Parte dos!
Soo...yeah....wow I am lazy to update this Lawl.
Yeah I have left fanpop but Im on for like a few phút right now and I had this already so I figured xin chào why not post this so here it is.
Part one is somewhere just like Google it if bạn cant find it idk im lazy to put the link have fun :DDD
:D Now it's Leo's POV! What fun! XD
----
CHAPTER II
LEO
HE WAS INSANE. He might as well have told the girl his “special secret” and gotten taken bởi large officers with Luật sư đấu trí and shades off to some military compound in Area 51. Was Area 51 in this town that smelled like armpits? Probably. There was enough weird things here anyways.
For instance, the gym class he had that morning. The coach was in need of a better diet plan, stop living in his grandmother’s basement, a good shave (like, everywhere), and a decent girlfriend who would stick with him and his “mental” problems. Even Leo wasn’t as crazy as that guy.
It started with the intense running competition. Leo had no intentions of actually “learning” hoặc “doing work” hoặc “exercising” when it came to this “correction facility.” It was all because of that stupid border patrol in New Mexico as he was jumping fences and jaywalking over boundary lines. So who cared anyways? He still got caught; even though he was in super stealth mode. He hadn’t even caught ngọn lửa, chữa cháy to anything, not once!
Leo quickly changed thoughts. Not good to mope about, it just made bạn even thêm depressed than bạn really were. No need to look back; just keep moving on, Valdez...
The extremely short, hairy, and ego centered coach brought him back to reality- the hard way. “VALDEZ! PICK UP THE PACE!” He blared into a giant megaphone, and leaning heavily on his (very) little league baseball bat while chomping through a màu hồng, hồng iced donut (with cầu vồng sprinkles.) Leo had a strange image in his mind; if say, a really macho guy saw him eating a cầu vồng sprinkled doughnut and had a tattoo of it, would he be offended this short dude was eating his arm? Did that make sense? Probably not.
Leo noticed he had fallen back behind the line of masculine runners. The girls were in the gym, while the guys got the hot and sun-beat running track to do laps the entire period. Wonderful. Leo had no intentions of running, so he kept it to a steady slow and well paced jog. The other extremely được ưa chuộng and “buff”guys were running it out and passed him six hoặc seven times. Leo didn’t care.
As he attempted to increase his speed just one sixteenth of a molecule thêm so Coach Doughnut would leave him alone and be satisfied, someone extended a leg to trip him.
Leo, never usually caught unaware after running away six times; (Gonna be seven soon, he thought to himself.) as he had to sharpen his senses on the streets, jumped over it and then fell onto the ground.
The jerk who had been trying to trip him, tripped over Leo’s leg and splattered to the ground in front of Leo. Leo picked himself up quickly, and brushed his áo sơ mi off quickly and sped up away from the boy. Even if the Coach was supposed to “supervise” them, he probably would continue eating his doughnut and scream things from his megaphone and do squat.
Leo didn’t mind being bullied. He was used to it; from the foster kids at the foster care houses; even the parents and the cops who caught him escaping- to the strange places he had been in with gangs and bad influences- but he did NOT like getting beat up. People could throw taunts in his face, shove him into a locker, God damnit he didn’t care. He would run away and leave them behind anyways. He had could always find a way to outsmart the bully. Usually. They didn’t matter to him anyways.
He would forget them, as simple as taking the smallest insignificant piece of paper hoặc even a piece of tinder and wood- light them on ngọn lửa, chữa cháy and watch them crumble to ash. Self consciously, his fingers went to his pants pocket, where a little piece of paper was stashed for an toàn, két an toàn keeping. He couldn’t chịu, gấu to leave it with his luggage and other junk- this had to stay with him, not matter what. He wasn’t about to lose this for his life.
It was the last thing he had as a reminder of his past. It was what kept him from staying somewhere and making a home. It was a painful memento that because of him people could be hurt- and that it would be all his fault.
Coach Hedge had the entire class run about fifty thêm laps, and then realized it was time for dismissal. Stupid, ugly, mother goat, lazy, hairy, toad, etc...
Leo went to his dorm room. It was a small, one poster bed, with white walls and only a single window. There was bars attached to the window panes, and then another set of crossbars to keep out intruders. Leo wasn’t sure that was the case, it looked thêm like they were trying to keep the students inside thêm than keep things out.
