Familiar
At a quarter of eight the next morning, Leonardo awoke to his alarm, immediately noticing a difference in his physical strength. The majority of the fatigue from his dizzy spell and headache was gone, and he could stand on his own two feet without wobbling like a newborn deer.
Leo took a moment to stretch before checking his phone.
+
You have (1) new message from Blue
+
Blue
Good morning, Leonardo Diaz!
+
Why does she keep using my full name...
+
Purple
please just call me leo
you sound like a robot or something i swear
+
Blue
Haha! Should I speak less formally with you? I'm sorry, it has become a habit, I suppose.
+
Purple
right, well please stop
+
Blue
using lowercase is informal, right?
should i ditch the punctuation as well
+
Purple
okay forget it you're trying too hard i'm not teaching you how to text informally...
+
Blue
how are you this morning, leo?
+
Purple
better than yesterday
+
Blue
great news :)
+
Purple
yeah
i have class this morning so bye
+
Blue
okay! have a good day leo
+
Letting out a sleepy sigh, Leo tossed his phone aside and decided it would be better to get ready for the day. He walked to his room and changed into a pair of jeans and a plain shirt, then prepared himself a quick breakfast before leaving the apartment.
He wasn't really in the mood for classes right now. Looking back, Leonardo wished he had thought to sign up for an online course, but at the same time for the course he was majoring, in-person teaching and learning showed better results.
Twenty minutes later and Leo was parking his car, soon to moderately speed-walk into class as he had been doing a lot lately. No one had anything good to say to him and he knew that, so there was no reason to stop to even fake a hello.
No one, of course, except Savannah, and oddly enough, William.
"Hey, Leo, how's it going, man?"
Sliding into the seat next to the boy, William greeted Leo in a soft voice to avoid startling him. Once tentative eye contact was made he smiled through pursed lips.
"I can't tell if you're looking better or worse," William joked. His laugh was nervous, as though afraid to upset the other. "Won't you talk to me anymore?"
Leonardo twiddled his thumbs. Honestly, it wasn't that he wanted to ignore William, rather that he didn't quite know what to say.
"I promise I won't ask for your homework anymore. So can I get a good morning or something?"
He sounded genuine. At least enough that Leo didn't feel the need to roll his eyes or shrink even more into his shell. Biting his inner lip, he uttered in a quiet voice, "Morning."
This earned a genuine smile from William. "There we go!" He said cheerfully. "You feelin' alright?"
"I guess..."
"Better than a definite no. I'm glad to hear it."
There it was again. That odd, scratching feeling from the inside of his chest. Leo tensed for a moment. As much as he hated to trust people, he hated wrongly accusing them as well, but perhaps the former held a strong enough position in his mind that it often prevailed over the latter.
Additionally, the accusatory voices were terribly loud.
What if he's Blue?
"Ah, William-"
"Yeeees?"
A bright, eager smile on his face, William fluttered his eyelashes at the boy, evidently pleased to have heard his name spoken by the other. Leo had to resist rolling his eyes this time.
"Are you..."
He drew in a shallow breath.
"Are you...Blue?"
"Blue?"
Puzzlement. Leo scanned the boy's expression in the same way he had when asking Savannah this question the previous day. No suspicious reaction in the eyes.
"Not sure what you mean by that," William said with a chuckle, patting Leo's back. "If you mean sad, no, can't say that I am. Are you blue?"
"I'm p-" Was I seriously about to say 'I'm purple'? "No, I'm not. Forget I asked. Sorry."
"Oh, you don't have to apologize, Leo, I was just wondering what you meant, that's all—oh, hey, Savannah."
At the mention of the name, Leonardo shifted his attention instinctively to his left, looking up at the dark-haired girl now sitting next to him. She smiled at Leo and offered a friendly wave.
"Morning, Leo."
"...morning..."
"You feeling better?"
"Physically."
"Better than nothing."
"Hey, that's kinda what I said!" William added, beaming. "Positivity, gotta share it."
They're too optimistic...
It's what he needed. Even if he, himself, were slow to accept it, he needed the positivity, the optimism. Noah, as his best friend, had always been his own personal, emotional and motivational coach, but there was only so much text messages and phone calls could do sometimes. Not that he didn't appreciate them. Leo swore he'd die without them.
***
Another fortunate day of surviving classes. As usual, though, Leo wasn't too keen on sticking around for the risk of someone talking to him, so he gathered his things and hurried out as soon as his second class was over. Savannah, on the other hand, had been stopped momentarily by someone asking her about something their professor had said, because they happened to notice Savannah was a prolific note-taker.
