Lux : The Protector

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

It was the last day of the semester, although he may not want to, Lenny was still obligated to go.

"Lenny, wait for a second," Linda calls as he trudges down the staircase.

"What?" he groans.

He watched as Linda bustles out the kitchen and hands him a box.

"What's in this?"

"They're marzipan cookies," Linda told him.

"Aw, thanks-"

"Would you be a dear and deliver it across the street?"

He didn't need to ask to whom those cookies are for. They were certainly not for him. Why did Linda have to be so nice to other people except to him?

He started to complain but Linda wasn't having any of it. She pushes him out the house and slams the door shut behind him.

Great, he thought as he crosses the street. She's probably even watching me behind the curtains to make sure I take it to the right place.

He glances up at the Schlotterstein's house and tried to suppress a shiver. He had no intentions of getting close to at least fifty meters from that house.

Taking a deep breath, he glances over towards his house to check if Linda was indeed watching then to the large garbage bin that was coincidentally lying by the pavement.

***

No matter how much he didn't want to be in school, it was better than lounging near their charming neighbor's territory. Against his will, he dragged himself across the hall to attend his remaining classes. He spent half of the hour trying to keep himself from sleeping as the teacher dawdled on and on about some dumb gas law he couldn't even understand.

When the bell finally rang, the students shot off their desks and crowded out the door, excited and in a hurry to get out of the classroom immediately. Lenny waited until the crowd subsided and then drifted out of the room, lumbering towards his locker.

Gregory was nowhere to be seen but he didn't bother to go look for him. Maybe he was just larking around, he'll just show up when he wants to. Gregory is a bit odd and weird sometimes but at least he's good company.

"Hey!" he yelps as someone grabs him from behind and slammed him against his locker.

He looked down at his attacker who was none other than the blond, protein packed, jock dimwit, Max, sans the eyebrows. All the same, he still looked distinctively Max.

Lenny gulped. "I didn't recognize you-"

"Shut your mouth, loser!" Max bellowed.

Lenny blinked as a fountain of spit dribbled on him. Good Lord, he thought.

"Looks like your little friend isn't here to defend you, huh?" Max taunted and smirked at his goons, making Lenny wonder if Max will ever learn to live without them.

"Put me down, you moron," Lenny gritted through his teeth.

"What'd you say, huh? Did you grow some balls now, Freshie?"

Max slammed him back harder and nodded to his friends. The one nearest to him grabbed Lenny's bag despite his protests and flipped it upside down, dumping everything out the hallway.