Unsettled, he tore off his clothes and wrapped himself in a towel, and walked down the hallway in a bathroom towel to the showers. It wasn’t a far walk, but some of the other boys looked at him weirdly, like he had grown another set of arms hoặc legs. (He had to check to make sure he hadn’t.) When he got to the bathrooms, he turned on one of the showers and stepped inside. The water was hot, but it didn’t bother him. What might have được trao a normal person a first degree burn from the high temperature, it only felt like a cooling sauna to Leo. Another reason he was a strange kid. But he didn’t want to go into that.
When he was finished with his shower, he grabbed his towel and walked back to his room on the soft carpets of the third floor. Girls got the một giây floor, boys on the third. The first floor was a lobby, and the fourth floor was strictly off-limits. There was a padlock over the elevator button for the fourth floor, and a key insert to use it. Leo wanted to go and see what was so bad about the fourth floor. Maybe it was a secret containment for kids having scientific experiments being used on them? That would be a twist for sure.
Leo snorted at that thought, and the doors slid open to hiển thị the girl he talked to earlier- What’s-her-face something and a last name like a famous actor Leo had seen once in the movies. Funny, he couldn’t place the actor’s name now...Leo was pretty sure he’d seen the movie though. Something like King of Sparrows...or something like that. All he remembered was the giant battle scene where the guy chopped off another guy’s head, and the poor soldier spewed fake blood everywhere. It was so realistic, Leo (almost) threw up, but it was pretty awesome.
Braids whipping in his face, the girl- yeah, Leo remembered, it was Piper- quickly pressed all the elevator buttons and jumped up and down until the elevator doors closed.
Then she turned around, smiled with recognition to Leo, and noticed he was wearing a towel. Her smile vanished, to a look of humiliation.
“Uhm...” Leo mumbled as a red blush crept along his cheeks; and he could feel his ears burning. Piper đã đưa ý kiến something incredibly smart like: “Fancy seeing bạn here, Valdez...in your...nothing..uhh...”
“Already moved in and addressing me bởi my last name?” Leo teased, as he slowly inched up the hall to his door to open the handle and lock himself inside. “That was fast.”
Piper scowled. “Enjoying the nice breeze?”
“Down there,” Leo whistled. “Not so much.”
“Shouldn’t bạn be cold?”
Leo replied with a quick “I’m awesome like that” and grabbed the door handle, flung the door open, and ran inside.
He heard Piper laughing at him outside, while Leo just uttered ngẫu nhiên curses under his breath and changed from a towel to clothes.
I’m absolutely insane, he thought. He wondered how fast it would take for this place to get boring, and he would di chuyển on. He wondered if Piper- could he technically call her a friend now?- would even remember his name if he left.
He doubted it. With that depressing thought, he moved along and strapped on his shoes before running out again to go tham gia his ‘friend’ at lunch.
----
Leo learned quickly Piper was a strict vegetarian; meaning, she hated meat. They stood awkwardly tiếp theo to one another in the lunch line, while Leo snuck spitballs at other passing children, and when he hit the forehead of a particularly preppy (or just hot in Leo’s opinion, but they weren’t his type; too flashy) looking girl, Piper practically cheered. The line moved slowly, and Leo made a side note to arrive earlier tiếp theo time. Piper didn’t seem to mind the line so much.
Leo passed his hands over a line of sandwiches; burrito hoặc ham? Turkey hoặc pastrami? There was so many choices.
Piper didn’t hesitate and chose a simple đậu phụng, đậu phộng bơ and thạch, sữa ong chúa sandwich. It landed gracefully on her styrafoam tray. Leo had a feeling that was incredibly bad for the environment, unless bạn could eat it. Leo made a face like he didn’t approve of Piper’s sandwich, bánh sandwich choice, and grumbled “P-B-J is too mainstream.”
Piper laughed. “And bạn have indecisive skills.”
Leo frowned and stroked his chin thoughtfully. “Burrito or...?”
Piper answered the câu hỏi bởi picking up another PB&J and plopping it on his tray. “Okay. Now let’s go find a table.” Leo protested, because he hadn’t gotten to take a cookie from the desert section, but the girl dragged him out of the doors and into the courtyard.
