The Secret of Taurus

Chapter 7

Theo

I stood there in shook, I didn't know what to do, I didn't know of what to say. I dropped me bag and tears welled up and pricked at my eyes. "I don't want to go back." I said and Madeline came over and hugged me, I hugged her back and tears just fell down my face like rain. I didn't want to go back to him.
I wanted to stay and I couldn't help the tears, they just fell down my face no matter how fast I wiped them away. "I'm not going to let him have you back, I will do everything in my power to make sure this is where you stay." Madeline told me. I nodded.
Mikayla walked over to me, "here is your new home and we will do everything we can to make sure it stays this way."
"What would happen if I did go back to him, do you think he would have changed?" I asked. Mikayla looked over at Madeline and Madeline looked down at me. "For him to be out of prison and to even have a chance of the court granting him a court battle for you...then yeah, he would have changed. But for you to go back to him and into that home it would be to much for you and put you back in that bottomless pit. It's not healthy for you to go back to a place that gave you so trauma."
"Now you have homework to do I assume, so don't fret, that's me and Madeline's job, we just thought you ought to know." Mikayla said as she waved me up stairs, I skipped up and walked down into my room and shut the door.

I'd flicked Leo a text before school and now had my hood up as I made my way to the spot at the library, when I arrived Ray and May sat there, May scrolling through her phone and Ray was playing cards with Leo.
He saw me come over and shuffled over slightly do I could sit with them. "We saw what Valeria posted." Ray said to me and I nodded. "It gets worse, I shot you a text about it this morning." I turned to Leo and he nodded.
"Are you talking about what Valeria posted or the text?" May asked shuffling over and sitting next to her brother. I sighed. "My biological Dad is  out of prison and is fighting for custody of me."
"And that's a bad thing?" May asked. "Madeline, my social worker and Mikayla my foster Mom is fighting against him and I don't want to go back. I don't ever want to go back to that place." I told them.
"Was he a bad man?" Ray asked and I nodded and rubbed my arm, he'd broken it when I was nine.
I felt a soothing hand on my shoulder, I flinched and Leo immediately removed it. "Sorry." He said and Ray shook his head. "It will improve over time, did he ever hit you?"
I didn't answer. I stayed silent. Ray asked the question again. This time I answered. "Yeah. He hit me a lot. He broke my arm when I was nine, chucked me across the living room when I was eleven."
"Holy shit." May cursed, earning her a scowl from a passing teacher. "Yeah, what she said, and now he wants you back? I hope you stay with the Joneses." Ray said to me. I felt an arm wrap around my shoulder, I flinched but Leo kept his arm where it was. We sat in silence till the bell rang and me and Leo walked to Spanish. "So that's why you flinch whenever someone touches you?" He asked, "yeah." I confirmed.  We walked through the door and took our seats on the other side of the classroom from Valeria and Scorpious. 
He looked over and me and I leaned back in my chair, hiding myself behind Leo as my checks burned red and my heart starting thumping faster than it should of. I hadn't been able to get him off my mind since my first Spanish class. He'd just always been on my mind. And I couldn't figure out why. But something was off about him, I felt like I should know him, but I can't remember where he's from.

