detention » vernon

五

"i always thought the girl toilets were bad, but now that i've seen what the male toilets look like.. never mind," ella commented, a look of disgust plastered onto her face. "we wouldn't have to be doing this if it weren't for you," she groaned, looking over at vernon, before rewetting her mop in the bucket.

it was already the third day of detention for vernon and ella, and because they were caught eating food by mr kim the day before, he made them clean the school toilets together.

"shut up, we were both starving after cleaning the class yesterday, so i had no choice but to get us snacks. what else were we supposed to do?" vernon said, before rinsing his cloth in one of the sinks of the washroom.

"geez, okay, no need to be so grumpy."

"why are you so cheerful?"

ella turned to vernon. he looked at her expectantly. she actually wasn't sure of what to say.

"isn't being cheerful good?"

"we're in detention, for god's sake! how are you so happy about that?" vernon muttered, facing the sink once again.

"i've never been in detention before. and i must say, it's not as bad as i thought it was," ella smiled.

"well, i don't know about you, but i want to get out of here so badly."

"then leave if you want," ella shrugged, "mr kim probably won't find out."

"yeah, i can leave," he began, "but i can't."

"what?"

"i have nowhere to go."

"um.. you can go home?"

"to be honest, i'd rather be in detention than at home.." vernon trailed off, fiddling around with the wet cloth in his hands.

"..why?" ella asked quietly.

"never mind. no more questions."

"hey," ella started, "you need to learn how to cheer up!"

"huh?" vernon turned around from the sink, only to be met by a splash of water from ella.

she laughed at his priceless reaction, slowly backing away from the boy.

"get back here!" he said, before grabbing a spray bottle, chasing ella around the rows of cubicles in the washroom. when he finally caught up with her, he sprayed her back, soaking her jumper completely, causing ella to shriek.

"vernon, don't spray me with that!" she gasped.

"it's just water, don't worry!"

and with that, ella began to run again, trying to find an escape route from the boy, but she then realised that she had run into a dead end of the washroom. she looked back at vernon who was coming her way, but before he could reach her, he slipped on a puddle of water, and almost fell flat on the ground. thankfully, he grabbed onto one of the cubicle door handles before he could tumble over.

once vernon composed himself, he looked up to find ella laughing her head off, her hands clutching her stomach. his expression lit up at the sight of her at her happiest.

"stay put!" he got up and ran towards her, drenching ella in water using the spray bottle. the washroom was filled with nothing but the sounds of pure laughter.

not long after, the fun and noise had died down, as they didn't want to alarm mr kim. they were both crouched on the floor, leaning against one of the walls in the washroom, trying to catch their breaths. ella's hair was completely soaked, and vernon had gotten water in his shoes.

"we're disgusting. we're playing in the toilet," ella laughed at the sound of that.

"but it was fun," vernon chuckled, causing her to look over at him.

and, for the first time, that was when ella saw vernon with a smile on his face.

a true, sincere smile.