Chapter Thirty-Four

Gabby's POV

Detention wasn't half as terrifying as I expected it to be.

As mentioned, I'd never received a detention before in my life. My record was squeaky clean. At first, it gave me a rush of adrenaline, filling out that detention slip. I felt like such a badass, such a rebel; like I was diving toward the edge for once. But now, as I sashayed down to the detention room to actually fulfill my punishment, the excitement gradually wore off and my goody-two-shoes conscience wiggled back into place. The pride in my walk decreased with each step so that by the time I reached the detention room, I had practically made myself invisible.

There was no teacher present; just a sign-in sheet, and a bunch of juvenile delinquents. Many of them I recognized, though there were plenty of unfamiliar faces. Either way, they all appeared as intimidating dark figures that saw me as their next meal. I kept my eyes to the floor as I willed myself to the front of the room to sign in, though I couldn't escape the feeling of at least twenty pairs of eyes glued to me. It was unnerving enough to turn my legs to jelly. "Hey, check it, a newbie!"

My breath caught in my throat at the sound of this voice obviously aimed at me. I was dead, I was so dead… I didn't belong here, I was an honor student…! Was it true that bad kids can smell fear? I hadn't even built up the nerve to turn around yet when someone else called, "Yo, Alfie! We was waitin' for ya." I spun around toward the door, only to have a pair of familiar strong arms wrap around me with the words "Hey, babe" whispered in my ear. Alfred grinned down at me, then at the rest of the room, snaking his arm around my waist. Another wave of greetings was aimed at him. "Guys, I'd like ya to meet my girl, Gabby."

Al's presence made me feel a great deal more secure, though I was still pretty anxious. "Uh, hi, everyone… I'm Al's girlfriend." Woo, those words felt nice coming out of my lips. The others replied with a chorus of "Hey/hi/'sup Gabby." Thankfully, most of their eyes turned away after that and returned to their normal conversations, apparently content with my existence so long as I was acquainted with Alfred F. Jones.

"Why am I not surprised that everyone knows you in the detention room," I muttered affectionately as Alfred scribbled his rock-star signature on the sign-in sheet.

"Because I am a badass mofo." His hand slid back into place on my waist, and he led me to a chair in the back of the room (seemingly reserved for him) where he plopped himself down and pulled me onto his lap. The position I sat in was admittedly provocative, what with my short uniform skirt and everything. Then again, I doubted anyone in a room of troublemakers would think lowly of me for sitting like a slut.

"So what're you in for this time?" Al asked, nodding his head at the guy seated directly in front of us. Something about him- his face, his demeanor- just screamed trouble. Maybe it was just his surplus of facial piercings. He smirked.

"While Ms. Héderváry was yellin' at me 'bout my behavior, I told her I'd like to misbehave with her, if ya know what I mean. Bitch didn't take it very well, she's got no sense of humor," the guy explained. I covered my mouth so he didn't see my jaw drop. Alfred, on the other hand, laughed pretty damn hard.

"Dude, she ain't even that hot!"

The scary guy shrugged. "Whatever, I think she's a babe. What're you here about? Gotta be good, knowin' you."

I felt Al's arm tighten itself around my waist, pulling me closer against him. "That prick Mr. Edelstein was being a real jackass to my babe. So we went in and screwed around with his music." I smiled way too timidly, waving with my fingers.

Scary Guy clicked his tongue and shook his head. "And you got busted? Damn, man, you're losin' it. Anyway, you hear about Ivan Braginski?"

Oh, I knew about Ivan Braginski… He gave me the creeps. I was fortunate enough to not have any classes with him, but I'd seen him in the halls and heard some disturbing stories about them. Most of them were weird rumors, like that he used to drink blood in his bottle when he was a baby, but some (like how he threatens to beat people with a pipe while smiling serenely) are eerily believable and true. "Who, that freaky Russian dude?"

"That's the one," Scary Guy confirmed with a nod. "Well, the higher-ups fin'ly caught him. Wrote up a week's worth of detention for 'harassing the student body.' He should be here any moment."

As if discussing him was some sort of summoning ceremony, Ivan Braginski entered the room a mere few seconds later. His presence was enough to make the whole room go silent and stare at him, taking up the whole doorway with his massive height. His signature smile was gentle on his face, and he strolled right up to the sign-in sheet as if he didn't even acknowledge that anyone else was in the room. Everyone's eyes peeled away from him as he headed down the aisle of desks to the back row, where he took a seat beside a thick-haired girl with her face buried in her arms, quite possibly asleep. She was in the seat in the corner closest to the window, while Al and I sat three seats in; in other words, Ivan Braginski was sitting right beside us. I slowly slid into the empty seat to Al's left, inconspicuous as possible.

