The Little Things [Book 1]

Chapter Sixteen: Nutmeg

"Detention?!" Thomas repeated out loud.

"Yes, you heard me right," Mrs Coleman responded while snapping her book close.

"But we..." Thomas started, but Mark cut him off.

"Just give me detention. Thomas only wanted to make sure I was okay". The woman gave him a poisonous glare, ignoring all the bruising.

"Neither of you asked for permission to leave class," she replied and sat down on her chair.

"I was having a panic attack," Mark told her dryly. She just blinked.

"That doesn't excuse Thomas".

"I was..." Thomas started, but he failed to find the words he wanted.

"Come on Thomas, whatever," Mark told him and started pulling him from his sleeve. With a huff, both boys took their detention notices and left the empty classroom. "What a bitch," Mark muttered as the door closed behind them. Thomas was left looking at the piece of paper in his hand. "What? Don't tell me you've never been in detention before..."

"That's not... I have, but this is different. We shouldn't get detention, or at least you shouldn't," Thomas replied with a shake of his head. Mark agreed but he didn't say anything about it. It was years ago when he had discovered most teachers didn't care about mental illnesses.

"So, what did you do last time?" Mark asked, changing the subjects as they headed toward Thomas's locker.

"I 'accidentally' kicked a soccer ball to Coleman's head," Thomas grumbled making air quotations as he said it. Mark couldn't contain his laughter. 

"Man, I love you". Thomas froze before his locker and he turned to give Mark a look. Realizing his words, Mark stopped laughing and cleared his throat. The motion made him wince and worry flashed in Thomas's eyes. "What do you mean 'accidentally'?" Mark asked, trying to ease the awkwardness.

"You see, we had practice and she came out to ask for volunteers about the winter play -this happened last year. And I didn't mind that. But when nobody volunteered, she started calling us a bunch of testosterone infused cavemen who only cared about sports and not arts," Thomas explained and after he took his things he closed his locker. They started heading to Mark's locker. "I hate it when people get preachy and assume things about me".

"Yeah, and also sports are forms of art. Figure skating and dancing and ballet, they are all considered art forms but they are also sports," Mark agreed and opened his own locker. "The only difference between those things and soccer or basketball is that these kinds of sports were male-dominated back in those good ol' days and being artsy back then was considered feminine. And oh, how bad it is to be feminine".

Thomas opened his mouth, but then quickly closed it again. He hadn't expected that from Mark of all people. He rarely even heard something like that from people like Rachel.

"What?" Mark asked softly when he saw how Thomas had been looking at him.

"Nothing... I just spaced out," Thomas replied. "So yeah, she got preachy and I kicked the ball out of nerves and it hit her head. I mean yeah, I wasn't targeting, but I didn't mind it happening".

"And you got detention".

"And I got detention. I'm just glad that detention doesn't overlap with practices," Thomas said and looked past Mark to where his friends were walking to them.

"Hey, guys!" Rachel exclaimed with a wide smile. "Did Coleman give you detention for walking out?" Both nodded at that and Dean snorted.

"So, besides classes and our match, you also have detention on your schedule today?" Dean asked Thomas and softly punched him on the shoulder.