I rest my hand on his back. “That’s great, man.”
He nods with a goofy smile. “Looks like I might be going to lame college with the rest of you losers after all.”
Footsteps sound before someone stands in the doorway. It’s Lilah, and the second Leo sees her, he perks up. Rushing to her side, he says, “Can I help you?”
She glances around. “I lost my notebook and thought maybe I left it here during choir practice.”
Like he has engines attached to his feet, Leo zooms around the room, looking for it. The rest of us help as well, but we can’t find it.
“Babe, what are you doing here?” a voice asks. Her boyfriend steps into the room, wrapping his arm around her and bringing her close to his chest. He takes one look at us, decides we’re not important, and leads her away.
“I thought my notebook was there,” she says.
He snickers. “You and that notebook. I told you I’ll get you a new one.”
“I wantmynotebook. All my thoughts are in there since I was thirteen. Those memories are priceless.”
“Meh, that’s lame middle cool stuff. You can just start over in a new notebook with thoughts and memories of me….” His voice trails off as they get further away.
Leo plops down on a chair with his arms crossed. “So not fair. That jerk doesn’t care about her precious notebook while I would turn the entire world over for it.”
Beck slaps him on the shoulder. “Sucks, man, but you’ve got to give up on her. It won’t happen and you need to move on or you’ll go insane pining after her.”
He scowls at him. “If I want to pine after my soulmate, I’ll pine after my soulmate.”
Beck holds up his hands as shields. “Fine. You do you, man.”
I pat Leo’s back. “Just talk to us whenever you need to. Even if it feels weird or whatever. Remember, we’re here for you.”
“Me, too,” Raven tells him with a smile. “If you ever need a girl’s ear, I’m available.”
He smiles. “Thanks, guys and Raven. Means a lot.” He sits up. “Did you notice she turned around before they left? She looked back at me.”
We exchange glances, unsure what to say.
“No, dude.” Jasper shakes his head with a regretful look. “I didn’t see that.”
The rest of us inform him that we didn’t see that either. He slumps in his chair and decides to stay here and think while the rest of us pack our things and leave.
“I hope he’ll be okay,” Raven says as she, Leo, Beck, and I make our way out of the school building, where the wind slams into us like a sucker punch.
Beck says, “He’s a strong dude. He’ll be fine. I just wish he wouldn’t be so hung up on her. It’s obvious she doesn’t plan on breaking up with the guy.”
“I want Leo to be happy,” I say. “But maybe there really isn’t much we can do, other than to be there for him.”
They nod in agreement.
We reach the girls’ dorm and stop before the building. The guard outside is reading a magazine, looks up to make sure we’re not up to no good, then resumes reading.
“Are you guys going to work on your project?” Beck asks Raven and me.
She shrugs. “We still have to finish building the Globe Theatre, so it might be a good idea.”
“Globe Theatre? Can we see what you’ve got so far?” Jasper asks.
Raven leads us into the building. Jasper and Beck take a few moments to check it out.
“Dude, why is the girls’ dorm always cleaner?” Jasper asks with a chuckle.
