A Way Back Home | Adopted by Gerard Way (Book Two)

Winter Melon (4)

"I got homework on the first day back!" I complain as soon as I enter Gerard's office after school, my backpack still slung over my shoulders.

"That's a real bummer, Eve," he says. He's standing at the coffee machine table, stirring a steaming mug of coffee. Today's mug has an umbrella on it (any guesses as to why?). "You gotta tone it down a little, though. Linds is napping."

"Oh, sorry," I say quietly.

I wish I could sleep in the daytime. But, no, I've tried. When I do try it's like my brain is banging pots and pans together, yelling, "NO, THIS IS WRONG, IT IS NOT NIGHTTIME YET! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Maybe I just have to get pregnant and I'll have the capability to nap.

I'm joking, obviously.

Too gay for that.

"What do you have for homework?" he asks, sitting down in his office chair and setting the mug on the desk next to him.

"Math."

"So that's why you're so annoyed. I'd help, but..." he gestures at the papers covering his desk.

"Grownup work." I nod understandingly. "And also you don't want to spend your time doing tenth grade math."

"Well, I wasn't going to say it so bluntly."

I shake my head like a disappointed parent, then turn on my heel to leave the room. Before I shut the door behind me I hear Gee laugh a bit and wish me luck. "Thanks, Dad," I mumble.

Despite how much I hate math (it's my worst subject), it was the first day of school after Christmas break, after all, and I somehow feel motivated. I want this semester to go well, I want to study hard, keep all my grades up, and not procrastinate. Though, based on my track record, that'll probably only last a week.

Especially that last one.

When I get to my room, I'm greeted with the mess leftover from Christmas that I didn't bother cleaning up sitting in the corner of my room. They're mostly books and records I have yet to organize on my shelf, and clothes I haven't yet folded or hung up.

I shut the door behind me gently so as to not wake up Lindsey in the next room, then plop my backpack down on my bed. With a heavy sigh, I unzip it before taking out my math homework. The notes are neat on paper, but it's misleading; all this work is a mess in my brain.

I choose a CD off my shelf and put it in the player. Cherub Rock by The Smashing Pumpkins begins and put pencil to paper, taking a deep breath to prepare myself for the next however-long-it-takes-me-to-grasp-the-concept-of-dividing-polynomials.

• • •

It turns out that the time between me actually starting my homework and dinner being ready was just long enough for a few things to happen. I broke my pencil, Gerard came and threw a granola bar at me because he knows I forget to eat when I'm working on something (and not one of those shitty granola bars; a chocolate covered one), Lindsey woke up from her nap, and I broke my pencil again.

I did not, in fact, manage to grasp the concept of dividing polynomials.

That's not to say I didn't finish my homework, though. The question is: Did I do it correctly? For that answer, you'll have to tune in next time.

I skip down the stairs and head to the table upon Lindsey calling for me from downstairs. Ever since she moved in, Gee and I have had to switch from eating on the couch in front of the TV, to sitting at the table as a family. I'm not complaining, it was about time the two of us became at least somewhat civilized.

"How was your first day back at school, Girly?" Linds asks me as she hands me my plate of spaghetti.

"Good." I, as per usual, sprinkle ungodly amounts of cheese on my pasta. At this point, not even an eating disorder will get in the way of my sudden love of anything cheesy. "Nothing really interesting happened."