had used these, laughed with friends and put pictured up in them. Some had written in unmovable markers, permanently marking their spot in history. The rest of the school was the same, except that every class had new high tech desks, classroom doors and boards. Every student was given a personal notebook for the years use.

Gerard walked to his locker, pushing past groups of friends that were chatting with others. His locker was in the same place as last year, as now they assigned one locker for the next four years that student was in the school. He placed his palm on the doors sensor and held it there as a blue light scanned for his veins. The light disappeared and a familiar beep came from the device. He opened the door and pulled his bag off his shoulder and took out his lunch, putting it on the shelf.

Reynaldo Ianca opened his locker next to Gerard's, putting his stylish bag inside and closing the door, ignoring Gerard. He was one of the popular people in school. He always had the new style of clothing and all of the high tech electronics. He had a girl on his arm, of course. She looked at Gerard as if he was the scum at the bottom of her silver boots. He ignored her looks. To him, she was the odd one for the way she dressed and fallowed trends.

Homeroom was the same. They were handed notebooks and uploaded their personal schedule to their palm-planner from the computer. This years notebooks were silver and as thin as a pencil, if not thinner. They went over the rules of use and some general school rules from a permanent document and then sent off to first period.

For Gerard, this meant math. He checked the small gadget in his hand to see what room he was in. He pulled up the school map and moved it with his left index finger to the math hall. According to the palm-planner, he had to take the main hall that went through the lobby, to the English hall then down the left ramp to the math and science building.

Belleville High consisted of three buildings-- the main two story building, the arts building and the math and science building, both of which sat on opposite sides of the main building.

Making his way through the halls, Gerard went up the left ramp, following a crowd of students. The math and science building consisted of twenty rooms. A long hall way stretched down the building, one side being science classes the other math.

Entering the third classroom on the left, Gerard looked around the room of twenty desks. Choosing one in the first row near the door, he slid off his messenger bag from his shoulder. Mr. Frasenburg, his math teacher this year, was collecting old books from the shelves and setting them on the nearest desk. Gerard crossed his legs at his ankles, leaning forward in the desk chair. His black hair fell into his eyes as he did so. Pushing the strands aside, more students filed into the room, sitting down at desks of their liking and looking around the room.

The bell rang again and Mr. Frasenburg slowly walked to the door, pulling it closed after he looked around the hall. He slowly walked across the room, pulling an old overhead projector on a cart into the space between rows two and three. He turned to the white board and pulled down the projector screen. The room was silent as Gerard watched the balding man do this.

And the sixty minute period went by just as slow as Mr. Frasenburg walked. They went over the class rules and objectives, the lessons they would be working on this trimester, and began the first lesson of the class. He went over the key information and did a few example problems on the overhead projector to show them how it was done.

Gerard wrote down all the notes for later references and dutifully began doing problems one through thirty. By the end of the period, Gerard had twenty-two of the problems done. He found the lesson pretty easy. Math had always been alright for him, though he never enjoyed doing the work. He found it boring to sit and find out the numerical answers to questions that wouldn't come up in life outside of school. But it was mandatory, so he did the work without complaining.