How To Be Happy

Chapter Two: Detention

          Eve jerked awake, her sheets tossed aside and her entire body covered in a cold sweat. She glanced around her eyes wide, searching for something. But she found nothing. She ran her fingers nervously through her hair swallowing loudly. She checked her alarm clock, it was 5:45. Eve got ready for school.

            School didn’t start until 7:30 but Eve didn’t care. Anything to distract her from the nightmare. She couldn’t even remember it, just how frightening it all was.

            She quickly slipped on jeans and a random T-shirt, hurrying out the door. This time she was careful not to trip and she stood at the corner, waiting patiently for the bus. Eve tucked her hair behind her ear, before boarding the bus once it had arrived.

                                                                                              ***

            Geometry was uneventful and it took all of Eve’s willpower not to fall asleep. During PE, Eve struggled to jog and was close to being last. She was second to last; last would be Connor. He was limping so Eve slowed down to match his pace.

            “You alright?”

            “Yeah, just hit my knee against… a doorknob…” Connor nodded before glancing at Eve. “Well don’t you look amazing, with two giant bags under your eyes. Are you alright?” He raised an eyebrow.

            “I’m fine. Just had a bad dream is all.” She nodded before frowning as Connor began to limp. “You shouldn’t be running. Why don’t you tell Mr. Flyer that you can’t?”

            “And if I did, you’d be the slowest one. Can’t have that now can we?” He grinned at her, before staring ahead, his eyes filled with determination.

            Eve nodded and continued to walk next to him in silence. She wanted to ask why he got injured so often but she knew she wouldn’t like the answer.

            “You can go forward, you know that right?” Connor didn’t look at her, just kept limping and she shook her head.

***

            For lunch Eve headed back to the tree she ate under yesterday to find Connor already waiting for her.

            “Alright, so I have actually brought a variety of foods today. Such as a sandwich, two apples, and… alright that’s all the edible stuff anyways.” She sat down next to him, hugging her backpack to her chest. She had forgotten a lunch again and she made a mental note to go grocery shopping after detention. Eve rolled her eyes and Connor raised an eyebrow. “What is it?”

            “Detention. I have detention with Dr. Brown today.” She sighed softly and Connor grinned.

            “So Ms. Wallace isn’t so good now is she?” He continued grinning and moved his eyebrows in a suggestive manner. Eve responded by shoving him over. “Hey! Go easy on me. I can’t have a girl beating me up, it’d ruin my reputation.” He winked at her and she rolled her eyes.

            “Oh excuse me Mr. Albany, I’d hate to affect the opinion of the one friend you have.”

            “Oh so we’re friends?” Eve blushed softly before shrugging.

            “Sure why not?” She leaned back on her hands before playfully punching Connor in the shoulder.

            “Jesus you hit hard.” He pretended to be hurt and rubbed his shoulder.

            “What class do you have next?”

            “Spanish.” Connor wrinkled his nose running his fingers through his hair. “Bleh. I can barely speak English, give a guy a break. Oh shit, I had to fill out this worksheet!” Connor pulled out a collection of papers quickly searching through them.

            “I took Spanish in middle school I can help.” Eve offered quietly and Connor produced a semi-wrinkled paper from his massive pile.

            Together they sat under the tree filling out the Spanish worksheet until the bell rang signifying the end of lunch.

                                                                                                 ***

            After school Eve hurried to Dr. Brown’s room.

            “So glad you decided to show up Ms. Wallace, did you bring a friend with you?” Dr. Brown raised an eyebrow gesturing to someone behind Eve. Eve quickly turned around before frowning at the sight of Connor.

            “What are you doing here?” She hissed loud enough for Connor to hear but quiet enough for Dr. Brown not to.

            “We’re friends remember? I’m not about to let my friend suffer the boredom of detention alone.” Connor nodded at Eve before glancing at Dr. Brown. “Is it alright if I stay here?”

            Dr. Brown looked surprised. “You want to stay in detention? Fine.” Dr. Brown nodded them over to a table and Eve sat down, frowning at Connor.

            “Connor you didn’t have to.” Eve whispered quietly and Connor shrugged.

            “I wanted to.” He responded simply before sliding a note over to Eve.

            It read: Alright, so I thought giving you a note would be easier but… alright I was wondering if you were free this Saturday. It doesn’t have to be a date, just like, a get-together I guess. But just the two of us… So it kind of resembles a date but it doesn’t have to be. Yep. Sorry. I’m just, feel free to say no, I won’t get upset or anything. Eve glanced up at Connor but he was writing furiously in his notebook his cheeks a light pink color.

            Eve wrote back: Sure. I just can’t exactly get to places that are far away, but there’s a movie theatre across the street from my house, could we go there? Eve paused in writing feeling her cheeks heat up. And what if I want it to be a date? Eve wrote this in the corner, her cheeks now bright red. She slid the paper over to Connor, making sure Dr. Brown didn’t see, before turning to her work. She had to read two chapters out of the French textbook by tomorrow.

        Eve was too busy reading that she didn’t see Connor smile at her note. She also didn’t see him responding to a text with “I love you too babe".

A/N: Herrow ^^ Hope you liked the second chapter as much as the first, I think Tuesday will be my upload day UNLESS School comes around and prevents that. But we'll see. Have a great day!