Nobody dared to look his way or even breathe, yet I can tell we all were alert to exactly what he was doing. "Privet, miss." For a moment, everything was still except for the occasional blinking of eyes, until the probably-sleeping girl realized that she was the one being addressed. She sat up and leisurely turned toward Ivan, her eyes rounding when she caught his unblinking stare. A conversation quietly resumed somewhere across the room, until the usual buzz of talk gradually resumed. Still, my ears stayed atoned to Ivan and this mysterious girl.

"…hello," she responded awkwardly. I applaud her for that: I would have been scared out of my wits.

"I'm rather positive that you have been staring at me for the past few lunch periods," Ivan continued, his expression completely unfaltering. The girl blinked her mascara-lined eyes a few times, averting her gaze.

"Uh, no, I don't-"

"I would like it if you didn't lie to me." Ivan tilted his head slightly, still smiling. "Do you have a problem with me, devushka?"

"No, I don't have a problem. I just thought you were someone else, is all," she answered quickly. Damn, the girl worked well under pressure.

"Someone else?" Ivan repeated.

"Uh huh. Some guy I used to know." Her eyes (brown in color, I now saw) still wouldn't meet Ivan's face.

I felt a jolt of terror shudder through me as Ivan's smile widened. "Well that is nice. Spasibo, good-bye." And with that, he stood up and brought his smiling self to the front row instead.

I hesitated a moment, then while Al struck up a conversation with some short guy sitting adjacent to him, I scooted my seat back and stood. Running my hand across the back of Al's seat and pressing a kiss to his hair when I passed ('cause I'm just that affectionate), I took the seat Ivan Braginski just abandoned. "What was that about?"

The girl looked at me kind of uncertainly. "I didn't even know I stare at him. I guess I just zone out at lunch and happen to look his way…"

I gave an understanding nod. "He's creepy as hell, isn't he?"

The girl paused. "…Yeah, but I also think he's kind of cool."

Well, there's nothing wrong with accepting different people, I suppose. "I don't think I've seen you around… What's your name?"

"Gabby." I perked up and glanced around, wondering who in this room had called me because that sure as heck wasn't Alfred's voice calling me. …But then it clicked that nobody was calling me; this girl was answering my question.

A half awkward, half bemused grin appeared on my face. "No way, same here! What's 'Gabby' short for?"

"Gabrielle," she answered sitting up a little straighter.

"Same here!" Now we were both displaying unsure/happy grins.

We exchanged a few more basic questions, and I found out we had even more in common. We were both sixteen years old, both newbies to the detention room (her felony was falling asleep in class one too many times), both from New Jersey, both preferred dogs over cats, both listened to the band Three Days Grace, both played Xbox, and both enjoyed the color purple. "What did you say you were in here for?" she asked, both of us increasingly ecstatic.

"Oh, I didn't say. The music teacher gave me a shitty grade, so me and my boyfriend," I nodded at Al, and he waved back with a goofy grin, "switched his sheet music around. He walked in, though, and got really pissed…"

"Damn, that sucks… That's your boyfriend?" Gabby confirmed, giving a slight nod at Alfred since he had turned back around.

"Yup… He's an idiot, but I'm lucky."

Gabby nodded. "He's in my math class. Not bad," she complimented half jokingly. "I'm single," she added as an afterthought.

"Aw… Well hey, don't worry, a pretty girl like you won't stay single for long! …No homo," I quickly added, recognizing how extremely awkward that just sounded. Gabby shook her head, giving a flap to her hand.

"Nah, I wasn't thinking that anyway. But thanks."

My god, this was so awesome. Don't get me wrong, it was GREAT having guy friends, but it felt so… Odd. I'm sure I've discussed this before, but I really wasn't used to having male friends. I'd always been surrounded by other girls, my best friend throughout middle school being a chick named Hailey: basically a skinnier, longer-and-darker-haired version of me. We had grown close by conversing basically the same way this Gabby girl and I were, and now we still texted and emailed when we had the time. Really, it shocks me that I neglected to mention my old best friend until now… I'm sorry, if she ever reads this. I guess with being reunited with my sister and meeting all these amazing guys, I just didn't think to bring her up… Well, I'm bringing her up now. And now that I do so, I realize how much I missed having a gal pal.

Back to Gabby, we talked for the rest of detention (the teacher never showed up; Scary Guy said they probably quit, after the last detention day. Yikes), and exchanged schedules (turns out we have the same lunch period, and one mutual free period) so we could find the time to bond a little bit. It was finally clicking that the main thing I lacked at Hetalia Academy was a gal pal: one I could actually talk to, not just go over homework with. It was a huge relief, really… Now my only concern was that Caliegh didn't swoop in and steal her away from me.

Gabby and I walked out of the room together, until Alfred caught up with me and we went our separate ways. Al and I stopped in our favorite corridor- the one right near the staircase- for a little lip action before bidding good-night and heading up to bed. God, if it was this great each time, I'd get a detention more often! ….I won't, by the way.