There Is No Formula for Love

Gerard’s POV

“Mr. Iero, I’m not understanding this at all.” I told my physics teacher a week and a half into the new school year. We were working on homework in class and it was all algebraic formulas. I suck at math. I stood at Mr. Iero’s desk, blushing due to how dumb I felt. This worksheet should not be this difficult. Even Lucas and Matt are flying through it and they’ve spent the last three days showing each other all their varsity pins and letters.

“Ok, Gerard. What are you having trouble with?” Mr. Iero wondered, leaning forward to look at my paper, which was pretty much blank.

“I can get this far into the equation then I get lost.”

Mr. Iero nodded and went into a long explanation about how to fix my errors. I tried to pay attention, but after a minute the tiny pictures covering his hands distracted me. He caught me looking and clenched his hands into fists. I felt my face turn a darker shade of red and Mr. Iero chuckled.

“So how much of that did you hear?” He asked me, smirking playfully.

“Um… all the way up to the bit about canceling out units.”

“So pretty much none of it?”

“I’m sorry, sir. I get distracted really easily.”

“It’s ok, Gerard. Watch carefully this time.”

I actually paid attention and finally understood what I was doing wrong. I thanked Mr. Iero and went back to my seat. The rest of the homework was a breeze after that. When the bell rang Mr. Iero asked to see me.

“Do you get it now?” He inquired.

“Yes! I do. Thank you so much. I feel like an idiot for not getting it right away.”

“You’re far from an idiot, Gerard. I’m proud of how hard you’ve been working in this class. You remind me of myself when I was your age. Don’t ever give up on anything, all right?”

“I won’t, sir.”

“Let’s shake on that.”

Mr. Iero beamed as we shook hands. There was that smile again. My heart actually skipped a beat before I could bid my teacher goodbye and hurry out of the room. About halfway down the hall I stopped against some lockers and looked up at the ceiling, trying to catch my breath. I’m so boy crazy it’s not even funny.

I hurried to the language studies building and just barely made it into English on time. My best friend Claire was sitting beside me and cocked an eyebrow.

“Why on earth are you sweating?” She wanted to know.

“I had to run here. My physics teacher wanted to talk to me after class.” I panted, yanking my English binder out of my shoulder bag.

“Oh, do you have Mr. Stack?”

“Nope, Mr. Iero. The new guy.”

“Oh! I’ve seen him! He has all the tattoos and the really nice hair, right?”

“Yeah, that’s him.”

“Lucky. I had Stack last year. He bored me to death. How’s Iero?”

“Really, really nice. I love his class so far.”

“I bet it sucks having this right after it then.”

“Yeah, I could do without this class.”

Claire and I snickered and turned our attention to Mrs. Piper, who was taking attendance. She’s an incredibly boring teacher. She isn’t old or young, but she sounds like a goat and doesn’t move when she lectures. It drives me insane. I just sit at my desk and think about physics the whole time. Geez, I’m such a nerd.