I'm Not a Whore, I'm Just a Leech

I am jolted awake by someone prodding me in the side. I am not one to allow people into my personal space (unless it’s for business purposes of course). I immediately slip my hand underneath my pillow and grab my scissors, pointing at the soft bit of skin underneath the person’s jawbone.

“Holy shit, Cam.” They jump, their eyes wide like saucers, “It’s just me.”

“Melissa. You should know better than to wake me like that,” I snarl.

“And you should know better than to sleep this late when we have practice,” she hisses in reply. Damn. I had forgotten we had practice today. “Come on, or we’ll be later than we already are,” she orders, before she struts out of our bedroom. After changing and brushing my teeth, I sling my bag onto my shoulder and follow her out of the room at a much more leisurely pace.
__________________________________________________________________________

By the time I get to school and to the changing rooms, Melissa is fuming; me being late had made her late for practice as well. I change and walk outside to the field. “How come you’re late?” Victor whispers to me, as I come to stand in the crowd waiting in front of the teacher.

“Forgot we had practice.” I shrug as the coach hurls a dodgeball at us. Victor shrugs and Melissa shoots a look at us. Well she shoots me a look, before dreamily gazing at Victor.

“Now that we are finally all here,” the coach glares in my direction, “I want to go over the track team rules, I have a few new ones too, so pay attention. Rule number one: anything that has happened, is happening, or might happen outside the track stays outside the track. Nothing matters here except for track. Rule number two: you will turn up to practice on time and with the right footwear. I will not tolerate lateness and if I feel you are not giving your all to this team, I will replace you. Rule number three: before every competition or meet, you will eat a full meal the night before and go to bed early and eat a decent breakfast the next morning. I don’t care how sick you feel, I will not have my team throwing up because they were too nervous to eat. Clear?”

“Rule four: if you are struggling with balancing schoolwork and track come and see either me or a member of the team. Hopefully we’ll find someone to help you and if we can’t then we might have to let you go, so please try and stay on top of it all. Rule five: you will never under pain of death reveal any of our tactics or plans to another team, and I strongly suggest you do not tell anyone off of the team because if they tell, I will hold you responsible and you will be off of the team.”

“Now, for the new rules. Rule six: if you decide to quit the team for whatever absurd reason, you will notify me at least a month before the next meet. A month is a poor time to train a new runner but it will have to do. If you notify in under a month you will be expected to play the next game and you can quit after. Understood? And lastly rule seven: there will be no dating between team members. I would prefer it if you did not date a member of a different track team either, to prevent tensions from arising that are not due to the actual competition. Savvy?” Coach was looking at the team who were all staring at him blankly, except Melissa who looks shocked and pale, and Keegan who is staring at his toes and pulling at the bottom of his jersey. Well, this just got more interesting.

“Does everyone understand?” Coach yells. Everyone, but me of course, jumps slightly before nodding, some a little less enthusiastically than others. Melissa looks on the verge of tears but Victor doesn’t even glance at her. Instead he looks at me. I stubbornly stare ahead of me. “Good, now, start running!” Coach roars. Apparently, my lateness has put him into a rather foul mood.

To add to the disaster that is this practice, the heavens decide now is the perfect time to release all the rain they’ve been holding this past week. We are drenched within seconds but Coach doesn’t bat an eyelash as he gives us spots on the track and tells us to run seven laps. He himself, stays in the middle, watching us. If no one gets injured by the end of this, I’ll be truly impressed. As I run closer to the stadium seats to try and avoid the heavy rain, I see an oddly shaped form sitting in the first row of the stands. I race around once again, and when I get back to where I had spotted it, I slow down and turn to look into the stands, squinting my eyes against the rain. I think it’s a person. What kind of insane person is willingly comes out in this weather to watch a track practice? Unfortunately, the person behind me doesn’t see me stop through the veil of rain and rams straight into me, sending me flying into the stands beside the figure. I come crashing down to the floor, knocking over several benches. The person who ran into me is sent off balance and crashes against the stands a little ways down.

