King's POV

As the week went on I noticed two things. One, Jess and I made a pretty good team when she finally started to come out of her shell around me. Even if we didn't talk much we kinda understood each other and how we worked. It was nice and she was pretty easy to talk to. The second thing I noticed really pissed me off though. Everyone used Leo like he was the only pencil in the whole classroom.

People were constantly whispering Leo's name and asking for his help. I swear, I even saw one of the girls break something on purpose to get him to help her and her partner who was also another Leo fangirl.

I sat at my desk tapping my finger on it while watching it all happen as I tried so hard not to say something and get myself involved. It would only start a fight at this point and I didn't want Leo mad at me again. Believe it or not, I was trying to keep my anger under control after the whole thing in the bathroom last week. It was my wake-up call.

"It's pretty pathetic, huh?" Jess asked me, breaking my hateful stair from the girls as they laughed about something and looked at Leo like he was a piece of meat, giggling like hyenas.

I looked over at her and grabbed the mousetrap to start working again, not paying attention to what I was doing. I just needed to do something with my hands before I really flipped out.

"What are you-," SNAP!! "Fuck!" I yelled as the mousetrap smacked my finger. It hurt so bad, I immediately put my finger in my mouth like that was going to help make it feel better as everyone turned to look at us.

"Language Mr. Rubin," the teacher said, not even looking up from her book.

Jess looked over at me with a little laugh as everyone went back to their work again. "Yeah, watch your mouth," she said shyly with a joking smile. "Are you okay?"

"I've felt worse. It will be fine in a minute or two. But yeah, did you see what that girl did?" I said, changing the subject to get my mind off my finger again.

"It happens all the time if you really pay attention. They've been doing it to Leo for years now. Fighting over his attention like that even though he’s never given them anything more like they want." She lowered her voice even more. "I thought they would back off a little this year after they found out about his mom but they got even worse after that. Shows how much they truly care about him as a real person. I feel so bad for him to be honest."

I leaned in closer to her and lowered my voice to a whisper, "I know it's not my place to ask and not your place to answer but I've heard people ask him about his mom a few times now. What happened to her?"

"Well," she whispered and looked around to make sure no one else was listening. "I really shouldn't but everyone else knows so it's not a secret either. At the end of last year, his mom started getting sick. He missed a lot of school because of it and since then she's been bedridden, slowly getting worse. He has to go home and take care of her right after school so his dad can work because insurance doesn't cover it all. It’s horrible. People say she's not going to make it through winter. That's also why he misses a lot of school days and no one talks about it but even with all the days he misses he still has the top grades in our class and tutors others after school when he can."

We both subconsciously looked right at Leo as he helped another group with their work. He must have felt us staring because he looked over his shoulder right at us and smiled that crazy nice and warm smile of his before turning back around after we both awkwardly waved hi to him.

"That's got to be really hard," I said to her after a few minutes. I just didn't know what to say back to something like that.

"Yeah. I used to see them walk together all over town before that. They did a lot of stuff together. She's just as beautiful as he is though," she said, still looking at Leo with those lovesick eyes.

Great. She was a closet Leo fangirl. She quickly shook her head like she just realized what she was doing and looked over at me as her face started to turn pink. "I didn't mean to say that out loud. I'm so sorry."

It made me laugh a little but then my eyes went back to Leo. Did he even notice people were using him like that or was he just that nice of a person not to say anything? It made me even more pissed off after learning about his mom and that they all knew about it but still used him anyway. Jess was right, they didn't care about him as a person. It was almost sickening.

After school I decided to wait for Leo outside the gate, pacing back and forth, a little nervous to see him but he needed to know what they were doing to him. I just needed to pull myself together but I really didn't want to hurt his feelings again at the same time. Shit, what is it about this kid that makes me second guess everything I did?

Finally, after what felt like forever, I heard people walk out of the school. A female's voice said in a sweet tone, "Thank you so much for all your help, Leo."

Okay, time to pull myself together. I started to walk to the gate to meet him there so I didn't miss him again but as soon as I got to the corner Leo, not paying attention, ran right into me… again.

He jumped back quickly in surprise, almost falling over but I grabbed both his arms, fully prepared to stop him from hitting the ground this time. "Oh King. I'm so sorry. I didn't see you there."

