Compared to detention standing outside in the pouring rain whilst teachers frantically tried to get a headcount of teenagers was fun. There was nothing enjoyable about being sat in a room with a teacher at the front equally as annoyed about being stuck at school when he could be home doing nothing. Instead hes in a school doing nothing. Mr walker decided to grade papers silently at the front whilst Lara opted for homework. J.T. settled for looking at blank paper, clicking his pen and kicking the leg of Lara's chain. Every so often he would kick her chair unintentionally harder causing Lara's writing to look similar to a heart monitor.
It was around twenty five minutes after the start of detention when Mr Nelman - Lara's math teacher- walked into the room. He was a pudgy man, small stout and his voice could cut through steel. Needless to say, Lara was no a fan of math.
"Mr Walker, you're needed." was all he said, much to Lara's delight. If she had to hear that mans voice in class fair enough but outside of his teaching there was no need to listen to the killer drone of his voice drilling through her head. Mr walked gave them a look that said it all. Lara looked back down and continued to scribble down words that strung into sentences. Boring sentences. Mr walker stopped at the door looking back, "Mr Faulkner, before i forget the dusters on my desk." Then he was gone with Mr Nelman. J.T. laughed. As the noise of the door closing clicked in the room so did the noise of one last boot to Lara's chair. That was the final straw. Lara, someone used to remaining quiet in life, turned to J.T. her face the personified image of anger as it seeped through her entire being.
"What is your problem?!" Although it is a question, Lara meant it in a rhetorical form, although J.T. was clearly thinking up a response. Perhaps he thought better of it or maybe he realized he wasn't smart enough to come up with a good enough comeback through words, or figured out that a simple chuckle wouldn't infuriate Lara more than any words that could leave her mouth. Lara was ready to scream but tried to hold it in. She wasn't one for breaking rules and talking in detention was rule number one. J.T. swaggered up to the blackboard looking less like Eminem and more like King Kong. He took a hold of the duster and began sweeping it across the board. J.T. froze for a millisecond, a new idea on how to make a big deal of his obvious wits coming to mind. There was something about that which automatically made Lara uncomfortable. She felt a clench in her stomach, something that happened when she was nervous and anxious. As much as she wanted to stop J.T. from getting them both into more trouble she was curious as she often got when she couldn't predict exactly what was going to happen. Was he about to bang the erasers together? What else could he do? Mr Walker locked away the chalk in the top drawer of his desk where no one could get to it- not without keys, and those were on his person at all times, so you see, there really was nothing else he could do. Not in Lara's naive mind. There wasn't much to choose from. Wrong. J.T. carefully wiped away specific letters leaving a few. Some were close together, others far apart. Lara just watched, astounded from not knowing why he would continue to stir up a storm when there was no one there to see it. Sure Lara was there but what did that count for. She was curious but no one would say she cared about what J.T, Faulkner did with his life.
Lara spent a few minutes with her homework until her attention was grabbed by the noise of the door slamming shut. J.T. was gone and the board now gave the grand information- 'drop out, do drugs' with a few unnecessary spacing's. On the plus side he remember punctuation.... not a very bright silver lining. Lara stood quickly trying to find the duster and clear those words off the board. It was nowhere in sight.
"Lara?" She spun around to see Mr Walker standing there. Although he said her name his eyes were glued to the blackboard and the message to live by that J.T. left. Lara stuttered over words with no structure whatsoever. Just syllables with no true form as words. "I saw him walk out. You may as well leave." Mr Walker told Lara with a nod towards the door.
