Detention (ASOUE)

Chapter Fifty Two

After dinner I was in my room, having narrowly avoided my brothers and their usual jokes. They had followed me, as I expected, but I had swiftly kicked them out so I could do some homework. However, despite getting rid of those two distractions, there was still something stopping me from getting things done. And that thing was Klaus. 

His question from earlier still lingered in my mind. Why did he need to know if I was home tonight? The obvious answer was that he was going to turn up here, but even the thought made my stomach churn slightly. Yes, my mother was more accepting of him and our whole relationship, but I couldn't imagine her reaction if he turned up at the door without warning. Of course I wanted them to meet, but I wasn't sure if I was ready for that to happen tonight. And surely Klaus should've asked me first.

As I thought it over, it became clearer to me that Klaus must've been planning something else. He knew how worried I was about him meeting my parents, especially my mum, so I knew he wouldn't just do something like this without discussing it with me first. Unless, he had planned it with my brothers behind my back or something?

I shook my head slightly, annoyed with myself for even still thinking about it. Why would Klaus do that? The point was, he wouldn't. So I needed to just forget the whole thing and stop overthinking everything.

I turned back to my homework and tried to get Klaus out of my head completely and, after a long hour or so, it was finished. I put my stuff away and then fell back on my bed. Despite telling myself to forget it, my mind was still ticking so I decided to text Lily and ask her to tell me some marine facts, just to distract me.

However, as I pulled our messages up, I heard a rustling from outside and froze. It was probably just the neighbours, or a stray animal travelling through our garden, but even so, I stayed still and listened, trying to ignore the part of my brain that said it was a burglar. But the rustling was followed by silence and, after sitting for a few quiet moments, I decided to ignore it and go back to messaging Lily.

She answered almost instantly, and we sent a few texts back and forth until I heard it; a soft knocking on the glass next to me.

I jumped from the sound and wheeled around, staring at my closed curtains with wide eyes. But then, in a moment of courage, I slowly reached forward and pulled the fabric to the side, only to be met by a familiar face.

"Klaus?" I exclaimed, rushing to open my window.

He smiled cheerfully from the top of a ladder, acting as if it was completely normal for him to be there, in the dark, when my family could easily still be awake to catch him.

"Hey," he said simply as soon as I pushed the window up.

"What the hell are you doing?"I whisper shouted, although I couldn't help the smile that worked its way onto my face. His happiness was contagious. 

Klaus shrugged. "Just wanted to see you."

"So you carried a ladder all the way down the street and used it to climb up to my window?"

"Actually it was out here already." 

Of course, I thought to myself. We often left one out on the back porch so we could get rid of the leaves that fell into our gutters.

"So what you're saying is, you stole our ladder?"

"I didn't steal it, I borrowed it," he said matter-of-factly,  "It's still on your property, is it not?"

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. "Just come in, before someone sees you."

He clambered through the window quietly, which I appreciated, before turning to me and giving me a quick peck on the cheek.