A Lesson In Discipline

Detention for Dummy's 101

Ms. Kaplan's POV

It was the end of the day, but it wasn't the end of my day just yet. I had to wait for Ms. Hamlin to arrive for her first day of detention. I wasn't pleased to hear from my boss that I was going to be watching over her for the next month because of a fight she got into earlier on in the day, but he believed that I was going to be the best person at maybe getting her on the right path with school. He hoped putting her in detention for a whole month instead of expelling her was the best option at a last chance for redemption to prove she could finally change for the best. I wasn't hopeful just yet, it took her a whole three minutes maybe to make a smart remark during my class. I looked up at the clock and sighed. 

It's already 2:45, where could she possibly be?

She wasn't off to a great start to her new start. I stood up from my desk and made my way over to the door way to see if she might be lingering in the hallways. I looked down both ways of the hallway. Students made their way past my classroom, some were hanging around lockers sharing laughs. I leaned up against the door frame and crossed my arms. Still no sign of her.

I'll give her five more minutes, but that's it.

I couldn't help someone that wasn't going accept help. As a teacher, it's my duty to help students, but I've seen a lot of them let their failures consume them and they gave up because they weren't willing to find change within themselves. I started to wonder if she'd actually show up or not when I suddenly saw someone high tailing it down the hallway from around the corner. It was her. 

"How nice of you to finally show up, but you know you really shouldn't be running in the halls Ms. Hamlin."

She was bent over gasping for air, she lifted one finger in the air to indicate she needed a moment to catch her breath. 

"Wheeewww. Oh dear lord, I know I'm super late and I shouldn't be running down the hallway, but I have a legit excuse I promise!"

"It seems like you have more excuses than you do truths, but I'll hear you out this time. Take a seat please. And for wasting my time I'm keeping you for 15 extra minutes."

She didn't say anything for a moment, but she actually looked pleased. 

"Okay, fair enough. And I get that you probably don't like me. I'm not the best student or the best behaved, but I assure you I do mean well. You'll just have to learn that for yourself I guess... but I was late because I got cornered down the hall. I don't really want to talk about it, I just hope you believe me."

She was trouble, but when she spoke this time I actually did believe her. It must've been the way she was looking at me. There was a hint of sorrow and sadness in her eyes, even the one that had a big ring around it. I closed the door behind us and she took a seat in a desk right across from my own.

"So if I may ask, what exactly happened to your eye?"  

She reached up and touched the bruise almost as if she had forgotten about it.

"Oh, this? I'm surprised you haven't heard or even saw the videos yet.."

Her expression turned into an instant sadness. I did know what happened to her, every student and teacher knew. I had heard the rumors all day, I wanted to see if she would be willing to open up at her own pace in solidarity considering we were about to be spending quite some time together.

"Not that it matters, but I got into some trouble like I always do. This time though it erupted into a huge fight at lunch. All I was trying to do was stick up for my friend.. I didn't want him getting bullied by, excuse my french, but by this huge dickhead anymore. He did something that pushed me over the edge so now here I am. Paying for my actions."  

She shrugged her shoulders and tried to brush it off like the whole situation didn't bother her, but I could tell there was more to it. I wasn't about to press the issue any further.

"Well, starting fights will get you into trouble, but hopefully your friend realizes how much they mean to you." 

"Yeah he does, he's a great friend. But that reminds me."

I looked at her confused.

"You can't yell at me for this... but.."

She pulled her phone out of her back pocket and started to look something up. After she found what she was looking for, she turned her screen sideways and faced it towards me.

"Watch this and you'll understand."

She let me hold her phone until the video was over. It was one of the videos from her fight with another student, but I hadn't seen or heard of this one yet even though it was getting a lot of attention from social media. It was moments before any one had started fighting. That's when I saw it, the other student kick another kids leg clear off. I was in total shock.

"Don't worry! That's only a prosthetic leg, just keep watching." 

The student with his missing prosthetic leg was her friend and she was doing exactly what she said, she stood up for him even though he urged her to not go up against this student and his friends. It seemed like she took a lot of punches from the other students, but that didn't stop her from throwing in some of her own. After the video was over you could see some of the aftermath, there was blood streaming from someones face, bruises in all shapes and sizes, and most of the kids holding onto some body part that had been injured. I handed her phone back to her.

"This was the video that gave me my second chance.. and I know I can't screw it up because its the last one I'll ever get at this school." 

She looked disappointed in herself. I couldn't help but feel sorry for her after just witnessing it firsthand. I was silent for a moment.

"Well, just think about this for a second. You are willing to go above and beyond for the people you care about, even if it means you're sacrificing something from yourself for them. You shouldn't be ashamed of that. Not to mention you are taking the steps in the right direction to give yourself another opportunity to make things right. I honestly didn't think you would show up for detention, but here you are. You proved me wrong so far. Don't try to screw this up, okay?" 

I wasn't sure if I was being too sympathetic or not. I didn't want her thinking she could use my kindness against me, but she just sighed, admitted that I was right and left it at that. She didn't say another word the rest of the time she was in detention. I started to wonder if I had judged her too harshly at first. She did make a crude comment, but it could've been for show over something. I wasn't sure, but this wasn't a side of Andrea that I had heard of since starting at Ryder's High. Anything that I heard from other teachers and Mr. Ferrington when discussing her were only negative comments on how she was disrupting in class or how she was a huge trouble maker and would only make my time here feel like I was living in hell. Either way, I was about to have a month to figure it out on my own terms.