Chapter 5:
Leon looked at the principal confused, "Wait, what?! So, what did you expect me to do back then? Do you want me to just stand there while my brother was being tormented by those guys?"
"We have rules here, Leon." The principal continued, "We could have resolved the problem if only you would show the evidence to us sooner but you used violence which is not good, and not to mention calling the security nearby or any other adult in the premises,"
Leon was about to protest but the principal stopped him, "I know you mean well but the way you've behaved, I'm afraid that you're gonna have to cancel the tri--"
Suddenly, the door opened and Nicole walked in carrying her laptop and said, "Excuse me for a moment but you're gonna have to see this."
The principal was confused but then replied, "Carry on. And you are?"
"Nicole Smith, sir. Apologies for my rude entrance," Nicole said as she placed her laptop and opened it, and showed them all the video files from the security cameras. As they watched the clips, the guys in bandages were shocked as well as the principal. The real clip showed that Lucas was dragged by the boys and led to where the garbage bins were and kept asking him for money to which Lucas didn't comply with them to the point where they pinned him to the wall until Leon arrived to save him.
After watching the video, the principal cleared his throat as he fixed his glasses and then said, "Still, this doesn't change the fact that Leon used violence to save his brother. However, I'll have to consider what I just saw" then the principal shifts his focus to the guys in bandages, "You boys are suspended until further notice."
The guys that were in bandages grunted, "Oh come on!"
Leon was still confused though glad that it's over, "So, what about me?" he asked,
The principal looked at Leon and then said, "I'll leave you off with a warning," then handed Leon a note of warning.
"Ugh!" Leon leaned back as he moaned,
"Take it or leave it for your parents to pick it up later," The principal said,
Leon heard that and nodded as he took the paper and got up to leave with Nicole following behind him. Nicole looked at him as she noticed that he was wiping sweat off of his forehead.
"Are you okay?" she asked,
Leon looked at her and smiled as he nodded, "Oh. Yeah. Just got nervous for a second there," he replied, "How'd you--"
"I talked to the security guard minutes after you went to the principal's office," Nicole said, "I figured that those guys would pull up a big brain and use an edited video to their advantage,"
Leon nodded, "But it could've gone either way or at least it did but I digress,"
Nicole sighed, "Well, now that the situation is out of the way, did you pack for later?"
Leon looked at her confused, "Packed for what?"
Nicole looked at him and said, "You're kidding, right?"
Leon scratched his head, "What exactly are you talking about?"
Nicole scoffed as she muttered to herself, "You can be very forgetful sometimes." then turned to him and said, "in two or three hours, we're gonna have an overnight field trip."
Leon continued scratching his head as he slowly remembers, "Oh, crud," he said as he face-palms himself
Nicole looked at him in disbelief, "Man, how can you talk a bunch of theories and tell them to me with all your knowledge but forget stuff like packing for a trip?" she teased,
"Pffffttt," Leon scoffed as he ran towards his parked bike, "I'll just use my bike and ride all the way home. I'll be right back,"
"But Leon,---" Nicole replied, however, it was too late. Leon already rode on out of the school grounds, leaving her standing there confused.
Just then, a car pulled over and the window slid down revealing to be Leon's mom as she smiles after seeing Nicole. "Oh hi, Nikki! How are you?"
Nicole smiled and nodded as she approached the car, "Hello, Ms. Reyes. I'm good. How are you?" she replied, "Oh my, did you dye your hair today?"
Ms. Reyes chuckled as Nicole said that, "Oh stop, this is nothing," she said, "It's just a new style that I'm trying,"
"Well, you look good as always ma'am," Nicole complemented,
Ms. Reyes smiled, "Thanks dear," she looked through the window and said, "Where's… Where's Leon?"
