Daddy's Little Heroes

By Prenn

.

Chapter 20: Get Away From Me You Weirdo

It was half past eight on a Tuesday morning. Taylor and Leo were sitting in their first period class. Mr. Lancer Jr. was the most boring science teacher known to man. And on top of that, he couldn't control his class.

Casey Baxter was in the back of the classroom. He was going crazy trying to think of ways to get Leo's attention. Casey had to talk to him. And soon.

The other freshmen in the class were going wild. Most of them had their cell phones out. Taylor was one of them. There was that one girl in the back of the class who was reading, there were these two guys who were eating, and about five students were sleeping.

Leo was a member of the small portion who actually wanted to learn something in this class. He had his textbook open. He actually found biology to be interesting. Genome patters, genetics, DNA, all that freaky stuff sparked some sort of interest in his mind. He liked to learn, and that was just his personality.

When Mr. Lancer Jr. was writing something on the chalkboard, Casey knew it was time for him to sit in one of the empty chairs near Leo. If Lolita were here, she would have sat by Leo. Leo turned slightly. He was surprised to see a body sitting in that chair.

"Leo!" Casey called.

Leo turned the rest of the way. He adjusted his glasses so that he could see Casey. Leo's glasses always seemed to be falling down.

"Leo, my father, Dash Baxter, told me to ask you what really happened to you over the weekend." Casey blamed his curiosity on his father. Nice.

"Well…nothing much." Leo said casually. He went back to reading. He turned the next page over right as Casey stepped in front of him and pulled the book away.

"Listen to me, I know something weird happened. Ms. Gray from school here showed up at my house Sunday afternoon. She was talking to my parents about some big secret. I listened in all I could, but none of it made sense. My father said that you and your sister are very special kids. I was hoping you could educate me." Casey was lucky that the surrounding ruckus prevented everybody from hearing their private conversation in the middle of the classroom.

"I, uh," Leo had a weakness for being caught in the spotlight. Poor little teen. He didn't know what to say. And then the bell rang. "Gosh, saved by the bell!" Leo darted out of the classroom as fast as two legs could carry him away from Casey. What a weirdo. If he knew something, Leo would be in deep trouble. Leo would have to deny everything Casey asked him, even if it was true.

Casey sighed. "Shoot." He complained. Since Leo wouldn't give a straight answer, Casey would have to try Taylor. Ugh, Taylor. The popular prissy miss. Casey always had a dislike for those. Ugh, Taylor.

There she was, in her next class, a class Casey also happened to have. Lucky him. He sat next to her. She was texting on her pink phone, so she probably didn't even notice him at all until he waved his hand in front of her face.

She glared at him now, partly in confusion. She held between her teeth the gum she had been chewing. "What?" She asked with attitude.

He didn't know exactly what to say to her. "Uh…"

She resumed chewing her gum and texting on her phone.

Casey looked down. He was so ashamed of himself. He made himself into a fool. What in the world made him think he could talk to a little princess like her? Every so often now, he took a glance at her and he wondered: what could be so special about her? He knew that Taylor and Leo sat at the same lunch table that he did.

Maybe today, Casey wouldn't be so mean to Taylor. He should, at the very least, give her a second chance before he judged her to be the snoot he thought she was.

Just as predicted, the twins sat at the same table as Casey. They'd only been introduced to that table because of Lolita, and now that she was gone, a certain lack of harmony in the talking voices disturbed the air. Casey and Taylor sat next to each other, but they never paid attention to the other. Casey looked at her, hoping she would notice him. She didn't. She was focusing on conversing with Leo.

"Um, Taylor…?" Casey just couldn't find the words. Taylor whipped around and her hair flapped against her skin in a very flattering and attractive way. "Did you…do anything special this weekend?"

Taylor scrunched her eyebrows.

"He asked me the same question earlier." Leo whispered to his sister.

"Like what?" Taylor inquired.

"Um…did you do anything out of the ordinary?"

"Nope." Taylor lied.

"Really? Cuz I heard my dad tell your dad over the phone that you two were having fun with Lolita at our house. That's a big fat lie." Casey looked at the twins with a skeptic's eye. Whatever could they be hiding? Something that involved Casey's parents, one of his teachers, and two of his classmates, but not him.

"Mr. Lancer, can I go to the bathroom?" Taylor asked the supervising teacher. He let her go.

