This is Us

Chapter 7- Carlos

"I'd like to thank you for coming to detention today, you may now leave." Mrs whatsherface said.

As soon as we realized we had detention at 5 AM last night, we tried to go to sleep, but we ended up having Pokemon battles until 5:30 AM. Yes, I know what you're thinking- "How rebellious of you!" I'm not the leader of the rebel army for nothing.

Anyway, we were late to detention. We got off easy though because I'm pretty sure the guidance counselor has a thing for Denny, no matter what the others say about me being "delusional" or whatever. I'M NOT DELUSIONAL, THE GUIDANCE COUNSELOR HAS A THING FOR DENNY AND IT'S GROSS.

"You know what," Arash yawns, "Screw this, I'm taking a nap period. Later losers."

"I'm gonna have to join you," Trevor says.

Denny and Garrick don't even say anything before following suit.

"Oh, I see how it is! I'm just gonna wander the streets by myself then? Okay!"

"You do you man, I need some sleep." Denny shouts as he walks back to our dorm.

Nice, now I'm alone.

"Carlos Reyes to the front office, I repeat, Carlos Reyes to the front office." The PA booms throughout the school. I wonder what that's about.

Walking the halls of the school, my mind ponders how gross touching stuff is. You don't know whose hands have been on that door handle, whose feet have walked these floors, etc.

What are you going to do though? You have to grab door handles and walk the floor. Plus you have shoes, so it's not bad. I'm not a germaphobe or anything, it's just weird to think about. What if-

"Oops, excuse me, sir," I say before actually looking up and realizing it's the front office door. No one saw that, right?

I open the door to see the familiar plain walls and cold tile floors. But now I see a boy seated in one of the cold, hard chairs. "Hello," he says, "Unfortunately, my name is Jeff!" As soon as the boy mimics the popular vine, I know we're going to be friends.

Ms. Silksy, the secretary, shakes her head before informing me, "Carlos, this is Mason, our new student. Mason, this is Carlos, our... old student."

"Wait a minute, I'm not old! I'm young and handsome!" I defended myself.

"Okay, well whatever you are, I'd like you to show Mason here around. You two have identical schedules, so it should work out. I don't want you actually taking him to any classes yet, though. Just show him around and take him to his dorm. You'll be excused from your first period."

"Deal! Let's go kid." I said, dragging Mason behind me. For a ticket of out English, where our teacher's attitude with work was the more the merrier, I'd do almost anything.

"First up, on your right, is the science lab, which will be your second period." I spoke in the best spokesman voice I could muster. "On your left is the gym, third period. Keep walking down the hall this way and you'll find the cafeteria, which we will actually be entering because, now that I think about it, I'm starving." Mason just nodded as I opened the double doors of the cafeteria and was welcomed by the delectable aroma of waffles. The really good thing about boarding school is the food. Most mornings I don't even have to bother with the on campus Dunkin' Donuts and McDonalds.

If I'm being honest, my eyes started to droop as soon as I took a bite of the waffles, but I ignored it. Mason ate some too, and it was fairly quiet, although I did try to strike up a conversation once or twice.

"So, what brings you here?" I asked.

"Apparently my old school had some unspoken rule about not being able to let a few snakes out in the science lab. Is that a problem here?"

"Woah, you let snakes loose in your science lab? What kind of snakes?"

"I'm just messing around dude," laughed Mason.

"Oh. Well, I actually think reptiles are really cool. I have this gecko in my dorm. Or is that an amphibian?" Mason just laughed again, and I let my mind wander, thinking what a gecko actually was. In the end I just decided it was a really cool pet.

I was really feeling sleepy as I got up to throw out my food. That's probably why I didn't notice when I just dumped it on the floor randomly, thinking there was a trash can there. I didn't notice Mason bending to pick it up either, so I just kept watching. "And over here is the exit.." I said before opening the garbage chute and falling in.

Oops.

Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky, I heard Mason yelling, "Carlos! You okay down there? AAAAHH!" before he landed on a trash bag next to me.

"Haha, you fell,"

"Carlos, are you high?"

"Or nahhhhhhhh." I said, right before dozing off.

A.N. Enjoy!!!
-EMILY AND KAREN