Mr Turner glared at him. “After school detention then too. For both of you!”
I gasped again. “What? Why?” I asked, trying desperately not to cry.
“Now tomorrow too!” Mr Turner roared, his evil eyes coming to rest on me.
I whimpered. First I lost someone who I was supposed to be looking after, then I completely missed biology and I was pretty sure I had a quiz. And now I had two detentions? Could this day possibly get any worse?
As if answering my question, Freddie jumped out of his seat, glaring back at Mr Turner. “You can’t give us detention for nothing! You’re just in a freaking foul mood and are taking it out on us. What’s up, Turner, did you not get any at the weekend?”
The whole class had gone quiet, mouths hanging open in shock. Mr Turner looked like he was struggling to breathe as he glared at Freddie like he wanted to kill him on the spot. “You,” he hissed, pointing at Freddie. He turned and pointed at me making me flinch from the hardness to his eyes. “And you. Lunchtime detentions for the rest of the week, and after school tomorrow. And if I hear one more peep out of either of you two for the rest of the lesson, then it’ll be after school detentions for the whole week!” he said, his voice so low that it almost came out as a growl.
Freddie laughed quietly to himself, and I knew what he was going to do before he even did it. He was one of Luke’s jerk friends and I knew Luke would do exactly the same thing in this situation. Act the big shot. Freddie was a troublemaker, and was always in detention; this was probably nothing out of the ordinary for him. Me on the other hand…
He sat back down, deliberately slowly, leaning back in his chair, putting his hands behind his head as if he was chilling out. His face was innocent and happy as he said, “Peep.”
Mr Turner almost smiled, almost, but then it was gone to be replaced by the hard stern face of a strict teacher. He just as calmly and deliberately walked over to his desk and shuffled his papers there. “Very well, Mr Silverton. You and Miss Preston will now both have detention lunchtimes and after school for the rest of the week.” He turned to me and pointed to a seat that was free at the front. “Sit!” he ordered.
I obediently trotted over to the seat and plopped down in it, my mouth hanging open in shock and my eyes prickling with tears. I wanted to protest and plead that it wasn’t my fault, but I didn’t dare say anything else in case it made it worse. I had an excuse, I had a reason for being late to his class, but he just didn’t want to listen.
I turned to glare at Freddie who was laughing quietly to himself; he got a discreet high five from Ricky who was sitting next to him. I wanted to kill him, I really did. But I knew Luke would do that for me once he found out I couldn’t eat with him all week because of Freddie’s antics. I pulled out my book and tried to concentrate on anything other than the fact that I had just gotten into trouble at school for the first time ever. I scrawled on the top of my notepad, ‘Mondays suck’, then I quickly scribbled it out before anyone saw it. That statement wasn’t right anyway, it wasn’t that Monday’s sucked, it was that the new guy sucked. If I hadn’t been waiting for him then I wouldn’t have been late to class in the first place and my academic record would be perfect, the same as always.
The rest of the day was just as bad, I was in a seriously foul mood. I text Luke to tell him that I couldn’t meet him for lunch and that I had detention after school too. As he replied, my phone got confiscated so I didn’t even get to read his response. Freddie sat next to me in the lunchtime detention, digging his finger into my ribs the whole time, throwing me little notes with pictures that he’d drawn on them of me with my head stuck in a book or some other degrading nerd joke.
I did my best to ignore him, I really did, but I secretly hoped that Luke punched him in the face for this little stunt. I didn’t have time to explain to Principal Bennett that I hadn’t found Zachary so he would have to eat alone today, I was pretty sure I’d get into trouble for that too. All in all, my morning was disastrous.
Gym class wasn’t much better; I fell over and scraped my knees while we were running. Zachary didn’t turn up to this class either, and I felt so guilty that I wanted to cry even more. I felt terrible as I thought about him possibly hiding in the bathrooms because he didn’t know where he was supposed to go or do.
Over the course of the morning, I figured that all my troubles had originated because I had sat with Luke and his friends this morning instead of going straight to the front doors to wait for Zachary. I didn’t want to blame Luke, I really didn’t, but the more I thought about it, the more annoyed with him I became. I knew I was being irrational, but he was the one that made me sit there and listen to that idiotic conversation this morning. It was one of his friends that got me detention. His text got my phone confiscated.
The day dragged beyond belief and felt like it lasted a lifetime. After another excruciating hour of detention spent with Freddie at the end of the day, I headed to the office to go and explain to Principal Bennett that I couldn’t find Zachary. I just hoped I would be able to convince her to talk to Mr Turner, and I could get out of the detentions for the rest of the week.
