Algid (#TronnorAU)

Chapter 12: The Blue House

-"No she's not bothering me! It's not like that... she's Mr. Dawson's favorite and always stars as the lead, so she can be a bit pretentious."

Connor's mind gears clicked immediately.

-"But it's not all bad."—Alexis said—"I've made a really good friend! His name is Trevor!"

-"Oh, the one you mentioned that other time!"—Grace said with a grin.

-"Yeah..."—Alexis said, blushing a little—"He's with the band too, and they are helping with the play's score and everything. He's really nice."

-"That's true."—Mikey said—"Moran is really cool. We've just become sort of friends with him this year, and he's fun to hang around."

-"Well, Alexis, just know that you can always come to me if anything comes out of hand, ok?"—Grace said, giving her a reassuring squeeze—"Well I better get going to work. You kids head to the bus, ok? See you all later!"

Grace stood up, grabbed her purse from the counter, fiddled around looking for her keys and eventually found them in the microwave (Connor didn't know either), and went to give Mikey a goodbye kiss on the top of his head like she always did, only this time, she went and gave one to Alexis as well, and right after doing so and realizing what that was, she stood up awkwardly, with Alexis looking back at her with a bit of wide eyes.

-"Oh-I-I-I'm sorry! Alexis, forgive me!"—Grace said, apologetic—"It's just that it's always been Mikey and I here, I've gotten used to—I mean—You know—"

-"No! No, it's ok!"—Alexis said, giving her a smile—"I... I don't mind. Thank you."

-"... Ok."—Grace said, smiling—"Have a good day, you three."

After Grace had left the room, it somehow was not awkward. Alexis seemed pleased to have received such a gesture from her. Connor remembered how it was like to have a mother, but that's something Alexis never knew. This was new, and good, and it made Connor's heart warm up a little bit. But there was still the other matter to attend. Connor looked at Mikey, and he got the message right away.

-"I'll wait for you two at the door."—Mikey said, leaving the table immediately.

Alexis tried to look away from Connor and avoid eye contact, but it was futile. He had daggers staring down at her.

-"Al."—he said—"Yes or no. Is the girl who is bothering you Lia Johnson?"

Alexis flinched back her sight towards Connor at the mention of that name. Bingo.

-"How do you—?"

-"It doesn't matter how I know her."—Connor said with patience—"But I do. And listen, the minute she becomes a problem you come to me first, understand?"

-"No!"—Alexis protested—"No, I don't want you to get into any more trouble for me, forget it!"

-"I'm going to find out anyway, and when I do I'll still stand up for you. That's what I do. Take care of each other, remember?"

Connor raised his pinky finger to make Alexis remember their promise, which only seemed to upset her more.

-"No, Connor! Listen, I don't want you near her. Please trust me when I say I have this under control!"

Alexis' plea was followed by a brief moment of silence. As much as he didn't like the idea, Connor seemed to have gotten to the point in which he had to give her this, so he just nodded and stopped insisting.

-"Alright."—Connor said—"You sure you can handle this?"

-"I can handle it."—Alexis said with determination—"Just you watch."