Dabbling In Sweetness

Chapter 6

The rest of the day passed by in a blur with the only thing on my mind was the decision I had to make. The bell rang exactly 3 times, signaling the end of the school day, unable to shake me to responsiveness. I sat in my class and looked up at the clock as the other kids rushed past me. The sound of each tick seemed to get louder and louder with every minute that passed. I sat there, my bag in my hand and my mind begging me to leave but I sat still, just watching the time go by. Ten minutes passed and my body still seemed frozen. My head was busy trying to calm me down with words of encouragement but kept getting shut down by the words of my insecurities. The clock got to 4:13 and that's when I abruptly stood up. I had 2 minutes to get to detention. Although my mind told me to run the other way, my body kept walking straight as I tugged on my backpack strings. My heart was beating so fast that I could hear it pulsating in my ears.

I open the door expecting kids to be throwing stuff as the teacher yells at them to be quiet but am surprised to find silence, the only loud noise was from the teacher's snoring. The room seemed practically empty but I noticed that the attending list is long. My face scrunches up in confusion but deciding not to think too much about it, I quickly hurry over to the corner desk in the front row and pull out my book. From a distance, the forms of the football players can be made out running as they practice drills. I lower my gaze down to my book and scan through it. Just because I was in detention, it didn't mean I could slack off on my work. I get through five pages before I'm interrupted.

"Amelia-" the voice says. I look up in a panic, wondering who I knew that would be in detention, and am surprised at the grinning face of Link who waves enthusiastically at me. Besides him, sitting at the desk is a beautiful girl with caramelized skin tone with bright pink hair that matched the pink crop top underneath the leather jacket she wore and that complemented the black tight jeans. She folds her legs to reveal equally as pink high heels, her eyes darting around the room as she pops her gum loudly. It was hard not admiring how beautiful she looked, only making me feel more self-conscious as I tried to hide behind my book but her eyes darted to me quicker than I could look away. Her eyes examine me for a second before she turns her attention to something else, making me feel as if I was unworthy of her attention. I watch as she takes out a marker and hands it over to Link who quickly scribbles his name down. She takes out a couple of more and hands them to him as she slides onto the desk, facing the teacher who is still soundly asleep. They uncap the pens and as Link draws a mustache, the girl starts with two circles. I looked away in horror, having an idea of what she was drawing but didn't want to confirm it.

Was I an accomplice now? I shake the thought from my head. No. I was just sitting down, reading a book, and didn't know what was happening. Well, that wouldn't work. I had to stop this.

"What are you guys doing?" I hiss at them, trying to perceive a level of authority in my voice.

The girl turns her attention to me and stalks my way. "You're new here," she states, "so I'd just keep my mouth shut," before rolling her eyes and walking away from me without another word. I stand up and walk towards them as they continue drawing on his face.

Link looks at me and extends a marker, "want to join?"

"No thank you," I say in seriousness before continuing, "as a concerned student and future valedictorian of this school, I am obligated to inform him who did that to his face when he wakes up." The girl stops drawing making me instantly regret my words for she walks towards me with threatening intent, causing fear to rise and goosebumps to appear all over me. I gulp as she steps closer, making me back away but pinning me against the desk.

She gives me a devilish smile as she speaks, "So you're the future valedictorian?" I nodded my head slowly as I examined her reaction. "Nice to meet you, I'm Gina." She backs away from me and turns to Link, who is looking intently at us. "Grab her," she commands and grabs one of my arms as Link does as he's told and holds my other.