Breaking

Bruises, Cuts, and Old Scars

When morning came, Leo woke to find himself once more lying on the cold cement floor of the small room. He struggled to pull himself up, once he did, he found that, like usual, the door was unlocked. He barely made it to his bathroom when he fell. Leo looked up into the mirror, once again, all the places on his skin that would be seen was avoided. Leo pulled off his shirt, revealing all the bruises, cuts, and old scars that littered his body. Almost all of them had been done by his father, for not being good enough, for being a wimp, for not having a beautiful voice... for not being his mother. Leo winced a few times when he put the antiseptic on the cuts. He carefully wrapped bandages around him before throwing his sweaty and bloodstained sweater into the wash. He then went to wash the tear stains from his face and fixed his hair. Leo groaned as he painstakingly pulled a new one over his head. Leo took out a painkiller, so that he wasn't crying in pain at class; another item caught his attention, he couldn't stop himself from slipping it into the pocket of his jeans.

Leo stayed in his room until he had to leave for school, however, as he came out he saw his father. His father just gave him a stone-cold look as the two passed each other. Leo stayed as calm as he could, but his palms began to become sweaty, and he had to muster all of his courage just to keep his eyes focused straight ahead of him. His father smiled, "I'm glad you learned your lesson yesterday." Leo turned back, his dark eyes staring after his father, the emotion once more wiped from his face, but inside was a turmoil. He said nothing; he just turned back around and walked to his car. As soon as he drove off, he turned on his music to full blast, to block out the thoughts that swarmed his mind. As his black Maybach Exelero pulled into the parking lot of the school, the students just glanced at it and continued on their way. It was not uncommon for students there to have those kinds of cars. Considering that most of the students there were children of celebrities, politicians, or the wealthy, it was rare to see a student without the best of the best. Leo got out, and that was when the stares began. He shrugged it off, with the way he dressed and acted they had probably just assumed that he was one of the rare exceptions at the school. The painkillers had not quite kicked in yet, so Leo had to try his best not to let anyone get the idea that he was in any kind of pain. Thankfully, he wouldn't have to worry about blood seeping through his clothes. The cuts were shallow enough that he wouldn't have to change his bandages for a while, but he brought extra to change them at lunch, just in case.

As Leo walked in, he searched for the group of boys. They weren't too far; he found them in discussion at the steps; as he approached he heard it was about the competition his father was judging. Nicholas noticed Leo first, and gave him a huge smile as he greeted the boy. Leo nodded his head back in return. Chase looked at him, something seemed off: "Are you feeling alright Leo?" Leo's heart began to race, had he noticed? Leo kept the worry inside and simply nodded. Chase didn't believe him, yet he decided to drop it for the time being; Leo wasn't the type to be pushed into anything, in fact, if he was, it would just give the opposite effect. Then the caretaker of the group spoke up:

"Leo, if you are ever not feeling well, don't be afraid to ask my or anyone here's help." He patted Leo's shoulder, not unnoticing of Leo's small wince, to which he smiled to try to cover it up. He gave a small "thank you" in return. Hadrian's green eyes were drawn to Leo's fingers, barely visible, just poking out of the sleeves of his sweater, which began to fidget.

"We should be getting to class guys," they all just nodded and followed him; all except Ryder. He waited a little bit, letting them all pass before following. He was probably the most worried of the group for Leo; his grey eyes were almost piercing as he stared at the boy, trying to understand him. Something was most definitely off, everyone could see that, though they had not known him for long. Ryder wanted to understand; he hated the fact that he couldn't read Leo. It was as though Leo had cut off all emotions, or at least buried them deep inside his soul in a place that only he could reach. Ryder wanted to draw Leo out of his protective shell; he couldn't, but oh how he wanted to.