𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝－𝘢 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘳

Chapter 3

This chapter is written by @Pennthedragon ! Thanks for reading!

November eighteenth, the day, the day when it happened.

On Saturday, November eighteenth, Emi and Charlotte had to go to weekend detention. And Emi's mom was pissed. She started yelling about how Emi didn't even try anymore after what happened.

That day, Charlotte had gone to the Brookes' house to catch a ride to their school.

As the girls ducked into the car, they wiped their faces of rain and removed their hoods. They left with Emi's mom cursing under her breath while talking to her friend. The sky was gunpowder gray, and battalions of golf ball-sized hail rained down. The sun was just a dim light behind the blanket of clouds. The temperature was dropping quickly, preparing for winter that was close at hand. The clouds seemed to form a face.

Emi thought, "No, this can't be happening. Real life isn't a book."

Although Charlotte didn't say anything, she noticed it, too. "Really. Detention: Emi's angry mom, my angry mom, and a dark cloud face? What could be worse?"

Within thirty minutes, they were there. The school looked much more menacing than it usually did. Emi and Charlotte saw two familiar faces, Hayden and Connor.

She had always thought Hayden was sort of cute, nice, thoughtful, and... She might have had a crush on him. He was quiet and tall. He had dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. A small constellation of freckles sat on his face. A small smile appeared when he saw her.

But Connor was the exact opposite. He had a dark, foreboding presence. His eyes glistened a light gray that glared at everyone and everything they saw. His skin was a dark brown that looked like dark chocolate.

Emi had always hated him, but neither Charlotte nor Hayden knew why, so they stayed neutral when the two got into their heated arguments.

When school was out, the four kids walked together and walked with their friends and didn't talk to each other. But Charlotte and Hayden kept having stolen glances.

As the four kids entered the room, their ears adjusted to the room's quietness, with only the detention teacher—Mrs. Whitloccke—the room was incredibly quiet.

The girls sat at the front of the classroom, and the boys at the back. They all started their homework, and only the sounds of pencils scratching paper broke the heavy silence.

Emi tried to ignore her archenemy sitting right behind her. She couldn't see him but felt his gaze burning against her back. She growled under her breath, clenching her fists around her pencil. "Ignore him, forget him, do your schoolwork", Emi reminded herself.

Within an hour, the lights turned off simultaneously. The kids groaned, assuming it was late enough in the day that the janitors turned off the lights.

Then the alarm went off.