I nodded and turned to leave but Gerard grabbed my wrist. "In case you do run into trouble," he whispered, pushing a paper into my hand.

I looked into his hazel eyes for a minute and replied, "thank you," before running onto the bus.
Once I'd sat down, I opened the paper.

In case of emergency it read, then read a phone number.

I tucked the paper into the back of my wallet and looked out the bus window for the rest of the ride.

I arrived in Belleville and looked around. I'd only been here once on a road trip when I was little. I have no idea what to do. To survive I need a job and a place to live.

The sooner I get a job the sooner I can afford rent. I started walking down a street with lots of shops, hoping to find a HELP WANTED sign.


*****THAT NIGHT*****


After searching practically the whole town and finding no one hiring, I stumbled over to a bench in the park and laid down to sleep.


I was woken up by a wet tongue on my face.

I'm so sorry," a girl apologized, pulling the dog off me.

"It's okay," I said, stretching. By how dark it had gotten I guessed it was after 8 or 9 at night. "What are you doing here so late?" I asked.

"Walking my dog. I'm a night owl. You?"

"Oh, I just moved to town."

"You're sleeping in the park?" I nodded. "Be careful. There's a gang from Newark that likes to come down here and get new members. I've seen them just flat out kidnap homeless people."

"R-really?" I stuttered. "What gang?"

"I think the leader's name is McKraken?" I felt myself pale. If the McKrakens got me, they'd know and try to use that against Don. "You okay?"

"uh, yeah. I've just had some bad run-ins with them before. I don't know what they'd do if they found me."

She stared at me a moment before grabbing my hand and pulling me up. "You can stay with me."

"I couldn't ask-"

"Nonsense. I was going to rent out my spare room anyway."

"I-I can't pay rent."

"Then I'll just have to help you find a job," she smiled at me.

I stared at her for a minute before asking, "you sure?"

"Of course.. I'm Helena by the way. Helena Holeman," she said, dragging me off.

"Frank Iero," I replied. She made a face like the name sounded familiar, but I ignored it.

"This is Chance," she introduced, gesturing to her dog and the three of us walked to her flat.
It only took about five minutes to get to the apartment and along the way she decided we should get to know each other. I told her everything about me before I joined the gang but I made it seem more recent so she wouldn't suspect I basically missed a normal life for the last five years.

Helena told me she was named after her grandmother on her mom's side, Elena and Her parents used to live in Newark. She moved to Bellville with a family friend when she was young but she moved out as soon as she was 18. She was gay and proud (and if I had a problem with that I could "pop-a-squat back on the bench" to which I replied, flamboyantly "please, gurl. I'm about as straight as a rainbow.")

"I think we'll get along just fine, Frank," she responded, opening the door to her apartment block. "So how long are you here for or are you here for good?"

"Uh.. I don't know. Probably a few months. Whenever my ... boss needs me to come back to Newark."

Okay, cool. Tomorrow I can get you a job and you can stay with me as long as you need."
"Seriously?"

"Yeah," she chuckled. "It gets lonely. It'd be nice to have someone else live with me, even if temporarily."

"Well, looks like you've found yourself a roommate, Helena."


~*~*~* TIME SKIP ~*~*~


In the two months I had lived with Helena, we had become best friends. Nothing was ever awkward between us and we knew everything about the other. Except she didn't know I was in a gang but that was for her own safety.

"I'm heading to work!" I yelled to Helena as I threw on my leather jacket and grabbed my motorcycle helmet.

"Be careful, Frankie," she called back. "It's supposed to rain. I can give you a ride if you need."
"I'll be fine, Hel!" If it rains bad I'll call." And with that I left the flat.

I hopped on my motorcycle and headed to the music shop I worked in on the outskirts of town. About halfway there, the drizzle started.

"I'll be fine," I mumbled to myself and pushed off the asphalt as the light turned green.

I heard a horn honk and out of the corner of my eye, saw a semi-truck that seemed like it couldn't stop, speeding towards me.

Notes

sorry if i spelled McKraken wrong. i cant spell for crap