Morning came too soon for Frank. Way too soon and quick. He dreaded getting out of bed, putting on clothes and having to go back to the miserable place. He wasn't sure if today was gonna be a lucky day or he was going to come back with more marks and bruises. While getting out of bed with a sigh, he started to go through some lies in his head he could tell his parents. He couldn't use the gang one again because the chances of him being a pretend victim twice in a row were highly unlikely. No one would believe it. He decided that if he was going to get his ass kicked today, that's when he'd worry about the lie he needed to come up with.

As he got dressed, he started to think about how the night before he stayed up for a while learning the rules and basics of the wonderful game of chess. Jamia was right. It wasn't as difficult as people claimed it to be. Frank actually caught on rather quickly. He still had a lot to learn but according to Jamia, he would be able to play against her in a couple of weeks. He didn't know why but that sort of motivated him to get through school as rapidly as he could in order to get back home and sit down to have another chess lesson. It was really fun the night before. And for some reason, this thought made him feel a little better about the day. Not enough to make him feel completely okay with the fact that today could ruin him again, but it was the right amount to calm him down a bit about it.

Breakfast was quiet. Jamia and her dad weren't up yet and Frank's dad left early for work as usual so it was just his mother and himself. Still, it was quiet. It's not that Frank wanted to start a conversation to begin with. He preffered the silence rather than talk about useless things and then having to feel guilty if his mother asked him if he was ready for school and he would have to say yes. To make sure she didn't worry. But since the silence was way too strong to break it, after eating his toast, he kissed his mother goodbye on the cheek and made it out the door not having to say a word. He was glad about that. First check of the day. He gripped onto his backpack straps, took a deep breath and started heading towards his misery. He kept his head down but his hopes were a little high. He was hoping that today would finally be a good day.

Back at home, though, Jamia wasn't asleep. In fact, she was in the basement wandering around the stuff the Ieros had in there. None of it was in boxes and she kind of liked it that way for some reasons. She didn't know. It made her feel a little bit more at home, she guessed. She saw lots of things that interested her like Frank's old baby toys, some photo albums, old furniture that she guessed were used when gatherings were held here and them some old bikes with flat tires and things of that nature. She headed towards the photo albums and decided to get the green leathered one rather than the red one. It just looked nicer to her. She sat on the rugged floor crossing her legs and opened up the album after placing it in her lap. She smiled as she looked at little Frank in his dad's arms completely oblivious that they're taking a picture. Something seemed to be distracting him, Jamia assumed. He looked to be about 4 or 5 years old, it was really hard to tell but he looked adorable nonetheless. She went through some more pages, more memories, until she found a picture that caught her attention. She pointed at the little girl in the photograph with her eyes wide.

"That's me.." she whispered to herself. When she was alone, she could talk perfectly. Or with her dad. With other people it was just impossible. She hated that about herself lately. Frank was being more than nice to her and she couldn't even mutter a thank you. Jamia was still trying to understand how she was able to explain to him through post it notes the basics of chess. It would've been a lot easier said but no, her body just would not allow it. She stopped thinking about her inablity to speak amongst others and concentrated on the picture of herself and Frankie. They were sitting on the floor playing together. Frank had a toy guitar in his hands and Jamia had a pink, plastic microphone in hers. She giggled to herself as her fingertip graced the picture in front of her. It was too cute to not giggle at. Too cute to not keep.

