9: Red Onions

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Chapter Nine: Red Onions

"Excuse me?"

"I swear I was going to return it".

"Return what? Are you alright? We are here for-"

"I have the book with me. I will return it after I renew my library membership card. Please don't arrest me for this! I swear I didn't steal the books", Few months ago I borrowed a few books from my local library but I never got my head around to returning them. I always thought they are going to come to get me. But sending the cops, that's a bit too extreme.

"Listen kid you have misunderstood us. We are here for Leonardo Arsen".

I was relieved for a moment that I wasn't going to end up in jail. But I did make a mental note to return those books to the library. I can't let that haunt me forever. But wait, what did that delinquent do this time?

"Right here sheriff", speaking of the devil, Leo sauntered towards us greeting the cops in a mock salute. They instantly looked annoyed to see him. There were two of them. One of them was older and the other was young maybe in his early twenties. "You stay here while I talk with this boy", the older cop ordered the other guy.

He nodded while the older one entered our house closing the door behind him. He helped himself by sitting on the sofa while Leo and I sat opposite to him. Leo decided to made himself too comfortable by placing his legs on the coffee table. The sheriff narrowed his eyes at him, Leo seemed to be enjoying his reaction, a triumph smirk played on his lips.

"So sheriff what's up?" Leo asked.

"You finally found a place to live after getting kicked out".

"Yup but dollface here isn't too pleased with it", he said addressing me with a smug look on his face. "By the way Em this is Sheriff Flinch and Sheriff this is Emma"

He nodded at me, "Make sure you return your library books on time Emma", he smiled at me. He wasn't actually that intimidating at all.

"So have you been doing your community service at the pizzeria?"

"Yup".

"But Carlos did report me you guys still tend to trouble him. A lot. If you don't stop that young man, we might need to extend your hours including Josh and Derek's".

"Okay calm down. We just locked him up in the freezer once. It was by accident".

"How can you accidentally lock up someone in the freezer?" I asked exasperated.

"Well Derek and I were trying to lock up Josh there but it ended up being Carlo".

These guys are impossible. Poor Carlo has to go through so many troubles for these delinquents. Handling three of them is quite a stress. Given living with one is driving me crazy.

"So Sheriff are you here to check up on me?"

"Yes. So far you have a clean record but you have a lot more hours to cover", he said. "Your father-".

Suddenly Leo stood up his usual demeanor gone, he looked livid, he definitely didn't like talking about his father. "Don't Sheriff- He isn't my father. Emma will let you out", he walked away not giving him any chance to talk.

Mr. Flinch just signed shaking his head in disapproval. "This boy will never learn", he showed himself out. "Just take care of him okay? He's a good kid but sometimes he tends to go off track", I nodded at him, he headed towards his car where the other cop was waiting for him.

Closing the door, I went upstairs to see how Leo was doing, his door was ajar. He was lying on his bed, his face buried into the pillow. I let him be, for he needed space, maybe I can talk about it later.

Later that evening Josh and Derek came over with junk food and video games. Leo seemed to be okay then, he was back in his usual playful demeanor.

"Did the sheriff come to visit Leo today?" Josh asked me taking a seat beside me, stretching his hand across the sofa. I was leaning on the sofa just beside him with a big bowl of chips which Josh and I were sharing.

"Hmm, he did".

"Did he mention his father?"

"Yeah, but how do you know?"

"Figured. No wonder he was scowling", he said shaking his head.

"What did you guys do to get arrested in first place?"

"We wrote 'puttana' on someone's house", he shrugged.

"What does that mean?"

"Google it".

I got out my cell phone from my pocket and googled the word".

"You wrote 'whore' on someone's wall!" I cried out, astonished.

"Hey, we honestly thought the police won't understand", he reasoned taking a mouthful of chips.

"Yeah whatever you wrote- it's still vandalizing", I countered.

"Yeah that's why we have to work at Carlo's Pizzeria".

"Why there?"

"Well Carlo's was almost down to business. They needed new employees so the sheriff decided to put us three there since he knows Carlo".

"So how many hours do you guys have left?"

"Not much. So we need to pull something and extend it".

"Why do you wanna extend your community service hours?"

"Carlo's is broke now. The only reason this place is running because he gets free labor from us. So we are trying to extend our community service hours so that we can help him".

"Why not be done with it and then offer him free labor?"

"Nope. Carlo's will never let us work for free. He even tried offering us money for this but the sheriff strictly said no".

"Oh wow that's.. nice of you guys-I guess", I said candidly. Troubling Carlo to continue working for free for him, that is nice of them in a weird kind of way.

"Yeah but we get to pull pranks on Carlo which is quite fun", he laughed. Of course how can I forget? They are delinquents at the end of the day.

................

"It was your turn to wash the dishes", I said placing my arms over my chest.

"It was?" Leo asked feigning innocence. Oh, how I was wish to wipe that smug look right off his face.

I was seething now. We decided to take turns to wash the dishes but for the whole last week I am the one who has been doing it. Of course Leo would come up with a stupid excuse whenever it was his turn.

"Yes. It. Was", I punctured my words trying to get it inside of his thick skull.

"Oh I can't actually. I am having a bad headache", he was still scrolling through his phone not looking at me.

I walked up to him, he was lying down too busy with his phone, not paying any attention to me. I snatched his phone away from him, hiding it behind me and backing away.

He jerked up looking at me, shocked. "You know spending too much time on your phone can give you a headache", I reasoned.

"Give it back Justice", he said coming towards me.

"Nope", with that I ran to my room, making sure not to trip on the stairs.

I locked the door behind me."Princess you are gonna have to pay for this!" He said from the other side of the door.

.......................

I still had Leo's phone with me. I slept with it under my pillows and making sure to lock the door at night. Waking up early, I decided to go to school before Leo woke up.

I was in the hallway getting books out of the locker for my next period. Leo's cell phone was placed inside my locker. Surprisingly Leo didn't confront me about this yet given it's almost midday. I was ready for him to confront me, of course that delinquent had something big planned for me. I can sense it.

I was about to close the locker when suddenly I was greeted by Leo. "What's up princess?" he was smirking at me, his face had the word trouble written all over it.

"What are you doing here?" I asked infuriated. "I am not giving your phone back".

"I am not asking for my phone back", he was facing me now, I was leaning against my locker. He was way too close to my comfort, so close that I can see those green flecks in his blue eyes. Damn they were.. mesmerizing.

I was too busy noticing his eyes because before I knew his mouth was closer to my ears, "I am going to take it from you", his hot breath fanning my ear.

I shuddered, electricity running down my spine. He knew I was affected by this as I felt him smile against the shell of my ear.

Before I could react he placed his lips on mine.

.....................

TPG reached #90 in humor! Thank you! <3

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