This, naturally, deterred the girl from walking out of class with Leonardo. Disappointing, but she wasn't so rude as to ignore a simple request from someone who hadn't done her wrong.
At the same time, she didn't expect Leo to be in such a hurry. She knew the boy wasn't fond of staying behind any longer than he needed, but regardless, he moved faster than normal. And Savannah preferred to talk in person rather than over text. It was becoming easier, anyway, with Leo gradually beginning to warm up to her. Savannah didn't want to ruin it for herself, but rather build on it.
That being said, she hoped to catch Leo before the boy made a retreat to his car.
Luckily for her, she did manage to catch Leonardo. But only because of someone else happening to catch him first.
It occurred suddenly. An unexpected crossing of paths. Leo himself might have noticed it, as he had fallen into the habit of keeping his head turned towards the ground, but the other person reacted strongly enough that Leo couldn't ignore it.
"Leonardo! Long time no see, buddy!"
Like a harpoon to his chest. Leo's entire body froze up at the sound of the voice—a bit deeper than he remembered, but familiar nonetheless. And not the good kind of familiar. Not the pleasant, 'happy to see you again' kind of familiar. No, it was the bone-chilling, hateful nostalgia, trauma-inducing kind of familiar.
Regrettably lifting his head, Leo soon found himself eye to eye with James Payne.
The same boy who essentially ruined the majority of his high school career by spreading rumors and gossip about Leo and his condition.
And now here he stood before him again, taller, more built, but with that same despicable grin which struck that unshakeable fear in Leo's heart.
"Jame..James..."
"You haven't changed much at all, I see," the taller boy said in a cheery tone of voice, which was honestly even more terrifying to Leo. "I've been hearing about some kid hearing with odd colored blood and thought, 'man, could Leo really be here, too?' What are the odds, huh?"
He couldn't speak. On the verge of a panic attack, all Leonardo could really do was tremble and stare as James spoke to him like the two were old friends. He silently, internally begged and pleaded for the boy to just go away, to leave him alone, but even if he could speak, it wouldn't work, it never worked.
"So did Noah move here with you?" James asked, eyeing the ever-paling expression of the other. "You guys were inseparable in high school. Still talk to each other?"
His responses were limited to anxious head movements. In front of him, Leo clenched one hand with the other. He could feel how much he was sweating, how frantic his heart was beating, crying for a breath of peace, just a breath, just to breathe, he needed to breathe, but not like how he was breathing now, shaky, trembling.
Out of nowhere he felt another hand grab his own. And it pulled at him, forcefully enough to snap him from the daze he slipped into, enough to push his feet in the same direction that person ran.
"S-Savannah-"
The name fell from his mouth as a tearful, unsteady whisper that scarcely managed to reach Savannah, who cut him off with an urgent question of her own.
"Where's your car?"
Again, he couldn't bring himself to answer. Not with how weak his body felt right now, the collapse he predicted would approach soon if he didn't sit down or drink water or something. A hazy minute passed and Leonardo was sitting on the ground outside, back against the wall. Savannah sat beside him.
"...you...looked like you were about to have a nervous breakdown."
His breathing steadied after a long while. As did his vision, his hearing. However, still not fully able to shake the effects of the encounter, he turned to Savannah, no more color in his complexion than before. He found Savannah staring intently, wide-eyed, tender gaze fixed in place, even as Leo looked away again.
He felt like he was choking on his own emotions. Distressing memories he wished he could suppress, the bitter aftertaste of days he never wanted to relive, not even in his mind. His tears welled, throat clenching. Savannah placed her hand on the boy's shoulder.
"Leonardo...Leo, please, look at me."
Desperation, while still somehow maintaining that gentleness that demanded even more attention that shouting could.
"Leo, it's okay, he's gone, look at me, please, it's okay..."
It worked, though to the smallest degree. Leo looked at her again.
"James...James Payne," he choked out. "He...he spread the rumors, he made them all think I'm a freak. No, what am I saying...I am one, I am a freak, he's only right, I am a freak, I am-"
"Leonardo, shut up."
The unanticipated rigidness of Savannah's voice took Leo aback, so much that he flinched and a tear balancing on the tip of his eyelid spilled over. It was going to fall soon anyway but for some reason Savannah felt responsible for it.
"You're not a freak."
Leonardo's tears almost brought her own to surface. It hurt. To stare into those eyes. To even say these words to Leo, regardless of how deeply she meant them.
"You're not a freak, Leo. And there's nothing you can say that will ever convince me otherwise."
She wanted to hug him. Savannah's arms started to move on their own, and to her immense relief, Leo reciprocated the action by extending his own arms.
He needed a shoulder to cry on and Savannah knew that.
She'd be Leo's shoulder forever if she had to.