The Big Picture

Frank leaned back in the uncomfortable auditorium seat, snapping his gum, obnoxiously. He rocked in his seat, waiting for the assembly to begin and finish, finding motivational speakers to be one of the most boring things ever. He snapped his gum again, earning a dissapproving look from his teacher.

Every faculty member was in the auditorium, even the superintendent, who hardly was ever at the school. The thin, balding man stood silently as the other faculty members chatted amongst themselves, excited about school ending in only three weeks.

The morbidly obese principal, Mr. Walton, waltzed toward the stage, microphone in hand. As always, the upper classmen booed him. He ignored it, cleared his throat, and started his pre-assembly speech like he had since Frank's freshman year.

"Today, students, you will learn things you probably never knew before. Our guest speaker will teach you things that will help you in the real world. You are all now high school students. Our freshmen will soon be sophomores, giving them only three years to know what they want to do with their lives. Our sophomores will be juniors, giving them only two years to process this information. Our juniors will be seniors, and they better have a good head on their shoulders. Finally, our seniors," Mr. Walton gave a dramatic pause, which was filled by scoffs and eye rolls from the senior class, which was Frank, "to those many seniors who are still unsure of what they are going to do with their lives, listen closely to this man. He will teach you things that will make choosing your pathway of life so much easier. Belleville High, I give you Mr. Gerard Way!"

Mr. Walton wobbled offstage, handing the microphone to a man dressed in a dark outfit Frank wouldn't expect a motivational speaker to wear. The man skipped onstage and Frank sat up in his seat. He stared as the man danced to center-stage. He was simply angelic.

"Hello, Belleville High!" the man called as though he were a rock star, "You probably haven't heard of me, but I'm Gerard Way. Now I'm not going to give you any of that, 'Be practical' shit that your parents dish out to you."

Several of the teachers gasped as he swore, and he smirked a little. Frank smiled to himself. He thought, perhaps the assembly wouldn't be so bad.

"There's a little something I like to call 'The Big Picture'. No, it's not some bull shit self-motivation book I wrote to impress a bunch of high school kids. It's a little philosophy I have. 'The Big Picture' simply states, 'follow your dreams', which is something your mommy and daddy may have told you when you were seven, but began telling you is nonsense when you were twelve. But I'm going to tell you something, Belleville High, 'The Big Picture' is not bull shit! You think I seriously want to be sitting here talking to you? I want a crowd, mother fucker. I want a million screaming fans saying, 'Gerard Way, this is your baby!' I'm on my way, Belleville High. I have a band. We're looking for a rhythm guitarist. If you're interested, please stop by and talk to me after the assembly. But that's not the point! My dream is music and art. If you have a dream, I want you to chase it, kids. Chase it as far as you fucking can and don't let it go until you die. Sure, do something to keep yourself occupied but don't go to college to be some fucking office worker, unless that's your dream. You, what do you want to do?"

A freshman girl whimpered, "I want to be a vet."

"What's your name, sugar?"

"Emilee."

"Emilee wants to be a vet! Emilee, are you going to go work for some big corporation up in New York?"

"No?" she said, more a question than an answer.

"It's not Jeopardy, sweetie. This is your dream! Now tell me again!"

"No!"

"That's right! Don't let them drown you. The world and media are a bunch of fucking vampires. Don't get sucked into their plot to make the world one big corporation of nerdy middle-aged office workers. You, blondie, what do you want to be?"

The senior perfectionist said in her bittersweet voice, "A model."

"What's your name?"

"Paige."

"Paige, you want to be a model. Are you going to be sitting at a desk at age thirty?"

"Ew. No."

"You, in the back, skinny boy, what do you want to be?"

Frank looked around him and realized he was the only boy in the general area. He didn't speak.

"You have a dream! Come on, share it with us, sugar!"

"I-I wanna be a musician."

"A musician! What's your name, sweetheart?"

"F-Frank."

"Frank! You want to be a musician. Do you plan on selling Bibles to Mormons in your lifetime?"

"N-no."

"Very good, Frank! What do you want to play?"

"G-guitar."

"Ah! You should see me after the assembly so we can talk about that. But do you all get what I'm saying? 'The Big Picture' is what you want out of life, not what life shoves in your face. Sure you may sit at an office job for a few years but don't let go of your dreams. Hopefully I made a miniscule difference of how you look at things since your fuckhead teachers obviously teach you the complete opposite of what I'm saying. That's all I have to say, and Frank back there, see me for a moment."

The faculty started talking heatedly about what the Gothic spokesman was teaching the school and discussing how to counteract what he had said. Mr. Walton made his way towards the stage to dismiss students to send them home as the superintendent left the room, smirk on his face.

Frank sat backstage with Gerard, discussing music and everything pure in his heart. Gerard listened, nodding in agreement every once in awhile, sipping his coffee.

"Frank, I don't understand why kids in this school dislike you. You're a very interesting person."

"I don't know. I'm different, I suppose."

"Well different in my book, is a good thing. Another word for unique. You're not a clone of all those vampires," he said, stirring his coffee.

"Why do you keep calling them vampires?"

"Vampires suck the life out of you. That's what society does to you. So they're like vampires."

Frank nodded, "That's a good way to think of it."

"I'd like for you to take a practice with us so we can test you out to see if you'll fit for our guitar or not."

Frank nodded again, "Okay."

After Frank practiced with them, Gerard's band was positive he was the right choice. Frank was spending the night at the Ways' house since it was far too late to go back home to his drunken mother. He sat on Gerard's bed in the dark basement, accompanied by Gerard and Mikey. He stared at various drawings and posters strewn about Gerard's black walls, eating out of the large bowl of ice cream the three boys were sharing.

"I gotta pee," Mikey informed the other two, running upstairs to the bathroom.

Gerard turned to Frank with a smile, "So tell me about yourself, Frank."

"I don't know. I'm nineteen, I'm short, I'm skinny, I'm a nerd, my mommy drinks a lot. What do you want to know?"

"Background information. Not the basics. And I'm sorry about your mom."

"It's fine. Uh, I don't know."

Gerard sighed, "Fair enough. Tell me, Frankie, can you dance?"

"Why?"

"Well when you're famous you'll have to dance." Gerard grinned.

Frank blushed, "Hardly. I have two left feet."

"Aha!" Gerard waltzed over to his stereo, turning some sort of slow song on and holding his hand out to Frank, "May I have this dance?"

"You have to be kidding."

"No, Frank, my dear. I am not."

Frank groaned and made his way to Gerard. Gerard placed Frank's tiny arms around his neck and snaked his arms around Frank's waist.

Frank felt more comfortable this way than he ever could imagine. He slowly felt himself drawn closer and closer to Gerard and Gerard's arms tightened around Frank's small waist. Frank looked up at Gerard and smiled.

"You have amazing eyes, Frankie."

Frank laughed, "You're a funny one."

Gerard frowned, "I was quite serious."

"Do I come across as gay?"

"No, I was just stating a fact."

"Would you care if I was gay?"

"I'm the one hitting on you and you're asking me?"

"You never answered the question."

"No, Frank, I would not care if you were gay."

"Well I am."

"You are?"

"Yes."

"Well in that case, would you care if I did something bold?"

"I suppose not."

Gerard tilted his head downward, kissing Frank's lips. At first he was unsure, but eventually, Frank felt himself enjoying the kiss greatly, deepening it at his own will. He felt Gerard smile, only to be interrupted by Mikey.

"I was going to announce that I had snacks, but I suppose I don't want any anymore."

The three laughed and smiled. They all had a gut feeling it was going to be a long and exciting road from then on.