Song of life

Chapter 2 Work

Song-A good song never dies by Saint Motel
(June 22 is the date in this book)

"SHIT!" He hopped of his work stool, depositing his paints on the floor next to the canvas. Then, quite literally, he tossed his brushes into a jar.

He ran to the foot of his bed and grabbed two items. One is work backpack, two his skateboard. The bag was plain blue with paint splats and some mud stains. On the handle part of the bad hang, his lanyard, which had a name tag, and pride pins, alone with some book reference pins. He pulled the lanyard over his head, his hair popping buck up from under the heavy object.

Leon pulled the bag over his shoulders, grabbed his skateboard, double checked that his phone was in his pocket, and the made sure he had a spare pair of headphones(not the ones he was still wearing, but extra). He swung his room door open and flew down the stairs. Jumping at the last few steps. Bolting out the front doors, Leon threw his board down, hopping on. He weaved down the side walk away from the red stoned billding.

Leon turned right at the bend toward the more sketchy looking part of town. Lake Wood(the town) had two distinctive sides. The run-down, creepy side and the nice, well managed side. The orphanage was right in the middle of the two.

If you asked any teen or person under 30, they would say that the right side of the town was better than the left. The left had stuck up people with too much money. They didn't really care about others, and it was clear that it would never change. The right side was as close as you could get to the opposite. Sure, there were bad and good people on both sides. No person could deny that. But the right side was nice. The houses were smaller and old. Their place looked a bit overgrown, but nice. Homey, in a way. There were cracks in the sidewalks, and street art covers local shops. People on the right are more laid-back and chill with things.

Leon made his way down the roads toward the small book/art story he worked at. It was cozy and paid well, which had been a dabble win.

He passed the police station where Officer Jake Sannota worked. The only reason Leon and the other kids knew him was because, one, he was nice and helped out around the area. Two, he may or may not have had to escort many of them back to the orphanage. It was never anything bad. Just minor graffiti. But it was completely legal. In a way. Leon hadn't been planning to get caught the first. Or second. Third, fourth, or even the eleventh. He just did. Though he was far better now. He hadn't been caught the last 4 times, so either Officer Sannota gave up on stopping him or he was good at hiding now.

He rolled on, crouching low to enhance his speed. He took on last turn and skidded to a stop. Leon got off his board and picked it up. He walked to the back side of the book/art story(Lilly's library and arts) and walked in through the door. He made his way over to the locker with the name tag 'Leon C.' and put his bored and backpack inside.

He pulled his headphones off from over his ears, pausing the music. Leon looked in the built-in mirror, trying to fix his forever uncontrollable hair. He adjusted his lanyard and name tag, then slammed the locker shut. He walked from the back room to the front where the check-out was.

"Yo, Leon!" Sam, his coworker, yelled over to him. He lifted his gaze from the ground to look at her.

"Hi Sam," he walked over to his usual spot at the check out, and nodded at Sam. "How's life at college, this fine summer?" He asked jokingly while giving a tilted grin.

"Good," She nodded and the to left their conversation to the wind as they went around to help various customers.

Time passed, and Leon went along with his usual tasks. Helping at check out and around the store occasionally. He finally looked at the clock. Yes! 2 minutes and I'm free. Leon thought. Man, my chest hurts. He had warn his binder to long and regretted it. He felt sore and stiff. And honestly, ready to drop. The minutes ticked past, and he ran for the back. He unlocked his locker and grabbed his things. He popped his head back out from the back and called out to Sam.

"Hey, Sam?"

She looked up from the counter. "Yeah?"

"Have fun!~" he sing sang with a smirk, then bolted for the back door.
***
He made it back to the orphanage and flopped on his bed. I need to get out of this thing. The thing being his binder, which was suffocating him slowly. He removed his shirt and then his binder. He practically gasped for air. He put his shirt back on, flopping back down on the old, creaky matrass. Polling his phone out of his pocket, he began scrolling though versus apps.

Pinterest, Wattpad[a.n. reminds me of someone, hey..?], and others. He listened to music and enjoyed his alone time.

It was nice. Quite and clam. A nock sounded throughout the room.

"Yeah?" He called out.

"Dinner time," the voices stated.

Leon hopped out of bed, grabbing a tight sports bra and over large hoodie. He pulled the clothes on and headed to the kitchen. No way in hell would he let them know he had a chest, even after 2 years.

A.N. Hope you enjoyed. Sorry for taking so long for updating. I was making book outlines and such as well as being the world's greatest procrastinator.

-Nico :)