Leech 01 Caleo Read online

  In the hall, Caleo ran to his locker to tell Jack what he had just heard.

  “Caleo! What are you doing out here? You're supposed to be in the auditorium watching the news with the rest of the students. We don’t need students roaming the halls right now!” Caleo turned to see a teacher in a long tweed skirt and sweater vest walking past. He tried to think of her name, but could only remember that she taught math. How does she even know my name? Caleo wondered, before the obvious answer dawned on him. Everyone remembers the freak.

  “Just looking for my notebook. I want to take notes in case we're asked questions later.” Caleo was amazed at how honest his lie sounded.

  If he isn't here, he has to be at the pool. As soon as the teacher turned the corner at the end of the hall, he made a mad dash for the pool. Every time Jack had a spare moment, he was in the pool practicing for his next swim meet.

  Rounding the corner at the end of the hall, he hit a wet spot and slid two feet across the floor, stumbling when his feet hit dry floor. Regaining his composure, he set off again. He stopped at the end of the hall when he heard footsteps around the corner, coming toward him. Panicked, Caleo ran to the nearest classroom. He struggled with the door, only to find that it was locked.

  “Damn!” Caleo said, barely over a whisper. Sucking in his gut as much as he could, he put his back to the door and tried to hide behind the doorframe.

  Yeah, right. Caleo slapped his forehead when he realized it wasn’t going to work.

  Giving up the attempt, he looked around for a new place to hide. He spotted it, two doors down, on the same side of the hall with a sign above the door marked "Boys". He took off, opened the door and stepped inside, pushing the door closed as he entered. He left it open a crack, so he could look out to see who was passing by.

  Two men emerged around the corner and proceeded down the hall, still talking about the news of the President’s assassination. Caleo immediately recognized the two men. Mr. Thomas, the gym teacher, was a short man in his late fifties wearing a matching red windbreaker jacket and pants. Mr. Roberson, the shop teacher, was a man in his early thirties dressed in a pair of jeans and a white polo shirt, his right hand missing the tip of the index finger. As they passed the bathroom door, Caleo sighed with relief, allowing the door to close.

  That was close. Caleo let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding

  “Hey, I’ll meet you there. I have to take care of some business,” Mr. Roberson said from the hall.

  Crap! Caleo jumped up and ran for the nearest stall. Oh, crap, oh, crap. He jumped on the seat and pushed the door closed just as footsteps tapped on the tile floor of the bathroom. Caleo held his breath, hoping that he would not be discovered. A loud slam echoed through the room and it took Caleo a second to realize that it had been a door to one of the stalls. Another slam echoed through the room, but this time it was closer. There were only five stalls in the room, and Caleo knew Mr. Robertson must have been looking to see if he was alone.

  Caleo let go of the door and let it swing inward just enough to help hide him but not enough to make him visible to a passerby. A slam came from the stall next to him and Caleo closed his eyes, wishing he could just disappear. There was a long silence then a loud screech. Caleo recognized the sound at once as the window on the far wall opening. He had heard that screech so many times before when sneaking out with Jack. Caleo relaxed when he smelled cigarette smoke, knowing that even if he was found he would have caught one of his teachers smoking, and that intel was enough to use as blackmail. Caleo snapped back from his thoughts as the window screeched shut. He straightened up and tried to be as flat as possible, pushing his back up to the wall of the stall. Mr. Robertson walked past and out the door, oblivious to Caleo’s presence.

  After he heard the door to the bathroom close with a thud, Caleo climbed down off the toilet and stepped out of the stall. He glanced around to make sure he was alone.

  Man that was close. Caleo ran to the door and put his ear up against it. For a few seconds, there was nothing, then a loud cough emanated from right outside of the door. Caleo stiffened, knowing that Mr. Robertson was out there and could have heard him, but a few seconds later he heard his footsteps receding down the hall. Relieved, he sat with his back to the door, banging his head on the hard surface. Closing his eyes, he let out a deep breath.

  “So you’re the one, huh?”

