Panic Room

Flashback 8- 'The Castillo Business: Pt 2'

Juno sighed, the loud final period bell ringing loudly, the class of sweaty, depressed, high schoolers he was in all rushing to get out the door.

He slouched over, trying to avoid contact with everyone, especially a certain girl he knew.

"JUUUNNNOOOOO!"

Everyone around him turned around, seeing the tall, grinning girl waving widely by the door Juno was trying to walk away from.

He sighed, cursing under his breath as she ran over to him, quickly directing him to walk the other way with her.

"Wanna make some moneyyyy?" Was the first thing she said, a sly smile on her face as Juno raised an eyebrow at her.

"If you're suggesting getting a job, you know my parents still wont let me." Juno grumbled, trying to disappear as she walked next to him, making heads turn to her loud and tall nature.

"I still say that's some major bullshit!"

"Tell me about it," Juno said sarcastically, rolling his eyes, "But if I wasn't home all the time then who would they yell at and hit for no reason?"

"Relatable, but back to my point..."

Leona cut herself off, stopping at the benches outside the school, throwing her backpack on the ground and sitting down.

Juno reluctantly followed, sitting down next to her, knowing Lea wasn't gonna let him leave anytime soon.

"So yeah, my brother, you know Mark? Well apparently he wants me to help him with a special job or something, just for tonight. He said I'd get a lot of money, and like, I don't wanna do it without my bestie." She nudged him playfully, Juno flinching and grabbing his arm, hissing in pain slightly.

Leona retracted her arm quickly, looking slightly guilty and Juno straightened himself back out.

"Again?" She asked quietly, for what seemed like the first time in ever.

"It doesn't matter, anyways, isn't Mark in with some bad people?" Juno questioned, glancing over at Lea with a confused face.

Leona shrugged, bouncing her leg up and down as they talked.

"He doesn't talk about it a lot, but he told me it would be safe."

Juno stared at her.

"....relatively safe."

Juno sighed loudly, crossing his arms and leaning back against the bench.

"Whatever, long as it gets me out of the house, the money sounds nice too. How much? Like a hundred?"

Leona grinned at him happily.

"500, each."

Juno looked at her, dumbfounded.

"And where is he getting this money from? Did he rob a store of something?"

"His client or whatever, he makes a lot of money for a high school drop out you know."

Leona grabbed her backpack, seemingly digging around for something as Juno thought everything she'd said over.

"500 bucks? What are we gonna be doing exactly?" Juno questioned aloud, throwing his hands up into the air.

"Aha!" Leona exclaimed, pulling up an apple and tossing it into the air, looking at Juno like she was waiting for some impressed reaction.

When her friend just stared at her, she huffed, leaning back and pouting as she took a bite of the apple.

"So?" Juno asked, Lea looking at him confused as she swallowed.

"So what?"

"What exactly are we gonna be doing to get us 500 bucks each?"

Leona smiled brightly again.

"Right! So basically were just supposed to come with his friend or something to help distract some lady or something, I'm not too sure."

Juno nodded slowly, his gaze wandering as he watched the last of the few kids around disappear from view as they walked home.

"You in or not?" Leona asked, waving a hand in front of Juno's face, snapping him back to attention.

"Oh right, sure." Juno said, hesitating a bit before Leona jumped up.

"Yay! This'll be like a super spy mission!" She yelled, striking a stupid action pose and dropping her apple, causing Juno to actually break into a small smile.

Just as she did, a group of boys passed by them, laughing and nudging each other.

"Damn girl! You flexible as hell, that'll come in handy later!" One guy hollered, his friends all snickering around him.

Leona slowly went back to a normal standing position, looking at the ground so her bangs covered her eyes.

Next thing they knew, the guy was on the ground and thick red blood ran down his nose, along with it running down Juno's fist.

"Fucking psycho!" One of his friends yelled, Leona quickly pulling Juno back and grabbing his hand, dragging him along as she bolted.

She only stopped running once they reached the gas station near Leona's house, both breathing heavily.

"You... left... our backpacks..." Juno mustered out, trying to regulate his breathing as Leona shrugged, holding her sides.

"It's... fine..." She told him, waving it off while they both leaned against the cool cement wall.

After a few minutes, Leona looked over at him.

"Why'd you do that Juno?" She asked slowly, as she never had seen him with any other emotion besides maybe a small smile every three years.

"They were harassing you." Juno stated flatly, looking at his hand in disgust as it was still covered in the guy's blood.

"So? You say that like it hasn't happened before."

"I wasn't there when it happened."

They both stayed quiet for a minute, before Leona finally blurted out,

"You know I'm gay right?"

Juno paused, turning to her with a shocked yet amused face.

"...what?"

"It's just like I don't want you to get a crush on me or anything cause I only like girls and like-"

She was cut off by Juno bursting out with laughter.

Leona stared at him as he bent over, laughing so hard his face turned red.

"W-what? No- that's-" He kept on laughing, eventually getting Leona giggling, and soon enough they were both laughing hard enough that they had tears.

After they finally calmed down, Juno turned to her, still smiling a little.

"You're my friend, that's reason enough to stand up for you Lea."

Leona wiped her eyes as she giggled a little more, hesitating before hugging Juno tightly.

He froze for a second having not been hugged in years.

He smiled, hugging his only friend back.

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Unedited

Word Count: 1087

WOW OKAY so I love Juno and Leona if you couldn't tell, these flashbacks are different the most fun for me to write, anyways, I hope you all enjoyed! Make sure to vote and comment your thoughts! I hope you all have a good day and/or night!