The inside was just as musty as the outside, except it seemed that everything was covered with a thin layer of dust. My footsteps echoed around the room, making me even more nervous. I noticed a tough looking bunch of students in the back corner of the room to my right. I walked past them hurriedly and could feel every pair of eyes on me. Then the door swung closed behind me, making a thump. Jim was sitting in a desk right in front of me with his legs crossed up on the table. He eyed me warily and took the paper I handed out to him.
Apparently I was the last student that was going to be in detention. Once I sat down in a desk that was in the middle of the room, Jim lazily told us to settle down. I looked around at the silent room. Okay, that was an unnecessary command. "Its an hour, don't forget," Jim said, trying to put some authority into what he was saying, but not really succeeding. "And keep quiet," he said, seemingly as an afterthought and then settled down with a tattered book in his hands.
I reached down to my bag and took out my own book. It was the one I had been reading in Jeremy's room last night. Ulrich had given it back to me this morning. I found my bookmark and started reading.
And half an hour past without a sound. Finally, I heard the scrape of a desk and cautiously turned to look behind me. To my surprise, the punks that had been sitting clustered in the back were making a break for it, with the students in front already out the door. Before I could stop myself, I asked, "What are you doing? We still have half an hour left."
A rough looking girl with her eyebrow pierced gave me a slicing look. She pulled at her pleated plaid skirt that was way too short and layered with copious amounts of chains. "Look, wimp," she said in a way that was evident that there was gum in her mouth, "we always sneak out when half an hour has passed."
"But Jim is..." I began, turning to glance at Jim. His head was sunk into his chest and his eyes were closed.
"...sleeping," she finished for me. "He always wakes up way after the hour is already over. He just thinks we left after the hour was up." She stalked out the door when she finished informing me.
"Little, no good preps," the next boy said in a whisper though it was meant for me to hear. Anger flared in my body as I shoved my book in my bag and picked it up.
"Hey, cool it. She's new in detention. How was she supposed to know?" the next boy insisted, shoving the boy before him. "Sorry," he said then to me, "these guys are used to being that rude."
"Its okay," I said, walking beside him to the door. He looked nice, with his black hair in spikes and his violet eyes twinkling. He was wearing all black but he looked very nice in black. He held the door open for me to go through, and then shut the door quietly behind him. Inside, I saw a glimpse of Jim still snoring away.
"I'm Ben," he said as he finished shutting the door.
"I'm Yumi," I said in reply. "How come you're in detention?"
"Gum," he said simply. "Done it loads of times before. Quite fun, actually. And why are you in there?"
"I kind of insulted Jim and he got mad at me. But he's just so vulnerable and stupid, not to mention oblivious to this kind of stuff, you know? It just so funny to watch him blow up at you a few days later, although this time he figured it out a bit too quickly." I didn't expect Ben to follow anything I was saying, but he actually nodded.
"Done it before, and it is quite amusing. Some of my friends do it for fun. Oh well." I looked around and realized we were already out in front of the dorms entrance. "See you around." He waved once and took off after his friends.
"Bye," I said quietly. For some odd reason, I didn't want him to leave. I wanted to talk to him more. He seemed smarter than his punk friends though he hung out with them anyway. But the thought of talking to him more sent me blushing. Shaking my head clear, I walked into the dorm building and went up to my room.
On my door, there was a square piece of paper taped to it. It was blank on the side facing me but I peeled it off and turned it over. It had one word on it in Ulrich's handwriting. "Lyoko."
I threw my bag in my room, closed the door, crumpled the note into one hand, and started running for the warehouse.