Chương 27: "Are you trying to protect me, Hunter?"
"Are you trying to protect me, Hunter?" Leo teased me.
I furrowed my brows. "Don't make trouble." I grumbled.
Leo giggled and poked me on the cheek, he then turned and told Rebecca, "It seems we need to have another strategy meeting."
Rebecca nodded. She raised her arm and flexed her biceps, "If any of these homophobic retards ever reveal themselves, I'll go and pummel them to a pulp!" Rebecca shouted. It seems this was her way of comforting Leo.
James added, "Don't be sad, Leo. These people are just narrow-minded. I'm sure they will come around when they get to know you." He said softly.
"I won't let any one of these people 'get to know' Leo." I thought to myself.
"Thank you, Rebecca, Leo. I'm really fine!" Leo smiled. "Besides, Mike is the one who will have it worse the next few days."
"What do you mean?" Rebecca tilted her head.
"You'll know soon enough."
*****************
Leo and I is heading back to the classroom. I was still a little concerned for Leo, so I asked. "Are you sure you're okay?" I asked Leo in an anxious tone.
"No I'm not okay." Leo replied, making a pitiful face. He reached over and grabbed my arm. "But I'll feel better if you kiss me."
I rolled my eyes, "You still have the gall to joke." I replied.
"I'm really fine." Leo's face turned serious. "We have been acting chummy for the past school year without any problems, but now after my speech, people suddenly started insulting me on the school online forum."
I furrowed my brows, "You're saying someone intentionally fanned the flames online?"
Leo nodded. "But that's a good thing."
I frowned. "Why?"
"It means that they're scared." Leo smirked. "If our opponent did not think we will win, they won't be desperately attacking us on the internet."
I had the urge to squeeze Leo's cheeks to wipe away his smirk. Then, I realized something was wrong. "We were not acting chummy the past year!" I protested.
Leo didn't say anything and just gave me a meaningful smile.
I was fuming on the inside.
***************
After about an hour, the moderators of the school online forum informed me that they already started deleting the obviously discriminatory comments. However, the proliferation of these negative comments was much faster than the moderators' speed in deletion. The moderators tried blocking the accounts of these cyberbullies, but that did not work either as they could just instantly create a new account after they were blocked.
Leo, in the meantime, was nonchalant of the sh*tstorm that was happening online, completely focusing on surfing the net. As usual, he was ignoring the teacher's teachings.
After a while, Leo tilted his head and gave me a victorious smile.
"What." I asked.
"I've planned a comeback!" Leo gave me a sunny smile.
****************
After class ended, I took a look at the school online forum again. To my surprise, I found that there were man comments on the net that denounced the cyberbullies and defended Leo for his sexual orientation.
"How can you guys be so ignorant!"
"Yeah! What does being gay have to do with being Student Council President?"
"Leo's gay, so what? He's more handsome than you, have better grades than you, have a better boyfriend than you!"
"Being gay is not a sin. However, being ignorant is."
These comments overwhelmed the original narrative and changed to the immorality of discrimination.
"It seemed that Leo have done something during class." I thought. "Now that the narrative have changed, it would garner Leo much more popularity than the other candidates."
People like an underdog story much better than an established hero. Leo, a person with average grades, was much more relatable than people like Mike, who seems out of reach. Therefore, along with Leo's outgoing personality, many people stood up and defended him. Of course, Leo must have done other things to ensure that this happened.
To be honest, I was slightly impressed by Leo. I did not think he would be able to do this much in only a few hours.
After basketball practice, Leo as usual, waited for me at the entrance. We were escorted by the chauffeur to the Spencer Mansion.
***************
"Hey." I said, glaring at Adrian while he was doing squats.
"Wh-what?" Adrian asked in a tiny voice while panting hard. He wanted to die and reincarnate into another world.
"Do you still hangout with the other delinquents at school?"
Adrian, who had just finished 100 squats, sat down on the grond. He was way too tired to even move, much less speak.
"I guess I'll talk with you over this during dinner."
****************
I got used to having dinner at Spencer's every night. It was actually a great perk, as I could eat for free and also get salary while eating as I was 'engaging' in an activity with Adrian. Also, the resident chef in the Spencer Family used to work at a 3 M*chelin starred restaurant before being poached by them at a high price.
There were 4 of us seated next to the square dining table. I was seated at the opposite of Leo, while Mr. Spencer sat opposite his son.
While eating, I asked Adrian, "As I was saying from a while ago, do you still hangout with the other delinquents at school?"
"Y-yes." Adrian replied timidly, "Why?"
When Adrian confirmed his associations, Mr. Spencer furrowed his brows.
"I want you and them to vote for Leo in the upcoming primaries and elections. Also, get the other people in the class to do it too." I commanded.
Leo immediately cut me off and said, "You don't have to vote for me if you don't want to. Just vote as you like." He said peacefully.
Adrian raised his head and looked at both of us. He saw Leo's amicable smile and my heinous glare. He was immediately frightened so much that he did not even try to answer.
Mr. Spencer suddenly chimed in, "I'm sorry, Hunter, but I don't want Adrian to be associated with those people. Please don't force Adrian to interact with them."
Adrian, who was shrivelled up from my glare, wanted to protest but failed to do so.
"I think Adrian is capable of making his own decisions, Mr. Spencer." I replied. "It's not good for the growth of the child if the father always barge in when he is making decisions."
"I'm sorry, but I believe that I have more experience being a father than you, Hunter." Mr. Spencer said, without any change in his voice.
Mr. Spencer and I stared at each other, there seemed to be sparks crossing between our eyes.
Leo, who wanted to defuse the situation, nudged Adrian and said, "Adrian, stop being a crybaby and man up! Just give out your opinions! Do you want to continue hanging out with your friends or not?"
"Can you read the atmosphere?!" Adrian shouted in his mind. "The two most powerful people I've ever known is before me, how can I make a sound?!"
**********
After dinner, I took Adrian back to his room. We did homework together, while Leo played on his phone. Adrian was doing much better with his studies now with me monitoring him every second. The whip in my hand is being used less during study time. However, I still have to whip Adrian quite a few times during training.
When I was in the middle of doing homework, Adrian asked in a small voice. "If I vote for Leo-"
"You should speak up! Your voice is way too small." I furrowed my brows.
Adrian almost jumped. He cleared his throat and forced his voice out as much as possible, "I said if I vote for Leo, can you do something for me?"
I stared at Adrian. To my surprise, Adrian did not back down like a tortoise and stared straight at me. There was a light that seemed to be burning in his eyes.
"It depends on how many votes you can carry, Adrian." I replied.
Adrian immediately looked disappointed. He said, "I-I can now only get 3 votes." He added frantically right afterwards, "But I'll work hard to get others to vote for Leo!"
"Hmmm..." I thought for a while. "If you manage to get your class to vote for Leo during the primaries, I'll consider your request."
Adrian nodded in a frenzied manner, "I'll definitely get the class to cast the vote for Leo!" He shouted.
*****************
When the chauffeur was driving us back home, Leo leaned against my shoulder and said, "You should be nicer to Adrian."
I took his head away from my shoulder and replied, "He beat James to a pulp and stole his money. Why would I be nicer to Adrian?" I replied.
"He's a good person on the inside." Leo smiled. "I can feel it."
If the people from Ares International heard what Leo said, they would probably shake their heads repeatedly.
"If he's a person, than everyone in the world is a good person." I retorted.
"This guy is way too naive sometimes." I thought to myself.
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