Disclaimer: I do not own Waterloo Road or any characters mentioned.

Chapter 36

Marco was too used to this office for his own comfort.

"Fuck, I'm an idiot."

He was ready for the lecture, as he waited outside, and Justin was getting a firm talking to, he was certain he wouldn't get the same.

He was sick of this place. Sick of everything, he just wanted to go home.

The thought immediately shocked him, as for the first time in a long time, when he thought of "home" he thought of his family home in Chelsea, not his Greenock home.

He wanted to just phone his parents and ask them to pick him up.

"Marco, in."

Rolling his eyes, the redhead sauntered into the office, receiving a glare from Justin as he passed.

"You already know we have a zero tolerance policy when it comes to violence."

"I do." He nodded. "So should Justin, shouldn't he?"

"I've spoken to Justin, and I'm speaking to you now."

"He hit me first. I wasn't going to sit and take it. I don't like being called a psychopath. It's offensive."

"That doesn't give you the right to hit people. I only let you back if you kept your head down, and did your exams."

"And that' exactly what I've done."

"I have no choice but to suspend you for two weeks, step out of line again, and it will be permanent, understood."

"Loud and clear." He snarled, making his way out of the school grounds. He was beyond angry. He defended himself, and Justin seemed not get as harsh of a punishment. Just because he was the head's son, didn't mean he deserved special treatment.

All of this made him want to leave even more.

He needed some time to clear his head, but with exams he couldn't, but summer was really close, and Year 11's got longer holidays in anyway.

It wasn't as if he was homesick, he just needed his family.

He hated himself for wanting to leave. It wasn't as if he wanted to leave forever, he just needed to sort his head out.

So, why did he feel so selfish?

Leo had been there for him when he needed him most. He loved him more than he'd loved anyone before, but this desire to move was making it easier, as selfish as he felt, he was sure this was what he wanted.

"Leo, I'm sorry…"

That was all Leo wanted to hear from his brother, but instead, he was just being a bigger pain than before.

"See, I told you, you saw what happened."

"You hit him first." Leo reminded his brother.

"And with every right, you heard what he said." He complained, and then looked incredibly sad. "He's right though, I've been a terrible brother and no wonder Tiff broke up with me, I mean, and I was horrible to her."

"You've been a great brother." Leo reassured. "You're the first person I told about… well, you know, and you've been there for me, his illness is hard to understand but…"

"…I know you love him Leo, but maybe you need to stop defending his actions all the time. People fuck up. I did today, so did he?"

"What?"

"Think about it Leo, just because he's ill doesn't mean all his mistakes can be written off. He's not exactly been lovely to you for a while."

"I…I…" Leo didn't know what to say, Justin was right. He wished he wasn't but it was true.

"I'm sorry for being so selfish, Leo. I promise I'll be a better brother." Justin sighed, smiling at his brother.

"Hey Marco, can I meet you beside the pier, I need to talk to you."

Marco kept reading the text as he reached their usual meeting place, but as Marco walked to hug him, Leo just shook his head.

"What's up?"

"We need to talk."

"Oh god, I've fucked up haven't I?"

"Yeah, big time. Justin's my brother, and I know he can be a pain, but what you did today wasn't exactly any better."

"Self defence? Leo I was doing what any normal person would do."

"He's family Marco, I know I complain about him a lot, but he's always going to be my brother. He's really caught up on how you said he was a terrible brother, and the comment you made about Tiffany. They've hardly been broke up long. I thought you'd be more sensitive."

"Why? He was hardly sensitive calling me a psychopath." Marco retorted.

"I know, and I've spoken to him about it, but it doesn't mean you were in the right."

"So you're taking his side?"

"I'm not taking any side. Both of you are idiots." Leo replied coldly.

"I'm sorry, I…"

"Are you? You apologise a lot Marco, but I don't even know if you mean it. You've blamed so much on you being ill since you got diagnosed. You can't write off your problems because you have issues."

"What the hell." Marco exclaimed. "You seriously believe that I'm that sick in the head."

Leo's lack of an answer and the lack of eye contact said it all.

"Oh great, what else don't you tell me? Am I too needy, too stupid, not good enough, whatever the fuck else. I know I'm not well, but I hardly needed you to start being a dickhead, I try my fucking best."

"Oh, I'm acting like a dickhead. You've hardly been pleasant either."

"I'm not being pleasant since you're obviously on Justin's side."

"I'm trying to mediate it, be on both sides. Justin didn't act this badly."

"Stop comparing me to him!" Marco exclaimed. "Justin is Justin, and if I'm acting so badly why are you still here?"

"I don't know. You're nothing but a waste of time anyway." Leo turned to walk away.

"Yeah, don't talk to me unless you're going to apologise." Marco shouted, though Leo ignored him.

Marco was confused of what exactly had just happened. They were fine this morning, but he was unsure if Leo was right. Did he really need to say all that stuff? No. He just needed to beat him. He couldn't sit back and watch someone call him a psychopath, that couldn't happen.

As he entered his quiet home, another wave of home sickness hit him like a freight train.

He wasn't really thinking, he was angry, and picked up the phone without properly considering it.

"Come on, pick up."

"Hello."

"Mum! Hi, sorry for not calling for so long since last time, I still have a lot to get my head around."

"You should call me more often; I think every time you call you're going to give me bad news."

"Yeah?" Marco chuckled to hide his nerves. "Mum, I need to tell you something."

"What is it?"

"I need to come home, I…I'm not doing great, I need some time away from Greenock for a bit."

Marco could hear his mum sigh, and was probably as close to an "I told you so" as he was going to hear from her.

He needed his family, and his big comfy house, and his old bedroom, and space away from Greenock.

"Of course you can, I'll let Mr Fitzgerald know, how long do you think you need?"

"I'm not sure yet. I can't stay in Chelsea forever, but I don't know if six weeks are enough."

"I understand, me and your Dad can come and pick you up not this weekend, but next, if you want."

Marco bit his lip. That was very soon, not a lot of time to tell Leo.

However, he knew he had to go, plus, if Leo really cared, he'd contact him.

"Yeah that would be great."

"We'll see you then."

"Yeah, sorry to be a bother, bye mum, love you."

"Love you too." And then the phone went dead.

Marco thought that doing this would make him feel better, but he still felt like shit. He felt guilty.

He loved Leo, a ton.

He was so scared that he'd already lost him.

"I'm such a fucking coward."

AN: 2 chapters in a day :D Justin got to Leo's head, will they sort it out? You have to read to find out ;)

Thank you all for the reviews and I probably will write a sequel to this, once all the chapters for this are finalised. It might be a bit different to this one, but hey, never mind, eh?

See you all next chapter xxxx

^3^