Life Without You

Chapter 50 - Painful memories I

@CherryBerryKiss: Lovely to see u after so long, Leon sweetie. Miss u loads already. I'll not give up on u, I promise. Love u.

After reading Emily's Instagram message in his inbox, Leon blocked her immediately and deleted her message. Those words left him no comfort even after Ariel rejected him, again.

Lying on his bed and staring at the ceiling in the cool of the night, the thought of Emily released forgotten memories that he had buried so deep inside, that they began to flood back.

————[Flashback]————-

It was Leon's junior year at high school.

The T-shirt he wore looked oversize on his thin, lanky frame in jeans while he carried his one and only guitar that his dad bought for him as a birthday gift. Leon neatened his side fringe and adjusted his huge, round-rimmed glasses, grinning with his braces on in front of the mirror that hung on the inside of his locker door.

"H-hi, my name is-," he was lost for words the sixth time.

"Hi, my name is Leon Waltz, I just erm, wanted to tell you that, erm, that you're beautiful and I'd like to erm, to ask you out."

He ended the sentence with his smile but each time he did, he was disappointed at how his braces made his lips pop out like a fish and gave his speaking a slight lisp. It would be another six months before they could be removed.

"Yo, Leon-NERD-do! Talking to yourself again?" Johan Olsen, a Norwegian high school senior scorned as he and his gang walked past. Johan was a big-boned and brawny American football team leader, who was recognised by his dark hair styled in undercut and appetite for tight T-shirts that reveal the contours of his stocky chest. He was brash over-confident, pushy and demanding. Coming from a well-to-do Norwegian family which owned a few fisheries in Norway, Johan was spoilt and used to getting things his way.

Johan's charming, bad-boy looks attracted a lot of female attention. He also received double the accolades from the cheerleading team every time he played in a competition. His circle of bully boy pals encircled Leon, trapping him against his locker.

"I-i-i-it's nothing," Leon stammered and slammed the locker door shut and tried to get away, but Johan pushed him back against his locker. Leon was one of Johan's easy targets, as he relished taunting the soft-spoken little guy to fear. No matter how much Leon tried to ignore him, Johan continued bullying him. He was the "cool" kid who demanded worship, even from the lowest of the low.

"Were you reciting a love poem? Who's the un-lucky girl?" Johan teased.

"Nothing! Please, I need to attend to my guitar club now," Leon pleaded but Johan refused to let him go.

"She's so beautiful, she takes me over the moon..(cough) mooooo...." one of Johan's friends purposely crooned out of tune a line in one of Leon's composed songs he published on YouTube. The entire group laughed in mockery. They were unaware that this song was meant for a girl he had a crush on since he entered high school.

As his guitar skills got better, Leon started a YouTube channel and shared his passion for singing and composing songs with his acoustic guitar. He played both covers and his own compositions, with the hope of being a professional musician one day. People in his school knew about his musical talent and he received a lot of praise for his mesmerising vocals. Singing gave him confidence and it overcame the slight lisp in his speech caused by his braces.  Leon had performed on stage in school, singing and acting since he was also part of the drama club. That did not sit well with Johan who wanted all the attention to himself. He could not accept how an ugly nobody who did not have many friends be elevated.