  Caleo jumped in surprise. He knew there was no one else in there with him a moment ago and he would have heard the door open. When he opened his eyes, he saw a young man no more than twenty crouched down by the closed window. His eyes seemed to be searching Caleo for something.

  “Where did you come from?” Caleo asked.

  The man stood up and walked to the mirror, examining himself closely, then he stepped back and adjusted his coat — a short jean jacket that only covered his chest and left his stomach exposed.

  “Closer than you might think, my friend.”

  “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Caleo shook his head as he got up to confront the man.

  Caleo stood in silence for a long moment waiting for a response as he examined the man’s appearance. Besides his coat, the man had on ripped faded blue jeans that were way too tight. His outfit was topped off by combat boots that came up to mid-calf over his jeans. His face had two piercings, one silver bar on his eyebrow, which was nearly covered by his long, black hair fashioned in an overgrown bowl cut, and a small gold hoop in his lip. Caleo smiled as he pictured the man as a thug on a bad after-school special being the bully, or perhaps the kid who was just ‘misunderstood’.

  The man turned a piercing gaze on Caleo. “What I can’t figure out is why a man like Thorn would give a rat’s ass about you. You’re just a punk ass kid. So what’s your power anyway?”

  “What?” Caleo asked, dumbfounded.

  Aggravated about something, the man started shouting, “You know, Thorn? Short, powerful man? Self-proclaimed leader of anything to do against the Blessed?”

  Crazy, what is this guy talking about?

  After a moment, when he realized Caleo had no clue what he was talking about, he rolled his eyes and let out a ferocious laugh as he walked towards the windows at the far end of the room.

  Offended, Caleo snapped, “What the hell are you laughing at?!” He took two steps towards the man to show he wasn’t afraid. “And just who the heck are you?”

  “I can’t believe this!” the man yelled and Caleo flinched, ducking his head at the noise.

  “Shh! You're going to get us in trouble! Keep your psychotic ranting down to your indoor voice!” Caleo looked around nervously.

  The man looked at the ceiling and yelled again, “I can’t believe this! You actually are clueless!”

  “Okay, man, you're on your own.” Caleo turned to leave. But as he reached for the door he felt a hand touch the back of his neck, then the feeling vanished replaced by a sharp sting. A sudden weakness ran through his body, as if he had been forced to climb up three flights of stairs, leaving him gasping for air. What was that?

  The feeling vanished as quickly as it hit him. Regaining his composure, he reached for the handle again, but the door swung open, slapping his hand before he could grab it. Caleo looked up expecting to see a teacher responding to the noise, but stepped back for a moment when he saw the same young man that had been yelling at him. Confused, Caleo quickly looked back expecting that this guy had a twin and this was some kind of trick, but he didn’t see anyone. Caleo walked up the rows of stalls looking for any signs of anyone else.

  “How did you do that?” Confused, Caleo walked back to the man.

  “I didn't travel all this way for you to run off like that. I came to see what all the fuss was about. There are a few Blessed here who have caught wind of a weapon that Thorn is watching. They are trying to track you down as I have. So until I figure out what everyone wants with you, I'm not letting you out of my sight.” The man poked Caleo in the chest emphasizing each word.
r />   “Weapon?” Caleo raised an eyebrow at the man, then decided he’d had enough of this man’s psychotic ranting and snapped. “I don’t need your help, just stay the hell away from me!”Caleo shoved past the man and took off down the hallway.

  “Oh! You don’t need my help? Well, then I guess I can just go home and leave you for the Blessed to find.” The man ran after Caleo.

  Caleo heard the man running after him and increased his speed. He bolted down the hall towards the pool, hoping that he would get there before he caught up with him. At least Jack will be there if the man tries anything.

  When he arrived at the door to the school’s pool, he was out of breath and exhausted. As he grabbed the handle, the man jumped, threw his arm up and grabbed Caleo by the wrist, stopping him from opening it. He balled his other hand into a fist and went to swing when he felt a sharp pain; like someone stabbed a pencil into his arm and then a brick wall of exhaustion flooded over him. He crumpled to the ground, his legs too tired to hold him up any longer, smacking his head against the floor. He turned over to look at his attacker, but the man had vanished; leaving him feeling exhausted and afraid, lying on the cold floor. A moment later the drained feeling started to fade.