Casey stared at Leo in an expressionless façade. "I know you're hiding something."

"No, you're just weird, Casey." Leo threw out the remains of his turkey sandwich crust. "At first I thought you were cool, but now I just think you're trying to get into things that are none of your business." Leo ambled over to the table where his older brother sat. "Hey, Aiden, could I sit with you? There's this one kid at my table who's bothering me."

Aiden turned around. His hair was cut short, but it was shiny and healthy. He was wearing his red and white varsity jacket. One of Aiden's arms was bigger than Casey's thigh. Aiden was tall and muscular. He ate with his left arm and had his right arm around his pretty girlfriend. "Hey bro. Yeah, you can sit here."

Aiden resumed his conversation with Jarred, his best bud. Jarred was Asian and he was just as big and bulky as Aiden was. Raven was the name of Aiden's girlfriend. Her eyes were sea-green colored and her hair was dyed a very fake yellowish-blond and it had a cute curl at the end of each strand. Aiden and Jarred talked about everything from football to cheerleaders to last night's Red Wings game.

Leo felt a little awkward. Maybe he shouldn't have been so hard on Casey. Casey was still a pretty cool dude, even if he was weird. Leo didn't have a lot of friends, so he felt guilty that he chased one away.

Taylor saw that her twin brother was sitting with their older brother, so she followed him to Aiden's table and sat down.

"Hey, now it's a party that we've got another cheerleader at the table!" Jarred said. He winked at Taylor.

Taylor smiled, flattered. Complements always made her smile.

After school, Taylor and Leo were making their way to the front door. Once they left the school, they could finally go home. Leo was excited about doing some ghost research tonight. Taylor just wanted to do her nails. She wasn't happy with the current peach color that they were.

"Wait! Taylor! Leo!" Casey darted in between the two twins. "Look, guys, I know I've been acting strange lately, but you can't deny that you're not hiding anything. Ms. Gray was the one to inform my parents that Lolita had reunited with her mother and wasn't coming back. I'm no idiot, so it's logical to assume you two had something to do with that since she left with you. I just want some answers, guys."

Leo and Taylor glared at the loud-mouthed nosy Casey.

"Well?" Casey pouted.

Taylor and Leo exchanged glances and then nods. Each twin grabbed one of Casey's arms and they practically carried him and thrust him into their limo, which had been waiting for them.

"Hey!" Casey complained from the rough landing.

"Drive." Leo told their driver.

Taylor looked at Casey with an ominously serious face. "Since everybody around you is involved, there's no other way to shut you up than to tell you what's been going on."

"Taylor, Lolita and I stumbled onto something bigger than just the farewell to our friend Karmen. We stumbled onto a whole world filled with danger and mystery and fast-paced action. We found ourselves in a world which is at war with two great enemies—one from the dark past and the other is an invading species bent on domination." Leo explained with enthusiasm.

Casey started applauding with that sour attitude of his. "You're a fantastic story teller, Leo." Casey's applause slowed until it eventually died. "Now tell me the truth. Where's Lolita?"

"Lolita's mother is one of the good people in the ghost zone." Taylor said.

"Why did they choose Friday to reunite?" Casey folded his arms. He still didn't believe they were telling the truth. He was playing along for now, hoping that eventually they'd give up this joke.

"Because the portal's been closed for many years." Leo explained.

Casey made a loud, obnoxious, "Of course it is, but I don't really believe you." groan.

"It's true." Said brother and sister in unison.

"We'll prove it to you." said Leo.

"What?" Taylor snapped in retort. "We don't need to promise to babysit him when and if we ever get the chance to go back!"

"Do to!" Casey argued childishly. "If you need a guy who knows things, well, that's me. I'm just your average A-B student who has a hobby of studying math and other sciency cool stuff. There's so much that you can benefit from me that I can't even tell you, because if I did—"

"Shutup." Taylor stared at him.

With an upset face, he stared back at her. She was quite serious. Normally, he would put up a protest, but in this case his life would flow much better if he listened to her.

"Tonight, you can talk to your parents. Tell them we told you to let you in on the whole thing. Ask them about Team Phantom." Leo said as Casey got out of the limo.

Casey's house was just around the corner, so the walk would not be too far. "I'll do that." Casey said in a calm matter. He walked onward, satisfied for the time being.