Patterns of Blues

Chapter 23

By the time Monday rolled around, Liam couldn't have been happier to go to school. It got him out of the house, away from Peter's new bad attitude, and most importantly, gave him a break from Sivio's moping. It was understandable, but Liam discovered that he didn't have half the patience as Asher, who had suddenly become the nicest kid in the house, second to Harry, of course. 

Peter dropped them off, and now with all his books and supplies, Liam strode into the high school more confident than he had the week before, prepared for any situation. 

Or so he thought. 

Someone tapped his shoulder and he spun around, fist wound back, ready to connect it to the threat's face. He lowered it when his eyes landed on Ricky, the red-haired jock who had attacked Nate before. The last thing he wanted was another suspension for messing with this two-faced monkey man,

"What?" He asked with as much indifference as he could muster, eyeing the dude suspiciously.

"Where's Walker?"

"Who?"

"Your stupid friend. The one with blond hair."

"Nate?" Liam asked, frowning, and Asher huffed from next to him,

"Nate Walker. That's his name." Oh. Ricky gave Asher a look that said shut up or I'll feed you to my sister and Liam didn't like the looks of it,

"He's switched districts, not that I think it's any of your business."

"Too bad," Ricky tutted with a disappointed tone, "I thought he finally took my advice and killed himself." 

"Hey, watch your step," Asher warned, his misty gaze narrowing, "and stay away from us." Ricky admired his nails like a sassy five-year-old,

"No, I mean it. The world would be a better place without that fag in it." Liam felt his eyes widen, and from beside him, Asher tensed up,

"Excuse me?" the shaggy-haired boy demanded, "Did I mishear you?"

"I don't think so. You can smell the fairy dust on that kid a mile off," Ricky said pleasantly, "Now where's the creepy one? Did he 'switch districts' too? And don't act like I'm clueless, that means your staff at the orphan home decided to get rid of him. Good decision, I must add, just a couple of years too late."

"I said to bug off," Asher warned, stepping closer to him, just as 'the creepy one' appeared on Liam's other side, his pale face stone-cold. He seemed to have heard most of their conversation because he said some choice words that Liam wasn't going to repeat, so use your imagination.

"Kind of you to join us," Ricky said with an airy chuckle, and Liam thought the guy should be more careful with name-calling people when his laugh sounded like a Canadian goose, "we were just talking about the sickling." He stopped talking for one blessed moment before gasping, "You know, now that I think about it, you've probably ridden him many times, haven't you? You always did hang on to his every word. Was he any good?" Asher jumped on Silvio, anticipating his reaction before it came. He was right to do so because the older boy fought under him, and Liam grabbed one of his arms to hold him back,

"Chill, dude," Asher commanded, unintentionally sounding a bit like Nate in the process, and Silvio paused from his fighting and broke free from their combined grip before stalking off down the hall, shouting various insults over his shoulder as he went. Liam decided he was a major loose cannon, "Come on, let's go," Asher jerked his head towards their classroom and sent Ricky one last dirty look before striding off.

Liam nodded and took off as well, leaving Ricky without anyone to mess with. 

Ricky didn't bother him for the rest of the day, but Liam did notice that he shared a curt conversation with Silvio as they made their way outside the school. Luckily, Silvio hadn't punched him in the face, and Liam took that to mean he was in a better headspace. Johnny was waiting for them in the van, and he had already picked the middle schoolers up because Harry waved him over to sit beside him. Harry seemed to have had a great day, rambling about art class and a kid named Bradley. Liam tried to listen but squeaked down a yelp when he heard a loud voice from the back,

"Yo, Snothead, how was school?" He snapped his neck out of place to get a look at the guy. He had long, greasy black hair tied back in a loose ponytail over his shoulder, two unnaturally vibrant blue eyes, sunken cheeks, and a generally indecent aura to him. He wore an AC/DC shirt and ripped-up black jeans, looking like he took inspiration from Sully's wardrobe. He seemed to have been talking to Silvio, because the older boy smirked and dapped him up, sitting down beside him,

"Wondered how long you'd make it before someone found ya."

"Best record yet, thank you," he responded proudly, "Show some respect." Liam was utterly confused,

"Who the heck is this guy?" He asked of no one in particular, but Johnny chose to answer,

"That's Lucian. Lucian----Liam, Liam----Lucian. Now we're all acquainted." Oh dang. Liam had completely forgotten that another kid in their group home decided to run away the day they were placed. Honestly, Liam had expected him to be a skinny middle schooler, but this boy was built like a tank and was probably the oldest out of everybody.

"He was already here when Johnny picked us up," Harry stated helpfully, and Liam wondered why he hadn't started their conversation with 'Oh, there's a third edgy dude now because Silvio and Sully aren't enough to deal with.' 

"That's nice," Liam had no idea what else to say but kept looking over his shoulder at the guy every few minutes, unsure how he felt about him. Scratch that, he was sure how he felt about him, and those feelings weren't good. Asher seemed unphased by his presence, said a greeting, and sat next to Charlie, who Liam noticed looked genuinely afraid. 

"Say, where's Nate at?" Lucian asked, apparently having done a head count. 

"Moved to a different home," Sully said with all the care of an angry plumber, like he was trying to impress him by acting like a brat. Not the attitude he had about Nate's departure a day ago. Silvio looked ticked off again,

"He was kicked out to a different home," he rephrased, glaring at Johnny as he did so, and Liam felt bad for the young man, "he left yesterday." Lucian's mouth formed a small 'o' shape before he looked a bit insulted,

"Y'all couldn't let me say goodbye?" Johnny barked a laugh from the driver's seat, obviously having been paying attention to the conversation,

"If you hadn't run off, you'd have been able to."

"That's nuts."

"You're nuts," Asher quipped, and Liam wanted to cheer in agreement. 

"Oh, go eat a booger," Lucian shot back, making very little sense, and Sully laughed as though that was the funniest thing anyone had ever said. 

Liam wondered if his life would get any weirder.