"Alec Brooke, detention!"
Aw crap. With one last glare at Cam who was rolling around on the ground like an oversized baby, clutching his nose as blood seeped through his fingers, I left the football pitch and headed inside to the changing rooms.
I pulled off my mud covered kit and shoved it into my school bag before grabbing a towel and heading for the showers. My hand hurt. I turned on the shower in the cramped stall, waiting for the water to heat up before welcoming the powerful blast of the spray onto my face.
To be honest, Cameron probably didn't deserve the punch in the face. The guy's a dickhead, always winding people up and trying to get under their skin, but he is one of my best friends. Usually I don't let him get to me, but today had been a shit day and he should have just shut up when I told him to. Guess the joke is on him now.
I scrubbed vigorously at the dirt and grime on my body, trying to focus on the sound of the running water and breathing in the hot steamy air. I broke up with Kelly today. She cried. I stood their awkwardly. It's not that I'm one of those guys who hates emotional situations, I'm more than happy to talk about my emotions and shit unlike most guys, but the only thing I could think of doing in that situation was to give her a hug, and intimate contact didn't seem like the best move considering I probably just broke her heart. She was a great girl, probably the best girlfriend I've ever had, but I just wasn't feeling it. I couldn't seem to care about her more than I would a friend - and the sex was boring.
I turned off the water and wrapped my towel around my waist before heading back to my bag. I quickly got changed into my jeans and polo shirt just as the rest of the guys started barging through the door. Cameron gave me the finger on the way past. I sighed. Once the doorway was free I grabbed my bag and left the changing room, retrieving my detention slip from the hand of a waiting Mr. Conner who informed me that detention was all week. Great.
I got out of the P.E department just as the home bell went and was quickly submerged in the crowd of students eagerly heading towards the front exit of the school. Heading towards the back of the school where the detention room was situated- whose great idea was that- I eventually made it past the oncoming wave of students into the empty hallway leading to detention. I was nearly at the door when I collided with someone coming up the other corridor.
"Shit, sorry" I muttered before looking up at whoever I just walked into. My eyes widened. The guy was about two inches taller than me and had dark hair that had been bleached platinum blonde and seriously needed re-dyed. He wore black skinny jeans and a light blue shirt with the sleeves rolled up. But what made my eyes widen was that the whole right side of his faced and shoulders was covered in red and purple splattered paint.
"My bad" he said, before stepping out the way to let me enter first. I gave him a nod before opening the door and was greeted by Ms. Jackson. She was a little old lady, with grey curly hair and small glasses on the end of her nose. She smiled when she saw me as I handed her over my detention slip.
"Alec Brooke, I've not seen you here in a while, what on earth did you do?"
"I punched Cameron in the face" I stated.
She shook her head at me, a small smile playing on her lips. "Bad day?"
"Something like that." I took a seat in the middle of the class, dumping my bag next to my chair.
"And Dylan, for some reason I'm not surprised to see you here," said Ms. Jackson, still smiling.
"You know me, Ms. Jackson" said Dylan. "I just enjoy your company too much."
Ms. Jackson just shook her head again as Dylan sat in the seat two along from me next to the wall.
"Well you're going to have to do without my company for a while I'm afraid, I have some work to attend to. But I'm sure I can trust you boys to not run away while I'm gone," she said, packing up her bag. When Ms. Jackson looked up, she did a double take, looking at Dylan.
"What happened to your face?" She asked Dylan.
"Oh. Mitch 'accidently' threw half a tub of paint on me," said Dylan, slouching in his chair. "But somehow, I'm the one who got a week's detention."
"What did you do?" I asked him. He shrugged.
"I may have called him something Mrs. Kacey deemed inappropriate for a class room environment and should not have been said by a charming young man like myself."
Ms. Jackson rolled her eyes and promised she would be back before the hour was up to dismiss us. Once she left Dylan scooted back his chair and swung his long legs up onto the table before taking out his phone and making a call. I pulled out my phone and texted my mum that I was staying after school to do some extra studying and that I would be home for dinner. I put my phone away and once Dylan finished his call he stood up, swung his chair round and straddled it, facing me.
"So," he said with a curious look in his blue eyes. "Why did you punch Cameron in the face?"
