Hi, I don't usually show images in chapters but since I suck at describing buildings, I'm just gonna put that right there. Just in case you couldn't understand the small portion of my attempted descriptive writing.
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[Chapter 8]
The House

I leaned against Leo's pickup truck, waiting for him to return from the locker room. I tapped my foot impatiently and checked the time on my phone. It's been exactly 20 minutes since he went off to shower and get changed. I know I didn't have the right to be impatient since he was the one who's giving me a ride home, but I couldn't help it — especially since he made a fool out of me when I asked him for this particular favour.

Yes, much to my reluctancy, I had pushed my pride aside for once and mustered up the to courage to ask him for a favour, much to his enjoyment. We both knew that I owe him one in return now and I'm already counting the days until he'll cash in that favour.

I huffed out in frustration and stormed off in the direction Leo went in earlier on. As I made my way to the boys locker room, a few football players were coming out from it, their hair all wet from showering. I spotted Leo with a few of his football teammates talking outside of the locker room and marched up to him.

I tapped him on the shoulder hard as I attempted to cause at least some sort of pain, although it didn't look like it affected him in anyway. He turned around to see who had tapped him then looked down at me. "Can we go now?" I asked impatiently as I placed a hand on my hip.

He raised his eyebrows at me in realisation. "Oh yea, I forgot about you." He chuckled. I rolled my eyes at him then looked at his teammates, noticing that they were the same group of people I unintentionally insulted the other day. 'Unintentionally' because I only meant to insult Leo.

"Alright, let's go." Leo nodded after grabbing his red duffel bug. He then waved to his friends with a 'goodbye' and they waved back awkwardly, confused to why he was driving back with the girl that insulted him and his entire football team. I awkwardly gave them a nod of acknowledgement and followed after Leo.

We headed back to the parking lot and after a few minutes of arguing, Leo finally caved in and allowed me to help him carry my motorcycle into the back of his truck. I scoffed at his prideful and egotistic manner every time he mumbled to himself, claiming how he could've done it all on his own.

I hopped into the passenger seat and he soon hopped into the driver's after securing the boot, a loud thump vibrated shortly through the truck as he shut it closed. He started the engine, causing the truck to roar to life. Not quite as ferocious as my motorcycle but I guess it'll have to do.

Leo drove in silence, occasionally nodding when I gave him certain directions to my house. I hummed along to the mainstream pop song that's been repeatedly playing on the radio since its release, now already embedded into my brain. I subconsciously tapped my fingers against my thigh to the beat, not being able to resist the catchy tune.

"I have a question." Leo randomly stated as he slightly lowered the radio volume. I hummed in response, pegging him to continue. "Why does Principal Evans talk to you differently?" He glanced at me with curiosity.

"What are you talking about?" I played dumb, the pitch of my voice rose, a habit of mine whenever I'm lying. I rested my chin in the palm of my hand as I watched buildings along with the occasional tree on the sidewalk, pass by in order to avoid his eyes.

He clicked his tongue — I could practically feel his eyes rolling at my attempt to play dumb. "You know what I'm talking about." He scoffed. "Principal Evans is probably the most serious man I have ever known. I mean, not just to me but to the entire school too."

I let out a snort of laughter at the thought of George being perceived as someone that serious, when I've fought with him about getting the last cookie on Christmas more times than I could count with my own ten fingers. "You're kidding, right?" I glanced at him, my mouth twitching into a small, entertained smile.

Leo shook his head and continued. "The guy practically reeks of professionalism as if he wears it as his cologne. But with you, he seems like the type of guy who would actually smile and that's fucking weird. To come from him anyway."

I switched my gaze to him as he stopped at a red light. He looked at me expectantly, raising his eyebrows as he silently urged me to answer him. I pursed my lips together in thought, contemplating whether to tell him the truth or not.

Ah, what the heck.

"He's my godfather." I blurted out.

Silence.

