by Lannah Smith
And when he pressed his lips to mine, I was laughing too.
Chapter 33
Six years ago, John and Leon at age eleven
"I don't want to leave you," John told Leon morosely. "I don't want to move."
Leon gave him a brave smile. "Are you afraid you'll be bullied in your new school?"
John raised his eyebrows. "Are you forgetting who I am? I'm sure I'll be the king of my new school when I get there."
"Or the king of fourth grade," Leon chuckled.
John frowned. "I'm worried about you, Leon. With your Dad gone-"
"I still have Mom so I'll be okay," Leon quickly reassured him.
"And I don't want to leave your Mom. If only she didn't reject me, I would have been your new Dad by now."
Leon shook his head. "You're being silly again."
John grinned. Then his grin died when his driver called out, saying they needed to leave.
"I have to go now," John told Leon. "I'm going to call alright? And you better pick up."
"Ok."
"We can still play online."
Leon made a sound that seemed like he was choking on air. John knew that he was holding back his laughter. "Yeah, of course."
"And I can still visit."
"Right."
Leon's mother came out, thankfully ending the barrage of questions, holding a bag of cookies. "Finished this on time," she said, giving John a warm smile. "Take care, John. I'll miss having you around."
"I will too, Auntie," John said. "Are you sure you don't want to be my bride?"
She laughed. "Try asking me again after ten years, dear."
"Mom!" Leon whined. "Don't encourage him. And he still has his precious Yukiko."
John laughed. Then he hugged them both goodbye. Blinking back tears because Steele men don't cry, he gave them one last wave before he got in his car.
That was the last time John saw them standing together.
That was the last time he saw Maria Gage.
That was the last time he saw Leon smile happily.
Because the next time John saw her, it was inside a coffin.
And Leon was crying, wailing, calling out for his mother in front of it.
"We need more months of summer," John grumbled, wincing at the bright sun as he stepped out of his truck.
"6 AM is a real number again," Skull yawned as he stopped beside him.
Rohan snorted, his hands deep into the pockets of his hooded jacket. "You guys should start thinking about going to bed early."
"This coming from the guy with eye bags as dark as a raccoon's?" John said sarcastically.
"I was finishing some quests."
"You've been finishing quests since the start of summer that you haven't left the house much."
"Wasn't that his mother's fault?" Skull frowned. "She doesn't let him out much since Leon beat him up."
John thought about it. "You're right." Then he eyed Rohan. "At least you should have invited us to your place."
Rohan gave him a disgusted look. "And see you making passes at my stepsisters again? Fuck no."
"Protective, much?"
"Shut up, Skull."
John didn't try to stop his chuckle when the two began arguing again. He reached into his jacket, pulled out his cell phone and looked at the screen. Terry hadn't sent him any text but then again, she seldom did. She said texting was a waste of energy and she'd rather they called each other.
Thinking of Terry brought a deep-seated happiness inside of him.
They were back together.
Finally.
He was playing with his rings again, John noticed, when he saw the sour expression on Rohan's face. And that expression soured even more because Rohan knew what, or who he was thinking of.
"Leon arrive yet?" John asked, clearing his throat and looking around. Damn it, but he was getting hard just thinking about her.
"He should be," Skull answered. "He still comes to school with Sophia right?"
Shoving his phone back into his jacket, he started to move to school. "I'll go to class, see if he's there-"
"John."
John stopped moving and looked at Skull.
Skull wasn't looking at him. He was looking at the direction of the school, his face hard. John twisted his head to see what caught Skull's attention. Then his gut tightened painfully.
Suzie Turner.
The girl he saved two years ago. The girl who was brutally raped.
"She's back," Skull whispered.
"Who's back?" Rohan asked, confused. He didn't know about the rape incident, considering he was still in middle school back then.
John's gut tightened further. "Shit," he breathed.
"What?" Rohan turned to him.
"John," someone called out to him and he slid his gaze to the side. Leon was walking towards them.
Shit, shit, shit.
"I'll have some people on her," Skull suggested quietly. "Keep her safe and away from Leon."
"Good," John said, swallowing in panic. Then pasting a grin on his face, he met Leon halfway. "Hey, Leon. What's up?"
"I already saw her."
He let his smile drop.
This didn't sound good.
"I'll go and... do the thing now, John," Skull said as he walked up to them with a grumbling Rohan on tow.
