Leo's POV

I don't know how King was able to get on my bad side so easily. I hated it because I didn't want him to see that side of me but at the same time it's like he just closes himself off to me and that really frustrated me.

What he said did get under my skin though. I sat awake that night, sitting next to my mom, just staring at my books thinking about it more and more. I know they all used me for their own gain but it also didn't affect me. I still got my work done, passed all my tests, and did my best on my own work. But maybe I was going a little overboard with helping everyone, especially if it’s being pointed out to me by the new kid so fast.

The next day at school I walked into the classroom and sat next to Joey who looked at me a little smug. "Yo Leo. Gonna help me get this done today or run off to help your little fangirls again?" He asked me rudely.

I looked at his narrow eyes for a few moments. "Oh, ha yeah, I won't leave you today. Sorry about that." I gave him a nice smile and tried to look happier than I really was. My mind went back to what King said. Maybe he was right after all.

"Whatever bro. Just don't wanna fail because you too busy helping everyone else pass. You know what I mean?" He said again in an annoyed tone.

"Yeah, man. Don't worry, we got this," I tried my best to reassure him with a smile.

He just pressed his lips together in a 'whatever you say' kind of smile and nodded his head.

Finally, the teacher walked in and clapped her hands together with a smile. "Okay, tomorrow is race day. Today I want you to sit in your own seats and get as much done as you can but first let's start with our history quiz and your other lessons."

I could feel the tension pouring out of Joey as we sat together for the rest of the day and again the next day too. It was horrible and he didn't help out much which kinda pissed me off but I did most of the work with a smile like always because I'm just too damn nice.

We waited until after lunch to start and really, I just wanted to get this over with already. I was so over this project and couldn't wait to go back to my seat next to the window, alone.

I watched a few people go and looked over at King and Jess talking to each other. Looks like they’ve been hitting it off. I'm glad to see them getting along. King needed a friend. They both don't talk much and Jess had a nice personality too.

"Okay King and Jess you're up," the teacher said and King walked the car over and set it down. He was nice enough to let Jess be the one to let it go, showing that he could be a gentleman when he wanted to be. They both stood together as we all watched it travel far down the smooth running track outside.

Jess smiled up at King with excitement. "That's really far King," she said, looking so happy with herself as she clapped her hands together and he even smiled back at her with a proud nod.

My smile faded a little as I looked away from them. My heartbeat felt weird as I felt... well I don't know what this feeling was, like a large lump formed in the back of my throat and something weird turned in my stomach.

"Wow. Great job!" The teacher said as she walked back with the tape measure. "Looks like King and Jess take the lead."

Jess jumped for joy hugging King unexpectedly as his eyes shot open. He didn't look uncomfortable, just surprised for a moment before he hugged her back and laughed before she pulled away with a red face. That made everything in me burn. Why did that make my stomach feel like an empty pit?

"Okay Leo and Joey, it's your turn." The teacher said, snapping my attention away from them as I looked over.

I felt nervous with all the eyes on me as I set it down at the start line with Joey and we both let it go together.

I watched it with worry as it kept going farther and farther. It didn't go as far as King and Jess's but I saw Joey shake his head in disapproval and walked away.

"That was a close second place, boys. Great job." The teacher smiled at me and I smiled back. Second place was still really good. "Jade and Beth, you girls ready?" She moved on to the next group.

I watched a few more classmates go while Joey looked mad standing at the back of the crowd. I don't know what got him so pissed off.

"Okay class, looks like King and Jess won the race. Congratulations, you two made a great team." The teacher said as King and Jess's faces both turned red while everyone clapped and said their congratulations, myself included.

Finally, it was over and once we got back to the room we were told to move the desks back and sit in our normal spots. I felt so much better next to the window again and looked outside for most of the class when I wasn't taking notes until the bell rang.

I was out of the door pretty quickly to avoid any of the girls asking me to help them. Today wasn't a good day to be late because my dad told me he wanted to go in earlier for some meeting.

As I walked down the street, I was lost in all my thoughts of how weird I felt seeing King and Jess together earlier when I heard someone yell my name and turned around, coming face to face with none other than Joey. He looked pissed off.

I smiled because I didn't know what else to do at this point. "Hey, Joey. What are you doing this way?"

"Looking for you man. You know we got second place because of you," he said with a mean look.

I was confused. Was he really going to get that mad about it? How stupid and childish. "Yeah. That's a good thing," I smiled trying to hold back a laugh at how stupid this was.

That however made his eyes darken more. "No, it's not. You know, if you would have just worked on your own shit that wouldn't have happened. We lost because of you."

I know how Joey was with sports. He was always a sore loser and he gets it from his dad. I've been to a few of his games before my mom got sick and his dad always had a look of disappointment when he looked at Joey, whether he was winning or losing, it never really seemed good enough for his dad. But that was no excuse to start a fight over.

"We didn't lose," I couldn't hold back my laugh and let out a small chuckle at how stupid this was. "We got second place and that's still really good. It was just a stupid class contest," I laughed again closing my eyes. I can't believe he was making a big deal out of this.

Without warning, he punched me in the face knocking me to the ground quickly. "Fuck you, Leo. It's not funny. I don't lose. I'm not a fucking loser," he yelled at me. “Because of you, I just dropped down to third place in the class grades!”

I was stunned. I couldn't believe he just hit me in the face. I looked at the sidewalk and watched two drops of blood hit the light tan concrete from my lip. No doubt busted again. And that's when I started to feel all my built-up stress and anger just explode inside me. Boiling over like a pot of hot water.

I looked back at him to see his leg coming at me, to kick me like a dog as my dad did. I was seeing red and my blood was boiling. As soon as he kicked my side I grabbed onto his leg, catching him off guard and pushing myself up towards him still holding his leg, he stumbled back thrown off balance on one leg, and before I knew it I was on top of him punching him in the face.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" I yelled so loudly and so angry that I didn't even recognize my own voice. Joey got another hit or two in but it didn't even phase me at this point. My adrenaline was pumping and everything started to flash before me. My dad's abuse, people at school, my mom's illness, everything that happened to me before, and all this anger that I've held in for so long just started pouring out all at once. I felt myself start to blackout in rage.

I pulled my arm back again for another blow to his face but someone grabbed my arm and pulled me up like I weighed nothing. "Let me go!" I yelled, fighting to get back on top of Joey. I was so pissed off and angry, that I just wanted to take it all out on him. Punch all my problems out of myself and into his stupid face. I was breathing so heavily and all my emotions were going completely haywire.

Joey wiped his bloody nose and jumped to his feet to run at me again holding his fit-up and taking a swing. Whoever was holding me pushed me out of the way as I hit the ground hard. When I looked back up I saw King holding Joey's fist in his hand, looking at him like he was about to kill him.