The day ended and I walked over to the gate with Leo, May and Ray, I was heading over to Leo's house and we were waiting for his Dad. He got there eventually,  half an hour late, the twins had long since left and we sat at the curb. "Is he always this late?" I asked Leo.
"Yean, but there he is." Leo pointed at a red Suzuki that was rolling up the street, It parked across the the street from where we were and we has to cross to get to it.
Leo jumped in the front while I got in behind him. His Dad looked very much like him, same eyes, dame features, but he had  brown hair, the exact shade that Valeria's was.
"And you must Theo." He asked me, looking into the rear review mirror and smiling. "Thats me." I confirmed. "Just got to go pick up the youngster from middle school and then we'll head home." His Dad said.
He pulled away from the curb and drove down the street and turned onto the main road heading horizontal to the one the school was on. The car turned right and speed down the road, the opposite way from the bridge and turned left down a coldersack which came out on another road. One the left was a school that looked just like me and Leo's. 
His father pulled in by the curb where a boy with the same brown have as his father and the same eyes of his brother stood waiting. He flung the door open and looked at me. "This is Theo, Leo's friend." His father called to the boy. "Arthur. "He said and climbed in beside me.
The drive back to Leo's was silent, I got the vibe that Arthur didn't like me. We eventually pulled up to an apartment block, white concrete walls, with balconys and four stories high.
I followed behind Leo as we walked into the lobby and down a hallway where a few doors were and opposite them were three elevators. We hopped in the second one and Aurthur pressed the four.
"Fourth floor huh?" I said hoping to start up a conversation as the silence was getting awkward. "No, I just pushed that button for the hell of it, what do you think dumbass." Aurthur answered me and Leo smacked his over the head.
"That was rude Aurthur, and violence is not acceptable Leo." His father said as the doors opened again. We walked out, me trailing behind them not sure weather to spark up a chat or just to say quiet. We got to Leo's apartment and his father unlocked the door. The entrance way had a simple wardrobe and led into a simple living room with a kitchen, on the right was a bedroom and on the left was a another bedroom, a laundry and a guest bathroom. 
Aurther walked into the bedroom on the left and closes the door. "Do you want a drink?" Leo asked me. "Water please." I said quietly and he nodded grabbing two glasses and filling them to half way with filled water, he handed one to me and took a sip out of his. He walked over to a sliding glass door that walked out to a balcony with a metal banister. He sat down and looked over at me, he waved me over.
I walked over and sat with him. "How have you been with the news of you Dad?" He asked. "It's stressing me out, what if he gets custody of me? What if he...what if he hasn't changed?" I said. "He went to prison for what he did to you, they're not just going to hand you over to him without a heck of a fight." Leo told me.
"Oh yeah, Mikayla was wondering if I could stay here on Saturday while she and Madeline are at court because she wants me to be with a friend. Gabby and Dylan are also going to their friends houses. "
"Thats no problem, I can get May and Ray over to hang and we can have a hang out." Leo said as he picked up his phone.
"Yeah, that'd be great." I told him. He looked over at me. "You  like Scorpious don't you?" Leo asked me. "What?" I answered. "You have a crush on Scorpious." He said. I blinked. "How'd you work it out." I said.
"It's obvious, it's so obvious , you do so terribly as hiding it, your checks go bright red when he looks at you, you look like your breathing heavily and you can't seem to take your eyes of him." Leo laughed.
I shook my head and leaned back against the door. I was true, I couldn't take my eyes off him, my heart did speed up when I he looks at me and I cant help my checks when they go red, and I love everything about him, he's funny and kind, he's sweet and caring, he has the best jokes and I remember when we were out at his house, it was after he'd told me what happened with Valeria, we playing video games and he so good at it, eventhough he won, he didn't brag about it he just helped me with the controller and helped me win for the next one.
Leo was right. I shook my head. "Then he would have noticed to, wouldn't he, that's why he's avoiding me. I doesn't like me back, plus he has Valeria."
"Yeah, but he doesn't hate you, he sees you as a really good friend, he went behind Valeria's back just to keep you in the loop eventhough she's a phyco."
"But that was just the right thing to do." I said, I didn't dare bring up what happened at Scorpious' house when I had my break down. I just pushed the though to the back of my head and the though that in the moment, when he had his hand on my check, face so close to mine,  the want in the moment to kiss him, I pushed the though down. "Hey Leo? How long he here for?" Aurthur asked, suddenly appearing behind us, standing in the doorway. "He's here until five. Why?" Leo told him, cranning his neck to look at his little brother.
"Cause I don't like him." Aurthur said. "And what's do you have against him, you didn't talk to him during the ride over here and went straight to our room, what do you have against him?". Leo raised his voice.
He looked over at me and scowled. "Something is off about you..." He said to me and walked off. "I'm sorry about him." Leo said.
"Hey, I've got a burning question." I said to Leo and looked back at me. "Ask away." He smiled. "You showed me the text earlier from Valeria, whu and how do you have her number?" I asked. Leo stared at me. He sighed and shook my head. "I knew showing you that text would bring up that question." He said.
"Do you to know each other more closely that she's an ass to you?" I asked him and he shook his head. "She's a bad person,  and yeah I know her better tha  I let on. It's because It's slightly embarrassing. But it's nothing that compared to what you've been through -"
"I don't care about that, were not talking about me, were talking about you." I said.
"I'm embarrassed because Valeria...Valeria's my sister, were twins."