VOIDED

3

Riley stared out the window. A myna was attacking a willie wagtail on the lawn just outside the classroom. Despite its size, the wagtail was putting up a good fight. It hopped up and town from the grass to a small bush nearby, swooping down when it had the chance. The myna could kill it easily, but the wagtail was fearless. He'd never seen one back down in his life.

He didn't want to turn his head. Sam had walked in and was sitting across the classroom, and he knew if he looked, he'd be hit with a death glare.

There were only four people in detention. Besides sam and himself, there was a sullen looking year 11 girl, and a guy from his home room named Nick Dimas. Riley could guess why he was there, dude once beat down a Teacher's Aid after school cause he looked at him the wrong way in the hallway. He should have been expelled. But like so many of the kids at this school, his parents were rich and important enough to grant him immunity. His great grandfather created some firewall tech that made a crapload of money. Now everyone in his family did nothing but work out ways to spend it.

He didn't know the younger girl, but he'd seen her drunk once on the train to Portland. He'd been sitting with this crusty void who was playing folk punk on a shitty guitar and yelling loud enough for the whole carriage to hear. The conductor had been too intimidated to stop them.

Riley finally built up enough courage to look across at Sam. She was staring down at her tablet, reading. She lifted her head as if she felt his gaze, and scowled at him.

"Hey Riley, whacha in for this time?" Riley glanced to Dimas, then back to sam. She had a disgusted look on her face. He wanted to show somehow that they weren't friends, that he disliked Dimas as much as she seemed to. But that would mean a potential beating.

"Talking in class."

Dimas sneered.

"Rebel. Why's your eye fucked then?"

Riley opened his mouth, but was saved from further conversation by a teacher entering the room. She was a middle school maths teacher, miss Christie, or Carlisle or something like that. He'd never been in her class. She had a grim, stern look on her face that only wavered as she passed Dimas. He was easily twice her size. She sat at the front of the class and began reading.

Sam lifted her hand. It took a few minutes for the teacher to notice.

"Yes?"

"What are we meant to, um..."

The teacher rolled her eyes.

"A newbie. Just concentrate on your schoolwork and stay silent. I'll let you know when you're free to go." She raised her eyes from the desk. "That goes for all of you. No talking, no notes. If I find out you're messaging each other you all get another day's detention."

Dimas groaned. The teacher ignored him and went back to reading.

There was a clock at the corner of the whiteboard, an analogue one, like some people collected. Riley watched the second hand tick. He took turns staring at the clock and trying to get Sam's attention. She was deliberately not looking at him. It wasn't like he wasn't used to girls ignoring him. But the fact she was only here cause of his stuff up made him fixate. There was a heavy slab of guilt clamped to his chest. If she didn't hate him, if she was just indifferent, maybe things would go back to normal. He'd go back to being invisible.

A lanky year eight stumbled into the room. The teacher looked up. The whites of his eyes stood out against the reddish pink of his face.

"They said get a teacher." He panted.

She stood and looked towards the door.

"What's happened?"

"Fire. In the teacher's car park. Someone called the fire brigade but—"

The teacher had already brushed passed him and headed down the hall. The year eight looked at all of them, rubbed at his nose, and then turned to follow her.

"Does that mean we can go?" It was the girl sitting up front, alone. She looked to Sam expectantly.

"We weren't told we can go," Sam sighed. "Which means we have to stay."

"She's right ya know," Dimas pointed at the girl. "Them teachers leave detention all the time. get bored or some shit. I dunno. They don't monitor while they're not here though."with that, he leaned back in his chair and began to daydream.

Sam looked at Riley for a second and he tried to smile. But she scowled and turned away sharply. He fell down limp on the desk, his head shaking against it. He sighed. Outside, the myna was gone, the wagtail was hopping about frantically. Something had startled it. Something big. Hudson. He pressed his fingers against the glass and forced the window open.

"What are you doing?" Riley slid his chair away from his desk. Hudson crossed his arms with an amused look on his face.

"I wondered where you were. Did you get in trouble on purpose? Didn't you think I'd find you?"

"Is this round two of my beating? Can't you wait till after detention?"

"Beating?" Hudson laughed and clamped his hand on Riley's shoulder. "No one's here to beat anyone. I'm here to free you."