Jamia smiled at the picture one last time before turning the page and having her grin completely erased. She stared at the album that was in her lap unable to process thoughts. She was struck with a picture of Frank's mom with her own. Jamia felt like the air in the room was sucked out of there entirely. Her eyes were starting to sting as she thought about her beloved mom. Not too long ago she had lost her. Right in front of her eyes, she watched as her mother passed away. Jamia wasn't going to lie, she thought she was going to die along with her. She felt, as she looked at the picture, the heat of the burning wood of their house all around her. It was like being in hell, literally being there. Jamia remembered she was lying on the living room floor with her mom. Her dad had been working late that night. She remembered her bedroom feeling so warm and the smell of smoke invading her space. By the time she and her mom had gotten downstairs, they had inhaled too much smoke for their bodies. It weakened them, made them tired and had no more strength but to just collapse onto the floor. Jamia tried to continue to crawl to the small end table where the phone was located and with a miracle she was able to make it. She remembered dialing 911 and letting herself fall all the way down with the phone pressed up against her ear. The person on the other line asked her what her emergency was. Jamia raised her head as she coughed choking at the smoke around her to see her mother lying still. She whispered to the woman 'my house is on fire...and my mother isn't moving...save us..'. Jamia was so so weak, dizzy and felt suffocated. She doesn't remember how she was able to lift herself up and crawl next to her mother who was struggling to keep her eyes open. The woman talked about being able to locate them and saying that there was a firetruck on the way but she asked Jamia to stay on the phone with her. Jamia nodded even though the woman couldn't see her action.

Her mom stretched her arm to touch Jamia's face. There were tears running down the sides of her cheeks and Jamia knew deep down that this wasn't going to end well. Jamia started to panic and wasn't going to let her mom die. She wasn't going to let that happen. She told her mom to stay right there and Jamia, with the adrenaline pumping her body, picked herself all the way up, dropping the phone onto the ground ignoring it completely, and made her way into the kitchen. She tripped over a chair leg that was in her path smacking her head into some low floor cabinets. It only made her dizziness worse but she wasn't going to give up. She groaned heavily as she picked her self up with the counter edge and found a glass to fill it up with water. Once she did she thought maybe a wet dish towel would help as well. All of this in a matter of seconds, she remembers vividly yet it felt like hours to get to her mother.

She recalled heading towards the cabinet where the dish towels were placed, not realizing some of the fire was only a few feet away from her. It didn't matter to her. She needed to help her mom. She placed her hand on the handle, gripping it tightly from the nerves and fear in her body, and screamed when she felt the intense heat it was holding. It was burning hot. She screamed again when she pulled it away and saw her severely burned hand. Jamia wanted to cry right then and there. Her head was bleeding, her hand was burnt and all around her were red and orange flames just eating away her house. But her mother needed her. Her mother needed the water. No matter how badly her hand was feeling, which felt like someone had branded her, no matter how dizzy she was feeling, even though her body was going to give out at any given moment, no matter how little energy she had, she needed to help her mother. And she started her way back using unburnt walls to help her get to her. She collapsed to her knees once she was finally there relieved her mother was still breathing. Jamia proped her mom's head on her knees and helped her drink the water. But her mom only drank two sips as she pushed the glass up to Jamia's lips. She said something along the lines of 'I'm not thirsty. You drink it. You need it.' and no matter how much Jamia tried to tell her otherwise, her mother won. Jamia drank that glass of water seriously thinking it was going to be the last one she ever was ever going to drink. She then dropped the glass and fell to her mother's side unable to keep steady anymore. The weakness was winning. Her tired mom held Jamia close to her and told her not to be scared, that someone was gonna come and save them. Jamia asked her if it hurt to die and her mom answered that it was like falling asleep. She kissed Jamia's forehead, told her she loved her more than anything in this world and that she always would. No matter what happened. Jamia didn't have the strength to talk anymore but instead squeezed her mom in order to tell her that she felt the same. She looked up with wet eyes beginning to come to terms with her end but went blank when she saw her mom close her eyes and not open them back up. Jamia knew she wouldn't anymore.

The last thing she remembered was waking up in a hospital bed smelling like smoke. Her dad was next to her thanking the heavens that she was up and breathing. Jamia was so confused and asked for her mom. Her dad burst into tears. He told her, through his weeping, that she hadn't made it.

Back in the present, Jamia looked at her mother's wide smile in the photograph in front of her. Tears were streaming down her face like waterfalls and she wasn't going to stop them. There was no point. She knew what she was about to do wasn't polite especially when the Ieros gave them a house and bed and love without expecting anything in return. But everything she had of her mother died in the fire that night. She was sure this album wouldn't resurface if it was in the basement collecting dust and if it did then she was almost certain the Ieros wouldn't mind if she explained why she took the picture.