Leo’s room had a fantastic view of the courtyard- which is to say, his view sucked. The area was dry desert ground, with a few old wooden benches stacked to the piling point with other fellow delinquents; and a large tall security fence traveled all around the perimeter, and tiny security cameras along the fence lines. Leo wasn’t sure how he knew, but at the hàng đầu, đầu trang of the fence was an electric cable, and it was powerful enough he could hear it almost humming. That was disturbing information for him; it seemed this place was thêm like a prison than school- and school all bởi itself is prison enough alone.
“So, where did bạn want to take me again?” Piper looked around the courtyard, frowning at the selection. A few of the clique girls a few tables away giggled and started pointing at Piper, but she seemed fine ignoring them.
“Ah.” Leo said. “About that. It’s a secret.”
“If you’re actually a kidnapper, and planning to smuggle me across the border to Mexico-” Piper started to threaten, but Leo laughed.
“Ha! Chica, bạn need to learn to trust a little more. Uncle Leo is gonna hiển thị bạn the best view in town.”
Getting to the place Leo wanted to hiển thị her was a little harder than he had originally planned.
First, they were burdened bởi carrying their lunch trays. Once they managed to not fall hoặc drop their thực phẩm to the ground below (and Leo would rather his sandwich, bánh sandwich fall, because broken Bones are harder to fix) there was the challenge of not getting spotted bởi security cameras hoặc teachers.
When Leo finally stopped, he grinned back at his companion he dragged along, who was looking quite pale from the unbalance between them.
The desert stretched on for miles and seemed to extend into the horizon. It had taken a lot longer to climb up than Leo would have liked, but he slung his bag off his shoulder and unwrapped his sandwich. He patted the rooftop tiếp theo to him, and Piper cautiously slid down tiếp theo to him.
They were on one of the lower awnings right just above one of the fence grid lines; close enough that if Leo stretched his feet down, he could almost stand on hàng đầu, đầu trang of the fence. Then he would have been electrocuted, and basically would have been very bad news for Valdez indeed.
“Jeez,” Leo snorted as Piper tried not to look down. “It’s not like bạn are going to fall off.”
“I’m thêm worried about getting caught,” Piper muttered, but Leo only took a hack out of his vegetarian-ized sandwich, bánh sandwich and grinned with đậu phụng, đậu phộng bơ all in his teeth.
“Whatsh liyfe whhiitchhouht ahh whittle rishk?” He asked her.
“In English?” Piper raised an eyebrow at his mumbo-jumbo-jibberish.
Leo swallowed half his sandwich, bánh sandwich in a huge gulp, and nearly choked. “What’s life without a little risk?”
“Oh, dying, I suppose,” Piper đã đưa ý kiến as blandly as she could, but they shared a look and burst out laughing.
“It’s not much of a view...but,” Leo scratched the back of his head, a bit embarrassed. “Well, bạn get to see how far a walk it would be to escape here.”
Piper shoved his shoulder, but it was thêm friendly than mean. “It’s a nice view.”
Leo turned to her and gave a crooked smile. “Not as nice as the view I see right now.”
“Valdez, are bạn flirting with me?”
“I don’t know, it depends how hard bạn cái tát, đánh đập, smack me- OW!”
“I’ll take that as I was right.”
“-MY POOR FACE!”
They laughed again.
“Mh, you’re right Piper,” Leo mumbled as he sobered up and finished his sandwich. “Peanut bơ and thạch, sữa ong chúa never quite loses it’s charm.”
She grinned and took a bite from her own sandwich. “Told you.” She đã đưa ý kiến smugly.
“...although, I could go for some chips now-”
“Loser,” Piper shoved him playfully, like they were old Những người bạn that could push each other around and try not to kill each other.
“Actually,” Leo gave her a cá sấu grin. “Leo Valdez is always the winner.”
“Rock paper scissors?” Piper gave a smirk. “You’re on, Valdez.”
“Rock/Paper/Scissors-Shoot!” Leo shot first, but he did rock. Piper did paper.
“Nope, bạn lose.” Piper laughed. “Want another go?”
“Nah,” Leo answered. “You’d beat me.”
Piper gave a smile, and wrapped up the remnants of her sandwich. “Are we gonna come back here tomorrow?”
