Detention (ASOUE)

Chapter Twenty Four

I was late. That was something I knew for sure. From a young age, my mother had ingrained in me the phrase: "on time is late." Which was why when I first saw the time on my phone, I leapt out of bed in shock. But now, instead of being on time (late in my mother's eyes), I was actually late. As in, late late. As in, 2 hours late.

To make a long story short, my phone had died in the night and my alarm hadn't gone off. Which left me running around the house like a headless chicken, trying to get back on track.

But, as I was getting dressed at lightning speed, I had a realisation. Even if I rushed around, I would still be late. There was no way I would be getting to school on time. So instead of speeding up, I slowed down. Getting a detention wasn't something I was afraid of anymore. If I was going to be late anyway, I might as well take the extra time to shower and eat breakfast.

Which was why I strolled into school, already knowing that first period was in session, and even replied to the ten million texts Lily had sent me in the early hours of this morning.

They were all along the same line of thought; all very excitable and a bit mad (in typical Lily essence). I was almost glad my phone had died before they came through, otherwise I would've woken up at 3am to messages like "AHAISLDIWHSJ" and "THATSS WILD".

The reason for all the excitement from Lily's end was the events of yesterday, which I had texted her about when I got home. I had thought Klaus and Caitlin's interaction was weird, but Lily seemed to think it was the best thing ever.

You sound like Caitlin, I texted back to her with a smile on my face.

That smile fell when I heard someone clear their throat, and I glanced up to see a very tired looking Mr Olaf.

"Why is it you again?" He sighed more to himself than me. "What's happened to you?"

I didn't answer. Instead I just waited for him to write the detention slip and then went to my first lesson, ignoring the irritated look from my teacher as I snuck into the room.

I didn't enjoy causing trouble for everyone. Unlike Klaus, I didn't purposely come late because I couldn't be bothered. But when I woke up two hours after my alarm was meant to go off, there was nothing I could do but roll with it. And now I knew that detentions weren't that deep, the idea of getting one didn't really have any negativity to it. It was just me, and usually Klaus, reading in a quiet room, something I did pretty much everyday anyway. And I was at such a high point of my book, the idea of having a designated hour at the end of the day for reading it, was almost exciting.

I got through the first couple of lessons smoothly, especially seeing as Caitlin was now too scared to approach me. I did notice her looking at me from the corner of my eye but when I looked back, instead of just staring me down, she quickly averted her eyes and pretended she was doing something else. She still had that strange curiosity about what I was up to, but whatever Klaus had said to her had really freaked her out. I didn't like seeing people physically afraid, but it was helpful that I didn't have to keep watching over my shoulder anymore in case Caitlin or her cronies were there listening. Klaus' words had meant that Caitlin would not be going anywhere near me anytime soon. I was thankful, but I couldn't help but wonder what exactly it was that he had said. 

When I bumped into Lily just in time for lunch, she had some suggestions.

"Maybe he was like: 'go near Isadora again and I'll rip your throat out!'" Lily quoted, doing an awful version of Klaus' voice that was way too deep and way too strained. She sounded more like an old man than anything else. "Or 'leave me and Isadora alone or I'll make you our next sacrifice!'"

"That's dark," I commented, "I don't think he's the threatening sort though."

"Are you kidding?" Lily exclaimed, "He once threatened to cut Carmelita's pigtails off!"

"When?"

"In like nursery, but still-"

I stifled a laugh. "I'm pretty sure people have changed since nursery. I mean, you used to look like the girl from Finding Nemo."

That earned me a "HEY!" and a smack on the arm from Lily, which only made me laugh more.

*

The rest of the day flew and before I knew it, I was back in Mr Olaf's class, serving my detention. Klaus was late, which should've been expected at this point, and Mr Olaf was non existent. I think he'd given up on supervising detentions by now and these days he just went home instead. 

When Klaus eventually turned up, he met my gaze with a frown.

"What're you here for?" He asked quietly.

"I was late. You?"

"The usual." 

That marked the end of our short conversation and I went back to my book. Klaus pulled out his own and we both sat there silently in our own little worlds. I only had about 50 pages to go and I was excited to get to the end. There was so much in the book left to be resolved, though, and I just hoped that everything would sort itself out.

This better not end on a cliffhanger, I thought to myself.

I kept reading and, what do you know, I was left on a cliffhanger. I dropped my book onto my desk in irritation. I was dying to know what was going to happen next.

The noise, as a result of me being stroppy, had alerted Klaus and he glanced over, looking confused.

"I just finished my book and," I glanced at the clock, "there's still twenty-five minutes left until I can go get the next one."

"I'm pretty much done with mine too," Klaus replied, "Let's go to the library."

"We can't. What if we get caught?"

Klaus shrugged, "I'll just go then."

And before I could say anything else, he swiped the book from my table and was out of the door. I blinked slightly in shock but it didn't take me long to feel pleased that I wouldn't have to wait too long to continue my book series. 

A couple minutes went by and I passed the time by just staring out the window. Then, the door clicked open and Klaus returned.

"They didn't have it," he said.

"What?" I exclaimed, feeling the disappointment return. Now I would have to go and buy the next one, and I'd only be able to go into town at the weekend, so I would have to go a few agonising days left on this cliffhanger.

"But..." Klaus started again, looking down slightly, "I think I have this series, if you want to borrow it?"

"Really?" I answered and Klaus nodded. "Thanks so much!"

Then he said something which completely knocked the smile off my face. 

"Just come to mine after detention ends."

A/N: Phew! It feels nice to get this chapter done. I'm not sure what was so difficult about writing it. I knew exactly how I wanted it to go, but the words just wouldn't come to me lol. I literally started writing this a week ago and then couldn't continue it for some reason.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I wonder what will happen next... (I say, being the only one who knows EXACTLY what's gonna happen next 👀👀👀)

See you next time!