Bionic Chaos [Leo Dooley]

Chapter Twelve

I've been a different person lately. It's like my mind is trapped in between the hatred for my brother since he came home and the disgust for the Bionics since I found out about them. But, do I really hate my brother? Or do I just hate the situation he created at home? And, am I really disgusted by the Bionics? Or do I just hate how different they are from me? I don't hate any of them; I hate myself.

It's been happening for my whole life, though. My parents never really paid much attention to me as a child because they were shipping my siblings off to college one by one, leaving me alone at home. I was alone with me, myself, and my thoughts. That's one of the reasons why I threw myself into writing scripts and filming random skits to keep myself busy and away from my thoughts. It hasn't really worked much.

Thankfully, I see Leo standing in the main hallway here at school, so I make a beeline toward him. Maybe he can help me get out of my head for a minute. He always does know how to make me laugh. However, I stop walking when I see a strange man standing at his open locker next to him. I hurry behind a pole supporting the ceiling so I can see what happens without being seen myself.

Leo closes his locker quickly, turning around toward where the man is standing. He lets out a high pitched scream while dropping the books he had gotten out of his locker. I stifle my laughter at how adorable and terrified he looks and listen to what the the man says to him, wondering why I've never heard of this strange man before.

"Relax," he says to Leo with a quick roll of his eyes. 

"I am relaxed. I'm very relaxed!" Leo jumps into a fighting stance, throwing a few fake punches at the man in front of him. For a second there, I almost run over to Leo to get him out of this strange situation. I don't, though. Instead, I continue watching. "Let's do this, Spiky! Let's get real!"

"You done?" the man asks him with a bored tone in his voice. There's something about this man that gives me bad vibes; I just don't know what it is yet.

"Oh. Giving up, I see," Leo says, crossing his arms over his chest triumphantly. "What do you want?"

Before I can listen to whatever else that strange man is going to say, someone taps me on the shoulder, drawing my attention away from them. I face a random teacher that I've never had before with a scowl on my face. 

"Yes?" I ask him quickly. My ears are trying to hear what else I being said, but I can't hear anything over the loud breathing coming from this teacher. "What's up?"

"You're supposed to be in class," he says, gesturing to the school around him. His old eyes do not seem to notice the strange man talking to Leo, probably because his glasses are laying on his chest connected to a thin string wrapped around his neck instead of being on his nose that juts out farther than Pinocchio's ever could. "What are you doing out here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," I tell him, crossing my arms over my chest, cocking an eyebrow at him. I'm not really in the mood to be nice right now. "Don't you have a class to teach?"

His eyes narrow at me, creaking even more wrinkles on his face. "Touché," he finally says after a few seconds of silence. "If you don't say anything to Principal Perry about me, I won't say anything about you, either."

How is it that I keep making these deals with people? When did my life turn out to be full of deals instead of literally anything else? I don't like it. "Got it."

"I better not see you out here again, missy."

"Okay."

The old teacher gives me a look before ambling away from me. I know I shouldn't be skipping class any longer, but I want to make sure Leo is alright. I glance around the pole again and find him still talking to the strange man near him. 

"Why does he want Adam, Bree, and Chase?" Leo asks the man, making me frown.

However, I start to walk away from them. I don't want to get caught up in whatever is going on between them. I shouldn't, anyway. I'm not really their friend, right? I shouldn't care about them. I shouldn't have these warm feelings for them. I'm supposed to be trying to get evidence about the bionics to spread to the news. That's it.

The last thing I hear from the strange man before I turn the corner is, "He doesn't want them, he wants to destroy them."

A bad feeling settles in my chest as I get farther and farther away from Leo and that strange man. Something about this is wrong, but I can't do anything about it. Does that make me selfish? Perhaps. But I have to make sure I'm safe and alive and happy to achieve my dreams. That's all I want in this life. And, if it means hurting people, then so be it.

It's been days since I last saw Leo, Bree, Adam, and Chase. I've been freaking out. Those words that the strange man said to Leo keep repeating in my head over and over again, reminding me that there could be something seriously wrong with all of them. They all could be dead for all I know. 

I pile inside the school with the rest of the people from the bus, glancing around, trying to find them. Ever since my brother came home, I've had to take the bus because he's been using my car to do whatever he feels like. I hate it a lot, but I can't really worry about it right now. I'm too busy worrying about Leo and Bree and Adam and Chase. 

I've asked around the school where they are, but no one knows. Not even Caitlin. She's about as clueless as I am, which sucks. She had been closer to Bree than I was, so she should know. She doesn't. I hate this so much.

It's all my fault.

My eyes widen when I see the four of them walking through the front doors of the school. Another girl holds onto Chase's arm as tightly as she can, a small smile on her face as the two of them talk about something. I'm assuming that's Emmie, but I don't really care right now. No, I'm too busy running toward Leo and Bree, throwing my arms around them.

"Maggie!" Bree says with a loud laugh. It sounds like music to my ears. She's the first one to pull away from the hug, dragging Leo with her. "What in the world are you doing?"

"Where have you guys been?" I ask them, frowning. They look alright to me, but my eyes could be deceiving me. "It's been days since I last saw you two."

"We went on a small vacation," Leo says, nodding. There's something strange in his eyes, though. I know he's lying. "Were you worried about me, Maggie?"

"Yes," I say truthfully. Bree gives me a look, but I ignore it. "I was. Why didn't you text me?"

"My mom took it away from me."

"Oh." I know he's lying to me. I can see it in his eyes. I can see it written all over Bree's face. "Maybe you can tell me more about it later, Bree."

"Yeah," she says. "That sounds good."

"It does." The bell rings very loudly, interrupting our reunion. People rush around us, but I can only focus on Leo's eyes. "Let's get to Intro to Filmmaking, Leo. You missed a lot of cool things we've been learning."

He falls into step with me as we make our way to class together. We chat about little things on the way to class, nothing that I truly want to talk about with him. He doesn't know that I know about his step-siblings, so I can't even talk about that. I hate that. I'm not going to change it, though. I can't. I wish I could.

I now know exactly what's wrong with me now. I know why I've been changing lately. My tough exterior has been shattering underneath the weight of this newfound thought. I used to not have any friends, just people I knew, but that's not true anymore. I enjoy spending time with Bree and Leo. I like who I am with these people. Somehow, I've never hated myself more than I do right now.