Day Two
The girl was already in her seat in the back row when Danny and Tucker arrived for their second day of lunch detention. Tucker completely avoided eye contact, but Danny glanced her way to see if she was giving his friend any threatening looks or any other indications that the end of his life was imminent. Danny was a far cry from the strongest kid in school—he'd have to suddenly develop superpowers to even make the list—but Tucker was his best friend, and Danny would do his best to protect him from any threat. Even if he sorta deserved it.
If the girl was harboring a grudge, however, she didn't show it. She barely acknowledged their presence at all when they took their seats, her attention instead focused on the weirdest looking sandwich Danny had ever seen. He didn't even wanna know what was in that thing.
Danny got about three bites into his own sandwich when some sort of commotion started up in the hallway. Gleason looked up from the book he was reading, Seven Habits of Highly Authoritative Teachers, and gave an irritated glance toward the door. When it didn't die down, he slammed the book down on his desk and rose from his seat, glaring at his three charges. "No talking, no getting up from your seats, and when you're finished with lunch, sit with your hands folded on your desk."
As soon as he was gone, Tucker turned to Danny. "What do you think's going on out there?"
"Who cares, as long as it keeps him busy a while." Danny took another bite of his sandwich. "So how long are you grounded for? Think we can hang out on Saturday?"
"Yeah, probably. I'm only grounded through tomorrow."
"Lucky. My parents grounded me for the whole week. How about Larceny II? Any chance of you getting it back this weekend?"
"No way. My mom threatened to trade it in at the used bookstore for cookbooks."
"That stinks. My mom ranted for like four hours about how twelve-year-olds should not be playing games rated M. And I think my dad used the disc in one of his inventions."
Tucker raised his eyebrows. "He used a video game in one of his inventions? Isn't that a violation of copyright law or something?"
Danny shrugged. "I dunno. He might've melted it down or something for all I know. His inventions are made out of the weirdest junk."
"So. No Larceny II, then. We could just go to the mall and hang out."
"Man, I am so sick of the mall." Danny slumped down in his seat and leaned his head back in a show of pre-teen angst. It was then that he caught sight of the third occupant of the room, whom he'd completely forgotten was there. He quickly sat up again, but he couldn't bring himself to continue his conversation with Tucker as if she weren't there. It just felt weird to ignore her when she was the only other person in the room. Swallowing, he turned in his seat. "So… uh… what are you in for?"
He ignored the look of horror on Tucker's face. The girl looked up at Danny, as if surprised to find him addressing her. She tilted her head a moment, as if studying him, and he squirmed in his chair, wondering if he hadn't just made a huge mistake. After a moment, she wrinkled her nose. "What am I 'in for'? What is this, some 40s prison break movie?"
He felt his cheeks turn red. "No. I was just trying to make conversation. Sorry." He turned quickly back in his seat, angry at himself for being such an idiot.
"I replaced a DVD they were gonna show in health class with something I thought was a little more… honest."
He turned back around, curiosity making him forget his humiliation. "What was it?"
"Well, they were supposed to be showing a video about nutrition and eating healthy. Except the one they had was produced by the ChemFarms Food Corporation, the same people who, not coincidentally, supply the food for our school lunches. The whole thing was just one big commercial for ChemFarms 'fun and nutritious' foods." She rolled her eyes as she made air quotes.
Danny was back to regretting having asked. "Okaaaaay…"
"So I swiped the DVD from the player and put in a more accurate one about ChemFarms. It's an exposé of their manufacturing process, and how much chemical crap gets added to their 'organic' foods." She made air quotes again. "And it showed their slaughterhouses, and how inhumane and filthy they are. I mean, if we're supposed to be learning about nutrition, we should know what they're really feeding us."
Danny, who often ate the school lunches, was kind of glad he wasn't in health class this semester. But he had to admit, it was a pretty gutsy thing to do. "So I take it that's not from the school cafeteria." He nodded toward her lunch.
"Not hardly. It's Tofurkey on whole wheat with soy cheese and alfalfa sprouts." She gave him an innocent smile and held out the sandwich. "Wanna bite?"
"EWWWWW!"
Danny turned to Tucker, who had remained silent up to this point in desperate hopes that she would overlook him. But devoted meat lover that he was, he couldn't contain his disgust. Then he seemed to realize that he'd not only called attention to himself, but insulted her twice in as many days. He slapped his hands over his mouth, his eyes widening in horror behind his large glasses.
The girl merely chuckled, a low throaty sound that Danny thought was a lot better than the stupid giggling sound most girls his age made. "I'm just kidding. I know this stuff grosses most people out."
Tucker looked completely unsure what to do next. "Uh… okay."
"But you should give it a try. It's not half bad, and it's what all the freaks eat."
Danny cringed, and Tucker froze again, suddenly becoming fascinated with the floor. "Uh… I…. Yeah. Sorry about that."
She shrugged. "No big. I consider 'freak' a compliment. Although, for future reference, the correct term is 'Goth.'"
Tucker nodded stupidly, his expression somewhere between mortified and relieved.
She looked at Danny. "So, how about you?"
He had to force himself not to recoil. "Uh… no thanks. I'm good." He held up his sandwich as proof.
She frowned a minute, then shook her head. "No, I meant, why'd you get detention?"
"Oh. We ditched school last week to buy Larceny II when it came out." When he said it out loud, it sounded childish and lame next to what she'd done, and he felt the tips of his ears burn.
She just nodded, giving him no indication one way or another of what she thought.
The doorknob rattled, and Danny and Tucker snapped around in their seats to face forward once more. Mr. Gleason backed into the room, shouting out into the hallway, "And if I hear any more of this nonsense, it will be two weeks of after school detention. Have I made myself clear?"
He came fully into the room and shut the door, then glared at his three charges as if daring them to defy his rules. Danny popped a Cheeto into his mouth and chewed it silently.
Satisfied that his edicts were being followed, Gleason returned to his seat and buried his nose in his book once more.
Author's Note:
Seven Habits of Highly Authoritative Teachers. A riff off of Stephen Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Somehow, I don't think Gleason cares all that much about being effective.
