Heritage (Under Revision)

Chapter 2 - Leon

After my chat with my father, I had a class with my mother. It’s Technology Studies, one of my favorite classes. I love taking things apart and seeing how they tick.

Only thing that makes the experience less enjoyable is Stella. She constantly insults my intelligence and makes me seem like a rodent that’s plaguing her. Sad thing is, I actually wanna date the girl. She may be the coldest person on the planet, but she’s a model of perfection, beauty and brains. I guess I take after my father for that.

I walk into the classroom and scan for my partner. During my search I see Stella conversing with my mother at the front. I scan all around looking for my partner I’m supposed to be working with on my project but he’s nowhere in sight and I just roll my eyes in annoyance.

I begin to walk up to my mother’s desk and I hear Stella saying that her partner is absent as well. I smile at myself and decide to take this chance that has been so gracefully placed in front of me.

“My partner’s not here either, Ma,” I say, approaching my mom’s desk.

“Leon, in class you are to call me Commander, you know that. Keep it up and you’ll get yet another demerit…and I‘ll tell your father,” she replies scolding me.

She always threatens to get my father on me when I’m not being formal and Cadet-like.

“So, Stells, how about we partner up today?” I ask trying to be cool.

“My name is Stella, and I’d honestly rather work with a three-headed Sekrid mutant than to partner up with you,” she replies insulting me. That comment kind of stung I will admit, but I really wanted to be partners with her anyway.

“Actually, Stella…you’d be doing me a favor if you partnered with Leon today. I know it’s inconvenient, but I really want partners working on those Projectors,” my mom says, being respectful to Stella.

Stella looks at me with a look of despise and reluctantly says, “Fine. Let’s go,”

Stella and I work fine together for about a third of the class, and then we begin to butt heads once we get to the issue of the Holographic Processing Unit.

“Will you back off, you‘re doing it wrong, Leon. You’re going to break it permanently!”

“I know what I’m doing Stella, you aren’t the only one who’s good at this stuff,”

She starts to try and push me out of the way, and before we know it, we’re wrestling trying to get the tool I was using. The tool slips from its position and stabs the circuit board, punching a hole right through it.

“Oh…nice Stella, this is what happens when you try to take control of the situation all the time,”

“Well, if you weren’t being such a stubborn, testosterone-filled moron it would’ve never happened in the first place,”

“Oh whatever, of course you’re gonna blame it on the fact that I m a guy,”

“No, you are not a guy, you re some idiotic, de-evolution of a guy,” she says, and I give a shocked and confused look.

“Where the hell do you come up with this shit?” I ask.

“From my brain, which you seem to lack,”

“What is going on over here?” my mother asks interjecting in to the conversation.

“Leon busted the circuit board, Commander, our projector is useless now,”

My mom picks up the projector and examines it for a moment. “This can be fixed…I’m not going to tell you how though, this is a partner project, so the partners are the ones that need to figure it out,”

“Aw, come on, Ma,”

“It’s Commander, Leon, what did I tell you? You two have to figure it out yourselves and that’s that,” After that my mother walks away, putting an end to the conversation.

“Well this is great,” I say.

“Well no sense in complaining about it, we aren’t going to get anywhere acting negative,”

“Yea, I guess you‘re right,”

Stella and I spend the rest of the class period using our tablets to try and find a way to fix the hole in the circuit board and make it functioning again. We both find absolutely nothing and lean back in our chairs frustrated.

“Well I found complete crap, how about you?” I ask.

“Same here,” Stella responds.

“Class is dismissed,” my mother says abruptly.

We all stand up, salute, and walk out of the classroom with our stuff. Stella and I disband and we both join our respective group of friends. My friend Kent walks up behind me and slaps me on the back.

“Well look at you, lucky man. Partnering up with Stella, eh? That must’ve been damn sweet,” he says

“Psh, you kiddin’ me? Working with her is hell. She always tries to control everything,” I respond.

