"LEO VALDEZ IN MY OFFICE NOW!" blared the loudspeaker.

"¡Ay Tía Rosa! ¡No soy un chico malo dejame solo!" Leo woke with a start.

" Aye carumba" he grumbled to himself. Did he sleep in again? He took in his surroundings. All the beds were empty in the dorms except his.

Leo checked his clock, and cursed. "Mierda! It's 7:15 already? I missed breakfast!"

Jumping out of bed, Leo grabbed his pants and pulled them on. Then he buttoned up his shirt. As he ran into the bathroom to quickly brush his teeth, he caught a glance of himself in the mirror. His curly brown hair looked oily and was sticking up all over the place on his head, and he had dark circles around his brown eyes. His usual impish grin was missing, due to the stress that was life.

He splashed some cold water on his face and ran out of his dorm room to the attendance area.

He knew he was in big trouble, but it didn't matter. He was always in trouble for something, always on the run. Being the 10th time in trouble at this boarding school, though, he knew he couldn't stay much longer.

He sprinted down the stairs as fast as he could, and nearly ran into Wyatt. Wyatt was Leo's friend, if he had any. He had dark, cruel, greyish eyes and slick black hair. His expression was always dark and forbidding. This was the kind of kid Leo liked to make friends with. The insolent ones were always easier to leave behind when the time came.

"Jeez Leo, where have you been?" Wyatt questioned. "You missed breakfast, so I saved you an extra slice of bread"

"Sweet, dude! I thought I was gonna die of starvation" Leo said around a mouthful of bread.

"Ya well, it better not happen again, cause i don't want to have to kick your ass, right?" Wyatt retorted.

"Not kicking my culo sounds like an amazing idea. I really don't wanna break my no butt kicking streak." Leo responded warily. He knew Wyatt wasn't joking. He rarely did.

"Whatever" Wyatt responded. "Mr. Hamza wants to see you."

"Alright, man. Roger that."

Leo was nervous. It took a lot for Leo to get nervous, but for some reason, this teacher especially got him agitated. Something about the evil gleam in his eyes, but Leo couldn't talk. He had been told before that he looked like he looked like one of Santa's evil elves, Latino style. He took a deep breath before knocking on the door.

"Come in" said an old, croaky voice.

Leo put his fears aside and grabbed the door handle. He noticed that it could have used a new pair of hinges, maybe some oil rubbed bronze ones. No, focus! He scolded himself. When he got nervous, he tended to think about such stuff, like how the toy helicopter on Mr. Hamza's desk had an off rotation, due to the No No No No No No! Leo mentally yelled at himself. He forced himself to meet Mr. Hamza's eyes.

"Well well well Mr. Valdez" Mr. Hamza began, "it would seem that you forgot to come to breakfast and attendance once again. What do you have to say for yourself this time?

"I-I mean, well uh- I" What? Why couldn't he get any words out?

Mr. Hamza smirked. Leo gulped.

"I see. Well, I must say I am quite disappointed. I expect better from all my students, and you are no exception, Leo Valdez."

"Y-y-yes sir" Leo stammered out. Was this man some kind of human devil? He seemed to be the way he looked at Leo, as if deciding how he would taste in his daily PB&J sandwiches.

Mr. Hamza sighed and leaned back in his chair. "Really Leo you need to start doing your best in school. This is not the first time I have had this talk with you. I receive complaints from your teachers daily saying how disruptive you are in class, always joking off, pulling pranks. We teachers deserve respect for all we do for you guys. All the planning we do just so you can get an education! And what do we get in return? We get bratty little students like yourself to smart off to us all the time. It really must stop, now. Do you understand?"

"S-si,señor." Leo stuttered.

"Good. I expect you to reflect further than this in detention. Just to make sure we understand each other."

Leo nodded nervously.

"And Leo, if this carries on, I might have to expel you. It's really getting out of control."

After about 30 seconds of an agonizing awkward silence Leo couldn't take it anymore.

"Welp!" He exclaimed, backing towards the door, "I am very happy we had a deep, macho conversation, but if you would just excuse me, class starts in about one minute so I really have to be going…" he turned on his heel and sprinted down the corridor, closing the door behind him.

He didn't slow down until he got to the door of his first hour Algebra class. He stopped outside it and rested his hands on his knees to catch his breath. Once he settled down, he put on his well-known mischievous grin and strolled into the classroom.

"Good morning Mrs. Death!" He announced. Some people in the back of the classroom snorted.

"It's pronounced Mrs. De'ath, Mr. Valdez. Why are you late?"

"I just had a little run in with Mr. Hammy, but I lived!" he exclaimed, holding out his arms. "Did you miss me?"

The class laughed, it was common knowledge that Mr. Hanza did not appreciate his well known nickname.

"Leo Valdez, I expect respect from you, respect! Is it too much to ask for?" Mrs. De'ath exclaimed in anguish.

Leo held up his hands in surrender, grinning his evil little elf smile. He enjoyed messing with Mrs. De'ath a little too much, but come on! She made it sooo easy!

"Ok Mrs. Death, you're the boss!"

Mrs. De'ath rolled her eyes and pointed at Leo's chair. "Sit down."

Leo dutifully walked over to his chair and sat down.

All class his mind was occupied with thoughts of where he should run to next. Disney world? Hollywood? Maybe he could become a movie star or run around in big mickey mouse costumes scaring little children. Or maybe he could…

"Leo!" Mrs. De'ath's voice yanked Leo from his thoughts.

"Huh? Oh…what?" Leo blushed with embarrassment.

"I asked you a question on the worksheet. How are you feeling? You look tired."De'ath inquired with a concerned look on her face.

Leo smirked "Armed and dangerous! What did you need my thoughtful insight on?"

"Well if you were listening, you would have heard me ask you for the answer to question 6."

Leo glanced at his Lord of the Flies worksheet. Number 6 read: To

change centimeters to meters you_. Leo thought. He knew the answer, but…

"You take out the centi, of course"

The class giggled.

Mrs. De'ath rolled her eyes. "Wrong, actually. You divide the length value by 100. Moving on…"