Nicole's eyes widened as she remembered that Leon left the school grounds but his mom didn't know, "He--uh--left to buy some snacks before the trip later," she lied, "He'll be back before the bus even arrives to pick us all up,"
Ms. Reyes nodded, "Well, his bag's in the trunk of the car. Can you get it for me please?" she asked,
Nicole nodded and went to the trunk and got the bag as she closed it behind her, "Got it," she said as she placed the bag down on the sidewalk. "I'll let him know that you dropped by,"
Ms. Reyes nodded and waved goodbye as she drove off. Nicole sighed as she picked up her phone and tried to call Leon. Her phone kept ringing as the dial tone kept beeping each time but no answer. Then a beep was heard and it was Leon's voice mail, "Heyo! You reached my voice mail, leave the deets after the beep!- BEEP!-"
"Ugh! Where are you?! Your mom dropped by to give you your bag and--" Nicole tried to explain but the second beep was heard and the voicemail ended there. "Urgh! Your loss", she groaned and sent a text to Leon before putting her phone back inside her pocket. She then dragged the extra bag as she went inside with the other students as they waited for the ride for the trip.
Meanwhile, Leon was on the road and is on his way back home. He was huffing and puffing as he was trying his best to get back home but along the way, he saw something happening at the corner of his eye. He took notice and parked his bike on the sidewalk to get a closer look.
Outside of the convenience store, an old man was seen on the ground and picking up the groceries that were scattered because of the paper bag that had been torn off. Leon immediately placed his bike near a blue mailbox, walked up to the old man, and knelt to help pick up the dropped items. After placing them in a large plastic bag, Leon called in a taxi for the old man to ride in.
"Thank you, young man," the old man said as he got inside the taxi.
"No problem, sir," Leon said as he closed the door to the taxi before seeing it drive off into the road.
Then, he felt something buzzing in his jacket pocket. He reached into it and pulled out his phone as he noticed that there are 3 missed calls, a voicemail, and a text. He checked them and read the text message and his eyes widen and looked at his watch.
"Oh, crud. I'm late. I'm late. I'm late!!" He muttered to himself as he rushed back to his bike, rode on it as he hurried his way back to the school.
Back at the campus, Nicole was looking nervously at her phone, looking at the time, wondering where Leon could be while holding onto his bag. Not to mention a full line of buses are now in the parking lot as many students fall in line getting inside their respected buses.
Minutes went by and only a handful of students were only left to ride the last bus. Nicole was standing in line, looking around for Leon but he was nowhere to be found. She sighed as she carried her stuff along with Leon's bag inside the bus and sat in the seat and left Leon's bag on the seat beside her just before the bus driver closed the doors and starts the bus.
Leon managed to arrive but was too little too late as each one of the buses leaves the school campus. He huffed and followed the last bus that was about to leave and tried to catch up.
"Hey! Wait! You forgot one! HEY!" Leon yelled as he was trying to catch up to the one bus. He tried to maneuver to the side to try and stop the bus but he couldn't because of all the other vehicles that were speeding on both sides.
Leon then grunted as he then turned right and was pedaling as fast as he could, moving past his limits, all while calling out, "Stop! You forgot one!"
Nicole heard the sound and looked out the window and was shocked to find Leon still on his bike calling out for the bus to stop. She then stood up and said, "Stop the bus! We're missing a student."
All the other students heard her and looked out on the right side of the bus and saw Leon. The bus driver looked at the side mirror and upon seeing Leon, he hit the brakes near the side of the road stopping the bus.
On the other hand, Leon noticed the bus is parked, and with the last bits of strength that he had left, he pedaled to the sidewalk, took one leg off the bike, tossing it to the side where the other bikes are being kept and ran up to the bus and managed to get in as he held onto the pole while breathing heavily. The other students looked at him as the bus starts to move again.
Leon stood up as he awkwardly walks on the bus saying, "Sorry. " He managed to scoot over to where Nicole was sitting and sat on the empty seat leaning his head back as he let out a huge sigh of relief.
He looked at Nicole who was both shocked and concerned but he said, "Guess I made it,"
Nicole scoffed and chuckled as she handed him a mini towel for him to dry off his sweat, "Glad you could make it," she said then gave her a light punch on his shoulder, "Don't ever do that again,"
Leon felt her punch and rubbed his shoulder, "Aw, did you miss me that much?" he joked which then Nicole punched him in the shoulder hard. "Okay! Okay! Jeez, I was just joking," he said,
"You better be," Nicole said before leaning back and looking out the window while having her neck pillow on her as she closed her eyes. Leon sighed as he felt his bag in front of him and he then rests his head back and closed his eyes.