Dirty Little Secret

Chapter Ten - Delinquents & Battered Books

It was just past three by the time I stood in front of the notorious 026, classroom 026 to be exact. I had heard the stories about this place, many involving the torture of students with essays and extra schoolwork, but never in my life had I imagined setting foot beyond the threshold myself. I swallowed the lump in my throat as my hand reached towards the cold metal doorknob.

Here goes nothing.

I turned it and held my breath as the door squeaked open to reveal the lair of the school's delinquents. The detention room.

I stepped inside and slowly closed the door behind me as I scanned my surroundings wearily. The classroom looked just like any other classroom, with tables lined up in rows, a large oak desk at the front of the room and whiteboards and posters adorning the walls. Looks could be deceiving though, and I was all too aware of that as the lady at the desk looked up from her book and assessed me with her eyes as she pushed her glasses up her nose.

"Name please."

"N-Nina B-Becker." I stuttered nervously, earning me a few chuckles from a group of guys in the back who I vaguely recognized as juniors. I blushed and quickly averted my eyes from them and back to the lady with the glasses. She glanced down at a piece of paper and wrote something on it before dismissing me with a small wave of her hand "Take a seat." She returned her eyes to her book, not paying me further mind.

I clutched the straps of my backpack a little tighter as I made my way towards a seat in the middle row by the window. I took my books out of my bag and placed them on the grey desk before sliding into the seat behind it. The silence in the room was almost eerie as I unzipped my pencil case and pulled out an old and battered grey pencil.

Five minutes passed, and I was in the middle of solving a math problem when the lady behind the desk cleared her throat. I watched as she pushed her chair back and stood up, causing it to screech against the linoleum floor.

"I have a small matter to attend to." She announced "I will be back within ten minutes and I expect you all to behave while I'm gone." Her voice was stern and her posture straight as she looked down at us as if we were children that needed a scowling. She gave us one last lingering look before exiting the classroom, the sound of her heels clicking against the floor resonating through the hallway as she left.

The second the sound of her footsteps disappeared, the class erupted into loud chatter. I tried to ignore the noise as I focused my attention back on my homework and picked up where I had left off on my calculator.

I had just finished solving the problem when I felt something hit my back. I looked down in surprise to find a piece of crumbled paper lying by my feet. Confused, I turned my head to look for the source.

As soon as my eyes landed on the group of juniors in the back it became obvious that the paper wad had belonged to them. The same juniors that had laughed at me when I had stuttered earlier. The middle one was looking particularly smug as he raised his eyebrows at me as if daring me to say something.

I didn't like confrontations with strangers, so I pretended to be clueless instead and turned back around, hoping they wouldn't bother me again.

But of course, that would be too much to ask. Another paper wad hit my back and I knew that this time I couldn't ignore them. I hesitantly turned around and gave the boys a cold look "Can I help you?"

The middle one grinned and ran a hand through his auburn hair. He looked kind of scruffy in a white wrinkled shirt and leather jacket that looked a little too big on his skinny body. I suspected he only wore it to look cool. Because really, who wore leather during a heat wave?