Do What It Takes to Survive

Crap, I thought, spinning on my heels and walking to a different aisle. This was just my luck. I only go to the grocery store, and who do I see? My mortal enemy: Gerard Way.

It had been that way since middle school, where we first met. We had absolutely despised each other then, and some things never change.

It didn’t help when we both formed two different bands in high school. He was the lead singer of his band, My Chemical Romance. I was the lead singer of my band, My Apparition. We had been bitterly competing in the same music genre for six years, which hadn’t made us any more friendly.

Everyone knew about our feud, especially the people in our bands. They refused to participate in our competition, but did that stop us? No.

At least I knew the hate was mutual. He obviously couldn’t stand me any more than I could stand him. Honestly, though, I didn’t want to make a scene in the grocery store, so I decided I would try to avoid him.

I pushed my squeaky cart – that seemed to have a mind of its own, always wanting to turn left – to the absolute other side of the store, and started gathering the items I needed from there as quickly as I could.

“Lana!” a familiar voice called in mock pleasure, making me cringe. “It’s so nice to see you again!”

I gritted my teeth. My attempt to avoid him had been futile. I turned around and glared at him.

“Oh, joy,” I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm. “How I’ve missed you, Gerard.”

He smiled sweetly, and I almost pretended to gag, but decided not to bother. He whipped his head, flinging his black hair out of his eyes. “Of course you have. Who wouldn’t?”

If looks could kill, he would’ve been dead ten times over. Then again, I probably would have been dead too. “Just shut up and leave me alone,” I said venomously.

He raised his hands in the air as if he was surrendering. “I didn’t do anything wrong, did I?” he asked.

A few other people with carts had stopped to look at us, sensing the tension between us. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed five burly men staring at us more curiously than the rest, but their strange looks didn’t particularly catch my attention. I thought nothing of them.

“Of course not. You’re perfect,” I answered, rolling my eyes at him.

He grinned. “You bet I am.”

I snorted and turned back to my cart. I was tired of him. I thought that if I ignored him, he would leave me alone.

I was wrong. Instead, he followed close to my heels, getting groceries from the same shelves I did. He started humming one of his songs.

I listened to him quietly for about five minutes, getting more and more annoyed every second. Finally, I wheeled around. “So you need something?” I demanded.

“Hm?” He acted as if he had just noticed me.

“I said, do you need anything?” I growled.

He shook his head, and resumed his humming.

I became so irritated that I started humming one of my own songs more loudly than him, but he didn’t seem to notice. I quickly snatched a gallon of milk and got into the check out line. Gerard was right behind me, of course.

I saw him grab some candy.

“Like you need any,” I muttered quietly, so that he could just barely hear me.

His head snapped in my direction. “Excuse me?”

I smiled, glad that I had finally been able to hit a nerve on him. “I didn’t say anything,” I said innocently. “You must be hearing things.”

He scowled, but otherwise ignored me. I carried my bags to my car and started loading them into my trunk. I wrinkled my nose when I realized he had parked right next to me. What a jerk.

I opened my door to get in my car, but he suddenly appeared next to my and stood in the small space between out two cars. He waved to me. “You aren’t even going to say goodbye?” He pouted.

On any other face, one that I didn’t hate the sight of, it might have been cute. But not on his.

“Nope,” I replied, making my p pop.

“Fine,” he said, and he turned around to walk to the other side of his car.

However, his way was blocked. In the space stood two muscular men. I realized they were two of the five men I had seen in the store, and they did not look friendly. My heart started to race. I sensed danger.

Gerard froze. Then he turned around to look behind me. Two other men were standing in the way of our only escape. Well, not our only escape, I realized.

With adrenalin pumping through my veins, I quickly calculated the only way we could get out of the mess: by driving away in my car. My keys were in my pocket; they would be very easy to get to. I decided it would only take me seconds to be in the car and have the doors locked.

Even so, I realized there was one flaw in my plan. The flaw was Gerard. No matter how much I detested him, I couldn’t leave him in the hands of these men, who were obviously up to no good. I cursed my kind instincts, wishing them to burn in the deepest pits of hell. If I wasn’t so nice, I could have gotten away easily.

I threw an urgent glance at Gerard, trying to tell him to get in my car without having to say it out loud.

He nodded frantically. In the same instant, we both reached out to grab the doors of my car. I heard the sound of multiple guns being cocked simultaneously, and Gerard and I both froze, out hands touching the door handles.

“Don’t move,” one of the men growled maliciously.