Somehow, despite escaping Cooper's clutches, I was still in the hallway by the time the late bell rang. All that running I'd done both during and right after first period had made me sweaty, which meant I had to struggle to change back into my normal clothes while I was still sweating, which meant my clothes weren't cooperating with me and were sticking in places they weren't supposed to. Long story short, it wasn't really my fault that I was late.
It was way too far of a walk to go back to the gym to ask Cooper for a late slip, so I decided to just go with the flow. Besides, I had Jane—I mean, Ms. Corella this period, the biggest pushover there was on the Willow Academy faculty. She never made anyone bring her a late slip.
Even if it was just art class, I still felt bad about being late. So when I got to the door, I tried as best as I could to sneak into the room. Unfortunately, the squeak of the rusty old door hinges gave me away.
"Sorry," I said as I slipped into the classroom. The only person that really looked up and acknowledged my tardiness was Ms. Corella. Everyone else kept on doodling in their notebook or secretly texting under the table or whatever their go-to was while Ms. Corella was talking at the beginning of class.
"Penny, you're late," Ms. Corella said as I unsuccessfully tried to quietly shut the door behind me. Usually Ms. Corella just smiled at me or motioned for me to have a seat—she was the last teacher I thought would call out anyone for being late ... especially me.
"I know. Sorry."
"Where's your late slip?"
That got the entire class' attention. No one had ever heard Ms. Corella mention a late slip before.
"Um ..." I tilted my head in confusion. "I ... didn't think I needed one."
"Usually I'm lenient about students being late to my class," she said. "But this isn't the first time this month that you've been late without a late slip."
She got me there. I had been late to her class one other time this month, but that also wasn't my fault! I had to go back to my dorm to get my art project since I'd taken it out of the classroom to work on over the weekend. Even though I knew my reasoning was solid, Ms. Corella didn't seem to be in all that great of a mood, so I figured telling her what she wanted to hear (again) was the best way out of this. "I'm sorry."
"I'm afraid sorry isn't going to cut it this time, Penny," Ms. Corella said. "So you can do one of two things: go back to your last class and get a late slip, or go down to the office and get a detention slip."
My jaw dropped. "A detention slip?"
"The choice is yours," she said. "But please make it quickly. I'd like to get back to my lesson."
"But Ms. Corella, you don't understand," I said. "I'm late because Coach K was talking to me after gym class." Surely she'd let me off after I mentioned her little boy toy.
"Good," she said. My statement seemed to peaked her interest. "Then you can go get a late slip from him."
Or not.
"But—"
"Please leave the classroom, Penny," Ms. Corella said, pointing at the door behind me. "And don't come back without a slip."
My classmates all sat on the edge of their stools, waiting to see what I was gonna say or do next. Honestly, what could I say or do next except leave. Ms. Corella had made my options as clear as day, and it wasn't very hard to choose which one to go with.
Guess I was gonna be asking Cooper for a late slip after all.
"Fine," I said as I reluctantly went out the door. This time I made it a point to not close it quietly (but I didn't slam it either—there was no need to cause a bigger scene than there'd already been).
I took my sweet time walking to Cooper's office, partly because I didn't want to see him anytime soon and partly because I didn't want to go back to Ms. Corella's class. It felt like Ms. Corella had just pushed me back into the lion's den and locked the gate behind me—so much for her being there for me whenever I needed her. I couldn't help but wonder what she would think of the agitated side of Cooper if she ever saw it—would it make her leave him? One could only hope.
I knew Cooper had a free period, so I went straight to his office. Sure enough he was sitting at his desk, writing down some new plays and formations for the boys soccer team. I swear if it were possible for Cooper to eat, sleep, and breathe soccer anymore than he does now, he would. This was good though—I caught Cooper while he was in the middle of doing something he enjoyed, something that put him in a good mood, so maybe he wasn't gonna bite my head off.
Even though his office door was wide open, I still thought it'd be better if I knocked. But I didn't even get a chance to start before Cooper's eyes shot up from his papers and locked on me. I guess his Penny senses were tingling.
"Hey, Coop," I said as sweetly as I could, as if we didn't just have a major blow up less than fifteen minutes ago.
"Why aren't you in class?" Cooper asked me. Although I went into his office optimistically, I'd failed to consider the fact that I was disturbing him from doing something he enjoyed, so that probably didn't make him all that happy.
"Well uh, Ms. Corella made me leave her class because I didn't have a late slip," I said while rubbing the back of my neck. "So could you write me one?"
I flinched as Cooper slammed his pen down on his desk. Uh oh ... here we go. "Ms. Corella kicked you out of class?"
"... Yes?" I don't know why it came out as a question.
"For being a few minutes late?"
"Well it was more like two minutes—"
"And she made you walk all the way down here to get a late slip?"
"Well she did tell me to go back to my last class and get a late slip—"
"From me?"
"... I can go get one from Coach Merrill if it's too much trouble ..." I said, slowly backing away from my steaming brother's desk. I don't know what his problem was—it was just a late slip. If it were a detention slip, maybe, but who gets this worked up over being asked for a late slip?
"No." Cooper stood up from his desk with a huff. I quickly moved out of his way as he sternly walked out of his office (mainly because I thought if I hadn't moved, he'd run me over). "Let's go."
"Go?" I said as I timidly followed my older brother out of his office. "Cooper, I really don't mind just asking Coach Merrill." I should have just asked her in the first place, I don't know what I was thinking. Hell, at this rate I was willing to just take the stupid detention. I mean, how bad can detention in the art room be?
"No, you're coming with me," my brother said as I followed him into the school hallway.
"Why?" I asked. "Where are we going?"
My top guesses for our destination were the office, Ben's room, Dana's room, or—worst-case scenario—home.
"Ms. Corella's room."
Oh yeah, I guess Ms. Corella's room would make sense too.
"Cooper, wait!" I quickly ran in front of him and stopped, forcing him to make an abrupt stop as well. "Please don't make a scene. It's not that big of a deal—"
"No, Penny. It is a big deal," Cooper said as he sidestepped me. "I'm not gonna let her make a spectacle out of you because she's mad at me."
Wait a minute ... it suddenly hit me. Cooper was in a bad mood. Ms. Corella was in a bad mood. Cooper and Ms. Corella were dating. Somehow this reminded me of the "correlation versus causation" crap Dana was talking about in math class last week. Now if only I could remember what the difference between the two were ... oh well, I still had a couple weeks before my next math test.
"Just promise me you won't do whatever you're gonna do in front of everyone," I said. I might not be the most popular freshman at Willow Academy at the moment, but I still wanted to hang onto the little dignity I had left.
Cooper made no promises—he didn't say anything, actually—as we took the stairs up to the second floor.
"Cooper."
"Just let me handle this, Penny," he said as he walked up to the door of E212.
Well, apparently I'd found one person Cooper seemed to dislike more than me today. To be honest, I was just glad that he didn't want to bite off my head anymore; he'd found a new target, and she was on the other side of that old wooden door.