I feel a tap on my shoulder and it's Kate. I turn around and raise my eyebrows at her. "Did you get the Byrd homework? I didn't have time at the end of the period. I know we have him different periods, but I figured you would have it, right?" She is talking a mile a minute, trying to get all of the words out in case I cut her off or something I suppose.
"Yeah, here you can copy it down from my agenda. But hurry please, I can't be late for detention. It's with Olivers."
Her jaw drops and she stops copying the problem numbers. "You got detention with Olivers? But you don't even-oh right, you have her for homeroom. But seriously, you, of all people, got detention? That's just incredible. What one argh did you do that was detention worthy? I mean come on. Have you ever gotten a detention for anything?"
"Never. And it wasn't even like I was doing something insane. I told Emma to put her book away during morning announcements and she nailed us both for 'disturbing announcements.'" It's crazy, she's crazy.
"Wow Dylan, never thought you'd turn into such a badass." Kate teases. I laugh and she finishes copying down the math problems. "Thanks, I owe you one. I better go, let you get to your detention."
"No problem. See you around."
"See you." She waves then goes off in the direction of her own locker. Chris is there waiting for her but she dismisses him quickly. I take off for Mrs. Olivers' classroom, checking my watch, 2:47.
When I get to the room, Emma is sitting, working on homework. She glances up as I walk in. "I see you're back for delightful detention, day two." She greets.
I laugh, "I just couldn't stay away, you know?" Emma snorts, shakes her head and returns to her worksheet.
Mrs. Olivers walks in at 2:58 with another stack of posters. She hands then to us without a word, points at the clock and sits down at the teacher's desk in the front of the room.
For thirty minutes it's completely silent, the only sound is the pens hitting the paper as one of us marks down a grade. The silence is broken, of course, by Emma. "Mrs. Olivers, may I go to the bathroom?"
"Are you finished reading those projects?" She asks, looking up at the still large pile of posters on the desk between Emma and me.
"No but-"
"No buts, you can go when detention is over."
"Mrs. Olivers, I'll still be here grading. I'm sure she won't take long." I try to reason.
"I said no. She got herself into detention. She can wait to use the restroom until her punishment is over."
"You act like I did some heinous crime!" Emma accuses, standing up behind her desk.
"You need to learn to accept punishments where they are due, no arguments. I can always give you the other class' projects to grade as well. Keep you here longer."
"I have to go to the hospital after this and visit a friend. I can't stay any later than this will end already, please don't do that." I plead.
"Well you should have thought of that before you got yourself a detention I suppose."
"I can't believe this!" Emma exclaims, sitting back down. She lands with a soft thud and crosses her arms over her chest.
"Get back to work!" Mrs. Olivers orders, sitting down behind her desk as well. I grab another poster and Emma follows suit, throwing in a long, dramatic sigh for good measure.
At 4:05 we finish grading everything and Emma insists on bringing the projects to Mrs. Olivers while I grab my backpack and coat. Emma walks up to the desk and drops the posters, banging the desk as she walks back to her stuff. Quickly, before Mrs. Olivers gets the chance to say anything, Emma storms out, dragging me behind her.
As soon as the classroom door slams behind us, Emma lets out a long, incredibly loud scream. Not expecting it, I flinch away from her and once she finishes her scream, she smiles and drags me into a stairwell near by. Many teachers began to poke their heads out of their classrooms to yell at whoever did that, but before they could discipline us, we were hidden.
"Sorry,"she whispers."I had to get the out. God that woman just-"
"I know she bothers you Emma. We all know she bothers you. But you really need to learn how to control yourself. That scream was insane and totally unnecessary. Do you realize we could have gotten another detention for causing a disturbance?" I say.
She rolls her eyes, waving her hand as if to brush me away. "But we didn't get in trouble Dylan. Who cares what could have happened? It didn't, so we're fine. Stop worrying so much all the time."
"You're ridiculous." I say, brushing past her and pushing open the door leading out of the stairwell and outside. I walk quickly, the wind blowing against me, making it seem colder than it is. I shove my hands in my pockets and walk faster, ignoring Emma's calls after.
When she tries to grab my arm and stop me, I jerk out of her reach and continue walking, only thinking of home, then the hospital. Visiting hours end at five so I won't have much time with Will. I need to get there as soon as possible.
