Hidden Cliques (WIP)

Chapter III

Skylar

Music: Dead End - Gradius II NES

2:41. This oddly uneven time of day is when our final bell of the day rings, ending the homeroom period and dismissing all students to either go home, to their sports, or to any other activities they have. On any other day, I'd be leaving my homeroom and walking to my bus to ride home. Or I'd walk through the trail behind our school to a park near Sam's house, and then go to a clubhouse with my other friends.

Well, today I have to sit in a classroom in complete silence for 3 hours. Doesn't that sound delightful?

Yeah, not for me either.

Heath and I meet up with each other after getting our stuff from our lockers. Our assigned detention room is on the top floor, so we have to walk up two flights of stairs to get there. My stomach is nauseous the entire time. While Heath was right about my parents (they thought the detention was unjustified and even called to complain, but the school refused to revoke it), I still hate the idea of having detention at all. Not only is it going to be hell to go through, but it goes on your permanent record. I've never even been sent to the office before, and now I have a detention on my record. That's a bad streak to lose.

The detention room is in a science classroom. We walk inside at 2:45, and are shocked to also see Luke, Avery, Sam, and Elle there, sitting near the back of the room. Heath and I had agreed to keep our detention a secret from our friend group, but apparently that doesn't matter anymore.

"You guys too, huh?" Sam asks, spotting us as soon as we walk in.

"Mhm," I reply..

We take a couple of seats next to them. "So, what are you in here for?" Heath asks.

"Our science teacher caught Sam and I using swears with each other in a Google Doc chat while we were working on an assignment," Avery says.

"Oh no, it's better than that," Sam laughs. "He said another teacher told him they saw us using swears."

Luke raises one of his eyebrows. "Well, were you?"

"What do you think? Of course we were," Sam snorts, crossing his arms. "How about you guys?"

"Public display of affection," I sigh, rolling my eyes.

"Spying on a teacher," Elle says, gesturing between her and Luke.

"I'm not even in here for that," Luke laughs. "I cussed out a teacher on Tuesday."

Avery moans. "Luke..."

"Hey, in my defense, he deserved it."

"Look, we'll get through this together, then we'll head to my house and I can take you guys home," Sam tells us. The rest of us let him know we're okay with that via nods and affirmative sayings.

At exactly 3 o'clock, the teacher in charge of supervising us walks in. She's a young, pale-white woman somewhere in her forties, and she clearly doesn't want to be here. "Alright, I assume you all know the drill," she tells us, speaking in a drone-like, monotone voice. "You can use this time to do work, but no talking to each other, no getting on your phones, no sleeping, and no playing games on your Chromebooks. If you have to use the restroom, you must run it by me and you must return within five minutes." It's hard to say for sure, but it looks like she's looking directly at Elle when she says her last sentence. With that, she sits down at the desk, leans her chair back, and begins reading from a book.

As soon as she's no longer looking at us, Luke quietly taps his desk to get our attention. He does a book-opening motion with his hands, then a "turn it down" signal. To anybody else, they'd have no idea what he's trying to say, but we know exactly what he means: Chromebooks up, volume down.