Well, this was one way to avoid the awkward silence that was surely to follow.
"He was annoying me and wouldn't shut up when I told him to."
"But doesn't he annoy everyone all the time?"
"Yeah, but I had a shit day and I wasn't in the mood to listen to his crap."
Dylan looked at me for a moment before carrying on.
"You want to talk about it?"
"My shit day?"
He nodded and shrugged.
"Why do you want to hear me bitch about my day?"
He folded his arms on top of the back of his chair, resting his chin on them. His shaggy hair fell into his eyes.
"Usually I just sit here for an hour by myself staring at the wall and contemplating the meaning of life. I don't usually have anyone to talk to, so listening to you beats sitting here in awkward silence for the next hour."
Okay then. I contemplated telling him, but he was right. Taking would be better than doing nothing.
"I broke up with my girlfriend and she cried right in front of me while I just stood there feeling like a jackass." Okay, I didn't expect to give such an honest answer. Basically everyone saw Kelly eventually run down the hall and into the bathroom, tears streaming down her face while I stood there looking after her like an idiot.
Dylan sat back up in his chair and moved the hair out of his eyes with his hand.
"Why'd you break up with her?"
Now it was my turn to shrug. "I don't know. I guess I just never really thought of her as anything but a friend. I knew it wasn't going to go anywhere, so I didn't think I should drag it out any longer."
Dylan just looked at me before asking, "Are you okay?"
I was speechless for a moment. Today, not even one of my friends had asked me that. They just slapped me on the back, told me I needed to get seriously wasted and fuck some girl at Sam's party at the weekend and it would be fine. What really startled me though was how sincere Dylan looked, he actually sounded like he cared.
"I'm okay I guess. I just feel like an absolute dickhead because she didn't do anything wrong. It really was just me."
"She'll get over it. Give it a few days and then go talk to her and tell her that."
I just shrugged and slouched further into my chair. Dylan looked like he was away to say something but just then Ms. Jackson rushed back into the room.
"Boys, I've got to head home early, so you can leave now."
We still had thirty minutes to go, but I wasn't complaining. Dylan and I grabbed our bags and headed towards the front exit of the school.
"Do you have a girlfriend?" I asked, surprising myself. We reached the front exit and pushed the door open, stepping out into the warm spring evening.
Dylan took a moment before answering as we stood on the steps.
"No, I'm gay," he said while looking out at the car park, avoiding my gaze. I was shocked for a moment before replying.
"Well, do you have a boyfriend?"
I saw him visibly relax before he turned and faced me. "No, but I did. It didn't end well."
"Did you ever get over it?"
I saw the corners of his mouth turn up slightly. "Yeah, I think so."
I nodded, and Dylan turned around and gave me a friendly slap on the arm. "She'll get over it. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Bye," I said, watching Dylan head over to the bicycle rack. I watched him remove his helmet from the bars before he climbed on his bike and cycled through the school gates.
I took out my phone and called Sam, asking for a ride.
(Huge thank you to @uselessauthor for the new cover of Detention Boys! - 20/05/20)
07/07/2020
I've add a collage below of what I picture the characters to kind of look like :)
26/03/23
Y'all I've removed the character images as they were super triggering to a lot of you even tho half of you all made me laugh 😂 again - I wrote this back in 2015 when I was 17 and to clarify you all I lived in NORTHERN SCOTLAND in a small village so (especially back then) there was like 0 diversity when I was growing up, so of course it wasn't going to cross my mind to give all the characters diverse backgrounds. But on another note - at lot of y'all really need to learn how to give your opinions in either a constructive manner or a lot more politely (guys I'm good with sarcasm and humour so not aiming at any of you) but y'all that were like "I'm from England and there's diversity here so you need to change it cause you're wrong" etc. really need to take a rain check, get your facts right and go write your own story - just cause your experience is different from someone else's doesn't mean that person is wrong. Of course I know a lot more now with age and experience of the world, and if a lot of you commenting are only in your teens and don't know how to write appropriate comments, you should all maybe think about not sharing those comments online until you know how to share your opinion - and that's just in general on all websites/social media.
I appreciate you all just using your own imagination and not caring about things like the description of characters- so thanks for the continued support! X