Here & Now

Chapter Fourteen

When I reached Mr Cameron's classroom for detention, Evangeline was already there along with some other students I hadn't seen before. She had one elbow on the desk with her face resting in her hand, and with her other hand she was drawing patterns in her book. I had never seen someone look so bored. She barely raised her eyes to greet me. I took my seat next to her without bothering to say anything. I don't know what it was about her, and why from day one she had given me nothing but the cold shoulder, but I was on a mission. I needed her drumming skills. Peering to the front of the room I noticed Mr Cameron looking over papers and writing things down, and raised my hand to get his attention.

       Mr Cameron directed his gaze towards me, then back down at his papers. 

       'What is it, Mr Lewis?' he said in a monotone voice

       'Sir, it okay if I use this time to catch up on homework?' Sucking up to him would definitely allow me some time away from being under the microscope.

       He seemed to hesitate for a moment then replied, 'Sure Aiden, just don't distract anyone.'

       Pulling out my notepad I began scratching away, but it wasn't homework I worked on, a note to Evangeline.

       Hey Evangeline, I'm so sorry for getting u stuck in detention with me.

       Using a sneeze to cover up the tearing of the paper I passed the note to Evangeline.

       At first she looked annoyed, but after a moment she read the note, and to my great surprise, she began scratching away, herself. After checking Mr Cameron was still looking away, she slid the note back to me.

       That's okay.

       So, you forgive me then? I wrote back to her.

       I wouldn't go that far, she responded.

       This was good, I needed to keep the momentum going.

       Dude, you killed it with your drumming performance the other day.

       She smiled and took a moment to compose her next message, then passed the letter back. Thanks. To be honest, the songs I play there aren't really challenging.

        I KNEW IT! I wrote. Peering to the front of the room I could see that Mr Cameron was starting to pay attention to his surroundings again. Seeing as we were already in detention, and I didn't want to make things worse, I waited. When he began his marking again, I slipped the next note to Evangeline

        We continued passing notes back and forth for the duration of detention. I learned that Evangeline was a fan of Travis Barker, amongst other well known drummers. When we left the classroom curiosity had gotten the better of me.

       'Evangeline, I have to ask. Did I do something to annoy you before?' I looked at the ground kicking a nearby rock.

       She let out a short laugh and adjusted her glasses on her face. 'Well, not on purpose. It's just that seeing how you act and how little regard you have for people's opinions actually annoys me because I wish I could kind of be like that.'

       I noticed that her skin was flushed pink from embarrassment.

       'I care more then I let on,' my voice was soft.

       'Really?'. The note of surprise in her voice was hard to miss.

       'Well, it's weird. Like, I couldn't care less about what someone says about me personally—like, if they say I'm ugly or dress weird or if I smell funny. But when it comes to something I care about, I care too much about what people think.'