The Misunderstanding of Leo [Editing]

Chapter 2

            Walking home from school was extremely easier than it was this morning. The major difference was the weather. The typical blaring heat of Texas was a great contrast to the strangely cool temperature in the morning. Since the way home is relatively short, I try my hardest to hurry.

I freeze and turn slowly at the sound of someone shouting "Hey kid!" I see the face of Brian Adams.

"Is everything alright?" I slowly ask.

"I heard you talked to my girlfriend this morning. I don't want you speaking to her again, you hear?"

"All she did was offer a ride to school, which I turned down. I promise I won't speak to her again." I cautiously turn back around and continue my way home.

A car door slams behind me and I take off running. I'm tackled to the ground before long and flipped onto my back. "I wasn't finished with you punk. Even my teammates know not to talk to Sierra, even when she talks to them first. I guess you just need the lesson I've taught every single one of them." Before I can blink, my head is forced to the right, my cheek stinging. Brian Adams had punched me. Right on the face.

"I said I promise not to talk to her, isn't that enough?" I struggle to move from my place under Brian, trying to loosen his grip on me.

"I don't understand why you're struggling, I'll let you up when I want to. That'll only be after you learn your lesson." He smirks before punching my left cheek again. Instead of taking the punch like I had before, I retaliate, slamming my fist against Brian's flawless face. His expression changes quickly between surprised and furious, and I'm not sure which one I'm more afraid of.

"You did not just do that." He says after regaining his composure. I'm unable to form an answer, too shocked with myself for actually fighting back. "You're going to wish you had never done that." He growls, raising his hand in preparation for a particularly powerful punch.

He is interrupted by a new voice coming from around us. "Hey, stop!" I look up to see the one unrecognizable face from this morning. Her auburn hair sticks to her face and neck, clearly unused to the heat.

"New girl, do you mind backing off? This kid here needs to learn his lesson."

"I think he already has. Now, I'll only ask nicely once. Please, go away and leave him alone." She confidently stands a few feet from where I'm lying on the asphalt, challenging the brute on top of me. He slowly pushes off of me and stands, walking over to the girl.

"What are you going to do if I don't?"

"It's not about what I would do, it's about what I already did." She smirks holding up her cell phone. From my place on the ground, I can't decipher what the screen shows, but I assume she had called the police or something similar.

"You crazy-" Brian is interrupted by the girl's sing-song voice. "I wouldn't finish that sentence if I were you. It could get you in more trouble."

The sound of sirens fills the air, forcing Brian and his friends to run. The girl runs to my side and helps bring me to my feet. "Are you alright?"

I look at her, confused. "What do you mean? I just got into a fight, shouldn't I be mewling on the ground in pain?"

"I guess you can, I mean, it's up to you. I was really meaning why that guy was punching you."

"That guy is Brian Adams, and I talked to his girlfriend this morning." I sheepishly look away.

"Wait, you're telling me this entire situation was caused by you exchanging words with a fellow human being?" I nod, looking at her shocked expression. "That's the stupidest reason to ever fight someone! I can understand him getting upset if his girlfriend cheated on him with you, but not this!"

"Well, I can't exactly dignify his reasons for punching me." I grin, letting out a small laugh.

"No, I guess you can't. I'm Faith if you didn't know." She reaches out her hand which I gently shake. The police officers arrive, finally, breaking up our chat.

"I'll need to get a statement from each of you on the situation." The first officer says, stepping out of the cruiser.

"Yes sir," I say to the officer. "It was great meeting you Faith, can we continue our talk after giving our statements?"

"That sounds reasonable. It shouldn't take long, right officer?" She turns smiling.

"It should take at most ten minutes. I'll need you both to call your parents." The officer walks back to the cruiser and retrieves a notebook from his partner.

"Do you have a phone to call your parents?" Faith looks up at me from her phone.

"I had one, but I always leave it at home during the school day," I reply, running a hand through my coarse hair. "Do you think that after you're finished calling your parents I could borrow your phone?"

"I see no problem with that." She smiles before walking off to talk to her parents.

"I guess we can start with me," I say to the officer. "What do you need?"

***

"Dad, I'm serious. I didn't do anything to provoke him. I was just walking home and he got upset that I had talked to his girlfriend this morning."

"That had better be the whole story." My dad replies from the phone.

"I swear it's the truth. I have to go, I'll be home soon."

"I'll see you when you get home. Which had better be in the next twenty minutes." I smirk a little and hang up the phone. I hand the phone back to Faith and sit down on the ground.

"Are you okay? I can't believe I haven't asked you that yet! You were over here getting beat up and I'm not even considerate about how you might be hurting." She grips her hair, slightly pulling it.

"Hey, Faith. I'm alright." I stand up and take her hands, making her release her hair. "You shouldn't pull your hair."

"I know I shouldn't, it's a bad habit of mine. Why did you seem so surprised by me helping you earlier?"

"I looked surprised?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, your face really showed it."

"That was probably when I actually fought back. I've never done that before."

"NEVER?" She looks at me incredulously.

"No, I'm sort of a loser around here. Are you sure you want to hang out with me? I mean, you're the cute new girl and I'm just a nobody black kid. I'm not the go-to guy for new kids."

"You seem nice, why wouldn't I hang out with you?"

"Everyone wants to hang out with other people. I thought you might be the same way." I look down at my watch, realizing five out of my twenty minutes have already gone by. "Faith, I really liked talking to you, but I need to get home. My dad told me twenty minutes five minutes ago."

"I can walk you if you'd like?" She smiles, to which I can't help but shake my head.

"I guess you can. It's a free country."

"Lead the way mister," She stops and looks at me. "You never told me your name! I told you mine, it's only fair that I know yours."

"Well Faith, if you really want to know, my name is Leo. Leo Hawthorne."