Chapter 5

                                                               Leo

After the lovely conversation I had with my sister, I started to remember Astrid, and more specifically, why my sister had a vendetta against her. I didn’t like her at all still, due to our past with her, I just didn’t want to be anywhere near her; My sister, on the other hand, wanted to have her either banished from anywhere our Pack had influence, or fight her. I couldn’t blame her though, in my opinion, Astrid wasn’t even worth our time at this point, but I wasn’t going to tell my sister what to do; The last time I tried to do that, I ended up in charge of both of our chores and more, with my father lecturing me on how it wasn’t my job to order her around. 

“Hey, Leo,” Ajax, another member of the football team, said as he caught up to me “You heading to the gym?”

“Me? No, I’m going to go turn myself in for grand larceny. I accidentally stole a pencil sharpener from the main office, and I’m too lazy to return it,” I said as I continued making my way towards the gym.

“Your sarcasm never ends, does it? Could you give this to the coach for me? I’ve got to go help a friend find his next class,” He said as he handed me a form, most likely the sign-up form for the football season. 

“No problem, what’s the class your friend is looking for? We both know I know these halls better than you, any day of the week.”

“He’s looking-”

“Writer’s Workshop,” A voice said from behind Ajax, it was that kid from my first hour, only now I had a better look at him and I could honestly agree with what Jocelyn was talking about earlier. 

“Oh, yeah, Writer’s Workshop is in room 31 downstairs. Ajax, you know where that is?”

“Yeah, yeah I remember the room; Thank you, Leo,” He said before ushering the other dude away towards the stairwell. 

I made a mental note to talk to Jocelyn about the dude later and carried on towards gym class. I handed Ajax’s note to the coach before sitting down on the bleachers and half-heartedly listening to the coach as he explained everything. I only took gym because, one, it was necessary to graduate, and two, it would give me something to do when I was riled up or had excess energy. The coach continued lecturing about how the grades worked and reminded everyone that they needed to take their gym clothes home every week to keep them washed. After what seemed like an hour's worth of lecturing, he dismissed us and brought out some basketballs, and frisbees, and said that today would be a ‘free day’.

“So long as you’re doing something, even if it’s just walking around the gym, you’ll get your points for the day,” He said before calling me over to him, “Thank you for bringing me Ajax’s form, are you going to be doing football again this year, or no?”

“I’m thinking about it, Coach,” I said as I followed him around the court, “I’ll be honest, as fun as it’s been the last couple of years, it’s getting boring.”

“Oh really? Why do you think that is?”

“With your coaching style, Blood Moon’s football team is only getting better each year; But, what’s the point of me playing if every time I do it’s a cakewalk?”

“I’d like to hear you say that to a college football player, Leo,” He said as we passed one of the basketball hoops, “They’d do to you what you do to every team you’ve gone up against thus far. The only way that Blood Moon keeps our track record like it’s been is by not getting ahead of ourselves and keeping our training going. If it’s getting too easy for you, I’ll crank it up a notch for you.”

“Thank you, Coach, it’s good to know you still enjoy torturing me,” I said through a chuckle before grabbing a basketball and joining a couple of my friends on the court. 

We shot hoops for the rest of Gym class until the bell rang, when some of my peers went to their next class, I left to meet up with my sister to go get lunch. The fourth hour was lunch period for us, seeing as we had enough credits to have some of our class periods free, we would usually just meet up near the entrance to the school before leaving to grab something to eat; Afterwards, we’d just wait in the parking lot until Fifth hour started, where we’d head to our respective classes. 

“Hey Bro, how was Gym?” Jocelyn said as she walked over to where I was sitting.

“Not bad, how was Bio for ya? Astrid give you any trouble?”

“No, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t want to hit her with one of our textbooks,” She said as we left the building towards her car.

“Why am I not surprised? Even if I am the bruiser of the family, you always did want to fight her after her lies,” I said before getting in the passenger seat, “I saw your buddy earlier, by the way, Ajax was helping him find one of his classes. You were right, there’s something different about him.”

“I told you, I’m not fucking crazy, Leo,” She said as we pulled out of the parking lot heading towards a burger place we usually went to for lunch, “There’s something special about him, I just can’t put my finger on it yet; I will though even if it’s the last thing I do.”

“I have no doubt, Sis, just don’t shut me out this time. I’d appreciate it if you’d keep me in the loop on what you learn,” I said as we pulled up for food, the last time my sister was in this detective mode, she didn’t talk to me for a week and I’d rather not have that happen again, “As much as you may get on my nerves, you are my sister, keep that in mind, won’t you?”

“I solemnly swear I won’t shut you out, so long as you swear you won’t be an idiot.”