Folie a Deux

Tomorrow would be Monday, and I had accomplished nothing over the weekend besides meeting Gerard.

"What's that?" Gerard inquired, looking at the papers I had spread across our lunch table.

"Homework," I sighed.

He sighed, too. "Oh."

I just nodded, tapping the pencil I had brought on the table. "I hate school. With a passion... A burning passion, actually."

He laughed a bit, lips pulling back into a slightly crooked smile. "I know what you mean. The people there are horrible."

"Aren't they, though? I wish I were homeschooled... It must be fun." I'd always wanted to be homeschooled. I hated school, I hated the teachers, I hated the other students. Everything about public school sucked.

"It's alright," Gerard said vaguely. "I miss public school, sometimes, but it's nice having my brother as my only classmate. He's easy to put up with."

"Are you one of those people who like learning?" I asked. "I'm not exactly a fan of it, but..."

He laughed a bit, one side of his smile slightly higher than the other. "I enjoy learning, yes. I don't enjoy reviewing things or practicing things, but I like learning new things."

I pointed vaguely to my paper. "You don't think you could possibly help me with this, then, do you?"

"It won't hurt to give it a shot. What is that, math?"

I nodded, turning the paper to face him. "Yeah. I'm horrible at it. It's my worst subject, next to... Well, next to everything else. You any good with numbers?"

"You could say that."

His hazel eyes danced, scanning across the equations, and every few seconds that fluttered closed or glanced upwards for a few moments, before going back to the paper, moving on to the next equation.

"Do you seriously understand this shit?" I asked disbelieving, warning his eyes as they moved with careful precision over the equations. It was all like another language, to me. Anyone who understood it was instantly a god.

"Yeah," he said, turning the paper back around to me. "It's pretty basic."

I stared at him, holding out my pencil. It was not at all 'pretty basic.' If it was 'pretty' anything, it was a 'pretty' accurate description of hell.

"Explain it, then."

He turned the paper back around to face him and scribbled some things in the corner, glancing at the equation every few seconds to double check his work.

"Here." He turned the paper back around. "The answer is negative six. I think you just forgot to carry the variable."

I looked from him to the math he had done and his annoyingly perfect handwriting, and then back up to him. "How old are you, again?"

"Seventeen. And how old are you?"

"Sixteen."

He nodded, pausing for a long minute. "Why, exactly, is age relevant to this situation?"

"Because. You- I mean- I don't know. You're smart, is all."

He paused for a few seconds, tilting his head to the side, lips turned down slightly. "I suppose I am. I think my last IQ test did score a few points above average... But I took that about a year ago. There's no telling if it's dropped or risen sense then."

I laughed at his lack of modesty. "I'm serious. Anyone who can understand this stuff must be a genius."

He laughed, too. "No, I'm not a genius. I just enjoy math."

"Math? Enjoy? Those two words shouldn't exist in the same sentence."

He just laughed again.

I came to realize over the next hour or so that Gerard was, in fact, extremely smart.

Exceptionally smart.

Exceedingly smart.

The boy was, actually, a genius.

He just didn't seem to see it.

"Okay, define 'ostentatiously'."

"Ostentatiously- characterized by vulgar or pretentious display, or designed to impress or attract notice. Essentially, bragging. Oh, and it's a noun, if that counts for anything."

I nodded, jotting down the definition.

I was done with my homework, but now I was curious about how smart he really was. "What's the longest word you know?"

He was quiet for a few moments.

"You want me to tell you the longest?"

I nodded and he sighed a bit, before rambling out some seemingly random string of letters.

"What?"

"Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis."

I just blinked at him.

"Can you say that again? Slowly?"

"Pneu. Mo. No. Ultra. Microscopic. Silico. Volcano. Con. Iosis."

"Oh. Okay." We were both silent for a few seconds, and I nodded, trying to process his pronunciation. "What the exact fuck does that mean?"

He chuckled a bit, running his fingers through his red hair, the strands greasy and tangled, before dropping his hand back down. "It's a lung disease, caused by the extended exposure to and inhalation of fine, siliceous dust."

I nodded, pretending to understand. "O-okay."

He blinked at me for a few seconds before looking away, down at where his hands were folded on the table. "Frank, just because I can pronounce and define a long word doesn't make me super intelligent or anything. I just like learning new words. It's a hobby."

"And math is 'just a hobby', too, I'm guessing?" I didn't mean to be rude, but I did. I didn't mean to sound like I didn't believe him.

"Yes," he said shortly. "Math is a hobby, too."

I nodded, looking away. I hadn't meant to be so rude... "Thank you," I said, my voice quiet with shame.

"For what?"

"For helping me with my homework..."

He shrugged, and from the corner of my eye, I could tell he was smiling. Why, I didn't know.

"No problem," he said, taking a sip of the coffee that he had ordered earlier.

We both fell silent again and I looked away, not understanding why he was smiling even though I'd been a bit of a jerk about the simple fact that he enjoyed math and new vocabulary.

Just because I hated school, I guess that didn't mean that he had to, too.

"You're being awfully quiet," Gerard observed.

"Sorry."

"Was it something I said?"

"No."

"Are you sure, if-"

"Gerard, it's fine. You're fine. You haven't done anything wrong. I'm just an idiot, is all."

"Well, I highly doubt that..."

I rolled my eyes. "Please, just drop it."

And so he did.

"Want to go to the park?" he asked, after drinking the last few sips of his coffee.

