Leon Urie (Adopted By The Uries) ~COMPLETE~

Chapter Five

The summer months flew by at an alarming rate. Leon was happier than he had ever been in his life. Brendon and Sarah seemed very happy as well, and he hoped he was correct in thinking they really were.
 During the hot months of July and August, Leon started taking walks in the neighbourhood, sometimes taking one or both of the dogs with on leashes. He never got recognised there, and it was relaxing to just walk and listen to music.
 At the beginning of summer, Leon had asked for a binder (he had awkwardly mentioned it to Sarah, stuttering and twisting his t-shirt between his fingers), and now he wore it almost every day, except when it was in the wash. He had also tentatively mentioned that he would like to start hormone treatment, maybe at the end of the year, but didn't pursue it. The idea made him excited but also anxious.
  At the end of the summer, he had counted three people who had, without recognising him, thought he was a boy. Just thinking about that made him happy.
 Leon still loved thrift stores, and since Sarah also liked second-hand shopping, they often went on trips together to do so. Leon's wardrobe was slowly expanding into that of a regular teen.
  At the beginning of August, Leon realised with a shock that he had been a Urie for almost four months, and also that he had to take the placement test for school.
  Apparently, he placed quite well, landing in high school, instead of the final year of middle school. Leon went to a student orientation at his new school halfway through August.
 Displays for back-to-school supplies started popping up in every department store, and one day Sarah suggested they go get his things for the coming school year.
 They went to Target, because it was near, and because it was ‘not Walmart’, as Brendon always said. Leon picked out some notebooks, a binder (the regular, boring kind that held papers), a pack of Dixon pencils, and some pens.
  The sketchbooks on the shelf next to the composition notebooks caught Leon's eyes, and he flipped one open to feel the paper.
  “Would you like to get one of those?” Sarah asked from next to him. Leon jumped. He hadn't noticed her standing there.
  “Um, I still have a few pages left in my old one...” he muttered.
 “Well, you can always finish the old one and then start the new one. You might be too busy to get one later,” Sarah reasoned. “Pick one out. Would you also like some markers or colored pencils?”
  Leon ended up getting a brown faux-leather bound sketchbook and a small tin of Faber Castell coloured pencils. Leon had never used coloured pencils before, and immediately tried them out when he and Sarah got home. It was like nothing he had ever done before. Now, instead of just designs, he could incorporate crazy colours in his drawings. He loved it.
 bAll too soon, it was the first day of school. He'd been signed up at Peninsula Highschool as Leon Urie (I'm a Urie! his mind chirped every time he read his name). There had been some complications since Leon’s official name was still Estelle, but in the end they'd legally gotten his name and gender changed, which in itself had been a hassle.
 In the car on his way to be dropped off, Leon was extremely nervous. Brendon had told him to expect being pulled to the front of class a few times to be introduced, and though Leon was glad he knew, he was scared.
  He was wearing his binder, under his Beatles t-shirt and denim jacket. He'd also put on his now-well broken in Doc Marten shoes.
 “Have a great day, Leon,” Sarah told him as he got out of the car at the school, shouldering his heavy backpack.
  “You've got this, kiddo,” Brendon added bracingly from the driver's seat.
  Leon smiled, feeling a little queasy from nerves. “Thanks...” he said faintly. Then he turned and walked in the direction of the steps up to the entrance.
  In the lobby, he looked around, disoriented by the students milling around. He saw an information booth, and made his way to it. “H-hi, I'm Leon Urie- I'm a new student...” He told the receptionist.
 “Okay, I've got your papers here. Just sign right there,” the receptionist said brightly. Leon's hand shook, but he signed with his nicest handwriting.
  “Here's your schedule. It has a map on the back, in case you need it.” the receptionist gave him a sheet of colourful paper.
 “Thanks, miss,” Leon said and accepted the paper. He remembered much of the school's layout from orientation a week earlier, but he was glad of the map just the same.
