||Drowning Lessons|| Frankie Iero |Info|

"I'm here for-"
"Alisha, I tried to call you. Come with me," Dr. Jeski flagged me down and took me down the halls.

"What happened?" I asked, nerves making me shake.

"Well, I'm not sure, but whoever did this was strong and very angry. Mr. Iero has a broken jaw, shattered cheek, a broken arm and nose. A few teeth were chipped, and he's been in and out of consciousness. But when he does talk, against my advice, he's been asking for you," he filled me in, and when we arrived in the doorway, I took in a deep breath and my knees almost gave out. He was asleep, and cleaned up, but blood stains on his shirt and the faint trails on his face were more than enough. He was bruised, and looked like hell in a bed. I took his hand, and sat next to the bed.

"Have you called anyone else?" I asked, finally looking away from Frankie.

"Yes, his mother. And since you all seem to be making frequent visits, call me George." Dr. Jeski said, a light joke in there to try and lighten the mood. A faint smile crossed my face, and George left to wait for Frank's mom. I felt his hand weakly squeeze mine before he stirred.

"Hey," I whispered, and he opened his eyes a little. A smile crawled on his face and he mouthed a 'hey' back. A lone tear ran down my face.

"I thought you needed time alone?" he said with some contempt.

"Frankie, you're in the hospital, and your going to hold that against me? Besides, I've slept through 2 days now. I think I've had enough time alone," I said, and he gave me his infamous grin that spread across his whole face and caused him to squint. Just as the smile faded off, Angela came in, tear staining her face. A nicely polished man followed her in, and I took it as her new boyfriend. He parked towards the back corner of the room, and Angela hugged Frank before hugging me.

"Frank, who would do this to you?" asked George, and the three of us knew exactly who was strong, pissed, and knew where Frank lived.

"Brady," Angela choked out, her boyfriend coming out of his corner and hugging her. Frankie nodded, and gripped on to my hand.

“Mr. Iero, you could press charges for harassment, or get a restraining order," George advised, and Frank nodded.

"A restraining order would be good." With a nod, George bowed out of the room. The room was quiet, until Angela broke the silence. Or tried to.

"You know, the sooner you get out the b-"

"Alisha Marie Hart, get your ass out here," my mothers voice rang down the hall. I stood quickly and went out.

"What do you want?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

"What is she talking about, 'get out?'" Angela asked.

"Out of the hospital, what do you think?" she flushed at my mom’s sharp words.

"Well, I'm tired of you always rushing out of the house, its like you've been replaced. The Alisha I knew before he showed up would never say more than 'excuse me' to a single person, and even then it was only in a dire situation," she paused for a breath, leaving me feeling numb.

"And, the Alisha I knew as my daughter would kill before letting an guycome within kissing distance of her. I want to know what happened." she finished. I mouthed a few times like a dry fish. I had wondered those very same things when I left Frank at the door of the hospitals. She grabbed my hand and started pulling me out towards the automatic doors.

"Mom, stop. I know he's changed me, but honestly, would you rather have a suicidal basket case, or this?" I asked, stopping her and gesturing at myself now. She gave me a look of pure anger, and came within inches of my face.

"You are not going to make a scene young lady. You are still 17 and still under my control. So we are going to march out these doors, into my car, and go home, where we can settle this as loud as we want," she spat, a vein rising in her forehead. I nodded, giving a backwards glance to Frankie room, and saw that Angela had followed me, and she gave a gesture with her hand that said, 'Just a little longer'.

The drive home was painfully quiet. The air felt like it was pushing in on my eardrums and would pop them if I didn't say something. But I didn't, instead I let the pressure build and look at the clock. Angela was right, it was now 10:32 pm. I stared out the window until my mom pulled up in front of the house, pulled out the keys with such force I thought the dashboard would come off with them, and stormed up to the house. She was clearly pissed, but I didn't know what set her off now. No one besides Angela and Frankie knew our plans to move out and we’ve only made love once sine the abortion. The two things that really mattered.

"You know, I depend on you to watch your sister when I'm at work. She's tired of always going to her friend's houses now-"

"I don't think its Lexei that minds. I think it's you," I said calmly, heading to the couch. I could tell I hit the spot.

"Well, yes. It's just, I feel like I'm losing you, like I don't know you any more. And I know in 6 months you'll be graduating and leaving. It weird." she said sitting down next to me. I suddenly felt guilty about moving out.

"Mom, I love you so much, and I hate to say this, but Frankie and I have an apartment. He works part time at a store in the mall, and I work at the music store across from the venue we're always at. But if it's that hard on Lexei, I can pick her up from school and have her at our place until you get home." I spilled, taking her hand in mine. Her eye grew wide.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked, eye watering.

"Because I thought you didn't like him. And I didn't want you to freak out and try to stop it." I said. I snuck a glance at the clock behind your mom. 11:20. Its too late to go back to Frankie.

"Well, if its what you want. It would help if you could take Alexei after school, but only if it doesn't interfere," she said sternly. She pulled me into a hug, and got up to get the phone when it started ringing.

"Alisha, its for you," she said, then went upstairs to bed.

"Hello?"

"Oh my god, Frankie was released, but he passed out when he got home! We need you!" three feminine voices shouted over the line frantically, making me hold the phone arms length from my ear.

"What? I'm coming," I said, grabbing my jacket. I wrote a note to my mom, who was certain to come downstairs when she heard the door, and ran out of the house, the door slamming just as the grandfather clock announced the time being 12:15.