The Golden Flower

Detention Is How It Always Starts Right?

"Do you like poems? I know I do. There's something about them...gives me the chills. Do you want to hear one Kai? Do you want to hear one Kai? Kai? Kai! KAI!"  I jolted awake.

"Kai!" My teacher called. "If you're gonna sleep in my class, then I guess I should make it more interesting. Detention this afternoon Mr. Fujiake." I jolted out of my seat.

"We have practice today! If I skip, coach will kill me!" I yelled, but he remained unmoved by my words. 

"Well, maybe you should have thought about that before taking a nap in my class. Education comes first Mr. Fujiake." I sat back down, opening my notebook. When he turned to continue the lesson, I put my headphones in and listened to music as I drew in my notebook instead of actually taking notes. I groaned as I heard the bell ring, signaling the last period of the day. Why does this have to happen to me? I asked myself as I made my way to my locker, dreading the long hours I would spend in detention. I saw my friends Justin, David and Eva waiting at my locker.

"Bruh, I heard you got detention for sleeping in class! That sucks man." Justin said nudging me into the lockers. 

"I wouldn't have fell asleep if coach didn't make us run laps until sundown." I said throwing my stuff into the locker and slamming it. (Character development for David and Eva)

We walked to class talking about everyday stuff. Well it was mostly them talking. I just listened to music as we walked until I felt someone hug me from behind. I internally groaned, but plastered on a smile as I turned toward my girlfriend.

"Looks like someone was being a bad boy today. I guess we can't hang out later since you have detention now." Jessi said leaning up to give me a kiss. I tried to make the kiss as quick as possible. I always hated being one of the popular kids. I can't understand why anyone would want this. Always pretending to be someone you're not. Only being able to hang out with certain people. You can't be too smart, or too creative, or too weird. I feel like a walking mannequin; always dressed up to be what everyone else wants me to be. The only reason I stay with these people is because my dad coaches our football team, which I play on, hoping to get a scholarship for college because I'm "not smart enough"otherwise. At least that's what they want. My parents. No one knows the real me. 

"Yeah, I gotta go now Jess." I said using this detention to escape.

"Oh, ok. Maybe you can come over later babe. Call me." She said with a wink before sauntering away. I sighed and turned to my friends.

"We'll talk to you later bro." David said to me before leaving with Eva.

"See you later babe!" Justin said before  dramatically blowing me kisses as he retreated down the hall. I flipped him off before entering the room.

"Oh good. You actually decided to show up Mr. Fujiake." Said Mr. Morris, the teacher who gave me the detention.

"Of course. Don't want dad getting even more mad at me. And call me Kai please." I chuckled as I sat down, taking out my things. He smiled and turned to the board. He retaught his lesson from earlier for me, which didn't take long since I picked up on these things easily. This is my favorite class. I love music, so of course I took a Music Theory class. Mr. Morris knows about my family situation, so he has devoted a couple of days each week to helping me after class.

"Already done with the practice Kai?" He said, looking over my shoulder. I took out one earphone.

"Yeah, it's pretty simple actually." I shrugged. Learning always came easy to me, but I could never show that, or else my whole reputation would be ruined. So I go to every class and pretend to not care. Mr. Morris looked at me concerned, and I knew what was coming next.