Leo frowned. “As much as I tình yêu being up here and not down there, people will, uh, wonder if we’re doing other things.”
Piper gave him a stink eye. “Oh come on, we’ve only just met.”
Those stung a little, but the truth was evident. “I guess....” Leo said. “How about not tomorrow, but the ngày after?”
“And the ngày after that and then the ngày after that,” Piper nodded. “Sounds like a plan. See bạn here- I mean down there tomorrow, Leo.”
It turned out getting down was a lot easier, because a tiny water chute (Leo wondered why they would need a water spout on a roof in the middle of a desert) led all the way to the bottom and was large enough to fit one average sized teenage girl and a very scrawny teenage boy. It was a lot like a slide, but only a lot dirtier and much faster; Leo almost got to see his đậu phụng, đậu phộng bơ thạch, sữa ong chúa sandwich, bánh sandwich for a một giây time- and taste it again too.
Leo hopped up at the bottom and offered his hand to Piper, who was sitting from where she slid off the chute. She scowled a little and accepted it, and the two walked off towards the courtyard together.
Just before Leo walked into his dorm, Piper hesitated at his door. “Tomorrow, then,” Leo đã đưa ý kiến with finality.
“Yeah.” Piper extended her hand. “To hang out. Like friends.”
“Friends,” Leo agreed. And nothing more.
“Night, Leo.”
“G’night.”
“....You will still be here tomorrow, right?” Piper hesitated. “You seem like the kind that tends to drift a lot.”
Darn right. “Nah, me? I’m chill. I won’t suddenly vanish in the night and then forget bạn tomorrow morning.” Leo gave her a cheeky grin.
“Promise?”
“I’ll be here,” Leo vowed. “I promise.”
She seemed satisfied with his answer, and went to her own dorm. Leo didn’t share a dorm, which he was fine with; but that didn’t make things any easier. He wasn’t supposed to be attached; he would have to leave eventually. He was a cursed child- he would only bring bad things after staying for so long.
That night as he stared up at the ceiling, imagining the little divots in the shadows were stars looking down on him, he wondered how long he would be able to keep Piper’s promise, before he vanished into the night sky like a star; and would be impossible to find again in the constellations.
Soo...yeah....wow I am lazy to update this Lawl.
Yeah I have left fanpop but Im on for like a few phút right now and I had this already so I figured xin chào why not post this so here it is.
Part one is somewhere just like Google it if bạn cant find it idk im lazy to put the link have fun :DDD
:D Now it's Leo's POV! What fun! XD
----
CHAPTER II
LEO
HE WAS INSANE. He might as well have told the girl his “special secret” and gotten taken bởi large officers with Luật sư đấu trí and shades off to some military compound in Area 51. Was Area 51 in this town that smelled like armpits? Probably. There was enough weird things here anyways.
For instance, the gym class he had that morning. The coach was in need of a better diet plan, stop living in his grandmother’s basement, a good shave (like, everywhere), and a decent girlfriend who would stick with him and his “mental” problems. Even Leo wasn’t as crazy as that guy.
It started with the intense running competition. Leo had no intentions of actually “learning” hoặc “doing work” hoặc “exercising” when it came to this “correction facility.” It was all because of that stupid border patrol in New Mexico as he was jumping fences and jaywalking over boundary lines. So who cared anyways? He still got caught; even though he was in super stealth mode. He hadn’t even caught ngọn lửa, chữa cháy to anything, not once!
Leo quickly changed thoughts. Not good to mope about, it just made bạn even thêm depressed than bạn really were. No need to look back; just keep moving on, Valdez...
The extremely short, hairy, and ego centered coach brought him back to reality- the hard way. “VALDEZ! PICK UP THE PACE!” He blared into a giant megaphone, and leaning heavily on his (very) little league baseball bat while chomping through a màu hồng, hồng iced donut (with cầu vồng sprinkles.) Leo had a strange image in his mind; if say, a really macho guy saw him eating a cầu vồng sprinkled doughnut and had a tattoo of it, would he be offended this short dude was eating his arm? Did that make sense? Probably not.
Leo noticed he had fallen back behind the line of masculine runners. The girls were in the gym, while the guys got the hot and sun-beat running track to do laps the entire period. Wonderful. Leo had no intentions of running, so he kept it to a steady slow and well paced jog. The other extremely được ưa chuộng and “buff”guys were running it out and passed him six hoặc seven times. Leo didn’t care.
