Shake it off

Chapter 11

Jason stopped him in the middle of the hallway. "Leo." He folded his arms and sighed disdainfully.

He grinned up at him. "What's up, Grace? Haven't heard much from you lately."

Jason was not in the mood. Leo Valdez hadn't talked/texted him in weeks. Yet this is how he is. Leo wasn't the type of friend that would get super clingy with you. Especially if you didn't interest him. If he found you boring than you were just out of luck, but when Jason walked up to him on the first day of school, he was a helluva lot more lucky than most. And for that, he was proud. "Well, maybe you should have answered my texts." 

Leo laughed lightly. "Sorry, Jase, I barely have time anymore."

"No time for your friends?" he asked, a little heartbroken. "Leo, come on." He could hear his own desperation in his voice. Desperate for Leo's acceptance. There must be something going on. He couldn't understand how Leo could be so calm, so content. "What's happening?"

He ran some fingers through his hair. "Nothing, really." he smiled kindly. Well, not really kindly just not unkindly. "Just nothing really interesting has happened with you guys in forever."

Jason's heart broke a little. He thought he meant more to Leo than that. He thought that he wasn't like those people that he knew Leo hung out with just because he didn't like being unpopular. Or those kids that he hung around just for things that he wanted, drugs, money, a ride, etc. "Leo, I know you hung out with Piper the other day, she got really weird when I asked her what you guys talked about."

Leo leaned against the wall, folding his arms over his chest. He gave a smile. "Maybe she just did want you to know that we smoked." he twisted a curl in his fingertips daintily, as if he honestly could care less. "I know how you feel about pot. Gateway drug, blah, blah, blah." He shrugged.

Jason suddenly felt anger well in his chest. He knew it. He knew that Piper had done something like that. "I told her not to do that!" he sighed.

Leo snorted, sort of bitterly. A kid in the hallway had just tripped over his feet. Leo's eyes held amusement, an annoyance, and a bitterness that Jason couldn't seem to understand. "I guess it doesn't matter anymore if I do drugs does it?"

Jason looked at him, confused. "What are you talking about?"

Leo sighed sadly, that "I don't really care" persona dropping. His voice was gruff, less annoyed, more sad, worn, bitter. "Just, you guys are all so caught up in your own little worlds. Mine doesn't seem to matter much anymore."

"Leo, that's not-"

"No, but it is." he interrupted. "You don't want that to be the way it is, but it is anyways."

This shocked Jason. He looked down at Leo with wide eyes. He was never so emotional. He never actually tells Jason if something's wrong, or what it is. Normally, Piper tells him that Leo's sad. Half the time he doubts Piper even knows whats wrong with him. "Leo, whats wrong?"

Leo shrugged his shoulders. "I'm just annoyed, Grace. Things have been a little crazy lately."

Jason wanted more explanation than that. Instead of investigating on the matter, he just sighed. Leo didn't have to reiterate if he didn't want to. He'd probably just get around the question anyways. He's good at that. "Okay, you wanna hang out later?"

He shrugged again, watching the people pass in the hallway, yet nit paying attention. It seemed that Leo was somewhere else completely.

Jason lent over and snapped his fingers in front of his friends face. "Valdez?"

Leo jumped, as if he forgot that he was there, which was a little unnerving. "What did you say?"

"I was saying that we should hang out today."

Leo seemed to mull over this for a bit. He took out a piece of paper, and looked over it, as if checking. "Studying, Mom, cleaning, and that's if they say I can..."

Jason really wanted to hang out with Leo today, and he really needed to talk to him. Sure, Piper was great and all, but if he kept spending all his time, his money, on her, where would he end up? He kept forgetting that he already had Piper, therefore didn't need to pine after her anymore. Leo had become less and less important, and he knew that. He knew that it was stupid of him to neglect Leo when the boy had been his best friend for forever. Bros before hoes was always a rule, even when Leo charmed the ones in the hallway into letting him see their math homework, Jason never minded, because he knew Leo would drop them in a second if Jason needed him. Then Piper comes around, and then everything changes. Jason started walking with her in the morning instead. He stopped texting Leo as much. He studied more at her house than Leo's. The amount of time with Piper compared to the amount of time compared with Leo had changed drastically. He saw Leo walking the halls with the populars instead of them. He saw Leo get into the basketball team. He saw him skip freshman year. Leo Valdez was a person of walking achievements, and yet Jason pretended he want there for his own benefit. He didn't want to feel bad, and he didn't want yo minimize the amount of time he spent with Piper.

Piper was not better than Leo. Piper is just a person. She is a person. Its somehow hard to remember that. She's pretty. She's got those eyes. She's just a person, so he didn't understand why he would neglect another person just to be with this girl. This girl that he was in love with, and this girl that was somehow becoming his entire world. Even though he knows that's wrong.

"Well, if you can, then text me, okay?"

Leo nodded deftly. He ran fingers through his hair. "I've got to get to class."

Jason let him go, hoping they could fix this, even while Leo seemed awfully distracted.

--

Jason went to Leo's house. He was pretty sure that he want going to text him. He was ADHD, and extremely forgetful, so he could never hold that against him.

He went to Leo's house, and went up to the window. He could see straight in, as always. Leo was inside his room, sitting cross-legged on his bed writing. The only thing different was that there was another person there. A guy, with black hair and a blue hoodie. He was talking vividly to Leo, seemingly about a small topic.

He smiled bashfully at Leo, "My mom said she doesn't like you doing so much house work in our house." the boy shrugged.

Leo sighed. "Percy, I love helping your mom around the house. She's like family to me."

Percy shrugged. "Okay? So? I'm her son but I only do the absolutely mandatory stuff."

Leo shrugged. "Maybe you're just a bad kid."

Percy shoved him, not hard, playfully. "I'm such a good kid! You're the one that's bad!"

"I am not!"

"Whatever."

"Percy, don't be an ass."

"Such vulgar language for a "good kid"." Percy made air quotes.

Jason watched the two banter, and felt a little left out. Had Leo already acquired a new best friend? What about Jason. He knew he had neglected Leo in the past, he just hadn't put a stop to it. He always thought that he would be able to go back and talk to Leo about it whenever. Now was it too late?

He hadn't realized how much he needed Leo until these last few weeks. In all honesty, it seemed that Leo had always been the third wheel in the group of three. He was never sure why, it had just always been that way.

Jason shook his head and turned away, fixing his glasses on the bridge of his downturned nose.

He walked away.

Chapter eleven. Wow. Okay, just want to say that im sorry for not posting as often as I should. Honestly sorry. I just got a new girlfriend, and my parents aren't so open minded as some, so things have been a little tough.

Please comment, vote, all that. Most of all, please continue to enjoy my story. Im not always able to write, but when I do I feel like im doing something right. Thank you for that.