  He glanced at his watch (6:50) and glanced at his schedule. He had English first thing, at seven o'clock. He followed his map to the classroom, arriving there just when the first bell rang shrilly. Leon, though expecting it, twitched a little at the loud noise. He opened the door hesitantly and took a seat at the back of the classroom. No one else was there yet.
 In the next five minutes, people started filtering into the room, muttering to each other dully. It was way too early for most of them, it seemed.
  A very pretty girl with long, curly black hair and dark eye-makeup sat down next to Leon. She smiled at him and said, “Hey, I'm Francesca Monsanto. You can call me Frankie, though.”
  “H-hi,” Leon returned the smile timidly, blushing a little as his eyes met Frankie's bright, sparkling blue ones. “I'm Leon... nice to meet you.”
 “Nice to meet you, too, Leon,” Frankie grinned and held out a hand. Leon shook it. “You're new, right?”
  “Yeah,” Leon replied.
 “Cool. Hold on- I gotta ask, what are your pronouns?”
 Leon was surprised that she had asked upfront instead of just assuming, but gladly replied, “He and him.”
 “Nice. Okay.” Frankie replied. “What middle school did you go to?”
  Leon paused, not wanting to say he'd been at an orphanage his whole life. Just then, however, the bell rang again, and the teacher called for attention. “Welcome back to school, everyone. As most of you know, I am Mr. Daniels.” He was young and had a British accent, and wore a sweater vest over a dress shirt and tie. “We have a new student here today. If you would come to the front, Leon?” His eyes scanned the students.
  Leon stood up and walked along the rows of students to the teacher's desk.
  “Fantastic. Class, please say hello to Leon Urie.”
  “Hi, Leon,” the class droned. Leon kept his eyes on Frankie to keep from panicking as he felt everyone's gaze on him, judging him.
  “Good, good. You may go back to your seat,” Mr. Daniels told Leon, who gladly obliged.
  English was slightly boring, but easy, since all they had to do for it was read a chapter of a book called the The Acts of King Arthur and his Noble Knights.
  Next was math class. This was surprisingly easy for Leon, who had always struggled with the subject at the orphanage. Happy as he was that Frankie was next to him, keeping him from feeling too lost in the big classroom full of strangers, he also realised that he was distracted by her. He had to kick himself mentally to keep from glancing over at her every two or three minutes as she bit her lip, listening to the teacher intently.
 The morning went by quickly, and soon enough, Leon stood in the cafeteria entrance, looking out at what seemed to be basically a larger, slightly less depressed, louder version of the orphanage cafeteria, only Leon didn't know a single one of the people sitting at the long tables. He was about to turn tail and just skip lunch when suddenly Frankie was there, smiling at him. Leon immediately blushed in response.
  “Hey, you can sit with me and my brother if you like,” Frankie told him over the din.
  “O-okay,” Leon stuttered back, following Frankie to the lines of students waiting to get their lunch.
  As they joined the line, Leon felt his phone buzz in his pocket and took it out, seeing that it was snapchat from Brendon. Leon smiled as he opened it, seeing his new dad making a funny face with the dog ears filter. “Everything good so far?” the text bar read.
  Leon tapped the screen, making it go away, but someone touched his shoulder. “Is that Brendon Urie? Did you just get a snapchat from him?” A voice inquired loudly, making Leon jerk away in surprise and turn to see a girl with curly green-dyed hair staring at him. When she saw his face, she clapped a hand to her mouth. “Oh my gosh! You're Leon Urie! I can't believe it!”
 “Um- y-yeah, that's me,” Leon stuttered awkwardly. He had never been recognised without Brendon or Sarah along, and he wasn't sure he could handle it.
 “I'm your dad's biggest fan!” The girl cried. (Dad, Leon's brain interrupted his thoughts unhelpfully, distracting him. He's my dad.)
 “Uh-” Leon crossed his arms in front of his chest nervously.
