Destined

Chapter 11 - First Day And Detention

I was walking through the hallway of our school. Boys leaned on the lockers and gawked at me while I walked past them with my books held tightly in my hands. Up there standing in front of me was Max. I kept on walking, trying to ignore his presence by looking down and humming some tunes. I kept on walking and walking, thinking that maybe Max would eventually have mercy on me and move aside and give me some space to pass through. But no. He didn't. He stood still. Like a statue, grinning. Strong arms held over his chest. I looked up at him.

"What ?" I glared at him and asked.

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"Wake up, Ally." Mom shouted right in my ear and my eyes fluttered open.

"What?" I asked sleepily.

"First day of school, Ally. Wake up!" Mom said and shook me again before leaving my room.

Just five more minutes of sleep and I'll wake up, I thought. I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep again.

"Ally, wake up!" Mom shouted at me again and pulled out the pillow underneath my head. My head fell hard on the mattress and I sat up immediately.

"Do you know what time it is?" Mom asked angrily at me. I rubbed my eyes, still half-asleep.

"It's 7:45!" She yelled.

That sentence shooed all the sleepiness inside me.

"What?" I shouted. I didn't even wait for Mom's reply. I got off of my bed and ran for the washroom, brushed my teeth and took a really quick shower. I took out a simple purple dress from my wardrobe and changed into it, brushed my hair and left it open.

I ran out of my room with my bagpack, wore my shoes and headed straight to the dinning table in the kitchen.

"This is what happens when you use your phone instead of going to sleep." Mom commented.

"Yeah, I got that. Thanks for making my day better." I said and gulped down a glass of orange juice.

"Eat the sandwiches also, Ally." Mom said.

"Sorry mom, I don't have time." I said

"Do you need me to drop you?"

"No, thanks Mom. I'm going to go by myself today." I said and ran out of the house.

I sat on the train with my earphones stuck in my ear, listening to Nicki Minaj's Pound The Alarm. I looked at my watch. It is almost 7:56 a.m. If I don't reach school before 8:10 a.m., then I will be counted as late and I will have to go to the Late Detention Class after school!

No!

My stop arrived and I walked hurriedly toward my school. I looked at my watch again. 8:09 a.m.!

Just a minute left. I took off and ran as fast as I could. After a while, my school came in to view. A big light brown building. A board hung in the middle, saying Delia Broadway in gigantic black letters.

Before I could even step into the school, I heard the school bell ring, an indication that the classes had already began and I was late. I slowed down thinking that's there is no point of running now.

I entered the school and Gloria, the school staff, handed me a tiny blue slip. I wrote my name and class on it, then I climbed the stairs till I reached the third floor. That's where my classroom is. I knocked on the door lightly and opened it just to find my class teacher and my classmates stare at me like I have just murdered somebody. I walked over to Mr. James, my class teacher, and handed him the blue slip.

I looked around to find myself a spare seat and found Jess and Maria sitting at the back of the class. They pointed at the spare seat beside them and I walked over to them.

"Late on the first day of school, Alicia?" Mr. James muttered. I knew it was a question, yet I didn't reply him. Instead I kept on walking to the back of the class and sat next to Jess and Maria.

"Ok class. This year, I will be your class teacher and you can call me Mr. James." He smiled.

Mr. James was in his 40's. He wasn't a new teacher, he had in fact taught me Biology last year.

"So now, I will be distributing your time schedule for your classes and some notices to you." He said in his British accent and started distributing some A4 size papers.

"You're late?" Maria asked.

"Yeah." I said.

"Enjoy the Late Detention Class then." Jess chuckled softly to herself.

"Ha-ha. Very funny." I said, monotonously.

"Atleast I can spend an hour reading during the detention." I added.

"Nerd!" Maria and Jess whispered at the same time.

"Shut up!" I said, maybe a little too loudly.

"No talking!" Mr. James shouted across the room, looking directly at me.

When Mr. James finished distributing the worksheets, he talked about the school regulations.

Not again. The school rules have always been the same and every year, class teachers are supposed to explain the school rules to their students so today I will be hearing this for the fifth time in my life.

"So boys, your hair should not be reaching your shoulders and nobody is allowed to color their hair. If you come to school with your hair colored, you will be sent back home to dye it back to your natural hair color . . ." Mr. James talked and talked for like half an hour.

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Since today is the first day of school, we will be getting dismissed before noon, at 11:55 a.m. If I hadn't been late, I could have hung out with Jess and Maria. Unfortunately I was so I will have to force myself to be quiet and read a book for half an hour.

The bell rang and students started to leave the classroom. I stood up and took my bag.

"So, you're going to the Late Detention Class?" Maria asked sympathetically.

"Do I have any other choice?" I asked them and smiled at myself with pity.

We walked out of our class together and walked down the stairs.

"Hey, wanna hang out after the detention, we can wait for you while you're in the detention class." Jess said.

"Nah, you guys go ahead. I think I'm gonna be late." I said.

We had reached the ground floor. I hugged Maria and Jess goodbye and walked toward the late detention class. I knocked on the door and entered the room. Looks like out of 3000 students, only 3 students were late, including me. There was a couple whispering to each other. Sitting very, very close, laughing every once in a while and hugging. The teacher in charge of the class was Mrs. Dabney. She was sitting quietly on the teacher's chair, writing something down on a thick black notebook.

During the Late Detention Class, students aren't actually allowed to talk, they're supposed to do their homework but since today is the first day of school, there was no homework so I could kill the time by stepping into a magical world of vampires. And that is by reading a novel, not by actually going into a forest and hunting them.

I took off my bag and placed it on the table. I sat at the back of the class, as far as I could from the 2 students and Mrs. Dabney. I took out Paranormalcy from my bagpack and started reading it.

After I had finished reading a chapter, I looked around myself. Mrs. Dabney was still scribbling something on her notebook and the two students were still being romantic. I wasn't in the mood to read at all. I was feeling bored. I wanted someone to talk to. But, I was here all alone with nothing but a novel to kill the time with. I sighed and grabbed Paranormalcy and continued reading it.

After a while, I heard some movement. The door creaked opened and then closed. I didn't bother to look up to see who it was. I heard footsteps get louder and louder until . . .

"Hi." Somebody whispered.