"Sure..."

We paid for Gerard's coffee- I paid, this time. He'd paid for my food for the past two days, I refused to let him get away with paying for himself again, too.

"So, Frank," Gerard said distantly as we made our way across the street to the park. "What grade are you in?"

"Eleventh."

"Me too."

And yet, he was so much smarter than me... "That's cool."

"What's your favorite color?"

I sent him a glance from the corner of my eyes. "I don't really know."

"Okay."

"What's your?"

"I haven't decided yet."

I just nodded.

"When's your birthday?"

I looked away. "Why are you asking so many questions?"

"I'm curious."

I sighed. "What's today's date?"

"The eighth."

I did some quick math, pausing for a few moments. "My birthday is in exactly twenty-three days."

Gerard blinked a few times. "It's on Halloween?"

I nodded shyly. "Yeah."

He nodded, too. "That must be really fun. Birthday presents, and free candy... You can't get a better combination than that."

I grinned. "True." As much as I didn't like celebrating, or the idea of birthdays and growing another year older, I did love the fact that I always got candy on my birthday.

"Are you doing anything for your birthday?"

I couldn't remember the last time someone asked me that. "Not really..." I didn't have anyone to go somewhere with- there was no point in celebrating if I'd be alone.

"Really?" he sounded surprised. "I mean, you'll be seventeen... It's a really different age. You should do something special."

I shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe I will. Why?"

He just shrugged back, a small smile dancing across his lips. "I don't know. If you're not doing anything, I instantly feel the need to throw you a party."

I laughed. "Don't bother. We'd be the only two people there."

"Oh, don't say that." His shoulder bumped mine and I laughed, bumping back. "And even if we were, we could still have plenty of fun."

His shoulder-bump threw me off balance a bit, but I couldn't help but grin. It had been a long time since I'd walked next to someone like this. It had been a long time since I had someone to laugh with and bump shoulders with and to talk to.

"Gerard, I'm serious. If you throw me a party I'll kill you in your sleep."

"I'd like to see you try! You don't even know where I live! And anyways, if I can't throw you a party, I'll just smother you with birthday-related stuff!"

"Birthday-related stuff? What type of birthday-related stuff?"

He grinned. "Cake, presents, that sort of stuff. And I'll sing happy birthday at the top of my lungs."

"Please don't-"

"I will!"

"No-"

"Yes!"

I glared at him, but still smiled. "Are you always this stubborn?"

"Yep," he nodded. "Why do you think I have no friends? I'm hard to get along with."

I rolled my eyes. "That's not true."

"But it is."

"But it's not. I get along with you just fine. I'm your friend, aren't I?"

He was silent for a few moments, seeming to actually consider the fact. "I suppose. Can two people become friends in... When did we meet, Friday? So, three days? Is that long enough to be classified as friends?"

"I guess..." I mean, this certainly felt like friendship. But I hadn't had a friend in a long time, so my opinion wasn't exactly the most relevant.

"Then I guess we are friends," he decided. "Neither of us can say that we don't had any friends, now."

It felt strange.

It felt very, extremely strange to have a friend.

I couldn't remember the last time I'd ever called someone my friend...

There was a reason for that. I didn't like having friends. I liked being alone. I liked keeping my problems to myself and not being a burden, and I liked not having to care about anyone else.

I had enough of my own problems, I couldn't just start sharing them with other people and start having to deal with their problems, too...

"Hey, the swings are open again!" Gerard grinned suddenly, interrupting the chaos swirling in my head.

I ginned, two, and we raced each other to the swings, laughing as we stumbled the last few feet, bumping shoulders and half-tripping one another.

"I win!" I shouted, making a dive for the swings.

"No, I do!"

I touched the swings first. "Ha!" I declared, sitting down.

He shot me a playful glare, narrowing his eyes and taking his own seat. "You suck."

"You suck more," I not-so cleverly responded, swinging my legs back and forth.

He mimicked my motions and snickered, laughing more at himself then me as we swung higher and higher. "You're right, I do."

I snickered, too, even though I wasn't really sure what I was laughing at. "Is that supposed to be a confession or a gay joke?"

"Let's consider it both."

I just grinned, shaking my head. "Where the hell have you been all my life?"

"Hiding, obviously," he said, winking. "Why do you ask?"

"Because." I wasn't exactly sure. "You're the first person I've gotten along with in a long time."

He smiled widely at me. "I could say the same for you, Frank. But we haven't known each other for that long... Things could always change."

"But I hope they don't."

"And I don't, either."

We fell silent for quite a while, but then we started talking.

We talked for a long time.

We talked about anything and everything, and then some. We talked about my mom and about Gerard's mom and his brother and we talked about how our parents were divorced and why, and we talked about our favorite pastimes and our favorite music and our favorite movies and our favorite books. We talked a lot.

And we had a lot in common.

"How long have we been here?" I asked eventually, sighing.

"I don't know... A few hours, maybe."

I sighed and stopped my swinging, letting my feet scrape roughly against the ground. "I have school tomorrow... I should probably get home."

Gerard nodded. "Yeah, I guess my mom's probably worried about me, anyways..."

We didn't really say much after that.

We didn't really have to.

We walked out of the park together, and he went one way, and I went the other.

We made a mutual, nearly unspoken decision that we would meet again tomorrow, after I got out of school.

Gerard agreed to help me with my homework, as long as he got to order a coffee, and we decided that we would go to the park tomorrow again, too.