Darkening Days

Chapter 7: Glares

Upon the coming of the following morning, I hesitantly awoke early so that I may make it on time to my Saturday detention, and with the same hesitancy, I went to wake Derrick up early so that he may make it on time with me.

To my contentment, he didn't object much, and we were able to make it out the door by 7:10AM, twenty minutes before detention started. After the short ten-minute walk to school, we entered through the double-doors, and walked into the room that would be my-our- confinement for the next eight hours.

Derrick chose to sit at an empty table, and, without scoping the other students who were sentenced to the same punishment as I was, I chose to sit at a table where an innocent-looking, blonde haired girl sat. The spectrum of things that these students must have done to get here today most likely ranges from accidentally stealing a teacher's supplies to fighting in the hallways- and I'm sure that this girl must have done something at the low end of that spectrum.

"Hey, what're you here for?" I asked her as I placed my backpack upon the floor.

Just then, as she turned to me to respond to my question, I realized who this girl is- she's the damsel-in-distress who was with Dillan and Derrick when they were quarreling.

Without seeming to recognize me in turn, the damsel replied softly, "Oh, for nothing, really; I'm just here with someone".

Since the girl didn't gesture to anyone in particular, I turned around to consider who this someone could possibly be, and was met with the cold glare of none other than Dillan.

I threw a glance at Derrick, who, as I figured, was giving Dillan the same glare as was being directed at me.

Hoping that the damsel didn't notice the glare-triangle that was being held behind her, I quickly turned back to her, and asked, "What did he do?"

"He got into a fight with another student. I tried to break it up, honest I did, but I wound up accidentally hurting the guy", she said apologetically.

This girl seemed so gentle by how she spoke, and I felt bad for her. "At least you tried. It can't be helped".

As I assured her of this, I noticed that she had nervously looked over her shoulder at Derrick; so she does recognize at least one of us.

"Are you here with him?" She asked me, looking down at her desk.

"Oh, yeah. He didn't do anything wrong, though- it was me. Well, I didn't do anything wrong either; I'm only here because of how much my teacher hates me."

The damsel cracked the slightest of smile, but still seemed insecure because of Derrick's presence.

I chose to continue talking to her before our detention warden came to stop all happiness; "Hey, I'm Krystal Shine. I think I've seen you around before, but I don't think I know your name."

"Oh, I'm Hanna Peters." She offered.

"Nice to meet you" I said as I spotted our warden entering the detention hall from the corner of my eye. I lowered my voice to a whisper, then said, "Gee, we better be quiet now- or else the 'teach' is going to punish us."

Again, she cracked another slight smile, before turning her attention to the teacher.

"Okay, students. Today, you're going to write an essay about respect and the quintessential school conduct. I don't want to hear any of you say, 'but I didn't do anything wrong' or 'I didn't do anything disrespectful'. Just write your essays, and I'll leave you all alone. That's all, begin."

I tuned out as a series of objections came from around the room. I pulled out a sheet of paper and began to write- I don't care how horribly structured my essay will turn out to be, I just want to get all my thoughts out and finish this so I could go home. Then again, Derrick will probably make me stalk Dillan and get right on his trail while it's available to me.