Lessons || MJ

Lessons || Chapter 8

THE KID

Bulletproof glass divided me and Calvin. The heels of my boots clicked with every pace back and forth. I shook my head over and over. My eyes stared down at the floor in between. Behind his protective glass, that monster scowled at me, but I never flinched. Bodyguards surrounded my walking just in case.

"Where's my baby?" Calvin hissed, still writhing in his straitjacket.

One of the medical experts alongside me carefully held a capped syringe between her rubber gloved fingers. Sedative mostly. I'd always kept these employees around as a safeguard. We'd only injected this devil twice. How I longed to shoot him dead myself given every bit of pain Leslie had gone through.

At the same time, demons in my own closet already dwindled thoughts of such an act. If police shut down this place and found out I'd harbored a fugitive like myself, Piglet would never look at me the same way again. The day Leslie threatened with a gun, I knew Morris had scurried off to warn everyone. Calvin had been in the dark and squirmed behind this very same glass, clueless.

Just how I wanted him to be.

"None of your business." I locked glares with this monster.

"Come on, Nelson." Calvin grumbled back. "Spill. With this straitjacket, I can't go anywhere. You might as well tell me."

My eyes narrowed before I scoffed at him now. "And risk the chance of you escaping to find her? Absolutely not. I may have sinned many times over, but you moved beyond revenge."

"How is what I did any more gruesome than you randomly killing people on the spot?" Calvin mumbled with a slightly puzzled expression on his face.

I chuckled to myself and stared at the boots I wore again. "My brother, I don't think you honestly know who I am. Threaten me and I'll threaten you. Did you honestly forget that my boys almost destroyed you? Killing Jerome was beyond foul, boy."

"He couldn't keep up during that shootout, so I got lucky and smoked him. What did you expect?" Calvin titled his head.

"No. He shot..." I stopped myself from arguing further and tossed up both hands. "Put Smith back on lockdown and turned these lights off. I'm done." I nodded to a bodyguard and the man worked accordingly. Other security and the medical experts filed out with me, returning to their own corners of my hideout.

__

Exhausted, I drummed my fingers on the wooden desk, staring at another picture of Leslie, myself and Jerome. About three years back. I'd never forget seeing Morris fail with Karaoke at underground bar run by my father. Mafia as well regrettably.

I shook my head once more thinking of Leslie. Who in their right mind thought it was a good idea put her in a college environment? The woman barely pushed thirty now. Maybe witness protection figured that she looked too young for any other place.

Whatever the case, she made a point to never come back here for obvious reasons. As I've said, Calvin didn't even know that Piglet was here at all. As long those two remained divided, I could somehow sleep at night.

**

DARRYL

By Wednesday, Leslie appeared back to normal. She and Yvonne found their rightful places with us at lunch again. Max even placed his arm around Leslie more often. I didn't know what to think, but allowed my friend to have his fun or whatever.

Still, it didn't help that Leslie flirted with him every now and then. I rolled my eyes. There was only a matter of time before they willingly kissed in public or something. That should've been me, but to kill my friendship would change things forever.

Max nearly closed the space between himself and Leslie while sitting. I almost gagged right now, fed up. His voice whispered to her almost lovingly once more. Turk, Fredrick and Yvonne could only smile now. Again, I didn't know what to think.

And then, I finally spoke up.

"Max, could I talk to you for a second?" I kept my voice low and as calm as possible. Before doing anything else, Max kissed the top of Leslie's head, winking for everyone at this table. I could've fainted and puked all at once.

We both rose from the table, but didn't step too far away from everyone else. Max cleared his throat before speaking first. "What's up?"

My face scrunched. "Are you serious? You can't just flirt with her like that. This ain't high school." Fellow students talked nearby. I wouldn't look at our table and decided to focus on this conversation.

Max shook his head. "Don't be mad at me because you ain't scored with the ladies since high school. Leslie flirts back and everything."

"Grow up." I mumbled, staring down at this floor. Noise of those other students continued around us. I scoffed once more.

"Says the brother that won't stop complaining about my happiness. Cry all you want, but we like each other and I'm taking her to the movies Friday."

My eyes narrowed and I nearly stammered. "What?"

Max raised an eyebrow, nodding. His footsteps walked around me. "Yeah. Yeah. I'm taking her to the movies. First date, too. Doesn't feel good, does it? You've kept up a high GPA than me, but your social skills flop so much."

Why, Jehovah? Why? I thought to myself.

"As friends, would you at least tell me how it went later?" I smiled.

"No." Max replied.