Zane
We stormed out of the classroom with everyone’s eyes over us. Even though I was a nobody at school, Gavin was a lot. He had a reputation to hold.
I’ve never been that mad before in my life. I’ve been called these names before. Insulting my sexuality when they didn't know my sexuality from me was something that didn't faze me. It didn't bother me as much as being bullied for my colour did. Or my religion. But ruining my art took it to a whole new level.
It wasn't that my art was more important than my race or my religion, but my artworks were something I created myself. They had the identity I wanted them to have, the colours I choose to tint, and the image I shaped it to be.
I was walking so fast, Gavin was practically following and not tagging along. We reached the office and the vice principal motioned for us to sit in the waiting area. She looked surprised to see me in here. After all, this is my first time being here to not accept an achievement.
I expected myself to calm down while we waited, but seeing him sitting beside me with an innocent look on his face made me even madder. He had the same red paint on his sleeve and he didn’t even try to hide it.
The door opened and the principal waved us in.
“Zane Murad! I’m shocked and disappointed to see you here. I expected highly from you. You too, Mr. Ross. So what’s the problem?”
“He ruined my painting!” I screamed and shocked the principal even more.
“He attacked me!” Gavin yelled defensively.
“Well, for a reason!”
“I wasn't the one who'd done it!”
“STOP IT BOTH OF YOU!” she smacked the desk with her palms and stood up angrily. She calmed down in less than a second. “Since this is your first time in here, I’m gonna give you both the chance to solve this on your own. In Detention.” She said before we could even say a word.
“But I have football practice!” Gavin argued.
“And I have—Actually I have nothing.” I mumbled and hoped that no one heard me. I thought I had to work at first, but then realized it was Friday and I only worked Monday through Thursday.
“Not another word from any of you. Now go back to your class. And make sure to pick up hall passes from the vice principal’s because I don't want to see you here again.”
“But who will fix my painting?! It’s ruined and it counts for a big portion of my grade!” I whined.
“Oh, Mr. Ross will help you fix that."
“But-”
“That’s if he wants to stay on the team.” She raised a threatening eyebrow at him, which made him look at the ground.
“Fine.” He muttered.
We left her office shrouded by a mixture of anger, guilt, and defiance. Since Arts was the last class of the day, detention was 30 minutes away. Mum was gonna be so worried. I tried calling her but my battery was dead.
I checked the detention slip and it read:
Room 113. Mr. Whitman 2:30-4:30pm *Unsilenced*
I assumed “Unsilenced” meant that we could talk, since usually you’re not supposed to talk in detention. I got my bag from my locker which contained my sketchpad and my binder. I had a feeling that I would need it because I so wasn’t willing to “talk it out” with so called Mr. Ross.
The door was open and Mr. Whitman was already sitting there. I walked slowly and handed him the detention slip. He pointed at a random seat, which I took. Gavin entered soon afterwards, and did the same thing. He took the seat right next to me. I didn’t look at him, nor acknowledged his existence. To my surprise, no one else came in so it was just the three of us. Mr. Whitman didn't even seem to care ask what happened. He showed no interest in knowing anything about the situation.
“Listen I-” He started.
“I’m not talking to you, and I don’t need your help, and I don’t want anything to do with you, from you, or related to you in any way, shape, form, or state of matter.” I said firmly as I pulled out my maths book and placed it in front of me. Better get some homework done while I was there.
He didn’t utter any words after my explosive comment.
I checked my watch every few minutes, waiting for this agony to end so I could leave. Uncomfortable silence weighed harder than I expected. I didn’t know what Gavin was doing because I never once looked his way.
It was 4:20pm, and we had ten minutes left. Ten miserable minutes of pain. I was done with my maths homework and I managed to finish English as well. I was drawing in my sketchpad when Gavin tried talking to me.
“Zane you have listen to me for just a frickin second,”
“NO.”
“But you have to believe me I didn-”
“Just stop!” I said as I placed my sketches in my binder. I folded them neatly and securely. I had a couple minutes left so I started flipping through my drawings until I reached a specific one that made my heart swell up immediately.