Brilliant. I think I’ve broken my back. Groaning, I try to stand up but a hand is immediately on my shoulder, pushing me back down to the floor.

“Don’t move, you might make it worse,” a vaguely familiar voice calls through the racket of the rain. I stop protesting and relax into the wooden floorboards. I knew someone would get hurt in this weather, I didn’t think it would be me though. The hand that was on my shoulder moves to push a few benches out of the way. “Where does it hurt?” he asks.

“Uh, everywhere?” I snort. They chuckle lightly and I can feel their name on the tip of my tongue. I think I have a concussion. “My back mainly. I haven’t broken any limbs at least.” I go to shrug, but stop when a searing pain darts down my back. “And this fucking rain isn’t helping.”

“Sorry, I can’t change the weather,” they say and I detect a smirk in their voice. Oh, for fucks sake. “Come on Leech, I don’t think anything is broken but I suggest you go the nurse, to make sure. I think it’ll be fine if you try to stand now.” The figure stands themselves, before offering me a hand to help me up. I take it, not sure if I can stand on my own.

As he helps me up, his hood falls back to reveal his black hair and he smirks again when I lean heavily on his arm. I hate being helpless. I hate being weak.

“Cam?” a voice shouts from a few metres away. I can barely make out their figure through the rain. “Cam, I’m so sorry, I didn’t see you. Why’d you stop? Are you okay? I’m so-”

“Sorry? You said,” Iero snorts.

“Iero?” Victor stops trying to climb over the benches in surprise. “What are you doing here?” His voice is strained and hostile.

“No doubt he was here spying.” I sigh, “Would you mind having this little catch-up later? I need to go and see the nurse.”

“Cam, I’m really, really sorry,” Victor repeats, resuming his attempts to climb up to where me and Iero are standing.

“You can grovel at her feet later, Jareau, now I’m taking her to the nurse,” Iero snarls and I can sense his eyes narrowing on Victor.

“What do you mean; you are taking her to the nurse? You think I would trust her with you?” Victor sneers in disgust. I had no idea he hated Iero so much.

“And you think you should be trusted with her after what you did?” Iero retorts, his voice filled with rage. Apparently, the hatred is mutual.

“For fucks sake!” I snap. “Victor, you’re not staying here, Coach will already be pissed that one team member is missing, and quite frankly if I had to choose between you and Iero, I’d choose him. Iero’s going to take me to the nurse, it will stop him spying at any rate. I am also perfectly capable of taking care of myself. Now can we please get a move on before I fucking pass out!”

“Cam, really, I’ll deal with Coach later. You’re not going with him.” Victor spits out the last word like Iero is something contagious. Victor is really starting to irritate me immensely at this point.

“Jareau, do us all a favour and piss off. Can’t you tell when you’re not wanted?” Iero sneers before turning around and slinging my right arm over his shoulder while slipping his left arm around my waist to keep me steady. Victor makes a disgusted noise and mutters something, unpleasant no doubt, under his breath. “Ready, Leech?” Iero asks before slowly helping me down the steps and across the field to the school. Admittedly, we got a few odd looks from the passing students but otherwise we made it to the nurse’s office in peace.

The nurse fusses over me as soon as Iero sets me down on the bed. As she instructs me to lie down, I notice Iero doesn’t leave, partially concealed by shadows, over by the door.

“Iero?” I ask, looking in his direction.

He looks up at my face. “Yes, Leech?”

“What were you doing watching our practice? Especially in that weather?”

He smirks slightly before answering, “I like watching you run.”

I cock my head to the side in bewilderment; he snickers. “You have a very nice, chest.”

I narrow my eyes at him, “Is my chest the only nice thing about me?” The nurse has at this point stopped looking me over and is watching our exchange intently.

Iero looks a bit shocked but continues anyway. “No, you also have a very nice ass.” He smirks at me, “What about me? How do I look?”