She sniffled a bit, still crying over everything that happened to her, and gently pulled back the clear protector to get the picture. She then closed the album and put it back in its place before going to the backpack she brought with her downstairs and pulling out a journal one of the therapists at the hospital told her to keep. Jamia stuck the picture between the pages and put away the journal once again. Her body sat down on one of the couches there and she pressed her legs against her chest wrapping her arms around them. She missed her mom so much. It was so painful to deal with the mental image imprented in her head. She'll probably never get over it. She wondered if anyone could and if so, she wanted the answer. Now.

The morning was still young and she didn't want to think about what happened to her anymore. So instead, she pulled out her foldable chess board and bag of chess pieces, sat on the floor once again, opened it up and started to set up a one player game. She missed Frankie.

----

School so far was going okay for Frank. Granted no one was talking to him, but at least no one was harrassing him. He just wanted to be home. The pain in his side was killing him but it felt better than yesterday. Or at least he was trying to convince himself that it was better today, he thought as he opened his locker and eyed the picture he had of himself and Travis stuck to the door. It was a picture of them both at the hospital, Frank was visiting him and Travis' mom took the picture. It always made Frank feel better. But, once again, he was thankful no more physical damage was done.

"Yo, pansy!" Britt, one of the school jocks that hated Frank for god knows what reasons, said as he came up to him. Frank got too positive too soon. He sighed heavily ignoring the snide comment from the one of the idiots that made his life unbearable. A flick on the head made him pay attention though. "Usually, pansy, when someone calls your name it's polite you look up at them and say hello." Britt continued with a smirk and wrapping an arm around Frank's shoulders. Frank bit back a well needed whimper.

"It's also polite not to beat people up, you know." Frank hissed out rearranging his books looking for his math one. He wanted to get the hell out of there. He wanted to hide away in his math class, take the necessary notes and then go home. It was his last class. His last and final class. All he thought about was going home, crashing in the living room with Jamia and continue on with chess lessons. She had written to him that that's what she wanted to do as long as he wanted too. And he couldn't wait for them to do so. Britt was making that vision impossible.

"In other cultures, beating someone up is just to...em..man them up a bit.." Britt replied as his smirk grew and squeezed Frank even more knowing it was hurting him. He was one of the ones that hurt Frank the most. Was responsible for the big bruise on his side, actually. And that made Britt wonder just how badly the kid was hurting. He was curious. But before he said anything he spotted the picture of Frank and another boy.

As Frank closed his backpack after finding his math notes, Britt took the opportunity to snatch the picture from the locker and stare at it. Frank couldn't believe it.

"No, Britt, come on give that back..." Frank said turning his head to look at him with wide, hurt eyes. "You already beat the shit out of me yesterday...come on..." Frank pleaded as he tried to grab the picture back but immediately stopped and groaned deeply when Britt stuck his fingers to his side. It made Frank fall to his knees it hurt so much.

"He your boyfriend, Iero?" Britt asked with a smirk as he continued to study the picture as he eyed Frank who was on his knees still clenching to his side and looking down at the floor biting his bottom lip to try and calm down the pain. "Suits you, if you ask me. He even looks like more of a pansy than you do. What was he in for? I bet you it was Aids." Britt said as he laughed hysterically at his own dark joke, picture still in his hand. Frank was red. Not with embarrassment, but with rage. He was making Travis look like an idiot and he was nothing of the sort. Frank could take shit that was said to him, but to Travis? That was like crossing the biggest line in Frank's life.

Frank stood up grabbing his backpack and glaring Britt down. He tried to calm himself down because if something were to happen, Britt and the rest of them would not let him off easy. And he needed time to recover from the last beating, if he was granted it of course. He was sure he wasn't going to be so why push it? But the way Britt was going on and on about Travis in a negative way, the more Frank was losing it.