As he attempted to increase his speed just one sixteenth of a molecule thêm so Coach Doughnut would leave him alone and be satisfied, someone extended a leg to trip him.
Leo, never usually caught unaware after running away six times; (Gonna be seven soon, he thought to himself.) as he had to sharpen his senses on the streets, jumped over it and then fell onto the ground.
The jerk who had been trying to trip him, tripped over Leo’s leg and splattered to the ground in front of Leo. Leo picked himself up quickly, and brushed his áo sơ mi off quickly and sped up away from the boy. Even if the Coach was supposed to “supervise” them, he probably would continue eating his doughnut and scream things from his megaphone and do squat.
Leo didn’t mind being bullied. He was used to it; from the foster kids at the foster care houses; even the parents and the cops who caught him escaping- to the strange places he had been in with gangs and bad influences- but he did NOT like getting beat up. People could throw taunts in his face, shove him into a locker, God damnit he didn’t care. He would run away and leave them behind anyways. He had could always find a way to outsmart the bully. Usually. They didn’t matter to him anyways.
He would forget them, as simple as taking the smallest insignificant piece of paper hoặc even a piece of tinder and wood- light them on ngọn lửa, chữa cháy and watch them crumble to ash. Self consciously, his fingers went to his pants pocket, where a little piece of paper was stashed for an toàn, két an toàn keeping. He couldn’t chịu, gấu to leave it with his luggage and other junk- this had to stay with him, not matter what. He wasn’t about to lose this for his life.
It was the last thing he had as a reminder of his past. It was what kept him from staying somewhere and making a home. It was a painful memento that because of him people could be hurt- and that it would be all his fault.
Coach Hedge had the entire class run about fifty thêm laps, and then realized it was time for dismissal. Stupid, ugly, mother goat, lazy, hairy, toad, etc...
Leo went to his dorm room. It was a small, one poster bed, with white walls and only a single window. There was bars attached to the window panes, and then another set of crossbars to keep out intruders. Leo wasn’t sure that was the case, it looked thêm like they were trying to keep the students inside thêm than keep things out.
Unsettled, he tore off his clothes and wrapped himself in a towel, and walked down the hallway in a bathroom towel to the showers. It wasn’t a far walk, but some of the other boys looked at him weirdly, like he had grown another set of arms hoặc legs. (He had to check to make sure he hadn’t.) When he got to the bathrooms, he turned on one of the showers and stepped inside. The water was hot, but it didn’t bother him. What might have được trao a normal person a first degree burn from the high temperature, it only felt like a cooling sauna to Leo. Another reason he was a strange kid. But he didn’t want to go into that.
When he was finished with his shower, he grabbed his towel and walked back to his room on the soft carpets of the third floor. Girls got the một giây floor, boys on the third. The first floor was a lobby, and the fourth floor was strictly off-limits. There was a padlock over the elevator button for the fourth floor, and a key insert to use it. Leo wanted to go and see what was so bad about the fourth floor. Maybe it was a secret containment for kids having scientific experiments being used on them? That would be a twist for sure.
Leo snorted at that thought, and the doors slid open to hiển thị the girl he talked to earlier- What’s-her-face something and a last name like a famous actor Leo had seen once in the movies. Funny, he couldn’t place the actor’s name now...Leo was pretty sure he’d seen the movie though. Something like King of Sparrows...or something like that. All he remembered was the giant battle scene where the guy chopped off another guy’s head, and the poor soldier spewed fake blood everywhere. It was so realistic, Leo (almost) threw up, but it was pretty awesome.
Braids whipping in his face, the girl- yeah, Leo remembered, it was Piper- quickly pressed all the elevator buttons and jumped up and down until the elevator doors closed.
Then she turned around, smiled with recognition to Leo, and noticed he was wearing a towel. Her smile vanished, to a look of humiliation.
“Uhm...” Leo mumbled as a red blush crept along his cheeks; and he could feel his ears burning. Piper đã đưa ý kiến something incredibly smart like: “Fancy seeing bạn here, Valdez...in your...nothing..uhh...”
“Already moved in and addressing me bởi my last name?” Leo teased, as he slowly inched up the hall to his door to open the handle and lock himself inside. “That was fast.”
