Beauty and the Physicist ( old )

Chapter 7: Detention

After their slightly uncomfortable eye contact across the room, they ended up making some progress in the last few minutes of the school day. Actually, Andrew made more progress. Charlie just copied what he wrote down.

All too soon, the bell rang, and students immediately picked up their books, leaving as quickly as they could. The only students left were Charlie and Andrew, both cleaning up their surroundings. Ms. Allen excused herself after watching the two of them, seeming to be quite bored.

Before she left, she gave them a broom, two mops, a bucket of water, and a dustpan. Then, she took off to who knows where. Silently, Charlie took the broom, sweeping around the classroom as Andrew followed close behind with his mop and bucket.

The silence was unbearable, it just made things extremely weird, and it was no fun to work without talking to someone, at least. "You're pissed at me, aren't you?"

He looked at her with mild confusion, tilting his head as he put down the bucket. "What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean. I got you stuck here, cleaning after school with me. I mean, I'm pretty good company, but this classroom just ruins everything." She looked around with disgust, her nose crinkled up and her eyes narrowed.

"Actually, I'm not too upset. Yes, this isn't all too much fun, but at least I'm not alone. I've got you, don't I?"

She glanced back at him, her cheeks turning a light shade of red. It was an innocent compliment, wasn't it? Wait, was it even a compliment? She had no clue.

"Er, yeah. Yeah, you do."

Both stopped talking, going back to their work. Charlie was quickly sweeping, reaching the broom into corners and hastily brushing all the dust bunnies and dirt into the dustpan. She walked over to the trash can, emptying the dust pan of it's filth.

They worked this way for several more minutes. She soon finished ridding the classroom of it's crumbs and dust, grabbing a mop to continue their cleaning. It was Andrew who broke the silence, this time.

"Thanks," he said as he turned away, mopping the areas around the lab benches.

"For what?" She inquired, pausing for a moment to brush a stray hair away from her eyes. With a glance at the clock, she sighed. It's only been thirty minutes, and here they were, still cleaning. Ms. Allen hasn't even come back yet.

Andrew turned back around, dipping the mop back into the water and ridding it of it's excess liquid, making it sure it wasn't too wet. "For standing up for me, earlier."

"Oh, you're welcome. That's what friends are for." The phrase just slipped out of her mouth, even she was surprised by what she just said. Were they friends? Were they anything more than lab partners? Kind of. Well, they were more like acquaintances, really.

He stopped, nervously adjusting his tie and clearing his throat. "Really?"

"Sure, we're friends, right?" Damn it, she didn't even know what she was saying.

"--- Right."

"Okay."

They smiled at each other with slight embarrassment, and turned away soon picking up their mops and resuming their task. Friends, huh? They could probably get used to that.