"You would know.." Frank said and he couldn't hold back the smirk that crawled onto his face. Britt stopped laughing completely and looked at Frankie like he was about to kill him. He took a step closer, slamming Frank's locker shut as Frank took a step back wishing he hadn't said that. He wanted to take it back but what was done, was done. He was going to take this...for Travis.

"What did you say to me, fag?" Britt said through his teeth as his face started to cringe and his hands turned into fists. Frank didn't fidget. No one made fun of Travis.

"It takes one to know one." Frank said looking at Britt with the same straight and angry face to let him know he wasn't backing down this time. Britt's face light up like a red stop light. He wasn't amused, wasn't pleased and definitely wasn't going to let Frank off easy. He raised his fist in the air, Frank already closing his eyes waiting for the impact but was confused when he didn't feel anything. He blinked them back open to see a teacher holding Britt's hand and telling him to put the fist away. Britt apologized nodding his head as the teacher smirked triumphantly at him and walked away down the empty hallway telling them to get to class. Frank was relieved.

Britt slammed the picture into Frank's chest making him whimper cause he hit a bruise and looked up at him. He literally thought that little clouds were coming out of Britt's nostrils like when the bull is so mad at Bugs Bunny for moving the red fabric away making him hit a stone wall. Frank swallowed hard.

"Until next time, faggot. But here's something to remember me by." Britt said and he power kicked Frank right in the shin making him go down like a Jenga tower. Frank fell on his back and gripped his leg groaning at the pain, closing his eyes tightly still making sure the picture of him and Travis was in his possession. And it was. Britt decided it was all he could do before the last bell rang and thought it would be best to head to class now. He waved at Frank goodbye and took a step on Frank's stomach to get over him and walk to his next class. Frank gasped at the step feeling all oxygen leave his body for a second and then took a deep breath once the foot stopped pressing his stomach.

Frank slowly but surely, brought himself back up to his feet and cringed at the pain in his shin. He needed to think of a lie, now. After putting the picture of Travis and himself in his backpack, sighing heavily cause seeing that picture in his locker between classes was what kept Frank going, he limped his way to math class apologizing to the teacher for being late. His excuse was he had tripped and fallen a couple of steps and it took him awhile to recover from it. The teacher didn't really care about his excuse and told him to sit down and open the book to the page they were working on. Again, no one cared that he was limping, no one cared that his face was messed up, no one asked him if he was okay even though he fed them a lie, no one gave a shit about him. Chess was looking really good right now and he thought about it all through math class. He wanted to be home and watch Jamia write notes to him. He missed her.

----

To Frank's surprise, and prayers that were heard in math class, none of his bullies were seen as he walked home. Well, limped home. He knew what to say to his parents, Jamia and Greg if they asked. He thought that the last two probably wouldn't ask and only his mother would since his dad was still at work. He didn't mind. The less people that asked the better for him. He hated lying to his parents but telling them he was being heavily bullied just seemed pointless. He knew they would contact the school, the principal would then talk to the guys in charge of Frank's pain but not expell them. And that would lead to worse beatings. Frank couldn't take that. He couldn't let that happen. So lies were meant to be told in order to get him through this never ending year.

But Frank's mom didn't ask him about his limp. She probably didn't even notice it. He tried to hide it as much as he could so he thought maybe she bought it after he gave her a kiss on the cheek. She told him she and Greg were gonna be out running errands for him and that he needed to keep a good eye on Jamia because she didn't wanna go anywhere. His mother begged him to try and get her out of the house a bit because being locked up inside so much was unhealthy. Frank promised her he'd do the best he could but knowing that if Jamia said no than he would respect her decision and not push it. He knew the feeling all too well. That's when he saw her sitting on the second to last step of the staircase with a backpack next to her. He smiled at her softly, smiled for the first time all day, and she smiled gently back.

Linda kissed Frank's forehead, Greg patted his shoulder and both left outside to start the rebuilding of the Nestor's life.

Frank scratched the back of his neck awkwardly not really knowing what to say standing in the same place. He then quickly realized nothing needed to be said since Jamia picked herself up from the stair, backpack swung over her shoulder and ran up to Frank wrapping her arms around his neck with her face resting in his shoulder after sticking a post it on his forehead. Frank blinked for a moment not knowing what to do and settled with wrapping one arm around her while the other hand took the sticky note off his forehead and turned it around to see what it said.