Piper scowled. “Enjoying the nice breeze?”
“Down there,” Leo whistled. “Not so much.”
“Shouldn’t bạn be cold?”
Leo replied with a quick “I’m awesome like that” and grabbed the door handle, flung the door open, and ran inside.
He heard Piper laughing at him outside, while Leo just uttered ngẫu nhiên curses under his breath and changed from a towel to clothes.
I’m absolutely insane, he thought. He wondered how fast it would take for this place to get boring, and he would di chuyển on. He wondered if Piper- could he technically call her a friend now?- would even remember his name if he left.
He doubted it. With that depressing thought, he moved along and strapped on his shoes before running out again to go tham gia his ‘friend’ at lunch.
----
Leo learned quickly Piper was a strict vegetarian; meaning, she hated meat. They stood awkwardly tiếp theo to one another in the lunch line, while Leo snuck spitballs at other passing children, and when he hit the forehead of a particularly preppy (or just hot in Leo’s opinion, but they weren’t his type; too flashy) looking girl, Piper practically cheered. The line moved slowly, and Leo made a side note to arrive earlier tiếp theo time. Piper didn’t seem to mind the line so much.
Leo passed his hands over a line of sandwiches; burrito hoặc ham? Turkey hoặc pastrami? There was so many choices.
Piper didn’t hesitate and chose a simple đậu phụng, đậu phộng bơ and thạch, sữa ong chúa sandwich. It landed gracefully on her styrafoam tray. Leo had a feeling that was incredibly bad for the environment, unless bạn could eat it. Leo made a face like he didn’t approve of Piper’s sandwich, bánh sandwich choice, and grumbled “P-B-J is too mainstream.”
Piper laughed. “And bạn have indecisive skills.”
Leo frowned and stroked his chin thoughtfully. “Burrito or...?”
Piper answered the câu hỏi bởi picking up another PB&J and plopping it on his tray. “Okay. Now let’s go find a table.” Leo protested, because he hadn’t gotten to take a cookie from the desert section, but the girl dragged him out of the doors and into the courtyard.
Leo’s room had a fantastic view of the courtyard- which is to say, his view sucked. The area was dry desert ground, with a few old wooden benches stacked to the piling point with other fellow delinquents; and a large tall security fence traveled all around the perimeter, and tiny security cameras along the fence lines. Leo wasn’t sure how he knew, but at the hàng đầu, đầu trang of the fence was an electric cable, and it was powerful enough he could hear it almost humming. That was disturbing information for him; it seemed this place was thêm like a prison than school- and school all bởi itself is prison enough alone.
“So, where did bạn want to take me again?” Piper looked around the courtyard, frowning at the selection. A few of the clique girls a few tables away giggled and started pointing at Piper, but she seemed fine ignoring them.
“Ah.” Leo said. “About that. It’s a secret.”
“If you’re actually a kidnapper, and planning to smuggle me across the border to Mexico-” Piper started to threaten, but Leo laughed.
“Ha! Chica, bạn need to learn to trust a little more. Uncle Leo is gonna hiển thị bạn the best view in town.”
Getting to the place Leo wanted to hiển thị her was a little harder than he had originally planned.
First, they were burdened bởi carrying their lunch trays. Once they managed to not fall hoặc drop their thực phẩm to the ground below (and Leo would rather his sandwich, bánh sandwich fall, because broken Bones are harder to fix) there was the challenge of not getting spotted bởi security cameras hoặc teachers.
When Leo finally stopped, he grinned back at his companion he dragged along, who was looking quite pale from the unbalance between them.
The desert stretched on for miles and seemed to extend into the horizon. It had taken a lot longer to climb up than Leo would have liked, but he slung his bag off his shoulder and unwrapped his sandwich. He patted the rooftop tiếp theo to him, and Piper cautiously slid down tiếp theo to him.
They were on one of the lower awnings right just above one of the fence grid lines; close enough that if Leo stretched his feet down, he could almost stand on hàng đầu, đầu trang of the fence. Then he would have been electrocuted, and basically would have been very bad news for Valdez indeed.
“Jeez,” Leo snorted as Piper tried not to look down. “It’s not like bạn are going to fall off.”
