Thud.

Drake Parker jerked upright, rubbing his jaw painfully where it had mad contact with his desk. As he groaned in agony, a sarcastic voice called out "Parker? Since you seem to know so much about this lesson that you can take a nap, why don't you explain this next point to the class?"

He squinted at the board, his brain struggling to make sense of the jumble of words written in chalk. Desperately he glanced at his stepbrother Josh, who only gazed helplessly back. Sighing, he directed his best glare at the owner of the voice and replied quietly in a bored voice, "I don't know".

Mrs Hayfer coolly smiled. "I'm sorry – didn't catch that. Could you say that louder please?"

"I SAID I DON'T KNOW," he yelled back, adding as an afterthought, "Miss."

She smirked, then pretended to look puzzled. "Well, Drake, it seems to me that I warned you about what would happen the next time you fell asleep in my class. Stay behind."

Just then the bell rang. There was the sound of chairs scraping on the ground and books being dumped in bags. "Alright class, today's homework will be to finish off the questions we started in class, of which Mr. Parker here does not know about." She glowered at Drake, and he raised his eyebrows at her.

Josh gave his brother a sympathetic look, then mouthed I'll wait for you outside to him. Drake nodded gratefully back and shut his eyes for a second before reluctantly weaving between the desks to stand in front of his most hated teacher's desk. Seconds passed as he waited for her to look up from her book and acknowledge him until impatience took over.

"Well? How many weeks of detention are you gonna give me?" He snapped.

Mrs Hayfer looked up surprised. "Oh, did you think I was going to let you off that lightly? Because I distinctly remember me telling you that if you slack off one – more – time", (here she punctuated each word with a slap on the desk), "I would send you to Remedial English".

He gaped at her as the meanings of the words slowly sunk in. "No. No way! You can't send me back there! You can't! I won't! I-I-I-I-"

She cut him off. "Of course, I'm always willing to give you another option."

Drake gasped in relief. "I'll do it! I don't care what it is, whether it's another…sibling…of whatever. Anything's better then that."

Mentally, she sighed. Honestly, was it really that easy? "I remember the time you and Josh looked after my house." Drake looked warily at her. Where was this going? "My house is in a bit of a…mess…right now. My daughter has gone to college so now it's just me. I would love to have someone who could help me clean up all the mess, free of charge." She peeked at him from the corner of her eye. His face went from confused, to horror, to acceptance. She almost laughed out loud. He had no idea what was in for him.

"Alright. When do you want me to come?" he asked.

"Tomorrow is a Saturday. I want you to be at my doorstep at 8:30 sharp". Ignoring his rising protest she added, "DON'T. Be late."

"Fine", he grumbled, and turned to storm out the door.

"Oh, and Drake?" she questioned, lifting her head.

"Yes?" he muttered.

"I hate you", she stated triumphantly.

Drake sighed. "I know", he mumbled.

Josh looked up in surprise as he trudged through the door.

"Well?" he greeted as they began making their way to the school's parking lot.

"Oh, just some stupid cleaning job. Does she really expect me to be able to clean?" Still muttering, he stalked off, leaving his brother to run after him, rolling his eyes.

Inside the classroom, Mrs Linda Hayfer's finger's twitched towards her phone. After two seconds the other side picked up. "It worked," she murmured into the phone. "Have you done it?"

A deep man's voice answered her. "Yes. Don't worry though, there's nothing left for you to see."

She smiled. "Love you", she whispered.

The man laughed. "And I love you too."