"So that's a no? Or a yes? Perhaps a maybe?" Bugged Leo as he poked Alex's shoulder, whose eyebrow was twitching slightly.
"A no, I don't think that the Crimson Cloak is a bad person," She said as if she had for the one-hundredth time, but in reality was only the fifty-sixth time.
"But they kill people!" Leo whined dramatically, shoving a forkful of macaroni and cheese in his mouth, eyeing Alex carefully.
"Maybe those people deserve it? I respect them, doing the work that I did two years ago." Leo inwardly groaned. How could she just lie like that so calmly? It made him want to reveal his identity to her just to see her shocked face but he knew it would be immature to do such a thing.
He would let it slide for now.
"Oh, because you're the Red Reaper, right?" She hesitated for a minute before biting into her ham sandwich, nodding as she chewed her food.
"Interesting, I wonder what the real Red Reaper thinks of when someone takes their identity, bet it irks them. . ." A voice spoke up from behind them, and Leo immediately froze, recognizing it. Alex also froze but tried to swallow the rest of her sandwich before speaking, looking up at the voice behind Leo, glaring slightly.
"You calling me a liar you Glendale prick?" Glendale prick? What was that? Leo hesitantly turned his eye and his eyes widened in horror to meet a pair of dark blue eyes staring at him, a smirk plastered on their face.
Standing at exactly six feet tall, with broad shoulders and long blonde hair that reached down to meet his jawline, which was sharper than a knife, was Jonah, he looked almost the same as he did all those years back except for one very large detail.
He had a large scar that ran completely across from the left of his face, burn scars to be exact, the burnt part of his face being completely black, revealing nothing but the horribly marked skin.
"Hey, Leo, how ya doing?" He said as he put a hand on the teen's shoulder, fake smiling at the brown-haired senior. "What's it been like? Two-years and a half? Maybe three?"
Two years, ten months, and twenty-four days. That's the day Leo had left Jonah for dead. Two years, ten months, and twenty-four days of relative peace in his life, the streak destroyed with a snap of a finger.
"Leo, you know this Glendale asshole?" Alex spoke, glaring at the Blue Reaper, though, she didn't know that.
"Of course he does," Tannis spoke as she sat at the table grinning, sporting a small bruise on her cheek, wearing a plain blue t-shirt with the words 'Glendale' in white being printed across the fabric. "He hung around our crowd for a little bit but he moved here, betrayed us for Brikston, huh Leo?"
"What're you guys doing here?" He asked nervously, pushing his glasses up further on his face as he laughed, showing how unready he was for this. "Come to ruin the experience of Brikston for me?" A large hand slapped Leo on the back, revealing a dark-skinned man with black hair, his eyes shut as he smiled at Leo.
"Nah, we wouldn't do that to you. We have other plans for you!"
"Oh, hey Darius, how've ya been?" The large man shrugged.
"Oh, ya know, hanging around. Hanging out with Tannis, she told me a lot about her visit here a couple of weeks back," He slapped Leo on the back harder than necessary, something Alex didn't miss, but Leo didn't even flinch, he just kept smiling. "I think someone messed her up!"
"I guess she messed with the wrong people then, huh Darius? Maybe people need a second lesson when it comes to an invasion of privacy, I can call my butler so he can do it all over again, not sure if he'll just kick her through the gate this time, he might get serious." Leo stood up fully, looking into the man's eyes, still smiling. Darius's eyes widened at the indirect threat and was given a reminder.
Leo was the Red Reaper, the former leader of the Reapers before he betrayed them for a life of simplicity in the Union.
"Can you leave me alone? I'm trying to eat with my friends, it's kind of annoying when you disturb a peaceful atmosphere" Darius took a small step back, holding his hands in the air.
"Woah, no need to get hostile with us, we're just saying hi," He said, backing down completely. However, Jonah didn't back down.
"Leo, I oughta beat the ever-living shit out of you for leaving us at Glendale, wanna go right-" Jonah began, squeezing Leo's shoulder so hard that the teen actually let out a wince.
"That's enough," Alex began, grabbing Jonah's wrist and forcefully taking it off of Leo's shoulder, causing everyone at the table to look at the young woman with surprise and shock, not expecting that in the slightest. She was strong.
"Woah," Jonah said in a small whisper before whistling, yanking his hand out of her grasp rather easily. "You've landed quite the girl, eh Leo?" Leo had the decency to blush.
"Just a friend," He said, rubbing the back of his head. "And a bodyguard," Alex's glare didn't lessen in the slightest though.
"Are you asses going to leave or are we gonna have a problem? Don't forget you're in OUR school," She said warningly. The cafeteria talk had stopped, now watching them with much interest and curiosity. Glendale and Brikston going toe to toe once again. The show would be good.
"I think we're gonna have a problem," Jonah said, grinning slightly, his blue eyes shining with mischief as he flexed his fingers.
"Let's not," Leo began as he got in between the two. "I don't know why Glendale is here, but let's just go our separate ways, I don't wanna get either of you in trouble," If Jonah were to actually fight Alex seriously for even a second, she would end up in a hospital or even worse, in a coffin.
"Shut up traitor," Jonah said in a happy tone before backhanding Leo across the table, knocking him to the ground. "I don't remember asking for your opinion!"
"Imagine feeling superior because you beat someone up with a full-powered punch," Alex snarled as she tried to kick him in the head, but he just grabbed her leg midair.
"Imagine not knowing what you're talking about," He pushed her leg to the ground and punched her in the face. "Or the people you hang out with!"
"STOP!" Leo shouted as he punched Jonah in the unburnt part of his face, glaring slightly. "When will you do what you're told?" He said, his voice lower than a whisper but he knew Jonah could hear him. "Do you need to die again?"
"Woah, he actually landed a punch on a Glendale kid?"
"Probably just luck,"
"But still, maybe he isn't as weak as we thought?"
"I'm calling bullshit, I bet that guy let him hit him,"
Those were the murmurs from the crowd, anticipating what would happen next with excitement.
"Heh," Jonah got out before punching Leo in the stomach, making spit fly out of the hazel-eyed teen's mouth as his eyes widened in shock. "You've grown weak, Commander." Leo was sent up in the air before his head was grabbed by Darius and slammed into the table, breaking his glasses as he was left on the table, where Tannis was still sitting.
"Traitor," Was all she said before elbowing him in the groin, causing him to gasp as if all the air in his lungs had been taken along with the pain in his stomach, it made a bad combo.
"You bastards!" Alex shouted as she rushed Jonah, twisting midair as she punching him in the face and then followed up with a kick, but he wasn't really fazed in the slightest, just acting as if he was as he slammed himself up against the wall, causing a small crack to appear, panting slightly as he faked a fearful face.
"Holy hell, you really are the Red Reaper!" He exclaimed, pointing at her. "Let's get out of here!" The three ran away and out the Emergency Exit door, a small alarm going off. Alex sighed, debating on chasing them or not, but decided not to when she saw Leo's pathetic state.
She grabbed him and slung an arm over her shoulder before carrying him to the doctor's office.
Leo laid on the bed, unconscious, Alex sitting on a chair next to him, Dr. Seymore looking at a clipboard in her hand, shaking her head.
"He'll be fine, but he needs to stop visiting me every week, I'm not rich like him." She muttered before walking away. Alex thanked the doctor silently before looking back at Leo.
"What did he mean 'you've grown weak'? What're you hiding from me, Leo?"