Emma follows behind the entire way home, matching my brisk pace. Often, she turns to look at me but I only look ahead. I don't need her distraction any more than I need more detentions.
I turn to go up my front walk and finally I hear Emma's footsteps stop, leaving her at the edge of my yard, watching me disappear into my house.
"I'm home Mom!" I call, jogging upstairs to drop off my book bag.
"Dylan Alexander Barnes where the hell have you been?" My mother screeches, meeting me at the bottom of the stairs.
I hold up my hands in defense,"I was working on my project again. I have to work on it every day after school with Emma. I must have forgotten to text you."
"I've been calling you for the past hour! You could have responded to those!"
I pull my phone out of my back pocket and sure enough, I have fourteen missed calls from my mom. "I'm sorry, my phone was on silent. I never turned the volume back on."
"Sorry isn't going to cut it Dylan. You practically gave me a heart attack!"
"It won't happen again Mom. Now, can we go over to the hospital? I want to see Will."
She checks her watch, "Dylan its too late. The hospital doesn't a,low visitors past five and its almost quarter of. It's not worth going at this point. He should be getting out tomorrow however so you can stop by his house if you'd like."
I nod slowly. Without saying anything, I go back to my room and quickly escape out my window onto the roof. I faintly hear knocking on my bedroom door, "go away Mom." I call back. Instead of going away, the door opens and reveals Cassidy. "Get out of here Cassidy." I say, climbing back in through my window.
"Mom doesn't like it when you sit out there." She informs me, ignoring what I told her.
"I know that. Do you honestly think that I care? Seriously."
"What's really going on with you after school? There's no way you have to do the project every day right after school." She gasps, "wait, do you have detention?"
I sigh, "yes I have detention. If you tell Mom, I'm going to kill you though. I would rather like to live past the age of sixteen so Mom can't know."
"Of course not. How'd you get it?" She asks eagerly, sitting down on my bed.
I sit in my desk chair and face her. "I was trying to tell Emma to put her book away during the announcement, Olivers caught me and punished me for making a disturbance. Stupidest thing I've ever heard, but Emma makes it worse. All she does is argue during detention and it pisses Olivers off to no end. It pisses me off too."
She nods then furrows her brow, "why does it piss you off?"
"Because then Olivers makes the detentions last longer. The more Emma argues, the more work we get assigned and the longer it takes us to finish. Then, when we complain, she tells us that it's our fault we have a detention, not hers, when it is entirely not my fault. If she had told Emma the rules, Emma wouldn't have had her book out so I wouldn't have had to tell her to put it away so I wouldn't be in detention. It's frustrating."
"Wow."
"And I missed the chance to see Will today because, of course, Emma saw no rush to get home and therefore tried to stop me every four feet to apologize. Which is total bullshit because I know she's not sorry, I know she loves pissing Olivers off."
"Damn, it sounds like she really. Essex things up for you huh?"
"I'm glad you see it my way."
"But I mean, you can't really hold it against her. She didn't know and now she's just reacting to it. I mean, I would probably act the same way of I were in her shoes."
"No you wouldn't Cass, you're so much more level headed and mature."
"Maybe, but I can also speak my mind. Oh, by the way, Mom wants to know how many hamburgers you want."
"Two. Now go away, I've got homework to do."
She sighs but obliges shutting the door softly behind her. I run my hands through my hair and start up my laptop. While I wait for it to load, I finish my math homework. I start the essay due for history on World War II when a message from Simon pops up on LifeTyme.
Simon Castro: How was it today?
Dylan Barnes: Worse than yesterday. They got into a fight because Olivers wouldn't let her go to the bathroom.
Simon Castro: Seriously?
Dylan Barnes: Would I make something like that up?
Simon Castro: No. So what's happening tomorrow? Are we picking her up or no?
Dylan Barnes: No. I really don't want to spend any more time with her than I already am. She's gotten me into enough of a mess as it is.
Simon Castro: Understandable. So I'll come at the regular time, pick you up then we'll go to Nathan's without her.
Dylan Barnes: Sounds like a plan. I'll see you tomorrow, I've got to finish an essay for Kran now.
Simon Castro: Good luck, don't be late.
Dylan Barnes: Never am.