The SVE Club

9. Detention

    When Midas walked into detention later that day, he was greeted by a strange scene.

    Mr. Lee was overseeing detention today, but instead of being in their seats doing their schoolwork, like they had been yesterday, the students were milling about and chatting amongst themselves. A radio was on and blasted a Rolling Stones song.

    Mr. Lee saw Midas enter the room and jumped to turn the music off. He squinted at Midas.

    "Oh, it's just you," he said, flicking the music back on. He turned to an Asian-looking boy sitting by the door. "Taro! You're supposed to be a lookout and tell me if anyone's coming. What am I paying you for?"

    Taro shrugged glancing at Midas. "He's not a teacher or anything. Are you gonna withhold my wages?"

    "Nah, your shift's over anyway. Come get it," Mr. Lee said, throwing Taro a mini bag of Cheetos. Taro caught the bag and looked at it in dismay.

    "Just one?" he asked.

"What do you need another one for?" Mr. Lee asked.

"I can't get no satisfaction?" Taro said with a grin, quoting the lyrics of the song playing.

    The teacher rolled his eyes. "After today's fiasco I'm surprised you're still hungry," Mr. Lee muttered, shaking his head and throwing the boy another bag. He turned to the class.

    "Jody!" he called to one of the girls. "You're on watch now, five minutes."

    A girl left the group she was talking to and took Taro's place by the door.

    Midas approached Mr. Lee. "Is this... detention?"

    Mr. Lee smirked. "As far as the big cheeses know, it is. You can take the next watch shift. I'll pay you in Cheetos or Oreos, your choice. In the meantime, just hang out and enjoy the tunes." He leaned over and turned the music up louder, nodding his head as he made some notes in his binders.

Midas backed away and headed for the desks, sitting down in the chair next to Taro, who was devouring his snack.

"Is detention always like this, or is today some holiday nobody knew about?" Midas asked Taro.

Taro grinned. "Mr. Lee hates detention almost as much as we do. So when he has it, he tries to make it tolerable for everyone."

"How often does he do this?" Midas asked.

"Every Wednesday."

"You sound like an expert."

Taro shrugged. "Eh, not really. I've only been in here a couple times. But my first Wednesday was as confusing for me as it was for you. A couple of the regulars," he said, nodding his head towards the groups in the back, "filled me in on what happens when Mr. Lee has detention."

Taro paused and rubbed his chin, looking Midas up and down. "Say, aren't you that Dynamopsych guy? The one that blew up Peter's mask?"

"Nope. Not me. You must have me confused with someone else," Midas said flatly.

"Ya sure?" Taro asked, still rubbing his chin. "I mean, what's with the costume? And the mask, that's just kind of creepy."

Midas sighed and stuck his hand out. "Midas Aldridge, ISH transfer."

"You liar," Taro chuckled as they shook hands. Midas immediately regretted the gesture; Taro's fingers were covered in Cheeto dust.

"So, what're you in for today? Blow up any more masks?" Taro asked.

"Blew up the entire hallway, actually," Midas said casually, wiping his hand on his pant leg. He filled Taro in on what had happened and watched as Taro's eyes widened in shock and admiration.

"Man, I'm only here because I stole a pizza from the cafeteria," Taro grumbled. "I mean, I paid for it, but they didn't want me to take the whole thing, so I just kind of left the money and ran off with it." He laughed self-consciously.

"Why a whole pizza?" Midas asked. "Were you sharing it with someone?"

Taro looked at Midas as if he had suggested that cats might one day sprout wings and colonize the moon.

"No. I was hungry, I wasn't about to share," Taro said, sneering the last word as if it were foreign.

Midas held up a hand. "Wait a sec, you took an entire pizza to eat yourself?"

"Yeah?" Taro said, shaking crumbs out from the bag into his mouth.

Now it was Midas' turn to stare at Taro. The boy was practically skin and bones. Was he getting starved at home or something?

"Someone's coming!" the girl posted at the door exclaimed suddenly.

Mr. Lee frantically unplugged the radio. "Places, everyone! Quiet!"

The students scrambled to get in their seats and look bored. Mr. Lee grabbed his binder again and began busily flipping through it.

Miss O'Brian stormed in just as the last student had sat down.

"Did I hear music coming from here?" she asked Mr. Lee accusingly.

Mr. Lee held up a finger, peering intently in his binder. "One sec, I'm in the middle of something."

"It can wait. What's this radio here for?" Miss O'Brian asked.

"NPR," Mr. Lee muttered, still pretending to read.

"I'm sure I heard music only a few seconds ago," Miss O'Brian mused.

Mr. Lee looked up from the binder. "Kids, have any of you heard music?"

There were some half-hearted 'no's and head shakes from the student.

    "Nothing?" Mr. Lee pressed on. "No brass bands? Maybe an orchestra or two?"

    More head shakes.

    "I was humming," offered one of the students in the back.

    Mr. Lee harrumphed.

"You're hearing things, Lisa. They have doctors for that sort of thing, you know?" Mr. Lee said, turning back to his binder.

    Miss O'Brian clenched her fists. "I'm watching you, Lee. Remember that." She gave the rest of the room a quick look before marching away.

    It was dead silent in the classroom for a few minutes. Mr. Lee finally got up and peaked out of the door.

    "Ding dong, the witch is dead," he said dryly. "All clear."

    The students collectively sighed with relief and resumed whatever they were doing before Miss O'Brian had come in. The radio was plugged back in and once again blasted its music.

    "So she's like that with everybody, huh?" Midas said to Taro. "I thought she just hated me."

    Taro shook his head. "Nah, she hates everyone. She acts like a cranky old woman, but it turns out she's only twenty three. Can you believe it?"

    Midas just nodded. He'd seen stranger things, it wasn't all that hard to believe.

    "Midas!" Mr. Lee called. "You're up for lookout."

    Midas stood up.

    "Welcome to the Wednesday Detention Society, kid. So what will it be?" Mr. Lee asked. "Cheetos or Oreos?"