  What was that? Caleo climbed to his feet while using the door handle for support. He steadied himself, then pulled open the door, cautiously entering into a large room. He looked around for any sign of Jack. Sure enough there was someone swimming.

  Going to the edge of the pool he could just make out Jack’s signature blue Speedos with JACK printed across the butt in big white capital letters. Caleo went to the bleachers and sat down, relieved to have Jack’s presence in the room.

  No way is that guy going to come in here and try that crap with Jack here. Caleo shifted his weight nervously. But what did he do to me? And what did he mean that someone’s trying to track me down? Why would someone want to track me down?

  “Caleo, what are you doing here?” a voice interrupted his thoughts.

  Caleo looked from his seat down to the pool. Jack was still half submerged, at the edge of the pool, looking up at him. Caleo stood up and strolled over to his friend causally, acting like nothing had happened. Deciding that telling Jack about what happened would get him harassed, he quickly decided on another topic.

  “You heard about what happened to the President?”

  “Yeah. What about it?” Jack pushed off the wall and drifted on his back into the center of the pool, staring at the ceiling.

  “What do you think will happen now?” Caleo asked, annoyed that Jack didn’t seem to have an interest in the conversation. He couldn’t blame him, he himself didn’t really think it was all that interesting, but he wanted the distraction from thinking about the man in the bathroom.

  “Come on! Go get your trunks on and race me!” Jack’s voice was that of a bored two year old.

  Reluctant to leave Jack’s company, for fear that the man would come back, Caleo changed the subject again. “Do you think that the Gillman’s room is really that bad?” Caleo wanted to slap himself for even asking such a stupid question, but he was desperate.

  “No. Now go get changed. I’m bored!” Jack yelled before diving underwater.

  Not fair, Caleo looked around the room to see if anyone was watching. Maybe I can get changed behind the bleachers. But what if someone walks in? That’s all I need … a girl seeing me naked, I would never live that down. Reluctantly, he did as he was told and headed to the locker room to get changed. When he got to the door, Caleo slowly opened it a crack and looked around for any sign of the man.

  “What are you doing in here, fag?” Caleo cringed at the sound of Mike’s voice.

  Oh great, just what I need to make my day worse. Caleo saw Mike sliding on his boxers in the far corner of the room.

  “He just came to get a peek at some real men.”

  Caleo pushed open the door the rest of the way and stepped inside just as Bruce Lutz stepped out of the showers, a towel loosely wrapped around his waist and water still dripping down his muscular chest. They both laughed in unison.

  “Actually, I was looking for your mom, she told me to meet her here.” The laughing abruptly stopped and Caleo gave Mike a crooked smile. “And just what are you two doing in here?” Caleo raised an eyebrow mockingly at Mike.

  “We just got done with gym class and normal people take showers after gym class, you know. So we don’t stink.” Mike made air quotes at the word normal.

  “Yeah. Girls don’t like stinky men. You should know all about that. Oh wait. That’s right! You don’t like girls,” Bruce added.

  They burst into laughter again.

  Caleo thought about using another mom line, but decided one per argument was enough. “Gym class, huh?” He exaggerated looking around the room, peering under benches and inside a nearby trash can “So where is the rest of the class? Or are you two getting private lessons from Mr. Thomas?” Caleo added his own air quotes to the words private lessons.

  The two boys stopped laughing.

  “What are you implying, albino boy?” Mike snapped. “They are watching the news with the rest of the school.” Mike stopped putting on his deodorant and turned to Caleo with hatred in his eyes.

  “And didn’t class end over a half hour ago? You two have been in the showers a long time.” The corner of Caleo’s lips lifted in a half-smile. “I guess you really do want to smell good for the girls.” Caleo continued the air quote assault on the word girls.

  “We’ve been training with Mr. Thomas for extra credit,” Bruce added defensively, exchanging nervous glances with Mike.