  “Hey, you're making him anxious,” Frankie told the girl. “What's your name?”
  “I'm Amelie,” the girl said. “I'm so sorry, Leon. I didn't mean to yell like that. I was just excited.”
 “It's okay,” Leon mumbled. Frankie rubbed his back gently.
  Leon let her do the talking, thankful that she didn't ask him a bunch of questions, and that she seemed to understand his social anxiety. While Frankie and Amelie talked, Leon sent Brendon a blurred, goofy photo captioned, “yup. All good. Just got recognised but I made a new friend who's got my back :)”.
  Amelie was a nice girl, in all reality. She apologised again before Leon and Frankie left to go sit down with their food.
  When they'd sat in silence for a few minutes, Frankie touched Leon's hand (Leon's mind went blank for a moment) and asked, “Hey, so you're famous?” She had a slight grin on her face.
  “Um, not- well, I don't know. Uh, these people adopted me a few months ago, and they're famous, I guess. Well, they try to avoid that word...” Leon smiled, thinking back to the day at the adoption centre when his life had changed, and his conversation with Brendon in the lobby.
  “Brendon Urie? He's in a band, right?” Frankie asked, taking a bite of baked potato.
 “Yeah, Panic! At The Disco.” Leon replied.
  “Cool. I've heard of them, but I'm more of a My Chemical Romance girl,” Frankie admitted. “Do you like My Chem?”
 “I have one of their CDs,” Leon said, shrugging. “They play really well.”
  “Ooh, which one do you have?” Frankie asked excitedly, leaning toward him.
  “Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge,” he replied. “It's not their newest, but I like it.”
 “Revenge is awesome,” Frankie raved. “I say that about all their albums, but that's cos they're all amazing.”
  Leon smiled at her enthusiasm. “My favourite song is Cemetery Drive.”
  “Yes! Same here!” Frankie squealed. “So, what other music do you listen to? I assume the Beatles,” she guessed, pointing at Leon's shirt with the carrot stick on her fork.
 “Yeah, and David Bowie... some jazz, and I really like Frank Sinatra,” Leon listed.
 “Ooh! My mom named me after Frank Sinatra. She thought I was going to be a boy, so she'd picked out just Frank, but then I turned out to be a girl so she called me Frankie.” Frankie babbled. Leon would have listened to her say anything gladly. “Of course, I like pretending she named me after Frank Iero,” Frankie added, sighing.
 “Sorry... who's Frank Iero?” Leon asked, blushing.
  “He was My Chemical Romance's rhythm guitarist. Now he does things like Death Spells and Frank Iero and the Patience.”
 “Wait... Death Spells? I have one of their CDs. I didn't know that he was in My Chem,” Leon said, surprised.
 Frankie smiled. “Come over to my house sometime, and I'll play some Frank Iero and the Patience for you. If you like Death Spells, you'll love them too.”
 At two-fifty p.m., Leon walked outside into the sunshine and cool wind, looking around for Sarah or Brendon's car. It seemed like they weren't there yet, so he sat down on the low stone wall and waited for them, enjoying the fresh air. He checked if anyone was around, and pulled out his sketchbook, working on the sketch he'd started when he'd gotten his coloured pencils.
 “Hi, Leon! I didn't see you after class,” Frankie's voice made him look up quickly. She was coming down the steps from the school entrance, the wind blowing some of her hair across her face as she grinned at him. Leon noticed that she had dimples when she grinned like that.
 “Sorry, I couldn't find you, and I didn't want Brendon or Sarah to have to wait,” he apologised. “Um- they're my parents.” He added unnecessarily. He blushed, feeling stupid. He looked down and fiddled with his sketchbook's elastic, wanting to kick himself.
 Frankie just giggled and flipped her hair so it wasn't in her face anymore and sat down next to Leon on the wall. “Can I wait with you?”
  “Of-of course,” Leon replied hastily.
