Detention (ASOUE)

Chapter Seventeen

My good mood carried on into the next morning and I found myself walking towards school with a extra spring in my step. I knew that Lily would be thoroughly entertained by the events of the previous day, mostly because they included Klaus, but also because she had an equally sour impression of Carmelita and would enjoy hearing about my antics in avoiding her latest prank.

That happiness, however, was extremely short lived, and I felt the change in atmosphere almost instantly when I walked through the halls. Stray whispers caught my attention but I didn't stop to try and listen and figure out what was going on. Instead, I wanted to find Lily and have her catch me up on everything herself. But as soon as I turned the next corner, I had my answers delivered to me on a golden platter. 

A group of students were crowding around a locker in particular, and it didn't take a rocket scientist to work out that it was mine. Another thing I noticed as I got closer was the smell. A dull, overall bad scent wafted through the hall, something that many people I passed didn't hold back in pointing out. A wave of dread rushed over me as I put two and two together. Whatever was making that awful smell probably had something to do with my locker.

Feeling slightly sick, I squeezed my way through the crowd and towards my fated destination. The few people who were close to the front stepped back a bit when I approached, obviously realising that it was my locker. There, they transcended into whispers and giggles and I expected the worst. However, there wasn't a single doubt in my mind that they hadn't been the culprits. The perpetrator was, as it always was, Carmelita Spats, and I purposely searched for her face among everyone else. I wanted to show her I was unbothered, despite me actually being extremely stressed out by the situation on the inside , to see if that would deter her once and for all. I figured that if she wasn't getting the same satisfaction then she might calm it down a bit and, although it was an awful thing to wish, find someone new to target. I was tired of this. I wanted to make her tired too. 

But, as her piercing eyes found mine, an icy chill ran down my spine as I realised she wasn't laughing or joking around or enjoying what she was doing. Instead, her expression was blank and haunting and it dawned on me that this wasn't a fun hobby, this was just a normal, everyday thing for her. Carmelita wasn't mean for fun, her whole being was based around being mean. This was her norm, and that's what was scariest of all. 

Realising I had put it off for long enough, I slowly reached my hand out to open my locker, trying to ignore the fact that my hand was trembling. The corners of my eyes watered from the fear or the intensified smell, or perhaps both. Then I took the plunge and undid the lock. The rest was out of my control, something I only realised when the door sprung open due to the pressure of whatever was in there, and the contents flung themselves out. 

"Ewwwwwww!"

"What the hell...."

"UGH!"

A chorus of disgruntled voices echoed around the area but I drowned a lot of it out, mostly because I was trying to process what had just happened.

First of all, I was wet. Really wet. And the floor was wet, and so was everything in my sight. And that mixed with the fact that the smell had only got worse, meant that everyone who had started off being crowded around me were now metres away. 

Banana peels, apple cores, soggy paper and other dirt and rubbish covered the floor and the inside of my locker like a layer of snow: thick and opaque but with a visible dampness to it. The grey slosh had completely erupted as soon as the door was open, meaning the front of me was entirely covered. I shook my hands downwards and some of it slipped off and joined the pile on the floor. Then, unsure what to do next, I tried to push it off my clothes but, since it was mostly liquid, it just seeped through.

I hadn't registered the fact that people were laughing until Mr Olaf's voice boomed down the hallway and everyone scattered. 

"Get to class!" He demanded and everyone eventually obliged. I, however, was frozen in place. It was one of those moments where I couldn't really figure out what to do so I ended up being still while my mind ran at a thousand miles an hour. 

When the last few stragglers had got their fill of laughing and pointing me out to each other, as if it wasn't already obvious enough that I was in a situation worth ogling at, Mr Olaf sighed.

"Why is it you again?" He said, and I couldn't shake the feeling that he was more annoyed with me than the perpetrator. 

I didn't have an answer for him so I just stayed quiet.

Mr Olaf continued with a frown. "You really need to start looking after your property, Miss Quagmire."

"Pardon?" I snapped. I knew I shouldn't since he was a teacher, but I couldn't help it, and the word had passed my lips in an instant. 

He crossed his arms. "Your locker is your property. It's your responsibility to keep it clean and tidy and, most importantly, locked so things like this don't happen."

"So this is my fault?"

"Well, not directly... so I suppose yes, but indirectly."

I huffed, "So what, the person who did this doesn't get punished but I do?"

"How would we figure out who did it? The entire student body would've passed through this hall at one point or another this morning. It would be impossible, you see, "Mr Olaf explained rather patronisingly. His tone made me want to punch him in the face. 

"There's CCTV cameras," I stated.

"Oh don't be dramatic, Miss Quagmire. We can only check those in serious situations. You're smart enough to know that, aren't you?"

I was about to argue back when a very late Klaus Baudelaire skidded around the corner.

"What the-" he started, eyes wide as he took in the scene.

"Mr Baudelaire! You're fifteen minutes late!" Mr Olaf boomed once again before he sighed heavily, "I really can't stay after school today to give you a detention... Ah, I know! Since Miss Quagmire is in a bit of a sticky situation as you can see, you can both just serve your detentions now, cleaning all of this up."

"Why do I have a detention?!" I retorted.

The teacher shrugged carelessly. "You made a mess. You didn't have to open your locker, after all."

At that, he walked off and left us to it, whistling a tune as he went. I don't think I'd ever been so frustrated in my life. 

I'd almost forgotten Klaus was there until he cleared his throat.

"So..." he said, "Rough morning?"

I glared at him in response.

Klaus shrugged. "I suppose we better get this cleaned up then."

So at that, we grabbed some supplies from the janitors closet and got to work.

A/N: AHHHHHHH I said I would post this for christmas but it's boxing day now... whoops. I did post an announcement saying it would have to be postponed by a day because of how busy everything was (which I should've expected in the first place but oh well) but I never know if people actually read announcements or not so yeah I'm not sure if that information was communicated.

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed christmas as well as this new chapter. Ideally, I would like to post again before the end of the year but I'm not promising anything because I'll be back at work in a couple of days and I've got a ton to do!!! But hopefully I'll post in time to wish you all a happy new year!

Thanks so much for reading, and I'll see you in the next one!