  Oh I got them now! Caleo’s smile spread into a wicked grin. “Really, training … is that what they call it now? With all the athletic talent you two have, I’m sure he'll let you come back tomorrow for even more extra credit.”

  Bruce ran for Caleo, letting his towel fall to the floor as he jumped over two rows of benches. Caleo sidestepped at the last second and stuck out his foot, tripping Bruce who fell to the ground, sliding on the smooth tile floor about two feet before his head hit the wall. Caleo turned, laughing at the naked teen lying on the floor, rubbing his head. A pain exploded in the back of Caleo’s head and a moment later the world looked as though a camera flashed in his eyes. Everything went blurry.

  The last thing he remembered seeing was Mike’s face looming over him, yelling something he could not understand. Then, his world went black when the heel of Mike’s bare foot made contact with the side of Caleo’s head.

  2

  “Caleo, get up! What happened?” Jack shook Caleo vigorously. Caleo stirred and made a low groaning noise. “Caleo, are you okay?” Jack asked again.

  Caleo looked up as the blurry Jack came into focus. Jack was still in his Speedo and was dripping wet. Why is Jack hovering over me in his Speedo? Then, Caleo noticed he was also wet and it seemed be raining. He looked past Jack’s head and saw that he was in the locker-room shower with all the faucets pouring out on full blast. Steam filled the shower and billowed out the doorway.

  Jack slapped Caleo’s cheek gently to get his attention. “What happened?”

  “Damn it!” Caleo swore angrily as his thoughts came back. “It was Mike and Bruce. I fought off Bruce, but Mike got the better of … Hey! Where are my clothes?” Caleo asked, noticing that he was naked, lying in the tile floor

  Jack stood up and left the showers. God, this is so embarrassing! Caleo sat up and looked around, allowing his mind to clear. Once he felt a little better, he got up and started to walk out of the shower, covering his nakedness as best as he could. After a few wobbly steps, he decided to lean against the wall for support and closed his eyes. His head pounded with every heartbeat. Drifting in and out, Caleo noticed Jack opening and closing lockers.

  “Whoa there, buddy.” Jack ran to Caleo and grabbed him by the arm to steady him. “You’re getting all wobbly on me. Maybe we should go see the nurse.”

  “No, I’ll be fine.” Caleo clutched his head, trying to mak
e the room stop spinning. Jack led him over to the nearest bench and sat him down.

  “Hey, I couldn’t find your clothes, so put these on and we’ll get out of here.”

  Caleo opened his eyes to see Jack holding a pair of blue jeans in his extended hand. Caleo groaned, lying back across the bench, kneading the palms of his hands around his eyes.

  “Those are yours.” Caleo pushed them away then stopped when he noticed the big red welts that covered Jacks arms and chest. “Where did you get those?”

  “I wore them to school.” Jack held out the clothes out once again for him to take.

  “No, you dumb ass, the burns.”

  “Oh. The showers were scalding hot when I came in. I got around most of it. I’m surprised you don’t have any.” Jack bent over and dug through his gym bag.

  “How bad do I look?” Caleo ran his fingers over his face, trying to feel for any damage, and winced in pain when his fingers found a few tender spots around his eyes.

  A big smile spread across Jack’s face. “Horrible, but if you put some clothes on, it would be a great improvement.” He threw a towel over Caleo’s waist.

  Embarrassed, Caleo sat up and dried off with the towel. When he was with Jack, Caleo couldn’t help but forget that he was different and should be embarrassed about not having his clothes. He turned his attention to Jack, who was still holding out a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Caleo examined the clothes and looked up at Jack.

  Oh, God, he's planning on wearing the Speedo out in public. Caleo smiled at the thought of Jack walking around school in a Speedo. Only he would be able to get away with something like that

  “What are you smiling at?” Jack pushed the clothes at Caleo. “Take them.”

  Caleo could feel his ears and cheeks getting warm from his embarrassment. “What are you going to wear?”

  Jack looked down at his Speedo, then back to Caleo. “I can get along better in this than you can. It wouldn’t look too good with you having 'Jack' printed across your ass. And I make this look good.”