Leo's jaw dropped to the ground in shock, staring at me with wide eyes and furrowed eyebrows. His jaw started twitching with movement as he started blinking uncontrollably. I looked at him with large, panic-stricken eyes, fearing that he might be having seizure from the bombshell I've dropped on him. He shut his eyes, his eyebrows still knitted together as he tried to process the dumbfounding information. Sounds started emerging out of his mouth. He stumbled over his words, stuttering and stammering as he strived to start his sentence.

"WHAT?!" He shouted after letting out a string of stuttered noises and when he finally mustered up the correct vowels to the word. The volume of his voice was deafening, even more so since we were in a vehicle so it bounced off the walls and back into our ears.

As if on cue, the light went green. Still highly affected by the information I've told him, the rest of Leo's senses were reacting slower than usual, causing a round of honking of protest from the cars behind him. Finally realising where he was at the moment, he reverted back to his normal self and quickly stepped on the acceleration pedal, causing the truck to jerk forward with quick movement.

"How?!" Leo asked, sounding utterly surprised and confused.

I laughed. "What do you mean 'how'? He just is."

He shook his head in denial. "That is fucking crazy." He mumbled to himself. We finally arrived at the gate of my neighbourhood and Leo's jaw dropped once again. "This is where you live?"

I didn't bother answering his rhetorical question and rolled down the window. I looked up at Todd, one of the security guards that I know and gave him a kind smile. "Hey, Todd. He's just dropping me off."

Todd nodded but proceeded to wave the other security guards over anyway. They started to thoroughly investigate the truck for any dangerous objects. The look on Leo's face was priceless. He really couldn't be more confused and flabbergasted at the same time. Once they've completed their search and verified that it carried nothing hazardous to the neighbourhood, they opened the gate to let us through. I gave Todd a nod as a way of saying thanks and he tipped his hat in return.

"Make a turn to the right and just go straight up the hill, all the way to the top." I said as I guided him where to go. We stopped in front of my house. Well, in anyone else's perspective, it was a modern mansion but it'd just be weird to say 'my mansion'.

We drove into the stone pavement driveway, circling around the gorgeous marble fountain until we stopped in front of the garage. I hopped out of the vehicle along with Leo, the heavy door slamming behind me. He marvelled at the size of my house, his eyes becoming so wide I was afraid they were going to pop out of their sockets. He ran his fingers through his hair in astonishment and leaned against the hood of his truck, utterly overwhelmed by enormous building before him.

I raised my eyebrows at him and followed his gaze. I've seen my house a million times by now so I've gotten used to the spectacular work of construction. But I could definitely see why other people would be absolutely fascinated by it. It's obvious that my dad is the most passionate when it comes to his work, it even rose him to fame because of his iconic architectural designs. It'd just be stupid to think he'd not go over top when designing his own house to live in — especially since he's got more than enough money to pay for all the costs.

The architectural design of the mansion was meant for modern and contemporary times. Light spilled out from tall, gigantic windows, illuminating the house with a warm, honey glow. Small, supplementary lights around the exterior of the house made the glowing aura of the house swell up even more, making it contrast against the darkening, evening sky. Three mini flights of stairs, constructed with stone and cement, were also lit up by additional lights on the side as if they were guiding you through the darkness.

The house was split up into different wings, each section with different heights to make the overall shape more eccentric and less like a plain ole' boring rectangle. Unlike the customary triangle-shaped roofs, the mansion wore wooden roofs that were parallel to the matching, wooden floors. All except in the centre, where it was slightly curved, giving the mansion a certain, quirky quality all the other mansions lack.

Leo finally said something. "Holy shit." He exhaled, his breath was literally taken away. His eyes shone with astonishment, still not looking away from the mansion.

I let out a uncomfortable chuckle and rubbed my arm awkwardly, never knowing how to respond to the reactions of others when they see my house. "Yeah. Um, can you give me a hand here?" I asked, pointing to my motorcycle that was still in the back of his truck.

"Oh, right." Leo said with realisation and immediately came by my side.

Once we carefully placed the motorcycle down, he stared at me with nothing less than a look of unwavering intrigue. He crossed his arms and took a slow step towards me. "Okay, seriously. Who the hell are you?" He asked sincerely, his eyes searching mine for a possible answer.

I looked at him blankly and shrugged. "Figure it out."

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