I look him over, smiling appreciatively. “Pretty good. You could work out a little more though.” “I better not hear about you getting yourself pregnant, Miss Donahue. If need be we do have condoms here in the office. Did you hear what I said, Mr. Iero?” I turn to Iero wide-eyed and see that he looks paler than usual. Then without even acknowledging either me or the nurse, he pushes up off the wall and hurries out of the room as if I had told him I was pregnant. The irony.
__________________________________________________________________________

My eyes flutter open as the clock on the wall ticks to two in the afternoon. The white sheets immediately inform me that I am in the hospital wing. On the desk by my bed is a pain numbing pill and my phone, which reads that I have several text messages. I reach for the pill first.

When I have taken the pill, only then do I reach for my phone. There is one from my parents. One from my sister and one from someone whose name I recognize but am slightly surprised to see. Ignoring the ones from my family, I tap the last one and start reading it.

‘Dear Cam,’ it begins, ‘I hear you’ve had a track accident; don’t worry I’ve already sent your coach a nasty email for making you practice in the rain. I hope your injuries aren’t too bad, Charlie only mentioned it briefly when he last texted me, but I am sure that the nurse is taking wonderful care of you. How are you at the moment outside of the injuries? I’m sure you’re busy studying for exams and track but I haven’t heard from you in quite a while and I just want to make sure you’re okay? I hope to see you during the Christmas holidays, motheris desperate for me to spend the Christmas holidays back in Jersey but I haven’t decided yet. I will definitely be back for a couple days though and we must meet up as I have some news I would like you to hear before the rest of the family. Don’t worry; I’m not pregnant! Anyway, I look forward to hearing from you and do let me know if anything interesting happens in your life. I promise I shall not breathe a single word, I do live in England after all, there is no one to question me here. Hope you get well soon, my dear. Much love, Amy.

Setting my phone down, I resist the urge to sigh. I’ll have to write back to her, there are few people I get along with in the world and after moving to England three years ago Amy has become one of them. I am happy that she sent Coach a nasty email though. Picking up my phone, I go to check my other text messages, but before I can tap one of the messages, the door opens and a figure in a gray shirt and purple sweater enters the room.

“Cam.” Victor stares, clearly surprised to see me awake. “I just came to see how you were doing.” He tries to act casual but the way he wrings his hand betrays some discomfort.

“I’m fine, thank you,” I mutter coldly.

“Look, Cam, I really am sorry about what happened, I didn’t see you through the rain and I wasn’t expecting you to slow down…and I’m really sorry I let that Iero creep bring you here, it should have been me, it was my fault and-”

“It really doesn’t matter,” I cut him off.

“Still, I feel really bad and I truly am so-”

“Sorry? Yes, I get it. Do you know what really pisses me off? People who constantly apologize over and over again. I mean, honestly, once is enough. So please, just stop apologizing.”

“Sorry.” I give him a cold look. “I just…” he mutters sheepishly, and stares at his feet.

“It’s fine. I am not permanently or seriously injured. Now, will you please leave?”

“Right…yeah…well… I’ll just be going then,” Victor mumbles. He makes to leave and reaches the doors before turning to look over his shoulder at me. “I don’t know if you heard, but, your cousin from England sent Coach a nasty email for making us practice in the rain. Coach almost exploded, it was hysterical. Not going to lie though, I keep thinking she’s going to send me one too.” He gives a half laugh before disappearing out of the infirmary and leaving me alone once again.

The nurse does not let me go for the rest of the day. By the time lessons have finished, I am practically squirming with irritation. I hate being trapped in this room. It is filled with memories I would prefer not to be reminded of. I have come to find that memories are often more painful than the actual event you remember because of everything you associate with that event that you were unaware while said event was happening. As I mull over these thoughts in my head, the door opens and another figure enters, heading for my bed.

“Good afternoon, Leech,” murmurs the husky voice of Frank Iero.

“Iero.” I nod, slightly surprised he is here. “What can I do for you?”

“You weren’t in Chemistry, so I thought I would deliver the work to you seeing as you are my Chemistry partner. We were just recapping some grade eleven experiments and solutions but Mr. Reid said you would be interested in some more advanced ones. He gave me this book for you.” Iero reaches into his bag and pulls out a worn and seemingly old book. As he hands the book to me, I cannot help but be slightly surprised when his fingers brush lightly against mine before he lets go.

