Leon, Leon (BoyxNB romance)

Chapter 10

Monday, again, back in reg. Time for the whole cycle to start again. I didn’t want to sound too much like my cringy aunt Sarah who tags me in minion memes, but her posts were right about something. Mondays sucked ass.

I sat down at the table, my legs still aching from the walk Mam had insisted I should take the dogs out for before the sun even decided to show up. The paths around my house were scenic and winding, which I appreciated when I could actually, you know, use my eyes properly, but really it just meant that I just ended up falling over little rocks embedded in the road, and, more than a couple of times, over my own feet. And I got myself caked in mud and ruining my trainers. And my Mam shouted at me because I got the dogs dirty.

And now, by the look of it, I don’t know if it will get any better.

“Hey, where’s Leon ?” I asked, smiling. Most of the guys just shrugged their shoulders, looking down at their phones or trying to nap for a few precious minutes, their blazers made into makeshift pillows under their heads. Did he not talk to them over the weekend? Or maybe he’s just late. Only second week, after all. I couldn’t remember the way to my form room for at least a month.

I leant back in my seat, and through my upside down, slightly tilted view, I saw someone with long, blonde hair and thick, dark eyebrows walking towards me.

“Sorry, you said you were looking for Leon, right?”
“Uh, yeah, I was, you know him, uh... Charlie, right?”
“Yeah, that’s right, and uh, only a bit, but I was in the school nurse’s room a minute ago to check my insulin and he was there too.”
“Oh, shit, do you know what happened?”
She shook her head. “He didn’t really want to talk about it. Which makes sense, he doesn’t know me, I guess. But it didn’t look too serious by the way the nurse was treating him. Like, they hadn’t called a first aider or an ambulance or anything,” I let go of a deep breath I didn’t know I had been holding. “So maybe he just fell, or something.”
“Alright, thanks.” I smiled, and caught her arm before she turned to walk away. “Sorry, um, where’s the nurse’s room?”
She smiled. “You’re lucky you don’t know. It’s not the nicest place in the world,” she explained. “Do you know the special learning needs area on ground floor? It’s by there, next to the toilets. It has cartoon pictures of doctors giving people medicine and stuff. You’ll easily be able to tell which one it is.”
“Alright, thanks. Just in case he’s late for lessons, see,” You’re making excuses for your actions again, Cal. Stop being so God damn scared of everyone. “And... stuff.”
She nodded, slowly, walking back to her seat. “You’re really going to go over to the spazzer rooms?” Jake smirked.
“Don’t call it that, Jake,” Joe rolled his eyes. “The coach will give us a bollocking again if he hears you. ‘By playing with others, we unite communities’ and shit like that. Meant to be super PC now.”
“What’s PC mean?” Ben asked.
“Politically correct,” Joe said. “It means you can’t call people retards, or spazzers, or fags anymore.”
“Oh, right,” Ben scratched his head. “Why?”
“Because,” he threw his hands in the air. “They hurt people’s feelings. You don’t like being called an druggy, right? Same thing.” He nodded, slowly. He actually... isn’t that bad. Kinda dim, but strong as all hell, and he’s never really bothered with taking the piss of me, either. Sure, he said the odd crude remark or joke directed at me, but I don't think he ever meant anything by it. It was just, throw an insult to someone, throw it back - all games.
“Don’t listen to him, Ben, he’s just being a girl because he wants birds to think he’s one of them sensitive guys. And the coach is just a giant fag, can’t wait until he finally decides to quit and go to an old people’s home. Can’t even teach, the twat.”
I felt an awkward mix of emotions pulling me about one way and the other – the pin sensations from Jake’s jabs at Mr Hawkings, the only teacher that actually supported me through the piles of shit that were the first two years of secondary school, despite my complete inadequacy at team sports – and the fluttering that I knew came at any point I heard the word ‘twat’ now. It was a crude word, and my sister would barrage me in feminist criticism for even having the word in my vocabulary, but it just reminded me of one thing: the sun on my eyelids, the scene of the yellows and greens of the rolling hills blending into one another, the warmth of him next to me and the soft nest of brown, curly hair I laid my cheek on. It wasn’t the first time I had remembered the occasion – it had become my new go-to thought for whenever things went downhill.

It felt strange to say, but I hungered for it – for more. For the closeness, the simplicity of what I felt, at that moment, and the intense happiness that lingered from that one hour.

And I miss him, I thought. It’s only been a week and I’m already clinging on. What the fuck kind of friend am I?

By the time I’d focused back into reality, I had little idea where the conversation had gone, or desire to find out. Before I knew it, the bell rang, and I was part of the rabble trying to get wherever they needed to be.