“I’m thêm worried about getting caught,” Piper muttered, but Leo only took a hack out of his vegetarian-ized sandwich, bánh sandwich and grinned with đậu phụng, đậu phộng bơ all in his teeth.
“Whatsh liyfe whhiitchhouht ahh whittle rishk?” He asked her.
“In English?” Piper raised an eyebrow at his mumbo-jumbo-jibberish.
Leo swallowed half his sandwich, bánh sandwich in a huge gulp, and nearly choked. “What’s life without a little risk?”
“Oh, dying, I suppose,” Piper đã đưa ý kiến as blandly as she could, but they shared a look and burst out laughing.
“It’s not much of a view...but,” Leo scratched the back of his head, a bit embarrassed. “Well, bạn get to see how far a walk it would be to escape here.”
Piper shoved his shoulder, but it was thêm friendly than mean. “It’s a nice view.”
Leo turned to her and gave a crooked smile. “Not as nice as the view I see right now.”
“Valdez, are bạn flirting with me?”
“I don’t know, it depends how hard bạn cái tát, đánh đập, smack me- OW!”
“I’ll take that as I was right.”
“-MY POOR FACE!”
They laughed again.
“Mh, you’re right Piper,” Leo mumbled as he sobered up and finished his sandwich. “Peanut bơ and thạch, sữa ong chúa never quite loses it’s charm.”
She grinned and took a bite from her own sandwich. “Told you.” She đã đưa ý kiến smugly.
“...although, I could go for some chips now-”
“Loser,” Piper shoved him playfully, like they were old Những người bạn that could push each other around and try not to kill each other.
“Actually,” Leo gave her a cá sấu grin. “Leo Valdez is always the winner.”
“Rock paper scissors?” Piper gave a smirk. “You’re on, Valdez.”
“Rock/Paper/Scissors-Shoot!” Leo shot first, but he did rock. Piper did paper.
“Nope, bạn lose.” Piper laughed. “Want another go?”
“Nah,” Leo answered. “You’d beat me.”
Piper gave a smile, and wrapped up the remnants of her sandwich. “Are we gonna come back here tomorrow?”
Leo frowned. “As much as I tình yêu being up here and not down there, people will, uh, wonder if we’re doing other things.”
Piper gave him a stink eye. “Oh come on, we’ve only just met.”
Those stung a little, but the truth was evident. “I guess....” Leo said. “How about not tomorrow, but the ngày after?”
“And the ngày after that and then the ngày after that,” Piper nodded. “Sounds like a plan. See bạn here- I mean down there tomorrow, Leo.”
It turned out getting down was a lot easier, because a tiny water chute (Leo wondered why they would need a water spout on a roof in the middle of a desert) led all the way to the bottom and was large enough to fit one average sized teenage girl and a very scrawny teenage boy. It was a lot like a slide, but only a lot dirtier and much faster; Leo almost got to see his đậu phụng, đậu phộng bơ thạch, sữa ong chúa sandwich, bánh sandwich for a một giây time- and taste it again too.
Leo hopped up at the bottom and offered his hand to Piper, who was sitting from where she slid off the chute. She scowled a little and accepted it, and the two walked off towards the courtyard together.
Just before Leo walked into his dorm, Piper hesitated at his door. “Tomorrow, then,” Leo đã đưa ý kiến with finality.
“Yeah.” Piper extended her hand. “To hang out. Like friends.”
“Friends,” Leo agreed. And nothing more.
“Night, Leo.”
“G’night.”
“....You will still be here tomorrow, right?” Piper hesitated. “You seem like the kind that tends to drift a lot.”
Darn right. “Nah, me? I’m chill. I won’t suddenly vanish in the night and then forget bạn tomorrow morning.” Leo gave her a cheeky grin.
“Promise?”
“I’ll be here,” Leo vowed. “I promise.”
She seemed satisfied with his answer, and went to her own dorm. Leo didn’t share a dorm, which he was fine with; but that didn’t make things any easier. He wasn’t supposed to be attached; he would have to leave eventually. He was a cursed child- he would only bring bad things after staying for so long.
That night as he stared up at the ceiling, imagining the little divots in the shadows were stars looking down on him, he wondered how long he would be able to keep Piper’s promise, before he vanished into the night sky like a star; and would be impossible to find again in the constellations.
