Someone Out There Loves You (Adopted by Frank Iero)

42

ALEXA

I dawdled behind Frank as he pushed the shopping cart, the fluorescent lights of the supermarket giving me a headache. He wasn't going fast, but I was finding it hard to keep up. My legs felt like they were made of lead, my feet made of bricks, and I couldn't for the life of me find the strength to get them to move at a pace faster than a hobble.

Thank god I wasn't limping.

I wanted to be - it would have been a hell of a lot less painful if I kept the weight off my left leg - but by biting the inside of my cheek, I could walk in a way that I thought could pass as normal.

The top crew did some damage today. It was more aggressive than normal, making me think Calli must have mentioned what happened in the bathroom on Monday. I had been waiting for it and today was the day it came.

There was a certain part in the school between the science rooms that had concrete stairs, and as I was minding my own business walking from one class to the next I was tripped down them and then of course copped a beating while I was sprawled out on the floor. I had landed particularly heavily on my left knee, and every step I had taken after that moment sent pain shooting through my body. My wrists also ached from the impact of trying to stop my fall - it was a miracle I didn't break both of them in the process. There were also scraps on my palms which I was going to need to keep from Frank's eyes.

Rubbing my right wrist as Frank's back was to me, I grimaced, then tried to catch up to him.

"I don't need any, I've still got heaps," I said as Frank parked the shopping cart in front of the selection of cereals.

He turned to face me, leaning on the cart with one hand and an inquisitive look on his face.

"Do you actually like raisin bran, or is that the only cereal you've had?" he asked curiously.

"Uh... I like it."

He raised his eyebrows at me and smirked. "Do you actually like it or is that because you've got nothing to compare it to?"

I laughed and played with my hair. "Umm... well, it's an improvement from what I used to have, like, back at my old house. I mean, most of the time I didn't have anything at all, but if there were a few slices of bread that weren't too mouldy and I could pick most of it off, that was a good day. So uh, that was what I was working with and raisin bran's a pretty big step up from that if you ask me."

I chuckled, unsure of what else to do and trying to mask how I really felt about that part of my childhood, then saw Frank's face which looked like he was trying to conceal both disgust and horror, albeit terribly.

"You're... joking, right?"

"Uhhh... no, I'm not," I laughed uneasily, rubbing the back of my neck. "Those were the times."

Frank looked like he had a lot more to say but he bit his tongue.

"Well," he said slowly, "no offence to you and your raisin bran, but it's kinda the most bland cereal you can get. It's old people cereal. You're gonna try the fun stuff," he grinned.

"What am I, five?" I laughed, rolling my eyes. "I don't need 'fun' cereal, it's just cereal."

Frank shook his head and sighed in disagreement. "You'll have to take that one back, Lexa my darling. You don't even know."

Before I could say anything else, Frank grabbed an obnoxiously bright red box off the shelf and put it in the cart.

"What the hell is that?"

"Froot Loops," he beamed.

"Why is there a bird on the box?"

Frank let out a high pitched laugh, clutching his side like I had said the funniest thing in the world, only I'd somehow missed the joke. "For starters, it's a toucan, and second, don't question it."