Alex Carter: A Red Band Society Fanfiction

The Lucky Ones

(A/N: So, this chapter will be more about Leo and stuff that happens at the homecoming, and his relationship with Emma, obviously :). I wanted to delve into his character more, cuz there's so much to write about, and I will probably periodically do that with the others, as well. Hope you like it! :))

Leo sighed, defeated. He had no idea that Emma thought he was with Alex. If he'd known, he would've done everything he could to prove her wrong. He'd known she'd always had issues with self-confidence, and he was breaking her. He was supposed to save her from herself, not damage her further. He looked at rush past him. "Where are you going?" he asked her.

"I'm getting out of here. Everyone at this homecoming is obsessed with me and my heart problem."

"What's wrong with that?" Leo asked confused. "I thought you liked being the center of attention."

"Yeah, not this kind of attention," Kara snapped. "I used to walk down these halls like I was freaking Moses. The crowd would part at my feet, but now, everyone is coming up to me, and talking to me, hugging me," She shuddered, almost comically.

"You know that's cause they care about you," Leo clarified.

"Screw that noise, I would rather be feared than loved."

"Who are you, Tony Soprano?" Leo asked, laughing lightly. He didn't get her. "I mean, come on, what kind of philosophy is that?"

"You might get off on being Mr. cancer boy, bald poster child, legless man, but the only thing I'm not okay with is being pitied."

Oh. She had him all wrong. He hated his disease. He absolutely hated that it came and ruined his life. Literally. Gone are all his dreams and his future. Sure he tried to put on a brave face, but why should he? And he knew all about pity. She'd be singing a different tune to him if she knew what he'd just been through with Dave.

As Kara turned away from him, a spotlight landed on her, and microphone feedback echoed through the air. He turned around in time to see Kara being seated in a wheelchair to be crowned homecoming queen.

Leo stared up at the stage as Kara was settled on it, and the Principal began spouting all these compliments about Kara. None of which were true. If Alex were here, she probably would've laughed out loud, marched up to the stage and set things straight. Leo decided to do just that.

"I've got something to say!" Leo shouted out, raising his crutch in the air to get everyone's attention.

"C'mon up her son. I know how you feel. Once you get the love flowing, it's hard to stop," the principal said. Leo almost laughed out loud at how cheesy and ironic his statement was.

"I've only known Kara for 5 days, but I can say this. 5 days with Kara is 5 days too many," He watched, satisfied with the gasp that echoed through the crowded room. "Because Kara is the biggest b*tch I have ever met!" the gasping continued, and the principal remembered that he was supposed to do something. He tried to grab the microphone from Leo, but Leo wasn't having it. These people wouldn't get away without having to hear what he had to say.

As Leo stood on the stage, overlooking everyone, he realized just how much these people didn't get. They had their simple lives that they had the pleasure of living obliviously, without any thought of the struggles other people had to face. People who weren't as lucky. Then, when something bad happened in their lives, to someone they knew, they didn't understand how to handle it, so they ignored it. Pushing away was the natural defense. But they couldn't just turn their backs on everything that wasn't pleasant. Leo realized that he used to be just as bad as them. But he'd like to think that he understood life more clearly now, now that he saw a clearer picture. When you have a terminal disease, you're life gets dramatically shortened, and it's like the picture of life and the world gets zoomed out, and you can see the whole thing. He could see how everything he did affected everything. He could see how many people he affected. He could see which people actually cared.

He didn't quite know whether this was a good thing, this knowledge, or if it was more of a burden, but it was all he had.

So, as he took in the crowd below him, he knew he wasn't about to make Kara deal with the pity of these people.

The broken, they had to band together.