Delicate

Chapter Twenty One

Milan excitedly made his way towards the cafeteria. He hadn't seen Leo since the morning. They had a substitute for their history class since Mr. Nahar had taken juniors for a field trip. Leo decided to skip that class, even though he was attending more classes than ever before, old habits did die hard.

Milan went to his usual table, and took a seat. He was scrolling through social media, waiting for his friends to show up. Minute by minute, time kept on passing. Milan kept glancing at the entrance, but there was no sign of both Quinn and Leo.

Milan texted both of them, asking them where they were, but he got no reply. Half the lunch passed by, and Milan was slowly starting to panic. There was sign of his best friend and his somewhat boyfriend. He knew that both of them had P.E. together right before lunch, which made him all the more confused about not only their absence, but also their silence.

There were only five minutes left when Quinn walked in. At first, Milan was relieved, but then he felt his heart drop as he noticed the dejected look on Quinn's face, which was very unlike them. Something had happened, and the fact that Leo wasn't there with Quinn seemed like a bad sign.

"What's wrong?" Milan asked.

"Shit went down," Quinn muttered as they sat down.

"What shit?" Milan questioned again, "are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Leo? Not so much."

"What? What happened to Leo? Where is he?" Milan panicked.

"He went home, I think," Quinn replied.

"Are you going to tell me what happened or not? I'm sort of freaking out here, Q," Milan said. Quinn sighed tiredly but nodded before they started narrating the events of what happened.

"So, you know how Nick and Owen are also in P.E. with me?" Quinn asked and Milan nodded, "they've been quiet since that incident in the hallway, but today they started talking shit again. It turned into an argument and Nick was really getting in my face so Leo stepped in."

"Oh, shit..."

"So the two started saying shit to Leo, and he was trying to be calm but another of Nick's jock cronies joined in and they started pushing Leo around—"

"What the fuck? They got physical?" Milan asked in disbelief, and Quinn nodded.

"Yeah, at first they were just shoves but then Leo said something to Nick which pissed him off and he threw a punch. And then he just went downhill from there. Coach Roy was completely fucking useless and didn't even stop those three and other students had to step in! Can you believe it?"

"I... What happened then? Is Leo okay?" Milan was beyond worried.

"He gave worse than he got, even in three vs one, but yeah he was still in pretty bad shape," Quinn said, "Coach Roy sent us to Principal Collins and they called everyone's parents."

"Yours too?" Milan asked.

"No, only the four that were involved in the physical fight," Quinn answered, "I told the principal my side and other students that witnessed also told him that it was Nick that started it all. And that Leo was just defending himself and the fight wasn't even fucking fair."

"Then?"

"Nick's mom was being a total Karen and going on about how her son can do nothing wrong. The other two's parents were quiet because they knew it was their sons at fault so they just accepted the suspension."

"Suspension? They should be expelled!" Milan exclaimed.

"I know," Quinn sighed, "Principal Collins tried to suspend Leo too—"