Someone Out There Loves You (Adopted by Frank Iero)

30

ALEXA

Frank and I were in the middle of getting me school supplies. He had enrolled me into the local high school since I didn't end up looking into other ones to decide where I wanted to go, hence the default of the local one. It was kind of Frank to give me the option of choosing, but I didn't really care that much as to which school it was; it was going to suck regardless.

Today was Friday, and I started school on Monday, giving me one last weekend of peace before my time would be taken up with school work, assignments, and crippling anxiety.

That last one was a joke.

Well, kind of a joke.

Does it count as a joke if I'm using humour to mask my pain?

I didn't want to be going in with a negative mindset, but it was kind of hard to stay positive. My last experience at a school kind of resulted in me trying to end my life so there was some stress going into it. But then again, it couldn't really get any worse than that, could it?

Although, I was going in a month into the semester. Everyone would have already found their friend groups, and no one ever wants to befriend the new kid. Plus, this was high school, so going in as a freshman I was already on the bottom. That combined with being a very obviously emo kid... I wasn't going to be popular to say the least. It wasn't going to be an easy start.

"Lex, how cool is this?!" Frank appeared next to me holding up black notebooks.

I laughed. "Those are the ones."

He grinned and put them into the basket he was carrying. "How many do ya reckon you need?" he asked as he walked back over to the shelf he found them on.

"Uhh, I don't really know to be honest." I bit my lip, trailing behind him.

Frank shrugged and picked up a stack of them, adding them to the basket that was slowly but surely being filled with supplies.

"So that's the notebooks, did you find a pencil case?" He turned to look at me with the most Dad look on his face. The only way I could describe it was he looked like a concerned parent trying to pack for their child's first school camp, ensuring that everything was ticked off the list and nothing was forgotten.

I groaned. "Can't I be cool and just carry a four pen around with me?"

Frank put his hand that wasn't holding the basket on his hip and rolled his eyes, making me stifle a laugh. "No. You need more than one pen."

"YoU nEeD mOrE tHaN oNe PeN," I mocked, a cheeky grin breaking out on my face.

I snickered as he glared at me, but then his stern facade crumbled and he giggled. "Speaking of... you need stationary. Let's go," he directed, pushing me playfully as he scooted past.

Giggling, I swatted him off me, following at a distance. Although, I was getting distracted by the pretty sketchbooks and art pencils we were walking past. I spotted a simple, black sketchbook that was calling to me. Picking it up, I flicked through the blank pages, a small smile playing at my lips. My eyes then wandered up, spying the pencils on the shelves. It had been so long since I had drawn anything. I missed it. I used to spend hours sketching away, shading in the sketches, trying to perfect them. I wondered if I had lost my touch since it had been so long.

Snapping out of my daze, I returned the sketchbook back to its place on the shelf and headed over to where Frank was. When I finally caught up to him, he was testing out different pens and markers on the paper in front of them. Looking over his shoulder, I snickered at what he had written.