 “So, how was your first day Peninsula Highschool?” Frankie asked, kindly ignoring how flustered Leon was.
 “It was good- better cos you were there,” Leon replied, grinning at Frankie sideways.
 “Aw, Leon, that's so sweet,” Frankie giggled, shoving his shoulder gently.
 “I'm serious!” Leon said.
 “Hey- I wanted to ask you at lunch, but I forgot, do you like any YouTubers?” Frankie asked suddenly, changing subjects so quickly that Leon got mental whiplash.
  “Uh- not... not really.” He replied. “I haven't really gotten around to it yet.”
  “Oh, you gotta come over soon so I can show you my favourites. Have you heard of Dan and Phil?”
 Leon shrugged, and sheepishly shook his head.
 “Miles McKenna? Shane Dawson? Jenna Marbles? Jeffree Star? Markiplier and Jacksepticeye? No? Okay, I have a list of people you gotta watch, then.” Frankie seemed more excited than disappointed that Leon didn't know the names she'd mentioned. “I promise you'll like them.”
 “Okay,” Leon smiled. He looked past Frankie and saw a boy heading in their direction.
 “Hey, Frankenstein,” the boy said, sitting down next to Frankie without the slightest glance at Leon. He had curly black hair like Frankie, and Leon realised that this must be the brother that Frankie had mentioned.
  “Hey! Where were you at lunch, Gray?” Frankie demanded.
  “Sorry, Gran needed me, I biked to her house quick.”
 Frankie pouted. “Why didn't she ask me?”
  “She wants you to do good in school, and get to eat lunch. She doesn't give a flying fuck about me.” Gray shrugged. He didn't seem to care much about it, or at least he pretended not to.
  Leon pretended to be looking at texts, not wanting to intrude on their private life. In fact, as he opened his phone, he did get a text from Brendon. “Sorry for being late. I'll be there in 5.”
  Gray had gotten up again and gone to the bike rack nearby, where he opened the lock on a bike.
 “Hey, do you want to exchange phone numbers?” Frankie asked brightly.
  “Uh, sure.” Leon replied, and Frankie dug out her phone, unlocking it and going to contacts. He followed suit, and they exchanged phones. Leon bit his lip, trying to remember his phone number. “Um... when you're done, could you maybe... tell me my phone number? I should know it by now, but I'm awful at memorising things...” Leon said, blushing again. He hated how blushy he was around Frankie.
 Frankie giggled. “You're so adorable,” she said affectionately, and read out his phone number.
 Leon just put his first name in as the contact name and handed Frankie's phone back to her, accepting his own phone. He glanced at her contact name and grinned, seeing how she'd added lots of emojis to it.
  “Is that your ride?” Frankie asked, and Leon looked up to see Brendon waving at him from his car.
  “Oh, yeah,” Leon said. “Um, see you tomorrow, I guess.” He told her awkwardly.
  “Yeah! I look forward to it, Leon,” Frankie grinned at him.
  “Me too,” Leon blushed a little again. He turned back to her and waved when he reached the car. Then he climbed in.
 “Hey, buddy. How was your first day?” Brendon asked as Leon fastened his seat belt.
 “Good, it was really good,” Leon replied truthfully.
 “Made some friends?”
  “Yeah, h-her name is Frankie. She's in most of my classes.” Leon said.
  “She looked nice,” Brendon said, glancing over at Leon, smiling knowingly.
 “Yeah, she's super nice,” Leon agreed fervently.
 “Do you like her?”
  “Wh- no! Not like that,” Leon squeaked, his voice cracking as he looked over at Brendon in alarm.
  “Okay, kiddo. Whatever you say,” Brendon chuckled.
  “Seriously! I like her as a friend.” Leon said defensively. “And anyway, I've only known her for a few hours.”
 Truthfully, Leon knew that he already had a crush on Frankie. He just couldn't admit it yet. For now he was content knowing that he would be seeing her a lot.