"Leo, I need to talk to you!" I called, knocking on her door, knowing she was home. I tried to open the door and frowned when I found it locked. "Come on Leo, open the door."

I saw her shadow under the door and it stopped in front of the door. "Why should I? I don't feel like talking to you today. You'll be driving the Mustang today."

"Why are you taking your frustration out on me? I didn't do anything…"

"Wrong, you forced me to tell you what happened Friday night," she growled before I heard her slap the door and walk away from the door.

I sighed and walked downstairs, my bag slung over my shoulder and entered the dining room and placed my bag by the door, then sat down as a maid brought out a tray of food for me. Eggs, bacon, pancakes and orange juice. I poked the eggs then cut up my pancakes and dipped them in the egg yolks.

"Morning son," Jack smiled over his newspaper.

"Morning Jack, morning mom," I spoke.

"Is Leo up?" Jack asked.

"Yeah, I think she's getting ready…"

We heard Leo running down the stairs and I turned and saw her dashing out of the house, her saber and rifle bag slung over her shoulder. She had her backpack over her shoulder and a gym bag in her hands. On her head was a black beanie, all of her hair tucked into it. We heard the front door close and the starting of the Porsche engine.

"She was in a hurry," mom commented.

"I think the cheerleading assembly is today, she always performs for them," I spoke as I finished eating and stood up. Jack tossed me the Mustang keys and I nodded to him and walked out of the room, picking up my school bag on the way.

All the students chatted with their friends as we sat in the gym, waiting for the assembly to start. I looked over the railing at the cheerleaders, looking for Leo and saw her equipment but didn't see her. A girl with black hair and red highlights was chatting with Kyra, wearing an off the shoulder black top and a red mini skirt. Under that was fishnet leggings and three inch heel ankle boots. Soon, Kyra picked up the microphone and walked to the center of the gym to greet everyone, I still didn't see Leo.

"Welcome to another day of school, I hope your weekends were great. To lighten your spirits today, we have a performance by our own Leodora Taylor, but…" she paused and I saw students straighten up curious. "…she won't be dancing alone. She has taught the drill team one of her routines and they will be performing with her. Give her a hand."

The students started applauding as the black haired girl from earlier walked out to Kyra holding one of Leo's sabers. Kyra hugged the girl then handed her the microphone as she slung her hand over the girl's shoulders.

"Okay for today's performance, I ask that everyone stays clear of the second level stairs unless you want to get run over," Leo's voice came through the speakers.

'Wait is that girl Leo?' I thought and the girl looked around and I caught Leo's eyes from the girl with black hair.

"I warned you so let's begin," the girl smiled and handed Kyra the microphone and tossed her saber into a quad as the lights went out.

The soundtrack for 'A pain that I'm used to' started and a few spot lights hit the corners of the track. All the capriells came from the corners, dressed in all black. They ran down the stairs gracefully and a spot light hit the black haired girl as she started dancing with the saber. The capriells circled around her and they started to mirror her movements when she wasn't exactly dancing with the saber.

I frowned, realizing that it really was Leo when she did a double horizontal flip over her saber. The capriells danced out of the way and Leo came to the front. She tossed the weapon to one of the capriells and started to dance with the other capriells, each movement fluid even though she was in heels.

As the song ended, the capriells all moved as one and circled around Leo, hiding her effectively and then the lights went out. Cheers erupted through the crowd and the lights came back on and the gym floor was empty except Leo who was walking back towards the group of Cheerleaders, holding her saber in her left hand.

Kyra walked back out as the crowd settled and I tuned her out. I saw Leo, slid her saber into her weapon bag then sneak out of the gym doors. I hurried down the stairs and followed her as she walked up to the third floor. I confronted her as she slid her bag into her locker and she didn't even seem surprised.

"Why are you acting like this?"

"You're not my father Dylan," She spoke, closing her locker. "I can make my own decisions and being independent like this is my choice. Jack already knows and mom has been figuring that out for a while. It seems like only you didn't see it. I loved it when we were close, but now I need to grow up. You're leaving for New York this summer for college."

"Are you going to explain why you are avoiding me?"

"I'm not. This weekend, I needed air and have Dr. Benson check my injuries. Jack knew I went to a hotel and that was because I just needed some alone time. This morning I was busy making sure I had everything I needed for the performance."

"Why didn't you answer your phone?"

"It died, I didn't bring my phone charger," she shrugged then turned around and walked back towards the gym.

"What about Dakota?" She stopped and I saw her shoulders stiffen.

"My personal preferences do not concern you brother, he is an icicle and always will be," her voice was cold.

"You didn't seem to complain when he was here Saturday morning," I snapped.

"He was helping me since he was the one who found me. I tolerated him til he insulted me then kicked him out. Now stop being a pest," she spoke then walked off.