Stardust // Reggie Mantle (3)

Chapter Eight

Of course, the commotion of the fight had brought the overseeing teacher back into the room. He forced them all back to their seats and then made his way to the front of the room to make a speech.

"Congratulations," he began. "You all just upped your sentence. From one Saturday detention, to four."

Anna groaned and slammed her head down on the desk. There were similar reactions throughout the room, the other teens just as upset.

Everyone was mad at each other, of course. But something happened in that room. The teens realized that they would have to tolerate each other for the next four weeks, and should maybe start getting used to each other. Unconciously, the cliquiness began to drop away.

At lunch, Fred shared his sandwich with FP and moved to the desk beside him. Somewhat reluctantly, Anna moved into the desk in front of Fred as everyone else filled in next to each other. Maybe, she thought, this wouldn't be so bad.

A few Saturday's later, a dark and gloomy atmosphere had taken over outside. The rain was cold, but the warmth of newfound friendship floated through the small classroom.

Alice had decided to carve the rest of the group's initials into the windowsill next to hers. Anna watched her do it from her spot on top of the desk next to Fred, a little closer than friends would normally be. Notably, their hands had unconsciously found each other and were loosely intertwined.

Hermione and Penelope were at the front of the room. Hermione was behind the desk as she took a wrench to the drawers. She had gotten it into her mind to break into the drawers and see what treasure she could find.

Penelope had seen her begin to do it, and ran up to the desk. A typical teacher's pet, she was already is disfavor of the actions.

"What are you doing?" Penelope demanded, causing all the eyes in the room to turn to her. Fred and Anna were broken out of their comfortable state, and let go of each others hands.

"Yesterday, Ms. Crabapple took my GameLad and she locked it up in here," Hermione explained. "So I'm getting it back."

Finally, Hermione broke the drawer open and pulled it out. Penelope looked down at her dissaprovingly. "That's vandalism," She reminded.

However, once she saw the stash of toys inside, she immediately shut up. Fred and Anna looked at each other then immediately hopped down from the desk to go see what Hermione had found. Sierra had the same idea, making her way to the front of the room.

"Yeah," She called as she walked. "Holy crap." Sierra snatched Fred's drumsticks out of the drawer and passed them to the owner. "Crabapple's been hording our stuff for decades."

FP and Alice joined the group at the desk. Sierra pulled her cootie catcher out of the drawer while Penelope dug in and extracted a game box.

Anna stood on her tip toes to read the name on the front. Gryphons and Gargoyles.

"I've heard of this game before," Penelope stated, seeming enthralled by the game. Suddenlu, her attitude changed. "We shouldn't play it, it doesn't belong to us anyway," she revised, pulling the box to her chest.

FP reached for the box and pulled it away from Penelope. He sighed as he read it. "Gryphons and Gargoyles," he recited. "Thought this was an urban legend," he admitted.

"Nah, I heard some kids have been playing at Seaside," Fred informed.

Hermione looked up, eyes wide. "I heard one of them had a heart attack, and died."

Anna rolled her eyes. "You seriously believe that?" She questioned, raising her eyebrows at Hermione. The girl shrugged.

"You know what?" Alice began. "I say we test the theory. Let's play it." She took the box from FP and glanced around the circle to see the reactions of the others.