"He already knows, Skull," John muttered.
Skull nodded. "Good, then I don't have to tiptoe around him." Looking at Leon, he said, "We'll make sure she's fine. Don't worry about her."
"Who's we?" Rohan inserted. "And who is she?"
"Let's go, Rohan."
"You're not answering my questions!"
Shit, this will certainly rile the school up, John thought grimly as he watched Skull drag Rohan away. The gossip-mongers were going to have a field day, the school vine had probably been activated and her bullies, fuck, John really had to look out for her and for them.
The tightening in his gut started not to feel so hot.
Why the hell did she have to come back?
"Let's just go to class," John muttered.
"Are you okay?" Leon asked, his brows drawn together.
John resisted the urge to clench his fists. "Why are you asking that?"
Leon stared at him. John tried to compose his face into a neutral expression while his best friend studied him. Then Leon shook his head.
"If that's how you want to play it then fine," Leon muttered.
In the end, he didn't resist. John clenched his fists, frozen with anger.
Of course he wasn't okay.
After seeing Suzie in such a fucking state two years ago, raped and beaten, his mind went blank with fury. And after seeing Leon's reaction, he was behind him when they found her, Leon was devastated, so devastated at the sight that John went out of his fucking mind.
If this was how John felt after seeing some complete stranger in such a terrible way, it had to be a hundred times, no, a million times worse for Leon.
And he felt it. John felt it deep in his bones.
He'd hunted the bastard who did this, not Leon like the rumors said, him.
Leon had locked himself in his house, his nightmares plaguing him. And after he played with the sick fuck who did that to her, let Leon have his way with him too, he made sure Suzie got all help that she needed anonymously. And he also made sure it was a clean job.
He felt a touch on his shoulder and he looked at Leon. "Are you sure you're really alright?" Leon asked worriedly.
John made a smile for him. "Erase that gloomy look on your face and worry about yourself, idiot."
John watched his eyes flashed right before his best friend said softly, "I'm not the one being gloomy right now."
Yeah, but John knew Leon would be later, when he had time to think about Suzie, and there would be no doing anything about his bad mood again.
As they went to class, John's mind was on Suzie.
He didn't have a good feeling about her return.
And us
ually, his feelings were spot on.
Was I smiling?
I wasn't sure.
But when more than a couple of people greeted me as I walked the halls, telling me good morning and asking how my summer was, I was pretty sure that if I wasn't smiling then the pinched expression Hannah told me I always had must not be present on my face.
Many people loitered in the halls, talking and sharing their summer outings and stories and where they got their tan. They were still in the happy throes of summer vacation.
I was too.
I definitely was.
God, but the summer was too dang short this year.
I walked up the stairs to my new classroom, ready to start the day. I had so many things to do being in the student council, arranging the meeting for the voting of the new year representatives, and possibly also becoming the class president. The day had barely started but I was already swamped with work and I wasn't looking forward to it like I had before. It meant no free time.
It meant not much quality time with John.
"You're blocking the door," I told Hannah and Sophia, who were indeed blocking the entry way when I arrived, both looking like they were arguing again.
"Morning, Terry," Sophia said as she took a step back from Hannah.
"Terry!" Hannah exclaimed, clinging to my arm. "Guess what?"
"What?" I asked with a frown.
"I said hey to Leon."
"Wow, that is so newsworthy. We need to call the press. Like, right now."
Hannah rolled her eyes. "I forget how sarcastic you could be in the morning."
"You're still blocking the door, you know," I pointed out with a sigh.
Amusement lit up Sophia's face and she turned to get inside the room, placing her things on a desk next to the window. I followed and slid into the empty seat next to her, taking out my notebook and pen, ready to start the day. Hannah hopped on Sophia's desk and leaned forward with a cheeky grin.
"So have you used my birthday gift to you yet?" she asked Sophia.
Sophia scowled up at her. "I threw them away."
"What a waste of condoms."
Not really, I distractedly thought as I read up the memo from the student council. John and I made very good use of them that night in Skull's private resort.
"Do you have protection?" I had asked him after he lifted me up, walked me to the bed and put me in it, joining me there.
John lifted a stack of boxes. "Found them outside."
I laughed. "That was Hannah's gift for Sophia. I see she threw them away."
"Well, it's a shame if they're wasted."
"A shame indeed."
We went at it like rabbits the rest of the summer. I felt like a thief with all the sneaking around, evading my bodyguards, dodging people left and right just to see John.