As I approached the office, I winced, wondering if I was about to get into more trouble for being irresponsible and not meeting him. I held my breath as I walked up to the receptionist. She looked up and recognition shot across her face. “Oh, Maisie, I meant to send you a note.” She smiled apologetically.
“A note? You found him then?” I asked.
She shook her head, leaning in closer to me with a mischievous look on her face. “No. As it turns out, he decided he didn’t want to start today. He skipped. Principal Bennett has been talking to his aunt for the last half an hour. I think he’s in big trouble, and he hasn’t even started here yet. Not really a good start, skipping on your first day.” She laughed quietly to herself, looking like we were having a good gossip about the new delinquent.
My hands clenched into fists at her revelations. The stupid guy couldn’t even be bothered to show up to his first day? I had sat there waiting for him, searched the school, got detentions, and had my phone confiscated, all because of him. Everything was his fault and I already felt myself hating him for it. I had never taken an instant disliking to someone in my life. I had always believed in giving people chances, forgiving and forgetting, making the best of something and not holding grudges. I hadn’t even met Zachary Anderson and it looked like he was the exception to that rule. If he were in front of me in that moment I would probably punch him in the face for tarnishing my academic record.
I frowned. “I don’t have to meet him tomorrow, do I?”
She smiled sadly. “Principal Bennett would like you to.” She shrugged and looked at me questioningly. “His aunt has promised he’ll be here tomorrow.”
I closed my eyes and huffed in defeat. “Fine.” I stomped out of the office, heading to the parking lot to wait for Luke by his car. His football practice would be finishing soon. I pulled myself up on the hood and settled on my back, closing my eyes, taking calming breaths. After a few minutes I remembered that I hadn’t asked to get my detentions quashed. I shook my head at myself in disbelief, I didn’t have the mental strength to go back into the school though, I’d just have to sort it out tomorrow.
After another ten minutes, someone grabbed my ankles and pulled me forward, making me slide down the car. I squealed and snapped my eyes open quickly, in a state of panic. I looked up to see Luke smirking at me. Just as my butt crashed into his crotch, he bent forward putting his arms either side of my head, his face inches from mine, his whole body pinning me against the car.
“Now this is a nice way to meet me, sprawled out on the hood of my car. Maybe next time you could do it in a bikini or something?” he suggested, waggling his eyebrows at me.
I laughed and wrapped my legs around his waist, pulling him closer to me. Looking into his big brown eyes made my mood lighten instantly, they made me forget what a crappy day I’d had, and how annoyed I was. His playful smile made an unconscious smile to creep onto my lips too. “Maybe for your nineteenth birthday,” I teased, running my hands up his back.
He pouted. “But my birthday’s not for another eight months!” he whined.
I grinned and shrugged. “The wait will build the anticipation.”
He laughed and kissed the tip of my nose. “Come on then, baby, let’s go home, and then you can whine about your day while I try my best to cheer you up.” He pulled back, taking my hand and helping me down from the hood of his car. I smiled gratefully, already knowing he’d have me smiling and laughing by the time he left my house tonight.
Chapter 4
As it turned out, Zachary Anderson obviously didn’t feel like starting school at all. He skipped the whole week. I gave up waiting for him after Wednesday. Every day the Principal would call his aunt and apparently she would apologise profusely and promise he would be there the following day, but as of Friday he had officially skipped all week. I was secretly hoping that Principal Bennett would just tell him not to bother starting at all if he couldn’t even drag himself here willingly. She didn’t strike me as the kind of person to give up that easy though, she liked a challenge, and Zachary was certainly turning out to be that. So far, he was certainly living up to his ‘I’m a delinquent and I’m repeating senior year’ reputation.
The week passed unbelievably slowly. I had to go to the detentions because Mr Turner refused to let me off of them and made a big show to the Principal that it was more about the conversation and lack of respect, rather than me being late for his class. The only good thing about detentions was that I got my homework done quicker than normal, which meant I could spend more time with Luke in the evenings.
Tonight I planned on letting a little lose though and having fun. It was Ricky’s eighteenth so he was having a party at his house. I dressed up a little more than usual, going for a blue all in one, strapless playsuit. It looked cute and showed off a lot more leg than I would ever dream of flashing, but I was with Luke all night and I knew he’d appreciate it. I was staying at his place tonight; my parents didn’t know, of course, they thought I was staying with Charlotte. Alex had agreed to cover for me, in exchange I had to do all of his chores for a month and make him grilled cheese whenever he asked for it.