I passed my finger over it and the memories flooded my head to a point that I could feel my eyes watering up.
“Hey, what’s that?” He asked. I panicked and immediately closed my binder.
“It’s none of your business.” I spat, wiping one of my eyes.
I started putting my stuff back in my bag when he tried to snatch the binder from my hand.
"Stop it you two," Mr. Whitman spoke for the first time since we got here. "Leave. Now."
I walked my way home ten times faster, not bothering to look behind me. I opened the door and immediately hurried towards the stairs.
“Zee why are you so late?” Mum asked concernedly.
“I’ll be back in few.” I called from the top of the stairs and wasn’t sure if she heard me or not. I took the binder out of my bag and placed it in one of my drawers, and threw the bag on my bed before heading to the bathroom.
I needed a shower.
I let the warm water wash away this horrible day. I started to wonder about how would my life be if he was still in it?
Would we be in the same school? Same classroom? Would we share jokes? Would we be best friends or go in different paths? Would we visit each other and play video games or go out and have fun? So many questions I couldn't answer. I wasn't sure I wanted to know some of them, but anything was better than over-thinking.
I really missed him sometimes. And sometimes I just felt stupid for missing someone that I literally knew for 2 days. How atrocious can memories be?
I didn’t realize how much time I spent in the shower, and I was sure that mum would follow me upstairs anytime soon to see what was wrong. She always said that she wanted to give me privacy and alone time but that lasts for about twenty minutes. Brown families tend to do that sometimes.
I wrapped a towel around my waist and went into my room.
My heart stopped for a sec and I screamed when I saw someone rummaging through my bag.
“What the fuck are you doing in my room?! How did you even get here?!” I bawled at Gavin furiously. I was close to start hurling curses at him. I locked my bedroom door in a flash of a second.
“I climbed a tree.” he said it like it was the normal thing to do; climb a tree into someone’s bedroom. So casual.
“How did you even know that it would be my room?”
“I took a chance and it worked. Now where is that binder?” Why did it matter so much? Why the fuck would he want that binder so much he’d climb into someone’s room?! That was straight up messed up.
“Like I said, it’s none of your business!” I hissed at him. I was trying to be as hushed as I could, but he was making it too difficult.
A knock on my door made me jump and I almost dropped the towel, which made me realize that I, in fact, was wearing nothing but a towel.
“Zane, honey are you okay?” mum asked from behind the door. Oh fuck, fuck, fuck.
“Oh my god, hide." I practically mimed. I pushed Gavin towards the closet. I opened it quickly and shoved him inside. “Uh yes, I’m good mum. Getting dressed.”
“Hang in there!” I said to him, in which he…laughed. He fucking laughed and almost exposed us.
"Who are you talking to?” She said from behind the closed door.
"To you, obviously." I hoped she wouldn't notice, but she was too smart.
"No, before that."
“Oh, that. No one, I was just singing.”
“What happened, why were you so late?”
“Oh I had to do an art project with a classmate and it took more time than we expected and I was just so tired and grimy so I wanted to have a quick shower before dinner.” I hated lying to my mum but she was definitely going to kill me if I didn't.
“Oh, alright then. Well dinner will be ready soon.”
“Thanks mum. I’ll be down in a minute.” I let out a huge sigh of relief and leaned against the closet door after she had left. I slowly opened it and let Gavin out. His skin had a blush to it.
My towel was on the floor.
"Turn around!" I scolded as I picked it up and wrapped it as tightly as possible.
“Can you leave my house already?”
“I want to see that binder.” For the love of God. I just wanted to get dressed.
“You're not going to see anything. You already saw more than enough, now leave before I call the cops.”
“You’re impossible!” He finally went to the window.
“And don’t come back.” I yelled after him.
What. The. Hell. Did. Just. Happen.
A/N: I'm finally back to writing and editing after a short hiatus (lmao One Direction can't relate). More soon x.