I shook my head and tried not to laugh because it was more my fault this time than his. "I think this is becoming a habit, Leo," I joked with a smile. 

"I agree," he said with a chuckle that got me to smile again. “See you later,” he waved back at the girls who stood close by. They didn’t look away from me.

“Are you gonna be okay being alone with… him?” The one with black shoulder-length hair asked as she touched his arm. She looked me up and down with a disgusted look. “I don’t feel comfortable leaving you with him alone.”

Leo laughed as he walked to my side, pulling away from her touch quickly. “It’s fine Beth. I’ll see you both tomorrow.” He smiled and waved at them again.

They finally, but hesitantly,  started walking away after saying bye to him.

"So is something wrong? Do you need help with anything?" He asked me, a little concerned. I haven't been here this late after school since I followed him home that one day. It has been kinda weird between us since then. 

"No. I was just waiting for you actually. Had a feeling you would be leaving late," I looked past him at the group of girls walking away, still peeking back at me. I honestly wanted to slap them both knowing they were just acting as if they cared.

"Oh no! Did you and Jess need help on your project earlier? I'm so sorry I didn't come over to help. You were both pretty quiet and looking at me today. I should've known you needed some help but didn't want to ask." Leo looked at the ground in worry almost like he failed himself.

I was confused about where that came from. "What? No, I've done this project before at my old school so I know what I'm doing. Jess and I just don't talk much. Anyway, no, that's not what I wanted to talk to you about."

I needed to get back on topic and stop avoiding it but I started to feel nervous again. I'm the type of person that didn't care if I hurt other people's feelings but Leo was different. I didn't want to see that smile fade on his face.

"Oh okay." He looked down at his watch. "Hey, sorry to ask but can we walk and talk? I really can't be late today. I have a lot to get done at home." He smiled like nothing was wrong but I knew he didn't want to say the real reason why he needed to go home as he turned and started walking away.

"Oh yeah. That's no problem at all." I quickly caught up to him.

We walked across the street together and around the corner to start down the same street as before. Surprisingly it wasn't an awkward silence between us. It felt nice and comfortable and I would be lying if I said I didn't like it. Being around Leo just made me relax.

"Soooo… As much as I'm enjoying this silent walking, are you going to tell me what you needed to talk to me about?" Leo finally asked me.

"Oh, right. Uh, yeah. S- so, well I noticed you help everyone in the class." God that was a rough start. I mentally shot at myself for stumbling over my words like that. "And well I think it's only fair to you if someone told you. I uh, I think they are using you to do their work for them. I even saw one of the girls today break-,"

"King," Leo interrupted me. "Look, I know what they are doing. I'm a pretty smart person and figured it out years ago," he said with a smile.

"Wait, you do? So why do you keep letting them?" My anger was starting to get the best of me now. I just couldn't understand what he was saying.

"Because that's just who I am. I try to help everyone who needs it," he told me, still smiling but I wasn't smiling back.

"But they're using you, Leo. They don't 'need' your help. They're just getting you to do the work for them or want to get something more from you. How does that not bother you?" I stopped walking and looked at him in confusion. I just don't get it.

"It just doesn't. Why is it bothering you so much? I'm just fine with the way things are." Leo stopped walking and looked at me a little angry as his bright eyes darkened just a shade or two.

So here I was once again asking myself why I was even here, letting myself care about this boy again. It didn't hurt my life in any way so why does it piss me off to watch?

I was speechless for a moment just looking at him. But damn it, he was right and I just needed to back off and mind my own business so here came my temper again. "Fine. I was just trying to be nice or whatever." I put my hands up and took a step back away from him. "I'll just... see you later then." I turn and start to walk away.

"Wait!" Leo called to me and grabbed my shoulder to stop me. "I'm sorry that... came out wrong. I know that you're just trying to be a friend and I thank you for that."

I shut him out again. "It's fine. It's none of my business anyway. I'll just see you in class," I said and walked away again.

I didn't stop or turn to look at him when he yelled after me a few times but he finally gave up. "Ugh! Whatever King. See you later." I heard him say as the anger took over us both.