“Thank you,” I mutter. To my astonishment Iero proceeds to take the seat beside my bed and rests his feet on the sheets. However, the book in my hands quickly pulls my attention away from Iero. It is indeed an extremely old textbook. So old, I think I might have to translate some of the instructions from their original old English before attempting any of the experiments and solutions from the book.

“He thinks you will particularly like the solution on page seventy-two and that you are more than welcome to use his lab after lessons if you wish. Although he said it would probably be best to have someone else with you should your solution go wrong,” Iero adds with a frown. “Although I cannot imagine you getting any experiment or solution wrong,” he mutters. Before I can answer, however, the door slams open.

“What the fuck are you doing here, Iero?” the new arrival hisses.

“Jareau, come to do some more damage, have you?” Iero sneers, his lip curling in disgust as Victor comes towards us. “Was landing her in the infirmary not enough? Decided to come break her some more, have you?” Iero continues, standing up to face Victor. I watch in amusement before the full meaning of Iero’s words sink in. Break her. Iero thinks I’m broken. And he thinks it’s Victor’s fault. Surely…surely, he doesn’t know?

Besides, I’m not broken. I’m merely bruised from the fall.

“Piss off, Iero. No one asked you to be her protector,” Victor sneers, stepping closer to Iero. Oh dear lord, this might not end well. “Besides, you have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, don’t I? So if I were to ask you if you knew who Violet Morrish was, you would have no idea whom I was talking about?” Iero’s voice is dangerously low. I can barely make out what he is saying. Victor’s face pales considerably and he whispers something so I cannot hear. Iero just smirks and whispers something back before pulling away and sitting back down on my bed. “You are not wanted here, Jareau.” He waves his hand absently as if in dismissal. Victor narrows his eyes in rage but manages to refrain from lashing out at Iero. Instead, he throws a couple of (now slightly crumpled) letters onto my bed before storming out and slamming the door behind him.

Iero pulls out a book and begins to read while I pick up the letters and read them. There is a short one from Coach, apologising for making us practice in the rain and informing me when our next practice was. There is one from Melissa telling me she will come and see me after she visits the library and one from Victor. I read the first ‘I’m sorry’ and toss the letter aside.

“Who’s it from?” Iero asks without even looking up from his book.

“Victor,” I sigh.

“Something wrong?” he queries. I can tell he is trying to keep his face passive but his smirk still manages to shine through.

“He won’t stop apologising.” We fall into silence for a while, during which I become increasingly agitated. “Why are you here?” I asked eventually.

“Oh don’t lie, you like my company.”

I glare at him. “Isn’t it because you like to eat later than everybody else?”

He looks slightly surprised, “That’s part of it.” I find it slightly disturbing that I know he likes to eat later than everybody else.

“Right.” More silence.

“Cam?”

“I think I’m going to go eat now.” Iero closes his book and puts it in his bag. Just as he is about to walk out the door, I call him back.

“Iero?”

He walks over, with a curious expression painted on his face.

“You’re right. I do like your company.”

He smirks and then quickly leans down and kisses me on the forehead. He pulls away just as Melissa comes over. She eyes Iero with a mixture of curiosity and apprehension. As he leaves she takes the vacated seat beside my bed.

“What was Iero doing here?” Melissa asks with a suspicious eye.

“I have no idea.” I shrug.

She frowns. “Why did he just kiss you?”

“I have no idea.”

“Odd...” She looks at me for a few moments, then abruptly says, “I have your homework from Math and English but you’ll have to get the rest from your other teachers.” She hands me a couple sheets with written work on them.

“So…” Melissa starts. “Coach is pissed.”

Notes

I really am sorry that I updated a day late. I'm not gonna give you reasons why because I know to you they'll sound like excuses. (When authors give reason to why they update late they all sound like excuses to me, so I'm sure that's what they sound like to you too.) On a happier note, this is the longest chapter yet!

Chapter One: 2482 Words
Chapter Two: 1586 Words
Chapter Three: 2190 Words
Chapter Four: 3444 Words