The Only Faith [boyxboy]

The Only Faith {14}

                "No. I'm not telling you these things to get in good with you. I'm just telling you so you leave me alone and quit accusing me of working with Beckett," I said. "I don't need your help to survive this place."

                Leon's hand went into his pocket to fidget. "It was just an offer."

                "You should probably go take a nap," I said.

                He gave a tired smile. "I can't. I have to catch up on notes and worksheets since I was helping out the Maroon classes today. And after that, I have to get back to figuring out who Beckett's fourth helper was."

                "Was?" I said. "You think it was a one time thing?"

                Leon shrugged. "Maybe. Kids have done that before. Not often, but every once in a great while, someone helps them and then disappears."

                "Well, good luck with playing the overworked detective. I'm going to go take a nice long nap and have so much free time I'll be bored to tears," I said.

                "You don't have to rub it in," Leon said moodily.

                "I don't have to," I agreed. "But I want to. Bye."

                "Wait!" Leon said. I glanced at him and he let out a sigh. "Earlier, in Mrs. Hendricks' class. What she said about you and Fagan hurting others..." He nodded to my bandaged hand. "Are you a fighter?"

                "Even if I was a fighter, at least I'm not a nosy one," I said.

                "You just don't seem like you'd hurt anyone," he said.

                Ted. My parents. My friends. The string of victims we'd left in our wake before we were finally caught.

                "Everyone is capable of hurting others. You don't have to throw a punch to do damage," I said.

                "Let me buy you a drink or something from the market as thanks for the information," Leon said.

                I shook my head. "Nah, I'd just throw it on you again. See you."

                I walked away from him and he watched me go. I slowed down when I was out of his sight, looking down at my bandaged hand.

                We'd just been trying to stand up for victims. Things had escalated and we'd been unprepared for it. We'd been unprepared for the consequences.

                I stepped off the path and leaned against a tree, cradling my bandaged hand against my chest. As a child, I'd been fascinated by vigilantes. They broke the law to protect the innocent, doing what the law couldn't. Comic books, movies, and TV shows filled me with wild daydreams of being one of those vigilantes.

                "Damn," I said quietly.

                I got back on the path and walked the rest of the way back to the dorm, fighting off my thoughts. I wasn't a vigilante. I was just Brennan Kipling, the troubled teenager who'd gotten in way over his head.

                I stepped into my room, where Fagan and Tessa were. Tessa was doing homework and Fagan was playing a game on his phone.

                "The deed is done," I said. "Leon is currently having a mental debate about which room to guard."

                "If we tipped him off, won't he guard our rooms?" Fagan said. "This plan has a lot of weak spots."