Can You Look My Way?

C-7

The bell just rang for afternoon classes but Leo is relaxing under a tree at the schoolyard. He sighed so deeply and stares at the blue sky. He's going to relax here and ditch class.

The festival is coming and he bet it will be a big mess or ends well. He just hopes that he'd be in the perfect spot to save Merida's eyes. That way it won't hurt her, he thought as he closes his eyes and starts crashing out. 

When he woke up, it was already getting dark. He got up and rub his eyes. Damn, he overslept. Walking away, he thought of just going straight home but then he forgot his car keys were in his desk drawer.

Nobody was inside the classroom, he guessed Merida must've walked home with Jacob. They don't really talk a lot anymore. Just a classmate conversation and that's it. As he said, he is not going to make it hard for Merida, not unless she asks for it.

He opened his drawer and frowned when he saw a box. He took it out. There was a note on top of it.

"How about this one?" He read out loud the sticky note. He smiled, he knows who it came from.

Leo removed the top of the lunch box and tada! Egg rolls. He took one and stuff it in his mouth. He smiled cutely when it tasted perfect to him. Perfect yet bad for him.

He took out his phone and typed, "Perfect", then he sent it to Egg rolls. He would not waste the effort Merida put in them so he brought it with him. 

Just as Leo was about to enter the park, someone had already caught his attention.  Keifer was there. When the little kid noticed him, he waved.

"Mister cake!" the kid exclaimed, running towards him.

"Yo! Don't run you might tri--" Leo could not finish what he was saying as Keifer really did trip and fell. He immediately went beside the kid to help him. "You're really trip-prone. No wonder that cake fell."

Keifer gave him a 'hehe' as a reply. 

"I'm fine, I am not hurt," the little guy said as soon as they were seated on a bench. "How come you are here, mister?"

"I come here often," Leo answered. 

Then he remember that he had a chocolate bar in his pocket. He reached for it and Keifer's eyes twinkled. So, Leo just handed it to the kid. Like his sister, Keifer snatched it from Leo. 

"You're just like your sister," he remarks. "The only difference is that your sister keeps a grumpy look. She's always mad." 

"That's because our mother is married to my father. My sister hates my father and mother too." Eh? Leo glanced at Keifer and saw the thin smile on the kid's lips. "So you see, I just want to make her happy somehow."

Just then Leo lift his hand and messed up Keifer's hair. The little boy then beamed at him like a cute cat. "You're a good kid, Keifer. Don't change."

They talked more. Leo found himself liking Keifer and his story. Even then, Leo had realized he liked listening and talking to kids and old people better than talking to a teenager or adults. 

When he talks to most adults, he would hear how life sucks that they want to die, their problems, and their what-ifs with regrets. And when kids talk, it's about their crushes, their adventures, their imaginations, and just the wonder. Then the oldies are giving life lessons and stories of their younger years. They laugh and say, "Good old days."