'I missed you' he read. He didn't think what he was reading was for real until Jamia nuzzled her head more into him. She actually missed him, but why? At that moment it didn't matter. After being called a pansy, fag and being kicked and stepped on...someone was missing him. And it was her. Someone who he had just reunited with. It felt good to be missed. He had forgotten what it felt like and it honestly was one of the best feelings he had ever experienced in a long time.

Jamia gently let him go and stood in front of him blushing slightly. He grinned at her a little bit and fixed her tiny little heart clip that rested in her hair that had tilted just slightly. She smiled softly at him and rattled her back pack to let him know that everything they needed to play chess was there. Frank, to be honest, thought that she had forgotten about the lesson. Then again he never thought Jamia would miss him and here she was writing notes saying she did. He nodded to her softly and walked towards the living room letting his limp take over and slowly sat down at the coffee table removing the vase of flowers that were in the middle. Jamia sat next to him pulling out the board and pieces and looking at the journal she kept in there knowing that the picture of her beautiful mother she stole was in there. She tried not to think about it and started setting up the board. This time, Frank helped. He looked at her and noticed her eyes a little red and that made him feel like his heart sank into his stomach. Jamia looked fine when he had gotten there but of course she wasn't. How could she be? She was a really strong girl and Frank couldn't stop being blown away by her strength. Once he saw that the post its and pencil were by her side, he decided to talk.

"How was your day?" he asked as he placed the King and Queen in their places. As he took some bishops out of the bag he looked while biting her bottom lip.

She took a yellow square, pencil at hand, and wrote out her answer giving it to him and returned to setting up her side.

Frank took the paper and read what it said, 'Terrible. Yours?' and that made Frank cringe. He wished he could've been here to hold her when she was upset. The redness in her eyes told him that she had been crying...a lot. He wondered if she had thought about sleeping in his arms again cause he did. Maybe that's what she needed. He didn't really know.

"Terrible as well." He replied sticking the note next to him. She nodded slowly and wrote out another note since she was finished setting up her army. She slid it to him and remained quiet as always.

Frank took it carefully and read, "Is that why you're limping?" and Frank froze. He thought she wouldn't notice. No one else cared, why would she? He bit his bottom lip and resisded to his lie.

"Yeah. Falling down the school steps can be a bitch." He replied with a really fake giggle and looking down at the note sticking it with the other one. When he looked up he saw that Jamia was writing down another one. Once in his hand, he read it, 'Oh. So now...what's the real reason you're limping? Does it also involve your bruised face and hurt side?' And Frank found himself at a loss for words. He slipped his lip between his teeth and watched as Jamia made the first move on the board starting the lesson. Frank swallowed hard for the second time that day and stared at the chess pieces.

"I...I'm telling...the truth..." Frank mumbled and immediately started to think about what Jamia had taught him the night before to make his first move. He didn't look at her when she was writing out another note. He only lifted his head to read it. 'Okay. I'm not gonna push you to tell me. But I'm here to listen. Let's just play some chess to get your mind off of whatever happened to you.' Frank could breathe a bit again and looked at her with a face that yelled 'thank you' but he didn't say it.

"Yeah...let's play some chess to get my mind off what happened to me...and get your mind off whatever happened to you..." he said with a tiny smile as she nodded slowly agreeing with him.

With her, playing chess, it was easier to forget about the things that happened. Alone they came back, but with her they disappeared. He could actually crack sincere grins and smiles, even giggle. He figured that the bond they both shared as kids never left and was intensifying now that they were teenagers. They both knew that the minute they saw each other there was an instant connection. A goal formulated in both of their minds but not letting the other know. It was an unconcious desire that neither of them were aware of but their actions made it evident that the wish was there.

Their objective was to make sure each of them were protecting the other even though both of them had absolutely nothing to fall back on...nothing to fall back on..but each other.

Chess was now being played once again.