Meet Mr. Way

The night had arrived quickly again, and Gerard hadn’t moved properly from his seat. His mind was racing, his hands sweaty, and the uncertainty of knowing what was right or wrong consumed his thoughts and left him breathless. This was no time to be making mistakes.

At the age of thirty-seven, he had a pretty established life. He enjoyed his job, having grown quickly from being just a normal Chemistry teacher to being the principal of one of the most prestigious schools in the Country. However, love hadn’t come into his life just yet, and the male hadn’t dwelled that much on the subject.

It took only a girl. A sweet, rebellious and clearly broken girl to twist his mind and make him consider doing things he would never find etic before. The doubt remained: was he going to follow his brother’s advice or rest his case and remain as still as he was at the moment?

Mikey didn’t make mistakes when it came to giving advice that often. That was in normal circumstances, of course, and these were anything but normal. Yes, the blond man knew that his brother had become infatuated with a woman, but he had no clue that said woman was nothing more, nothing less, than one of his students. That changed the game, and threw Gerard to the losing end.

The cup that rested in his hand was filled with an amber liquid, that he knew should never cross his lips again, but the times were difficult and demanded a rough approach. Liquor wouldn’t make his decision easier, of course. Liquor would make his decision a truthful one.

Anyone who knew Gerard Way knew that he would easily put his heart and desires aside to follow the politically correct way. This time, even if his heart was the one thing at stake, he was no different. Therefore, the use of alcohol was much needed, and appreciated nonetheless.

Angelica was a girl like many others in that school. However, she had something within her that drew the male in, in ways that he hadn’t phantom to be possible. That was the question here, which was what made this entire situation harder. She was no simple middle life crisis. She was, quite possibly, the love of his life.

***

Angelica studied the pale business card for what it seemed to be the hundredth time. Her principal’s personal cell phone number was written in black ink on the back of it.

She knew that there was no obvious reason for giving her principal a call, yet she felt the urge to. It almost felt like it was morally wrong to do it, although he had been the one to offer her his support.

She dialled the first three numbers on her cell phone, while sitting on her bed, the moonlight light being now the only source of visibility, but she stopped herself before she could dial the fourth.
What would she say if he answered his phone? She had gone to bed almost an hour ago, but she couldn’t sleep, still that gave her no reason to act like that.

Go read that book you’ve been wanting to finish for the past month, her mind said.

She redialled the first three numbers.

Then go downstairs and watch television until you fall asleep, her brain cooed.

She dialled the other two numbers.

You know you shouldn’t do it. Just turn around and fall asleep, she tried to convince herself.

Angelica dialled the last five numbers and took a deep breath every time the phone rang.

“Hello?” The soothing voice on the other side made the blood rise to her cheeks. Oh no. No. No. He had answered her call.

“Hello?” He repeated with a slightly more annoyed tone.

She waited for a second; listening as his breath released a muffled grunt. And then she hung up.

There was heat coming from every part of her body and she didn’t know what to do with the phone that rested now on her lap.Thank God he didn’t know she had been the one to call him, or else she would have never been able to look him in the face again.

Shaking her head, she placed the device back on the bedside table, the lights off and the silence taking over the room again. This had been a terrible idea, but thankfully, he hadn’t noticed who it was, and hadn’t hit redial.

Closing her eyes, she took a long breath; trying the best she could to fall asleep. This was still going to be a long night.

***

Angelica pressed the keys slowly and unsurely, trying to read from the sheet music placed right in front of her eyes. There was no one around, just like she loved it, and the light was dim but good enough to let her read thoroughly and attempt to play something that sounded remotely good.

It was always easier to play at night time. The students had long ago returned back to their rooms, chatting about random things, and the teachers had done the same, or even gone to their own homes. The rehearsal room was secluded, located right by the storage room and one of the many bathrooms around, which only helped with remaining anonymous.

Angelica wasn’t the most talented girl, but somehow piano had sounded more than delightful to her. Most girls had gone to violins or even cellos, but the clean sound of the piano had called out to her. Thanks to that, there she sat, trying her hardest to become any better, to avoid getting scolded by Mrs Parker in the middle of music class.

If you were anyone other than Gerard, you would be already engulfed in large and comfortable blankets and getting ready to endure another day filled with screeching girly voices and giggles that seemed to never end. However, he was much like an owl at times.

Book in hand, pyjamas on and a robe that made him look too much like a young Hugh Heffner, he made his way through the poorly lit corridors, enjoying the silence that luckily could be appreciated during the night. Of course, that had to be disrupted when he walked by the rehearsal room and someone seemed to be trying – and trying would be the key word here – to play a very old piece in the piano.

Sighing heavily, he closed his book and carefully walked to the door, peaking inside. The rules were, lights out, girls inside their rooms. He doubted that it would be one of the janitors playing, since they were as eager as everyone else to leave the building when the clock hit six, so he would have to scold one of his students for being away from their bed at nearly midnight.

He already had his speech under his tongue when he slowly opened the door to look inside, but it was quickly forgotten when he saw Angelica sitting on the bench in front of the piano, eyes focused and barely blinking as she pressed the keys, frightened. This was no way to play piano, he thought.

She hadn’t noticed him yet, thankfully, and he took that chance to walk inside and approach the young girl, his heart beating a bit too fast for his own liking.

“You are playing it wrong.” He commented softly, startling the poor brunette, earning a very loud screech from her pressing the keys too fast. Gerard chuckled, offering her an apologetic smile. “Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you.”

“You-you didn’t.” She stumbled on her own words, her mind racing as she tried to find a good excuse for being out of her room at this time of the night, and for being so flustered by his presence.

“I know I shouldn’t be here.” She got up and quickly gathered the music sheets in one hand.

“You’re right, but considering the way you’re playing I think I can make an exception.” Angelica raised an eyebrow at him and his smile was a sweet one in return. “I can see that you still have a lot to practice.”

The girl resumed to her position in front of the piano, her eyes reading once more the music sheet her teacher had assigned her. Was she really that bad? She liked to play the piano and she knew that she needed to practise more, but now she felt ashamed that he had listened to her playing, if she really sounded that awful.

“I might not know much about music, but if you want to I can always pinpoint some things you were doing wrong.” He offered, taking a couple steps toward her.

He sat next to her on the leather piano bench. Angelica looked down at the black and ivory keys, as if she suddenly didn’t know how to play.

“Come on, start from the beginning.” He nudged her shoulder.

Her fingers glided over the keys before she pressed them. There was this strange feeling, deep down in her stomach, like if she was playing for a big crowd of people, as she played the first notes. He was watching her carefully and she could feel it.

“You’re applying too much pressure on the keys.” Gerard stopped her by resting his hand softly on top hers. “You need to listen to the sounds coming out of the piano. You need to listen to yourself play.” Their arms touched as his fingers replaced hers, replaying the excerpt she had played, his knee against the skirt of her school uniform when he reached for the higher notes.

Angelica couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed by his presence next to her. The way his cologne overrode her senses, with a mixture of black coffee and cigarettes, was making it extremely difficult for her to focus, so when he stopped playing and talked to her, she didn’t even registered it.

“Maybe you should call it a day.” His hazel eyes showed amusement, something that his voice tried hard not to. “It’s getting late for someone who has classes in the morning.” He got up with a smile on his face. “Keep on practising and you’ll become an expert in no time.”

“Maybe I would if you helped me tomorrow again.” She didn’t dare to look at him, not wanting to give away her flustered look.

He turned to her, facing her strained back and stiff posture. “ That would be a pleasure.”

Notes