It was easy when we were in school. Even during the summer, I had to keep going to begin my work with the student council and prepare for the new school year. John would meet me there and we'd sneak into an empty classroom and... do the deed.
John wasn't letting me keep my rules anymore. He said life was too short and to hell with them. I let him have his way this time. God knows I've a lot of making up to do.
All was well in the morning as classes went on. Hannah kept grumbling about how the teachers liked to torture us the first day by giving us a lot of work to be done. I didn't know why she kept getting surprised. This always happened on the first day and East Private was still an elite school after all.
Hannah sped for the door as soon as morning classes were over, the bell laughing quietly after her. She was going to gossip with Mary and Cecil who were in the class next door. I took my time, packing my things into my bag. I was thinking about John, thinking how disappointing and frustrating it was that we couldn't have lunch together.
A text message flashed on the screen of my cellphone. It was from Carol, the previous freshman year representative. Thinking she was asking what time the meeting was, she was too flighty so she tended to forget things, I immediately picked up my phone from my desk.
Chills went up my spine when I read the message.
OMG. Suzie Turner is back.
"Suzie."
She turned her head around when John called her name inside the stairwell.
Her eyes flashed when they landed on him. John took a deep breath as he went down the stairs and watched her turn fully around to face him when he reached the landing.
It was hard, approaching her for the first time since that shit went down. He could still see it vividly, her bleeding between the legs, face swelling and bruised and her eyes red and bloodshot from crying too much. Still, it must be harder on her since that shit happened to her and she was going to have to live with that memory for the rest of her life.
But he needed to talk to her. He'd rather take the fall than his best friend and he'd rather be the one plagued with the brutal remembrance of that time.
"John," she murmured and to his surprise, she smiled.
He stared at her. She wasn't the same girl, he realized. She wasn't the same girl who wore the skimpiest outfits and the caked face and she definitely wasn't the same girl with the bitch attitude. There was still a cloud hovering over her from the expression on her face but it wasn't the same dark cloud that hovered over his best friend, no. She actually seemed to be at peace, with herself or with what happened to her, John wasn't sure.
"Why are you back?" he bluntly stated.
Her eyes flashed again. "Am I this unwelcomed?"
"You know the people here, Suzie," he stated. "You grew up in this school. They're going to be vicious especially since they don't know the truth and probably never will. They'll eat you alive."
"I don't care," she softly said. "I didn't come back for them."
"Then who did you come back for?"
"You."
John's head jerked back.
"And Leon," she finished. "I wanted to... to thank you for what you've done for me."
He shook his head. "You don't need to thank us."
"I do," she pressed. "If it weren't for you guys, I... I don't know how I would have lived right now."
"Fine. You're welcome. If that is what you need then maybe you'll think about changing schools now?" he asked hopefully.
She chuckled low. "Can I talk to Leon?"
His face grew tight. "Not a chance, Suzie."
Her lips pursed. "I knew you would say that. You're still overprotective of him."
"Suzie—."
"Class is starting, John," she said as she gave him her back. "I'll see you around. And if you ever need my help, don't hesitate to ask me. I promise you I'll do anything for you guys."
John gritted his teeth as he watched her leave. He knew it. Her return meant trouble. This didn't bode well, especially since she wanted to see Leon. And he had a feeling she wouldn't stop until she was able to talk to him personally.
With no choice, he continued to walk down the stairs and walked out of the regular building to go to the special. Unless he used force, he wasn't getting rid of Suzie and the girl had been to through much already that he couldn't do anything but let her be. Might as well warn Leon, John sullenly thought. He didn't want him surprised nor ambushed by Suzie.
"She wants to talk to you," he told Leon when he arrived in their classroom.
Leon lifted his head from the syllabus he was reading. "Who?"
John took the seat next to him, his eyes scanning the classroom they were in; empty except for the two them. Huh. Maybe he should persuade Terry to transfer.
His eyes alighted on Leon and he frowned. "You know who."
Leon stared at him, then returned his attention to the syllabus. "The teacher wants us to fill the form on our desks, by the way."
"Where is he?"
"In the office."
John nodded thoughtfully before leaning back into his seat. "I still can't believe she is back," he muttered. "Did you know she'll return?"
"I don't really g
ive a fuck."
"Yeah, I know. But she has guts, doesn't she?"