“Hey, she may be controlling as hell, but you can’t deny that she is also hot as hell, and she has a brain to match,”

“This is true, and damn it I wanna date her so bad,”

“That’s quite obvious bro,”

We enter the mess hall and get in line. The lunch ladies slop food on our plates, which looks worse than standard military food. Kent sits down at our usual table and I stop in front of it, not quite sitting down yet.

“You gonna sit down man?” He asks.

“Nah, I think I’ll sit by myself today,”

“Alright dude,” Kent says as he starts eating.

I walk away and sit at a table off in the corner alone and begin eating my meal. I begin to think things over a bit. Man, how could I have screwed so many things up in one day? I’ve really got to get my crap together otherwise I’m going to prove my mom and dad right.

My thoughts are cut off by the sight of Joe Marshall strutting about the lunchroom like he’s mister badass. He’s always had an uncanny knack of pissing me off in some way every single day.

Today, his method of annoying the crap outta me was hitting on Stella. I watch him from a distance as he walks over to her and her friends, places his foot on the seat, and leans his arms against his leg as he begins to spout what I am sure is completely moronic words.

I can’t exactly make out everything that is said, but I do manage to read Stella’s lips as she tells him to screw off…to put it nicely.

I see Joseph get an angered look on his face at her rejection and he grabs her wrist as she points for him to go anywhere but where he is now. At that point I stand up, walk over to Stella’s table quickly and pry Joe’s hand off of Stella’s wrist.

“Why don’t you back off Marshall, it’s quite obvious that she knows you’re a tool and a douche bag. Unlike the other sluts you’ve dated, she actually has a brain,” I say

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t little Daddy’s boy. You think just because you’re the General’s kid you can just give me orders?” he responds attempting to be clever.

“No, I think I can because I’ll kick the hell out of you if you don t do as I say,”

“Is that so?”

“Try me,”

“You sure you wanna do this Blake?” He asks trying to be tough,

A grin comes across my face and I say to him in a smartass tone, “When it comes to you, I’ve never been more sure in my life,”

Marshall’s eyes narrow and an even angrier look paints his face. He throws a punch at me, I dodge it and grab his wrist, grab the back of his jacket with my other hand and slam his face on Stella’s table while I wrench his arm back towards me.

“Now, isn’t this fun Joe? I’ve got you down and you have absolutely nowhere to go,”

“Let me go you asshole!” he yells in pain.

“I think you should apologize to the young ladies first,”

“Screw y--ahhh!”

“Say it!” I yell after pulling his arm back and cutting off his words.

“Alright, alright, I’m sorry!”

“That’s a good boy,” I lift him back up and throw him backwards fifteen feet on to the floor. His lackeys help him up and carry him off.

“You girls alright?” I ask.

“Yeah, we’re alright, Leon. What possessed you to do that?” Stella asks me.

“Don t know…I really hate that guy for one, plus I figured I could do a little good at least once today since I seemed to screw everything else up,” I turn around and walk back to my table and continue eating my meal.

A few minutes go by and then Stella comes over to sit next to me.

“Look I know you and I don t exactly like each other, but you’ve never done something like that for me before, or even spoke the way you did before…so I just wanna know what’s going on Leon,”

“I’m fine Stella, I was just kinda thinking about stuff. I messed up major today, and I risked you failing on that project, so I just wanted to make up for it a little,”

“Well…I won’t lie, it was sweet of you. And I thank you for it, and I should tell you…my friends do have major crushes on you, so I know they’re thankful too. Let’s just…figure out how to fix the circuit board and get on track okay?”

“Yea, alright,”

Stella gives a bit of a smile, and then returns to her friends. I sit there somewhat shocked, Stella, was actually nice to me for once. I smile to myself knowing that I actually succeeded something today.

The mess hall bell rings, and I stand up, throw my uneaten food into the trash and put my tray on a stack of other ones. I grab my things, and head back into the halls to face the rest of my day.