"Collette, why aren't you in class?" Mr bale, the chemistry teacher, asked me.
"I...I was in the bathroom." I lie to him.
"Do you have a hall pass to be out here then?" He asked me
"No." I sighed suddenly realising that i was about to be in trouble.
"Detention after school today. Next time have a pass." He said walking away with a smug look and I hung my head in defeat.
I walked back to maths and took a seat after explaining where I was using my previous lie.
Maths was our last lesson and it passed quickly, and when it did, I explained to the girls that I had detention. She's thought it was stupid like I did but honestly couldn't care enough.
I walked to the detention room and took a seat waiting to see if anyone else would come.
A whole five minutes passed and no one had walked in, I was even starting to wonder if anyone was coming or if I could go.
At the moment I wanted to get up, miss Fairbourne walked in.
"I thought we already talked today, what are you doing today?" Miss Fairbourne asked as she turned to look at me and raised an eyebrow after setting the papers she had down.
"Detention." I said softly and she just hummed.
"I'm guessing you have no work to do? Otherwise you'd already be doing it." She asked as she walked towards me.
"No I don't." I said shyly.
"Okay then." She said sitting down in front of me. "Tell me about you." She offered a smile. Like one that reached her eyes and made me notice her small smile lines.
They were pretty.
"Like what?" I asked softly as i reciprocated the smile.
"I don't know anything."
"I don't know what to say." I giggled shyly. Some reason her smiling and being so soft is making me shy and nervous.
I've never seen her like this, she's kind one-on-one.
"Okay, then you'll get to know me. I'm from Cuba originally. I came to America with my family when I was 13 years old. But sadly after a month of being here my dad died." She said.
My heart ached but I felt like it's something I could tell her about now.
"I'm sorry about your dad." I said
"Don't worry, it's been a long time now. Now you."
"My mom died two years back. So I guess it's something we can relate on." I chuckled lightly.
"I'm sorry about that Collette. It gets easier I promise." She said placing her hand on top of mine and in that moment my heart jumped in my chest.
I felt butterflies. Many at that too.
"Thanks." I said and I felt my cheeks heat up quickly.
"How come you ended up at the club on Saturday? Good for you, you were there, but it just doesn't seem like your scene." She asked me as her hand still stayed on top of mine.
"It's not my scene. But the girls said I should live a little this year. So we went to the club. What about you?" I said with a small chuckle but it died quickly when I realised I had no business asking her what she was doing there.
"I'm sorry I—"
"My friend Vivian. She practically dragged me out of the house after I had a few bad days." She said.
"Oh I'm sorry about your bad days but how come?" I asked softly. "Your bad days I mean."
"It's a long story." She said.
"Detention doesn't end for another thirty minutes, we've got some time." I said as I looked at the clock on the wall. And she chuckled lightly.
"My ex fiancée. The routes of all my problems lately." She sighed. "But I'm moving on. So I guess it's better."
"The cheating ex?" I questioned remembering earlier today.
"That's the one. Thinking back on it she wasn't the kindest person or the most sensible. But love makes you blind sometimes." She said leaning back I got the chair still not removing her hand from mine.
"I'm sorry. If she had the nerve to cheat on you, she really didn't deserve you. I always think that if someone had even the urge to cheat then they were never meant to be with you in the first place. When you truly love someone, it feels like no one else is important and they all melt away when you're together." I said to her as I placed my hand on hers to caress the back of it slightly with my thumb and she looked at me so sincerely with a smile.
"For someone who's only 18 years old, you sound like you've been in love before." She said softly.
"No I never have. I've only ever witnessed it. My parents. They were the image of love for me." I said and she smiled at me.
She turned her head slightly to look at the time and detention had ended five minutes ago.
"Looks like we went over time. You can leave. And I promise it gets better Collette." She said standing up smiling at me and my stomach did flips. I feel so happy and giddy while I packed up and walked out.
I soon caught up with birdie who had driven me here this morning, and the I didn't realise how hard I was blushing until she looked at me funny.
"Jesus was detention that interesting that you actually walked out of there with the pinkest cheeks I've ever seen." She said with a smile as we both jumped into her car.
"Shut up. And I'm not blushing." I tried to lie.
"Letty babes, I can see you. You're pinker than my nails." She said referring to her baby pink acrylic nails.
"I'm not, that's an exaggeration."
"Mhm yeah sure. So did you and Miss Fairbourne talk? About everything. Or did you just avoid it all?" Birdie asked me.
"We talked." I kept my response short because I feel like what she told me today is something private so I wouldn't want to spread it. But I am happy she chose to tell me.
"That's a good thing. So verdict? Like do you sense anything there or are you like not vibing with her the way you thought you were on Saturday?"
There was definitely something on my end, at least. I got butterflies from her simple probably meaningless actions. But it was definitely something I felt.
"I don't know. We just talked about school." I shrugged with a lie. We didn't talk about school but I wasn't going to tell her that because she told me something that I feel like was personal.
"If you say so. But you're turning pink at whatever your conversation was." Birdie said with a small giggle.
"Shut up." I said playfully rolling my eyes.
We talked for a little while more while she took me home. Once I was home I said goodbye and hugged her like usual and entered home.
I was excited to see what Kinsley and Colton had been up to. Normally Kinsley ends school two hours earlier than me and Colton would pick her up and play with her for a while before doing for work while she entertained herself or watched TV.
"Letty." Colton said calmly as I walked through the house to the kitchen.
"Hi." I replied as he turned around. His face wasn't bright like always. It was dull almost like he had bad news.
"We need to talk kiddo." He said.
"Where's Kinsley?" I asked in a worry as she was always my first thought.
"She's okay. She's upstairs playing. Come sit." He motioned to the table as he walked over an I followed behind him.
"Your dad.." he trailed off and I drew in a deep breath.
I knew the next shoe was falling soon. I had been anxious for a reason. I need to start trusting my gut feelings more often.
"He's coming home tomorrow. He checked himself out of rehab. Said he was fine and didn't like being treated like he had a problem—"
"But he does. I...does he have to?" I asked softly as I felt my palms grow clammy from worry.
"I know kiddo, I know he does. I won't be leaving. I'll still stay here because I'm all honesty. When I saw him, he didn't look too good. He looked like frail. I don't trust him to be home right now. I'll stay here for both you and Kinny okay?" He assured me as he placed his hand on my shoulder.
I might have been a comforting motion but I jumped. I was scared now. Somethings with this doesn't sit right with me.
Kinsley will be happy to have him home and at least I can trust that nothing would happen to her but for the first time since my sister was born, I'm worried for me.